Hello again Blog-o-sphere! Today was our last FULL day in Big Bear. Today was a particularly GRUELING day for the boys! Today they went to Cougar Crest - which is a path that goes UP hill in the wilderness at high altitude (see pics!!!)... First, they jogged at a fast pace for, something like, 20 minutes UP the mountain... They then walked back down and had about 15 minutes of rest. Then they did HILL REPEATS!

So, hill repeats involve the following. Coach Dollar sprinted from the base of the trail as far as he could get in a minute and a half. Then, Coach Arie, at the bottom, launched the boys in a full out sprint to where Coach Dollar was. Once they reached Coach Dollar, they walked back down to Coach Arie... Sounds pretty crazy, right!? Well, it gets better... They had to repeat this for a total of 12 times!!! (see pics!)

Just out of curiousity, I thought I'd sprint up the hill, with Logan, on one of his repeats... Ouch! I got about half way there and that was it! So, first, MAJOR kudos to the ENTIRE team for participating in this event. They should all get shirts that say something like, "I survived Cougar Crest, 2010"... My goodness!!! Second, on the first repeat - i.e. the first ALL-OUT-SPRINT to Coach Dollar, Logan was one of the top 5 runners there. (But wait, it gets better!) Logan was the second runner to FINISH all 12 repeats!!! He was on FIRE! I have NO clue how he (or the rest of the boys) do it! They are MACHINES! Oh, and thankfully mother-nature decided to blow some sprinkling clouds over head with some cool wind while all this was going on. It really helped. Thanks God/mother-nature!

Well, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing the bean bag toss game, Corn Hole (I know, bad name, fun game)... We then cooked up hot dogs for dinner. After that we had a closing campfire with great, motivational speeches from Coach Dollar and Coach Arie - followed by SMORES and a game of 'Mafia' (something to do with cards and the boys and stories and it was pretty well narrated by one of the Chaffron brothers - the one with the blood on him from the other blog a few nights back)...

All-in-all the boys were AMAZING! It was definitely a good time for them to bond, learn, grow, set goals for the year, work out, and have a GREAT time!

Enjoy the pics and the next blog will be back to Tamara! ;-)

Todd



Keeping it clean...



Logan at bedtime last night...



The boys before running up Cougar Crest (yikes!)




And they're off! Go guys!!!



Logan Kicking BUTT on the Repeats! Hey, that trail is STEEP!




Logan with his Victory Chocolate Milk!



A bonus Raven (those birds are quite large)




A bonus Damsel fly!

Capo High Altitude Training Pt 2

Hello Blog-o-sphere! Todd here, guest blogging again. I've got an update for Monday and Tuesday for ya... Once again the pics are at the bottom of this blog (limited connectivity up here)...

Monday was great fun. We had bagels, muffins, fruit, cereal, and more for breakfast. The boys then went for a 40 minute run. Then they came back and had free time followed by lunch - more fruit, sandwhiches, peanut butter, jelly, and all sorts of other assorted snacks.

We then took the boys down to the parking lot by the lake for games. The boys were wild. As you can see by one of the pics below, Dollar and Arie even had a match of 'flags'. It was epic. Arie won this year's match (Dollar won last years).

After games, the boys had a short amount of free-time and then went for another run. While they were out, the dads cooked up carne asada for dinner.

The evening finished up with gnats at sunset (see pic), campfire, birthday cake for Mr. Wilson (Keegan's dad) (Happy 50th Mr Wilson!), and general fun time.

Tuesday was mostly a repeat of Monday, however today we had the Corn Hole tournament! (See various pics below). For such a simple game, it is SOOO much fun! We will definitely be buying this one for the Haser family! Logan and I teamed up and made it to the second (of 3) rounds. Our second game was sooooo close! It was tons of fun.

Anyhow, off to the campfire! Maybe one more tomorrow or a final one in a couple of days.

P.S. Logan and I miss you Family! xoxoxo



Big Bear Lake!



Logan chill-ax'ing...



Dollar and Arie facing off!



Jared vs. the Gnats (gnats won)...



Breakfast...



Leg lift competition (Logan was one of the top 4!!! The other 3 were seniors!)



Dollar got some down time! (but not much!)



Corn Hole Competition pic 1



Corn Hole Competition 2



Corn Hole Competition 3

Capo Cross Country High Altitude Training Summer Camp

Well - that's quite a long title... Hi everyone. This is Todd. I'm guest blogging this week. Due to short laptop battery life, these guest posts will be brief... So here's a quick recap of our journey yesterday with pics at the end - enjoy!

Yesterday (Sunday), Logan and I left for Big Bear Lake with the Capo Valley High Cross Country Team for High Altitude Training. Tamara and Krystin dropped us off at Capo. We got on the bus and made the trek up to big bear. The bus driver got lost so we booted him out and Logan drove the rest of the way (see the pic). We got to camp. Roll was taken. Snacks were eaten. Then games were played....

New paragraph for the game portion. The boys were playing this game with snippets of hoses where they form a circle (see pics below) with each boy holding hoses in either hand.. The object is to be the last man with hoses. The game was going along and the boys were being boys when all of the sudden the Dana girls Cross Country team walked by on the road below. Our boys suddenly were feral! Blood was spilled! It got intense. But, it was all in good fun and no one was 'too' hurt.

We had a great carnitas dinner and then a fun campfire. The boys played 'Chubby Bunny' (see pic) - and it was hilarious. Young Hurley broke a new record for number of marshmellows in his mouth. I think it was 14! We were so excited that we cheered soo loud - that the camp ranger lady came and told us to pipe down (it was only 8:30, heck)...

Then we slept... The end of Sunday! More later... Enjoy the pics!



Mom and Krytin saying bye...


Logan Drove the bus and got us to the campsite!



Dollar took roll and layed out the rules!



We built our tent...



Boys played games (boys were boys)...



Some got hurt - and manned up about it! (I missed the shot were he used his own blood as war paint, unfortunately)




We had a camp fire and played Chubby Bunny - Young Hurley set a new record for 14 marshmellows!

Watch your step...

The last couple of weeks there have been
"Shark Sitings" just South of us..
Sharks are kind of common, I guess,
but Great White Sharks that are BIG and close to shore, not so much.
Now, the odds of a Great White killing someone near here are very low. One every 50 years, and the last was in 2008, so the odds are really low that 'we' would be next, but...
I have been a little extra 'concerned' lately
Todd thinks I am silly.
I think I am just 'cautious'...
Anyhow, we had a date with the ocean last Wednesday
Logan has his Cross Country training at the beach on Weds,
(Krystin trains with the boys on this day)
which means Todd and I can play in the ocean and go body boarding.
This week, I was a little worried, just a little...

The kids doing 'Yoga' before the run


After we arrived at the beach...
I scanned the horizon and
I see this creature swimming in toward the shore...
I was like, "Todd, What is that?"...
We both watched as it got closer, it was a Seal?!
I have NEVER seen a Seal at this beach before!
And the little Water-dog was just happily playing in the surf with the surfers...
and All I could think was -
GREAT! Shark Bate!
They always say Sharks attack humans cause they LOOK like seals....
Well, here is an actual seal in the middle of the waves along with the humans...
I looked at Todd, and asked if he thought it was still safe?!
He assured me he was NOT worried...
I requested that he at least say a little prayer that Sharks wouldn't eat us.
He obliged me.
After the prayer,
I mentioned to him that we should have included stingrays too!
He laughed at me....
I mean it was probably about 57degrees in the water (COLD)
and stingrays Like the warmer tides...

Well, anyhow, we decided to brave the icy cold seas...
and headed out!
I was still looking for fins on the horizon,
and I saw a bunch of dolphins,
and hoped they were keeping away the sharks!
Todd was slightly ahead of me on this journey.
I mean if he was so sure no sharks were going to attack he can go FIRST!
So, he was wading out and looking back at me and then ...
It looked as though something grabbed him and he went down!
EEK!
Luckily, It was only a STINGRAY!
A super painful stingray, but you know compared to a shark?
We were in for maybe 10 minutes and had to rush him over to the Life guard station (even though he protested he was fine as blood poured out of his ankle).

The Lifeguards were awesome.
Apparently, it is VERY important to submerge the sting site in the hottest possible water immediately after the sting... Because, there is a bacteria laden venom that is injected into you when you are stung and the hot water will draw it out...
The runners were all worried

(Those are smiles of concern, really!)
and then they took Todd away from me for an hour!

Cute - Lifeguard JEEP!
I was a little worried, but he had his phone and kept me posted.
Todd lived and when he came back from the Lifeguard hub,
he even wanted to play in the water with me.
He is SO brave!
So, remember when you are in the water -
SHUFFLE YOUR FEET!
He had to get a tetanus shot as well,
and his ankle is pretty purple, but he is hanging tough!

In other news -

All three kids registered for high school classes last week.
Of course they all were assigned DIFFERENT days to do so... GRRR
But, they all were able to get the classes they wanted and they are happy.
Aren't they Cute?!

I sure LOVE these kids!

They are NOT only cute, but smart too!
They ALL tested in the Advanced level in EVERY subject!
Woo-HOO Kayla, Logan and Krystin!

Todd and Logan will be heading off to Cross Country High Altitude training tomorrow, so maybe if we are lucky we will have a guest blogger when they return. I am sending the camera with Todd! I can't wait to hear about the fun they have!

Sleep? nah...

In the end,
Life is merely a culmination of the memories that you have.

For better or worse sometimes, true enough.
But, to miss the opportunity to 'create'
an incredible memory to me
would be rather sad.
Thus,
With every moment
a Cherished memory is just waiting
to be created and experienced -
so - Why Sleep?!

Ever since I was very little, I have loved being outside.
I just feel at peace surrounded by nature!
My favorite time of day is as the Sun sets,
it has been since I can remember.
It is Magical.
What else is magical to me?
The night sky.
The vastness of it.
Looking deep into the night sky,
is a kin to looking into the eternities.
It is infinite, like life.
Beautiful, like life...
Has rules and boundaries, like life
and can be unpredictable. like life...

Anyhow, I diverge, which is just me...
Some of my fondest memories are of laying on a blanket,
up in the mountains, and staring into the night sky...
I could stare for hours!

I had been expressing to Todd my great desire to take the kids to the mountains to see a meteor shower. He told me he would keep his eyes open for a good one. Well, this week he informed me there was supposed to be an excellent meteor shower on Thursday night. Of course with the peak viewing time between 3-4am. Todd is kind of on 'crunch' time (between two projects), but being the wonderful man that he is... He agreed to give up sleep and take us to 'create' wonderful memories... He did try to find a 'close' location to view from, but when we went there it just wasn't on a mountain and not right. So, at 11:30pm we drove up to Mount Baldy and parked in the parking lot of the ski slopes at the top. It was an incredibly beautiful night, not too cold. The sky was brilliant with stars, the air crisp and fresh, and the children were in awe. We watched for shooting stars 'til the early hours of the morning and got home around 4:30am. Todd did take a little nap in the car while we were watching. It was really beautiful to experience the joy that our children found in the night sky as well.

I so wanted to take pics of the kids sitting around staring at the sky, but the flash would have just been rude, so I refrained til we headed home in the car.

I am thankful for a wonderful Family!

That are a joy to create memories with! (:

We were all a little tired and cranky yesterday, but it was SOO worth it!

Bonus: Logan's hair cut

Before


After

Run-baby-run!

Logan and Krystin have been running their booties off!

A perk of living in So Cal.
Once a week the boys run at the beach,
this week Krystin joined them!



The boys had a race!
Logan finished in the top 10!
He was awesome!

After the race (bare foot)

Runners do REQUIRE maintenance though...

Logan brought entertainment

Chuck working hard on KC

KC - You ok?


Oh good!

Well, other than being tired, because she went to a sleep over
with her friends from church last night!

Thank you Chuck -
For fixing up my kiddos - AGAIN!

Sunshine through the Haze...

We have all heard the saying ~

'It is sometimes hard to see the forest through the trees!"
Well, since there isn't really a 'forest' around here
I thought that the saying
"It is sometimes hard to see the sunshine through the haze"
would be more appropriate
(despite obvious missed correlations, you get the idea)...

Really, truly it has been beautiful here lately.
Mid 70's, cool breezes, sweet smelling air...
Yet, often as the haze of the early morning
can amplify and almost blind you
if the sun's rays hit just the right angle
the beauty of the moment can be missed....

I have found myself consumed with details,
every minute seems to hinge on the next...
To the extent that I am having a hard time just enjoying the now...

I know that the chaos that is now, is also filled with wonderful memories.
It is often hard when life gets to busy to appreciate all that is around you.

So, this post is about the beauty and fun that is around me,
that I most assuredly am not appreciating enough!

Todd knew I was feeling a little over-scheduled
and needed a little down time.
He is good like that.
He knows there isn't much that makes me happier then getting away from everything and just enjoying being outside surrounded by nature!
Awww the sound of the birds, the wind blowing through the trees...
and of course this:
His sweet smile

Definitely made me feel better
(at least til Monday hit full force)

Cuddles are good too

One other thing that I love is that he can totally make me laugh, when he wants too!

You see this pretty little pond?

I have been hearing the story about this pond since...
uhhm... I think it was our 2nd date.

When Todd was a little boy...
He was at this very pond with his Mommy
He saw those very big and impressive Lily-pads...
Well, he must have thought he had a little "Toad" in him, heehee
and tried to walk on them...
Well, you can imagine how the story ended...
With Todd in swimming lessons shortly thereafter!
I love it! So funny, and classic boy!

Todd 're-enacting' that fateful moment...
Well, I so wanted to nudge him for the full effect,
but decided that probably wouldn't be the best choice...

It was a bit warm...

We checked out some amazing trees too!

Thank you Todd - Love you!

As of the end of last week Krystin was focused on Surfing...




Todd and Logan being supportive!

Well, while she LOVES surfing
and plans on continuing to learn...
She decided that she REALLY wanted ...
to be part of the Cross Country team.
Actually, that was her dream last year before she got sick!

She started with the team on Saturday
(Mind you she hasn't been training at all, and they have all summer)
and she ran 7 miles, and has been averaging about 5 miles a day since.
She is pretty sore, but is holding up amazingly well!
She LOVES the team!
The best part is she will be at meets with her brother,
and their schedules will align and not be opposite, as they would have been!
YAY for that!

After running!

Look at that smile!

New friends!

Logan has been very supportive of her too!
He has been trying to help her train!
I am very proud of you guys!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to my Cousin's daughter's wedding...
Traffic was a killer
(over 2 and half hours to go 60 miles on the freeway)
You have to LOVE the traffic in CA!
But it was beautiful!

Claude and his daughter Jennifer


Jennifer and Justin
Congratulations!


My Uncle Bill, cousin Nikki, and her super cute boy Jake were there too!

I went with my Mom

It was a beautiful wedding!

Jake was teething!

Such a happy, sweet little man.

I am not sure if any of this is coherent.
My head is spinning!

Bonus: Smores-Brownie Bars- YUMMMY