Staycation

I had some vacation time to use up, so I've been off work since August 27. It was nice to have some time off before and after Hood to Coast. Merrick went and stayed with Poppa and Grammy while Travis and I did Hood to Coast. Then on Sunday, August 31, I drove down to JC to hang out for a couple of days. We spent time picking blackberries, plums, apples and pears. I brought home lots of stuff to can and Becky and I made blackberry jam and plum jam.

I also knew that we were going to work on potty training Merrick. After a couple of days with just a few accidents, we've been accident free (when it comes to #1) since Wednesday. #2 is going to take a little more work. The good thing is it only happens once a day =)

During my time off we made a trip to the Zoo and had a picnic play date with the Zuckerman's. We made it to Sara Sitter's annual kickball party and were able to spend some time with the Alt family on Sunday. It's amazing how fast this summer has gone.

Showing off the big boy underwear

Superman!

Hood to Coast

Van 1 - Mulvanny G2 Team

(L-R - Jim, Brian, Ruthie, Anna, Travis, Brannon)

The last time I did Hood to Coast I was 8 weeks pregnant with Merrick. I had forgotten about all the craziness surrounding H2C and how hard running is on only a couple of hours of sleep. Travis and I ran on the Mulvanny G2 team, Trav running leg 2 and I ran leg 3. For those of you not familiar with H2C, it is a 197 mile relay race from Mt. Hood to Seaside. There are 12 runners on a team and over the course of 28+ hours, you run anywhere from 15 - 20 miles. I personally think it's almost harder than doing a marathon because you have 6 -7 hours rest in-between your legs, but you are cramped in a van, have very little sleep and not eating regular meals. I would much rather run all my miles at once and get it done with, but that's not an option unless you're crazy like the guy who ran the whole thing by himself.

Decorating the rig. Almost all teams decorate their vans, some go with a theme, as you'll see the Top Gun teams rig below.

Start of H2C, teams start in 15 minute waves starting at around 7 am. We had a 10:30 am start time. The earliest I've ever had.

Trav getting ready to start his first leg.

A trip to Seattle for Quin's birthday

Quin showing us how old he is

Merrick and I made a trip to Seattle with Poppa and Grammy to see Auntie Kira, Uncle Erik, and cousins Quin and Micah to celebrate Quin's 5th birthday. Merrick had a great time playing with his cousins and all of the boys wore Poppa out.

Merrick passing time in the car reading the yellow pages.

The boys hiding from Poppa
Pirates Quin & Merrick fighting off Poppa

Merrick & Poppa

Tillamook Burn

A group of us headed to the beach this weekend to escape the heat and to run in the Tillamook Burn. We rented a house in Pacific City and were able to visit family, including a feast at Kathy & Skip's on Saturday night including fresh Tuna, Salmon and Crab... delicious!

This morning Bob, Rebecca, Travis and I set out to run our first adventure race. None of us knew what we were getting ourselves into. All we knew was that the course was about 6 miles long and that we would be running up hills and through creeks. We showed up and could tell we were rookies compared to the regular crowd who does these types of races. Knowing there were some hard core runners, we decided to start out at the back of the pack. I guess there's a reason they call this the Tillamook Burn, after the first hill, which there is no way you could run up it, and your lungs and legs are burning you realize what you've gotten yourself into. We climbed several hills (aka mountains), crossed the creek at least 4 times and manuvered around 3 bee hives with each of us getting stung at least once, but we all escaped the run without injury and smiles on our faces.