Ragnar Relay!

The problem with blogging so long after an event is over (about 2 months!) is that you lose some of the memory and emotion that went with it. Maybe that's just my age, but nevertheless, here are a handful of photos from the Ragnar Relay race that Roger & I participated in along with 10 other teammates to race 202 miles across Florida from Tarpon Springs to Daytona Beach. We had no idea what to expect other than we each had to run 3 legs from 3 to 8 miles long and we wouldn't get much sleep for 36 hours. We just packed a bag with some extra clothes and a few snacks and we were off!!! The race definitely had some highs and lows. After leg 2 I was thinking "I'm never doing this again", but after leg 3 I was planning on how to improve the race experience for next year. We'll see!

Amy, Dee & I with Santa, who volunteered at the first runner exchange

Al giving Roger some support on his first leg of 8 miles

Amy, me, Dee & Mario waiting to cheer Roger on

Roger after his first 8 miles - boy was it hot that day!

Us outside of Texas Roadhouse Grill where our van ate dinner after our first legs

More pictures to come in the next post!

Mystery Night with the Sams

Some photos of our latest Mystery Night, planned by Leah & Dan. We were all picked up in taxi vans in front of Heritage Hall and transported to the Gaylord Palms where we toured the ICE exhibit (see the Lowell blog link to the right for a video that gave us a huge laugh!), searched the hotel for hidden gnomes and hung out in their hotel room. It was lots of fun!!!

Happy Birthday Grams!

Here is a picture of my grandmother, Leona, on her 93rd birthday on Nov. 13. She lives in Rapid City, SD and is one of the sweetest, thoughtful, honest, positive and witty ladies anyone will ever meet. Happy birthday Gigi! We love you!

Downtown Disney

Carly & I took a trip to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping with my friend Kristen and her daughter Addison. The girls had such a good time checking out all the toys together and Carly was very happy to have purchased a new set of potato head body parts with the money Aunt Marilyn gave her.

PTA Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser

Here are a couple pictures of the boys before they started the walk-a-thon at school. Chase ended up running 29 laps and Justin tied last year's amount of 22 (or maybe it was 23). They had a great time, but were pooped at the end! Thanks to those who pledged and helped us raise money for our school!

From Caterpillar to Butterfly!

Blake gave Justin a gold-rimmed swallowtail caterpillar for his birthday... very cool! We watched him & fed him daily until he went dormant a couple weeks later. We actually thought he had died and were planning to "get rid of him", but woke up the next morning to find him all wrapped up in his chrysalis. After two weeks, we thought he was dead again... but were elated to return from a trip to Krispy Kreme to a beautiful butterfly! We want to get another one (Blake got him at the Winter Park farmer's market) so we can watch the transformation again.

our newly hatched butterfly

We released him on the lantana in our backyard

Scouting for Food

Our family participated in the Boy Scouts of America's nationwide food collection program called Scouting for Food. Each boy in our Cub Scout pack is assigned a certain area of town to distribute food collection bags, which they tie on doorknobs. They then return a week later to collect any bags filled with donated non-perishable items. Our pack collected almost 1,000 items that will be used to feed the hungry in our area!

Chase at the Merrill's old house (now occupied by the Wetzel family)

Justin & Roger delivering bags on Golfpark

Our Den 15

Boys doing park cleanup before delivering bags

New House Color

We had our house painted recently and changed the color from a blue-ish gray to a putty color. The approved colors for our house style were limited and we didn't feel like spending lots of time trying to get a new color approved. We're happy with it!

Chase's catch

Went fishing at Lake Evalyn again and Chase caught the first fish. I think this was one of the days he stayed in his pajama shirt all day!

Aunt Marilyn Visits!

My Aunt Marilyn (my dad's sister) was attending a conference at Disney's Boardwalk Inn a couple weeks ago and had a few hours available to get together one night. We picked her up, took her to the Imperium Wine Bar, walked around downtown and went to the pumpkin patch before returning her to her hotel. It was short, but sweet!

Halloween!!

We took so many pictures on Halloween, but here are some of my favorites. Chase was a skeleton again, Justin was Elvis and Carly had three different costumes this year... batgirl, a princess and a rocker baby!

Carly as Batgirl at school w/ her friend Ryan

Jailbird daddy with Carly as a rocker baby

This is my favorite! Carly really thought Rob's costume was funny!

Osceola Cub Family Campout

Instead of going to Camp LaNoChe this year, the pack chose to attend the Osceola Cub Family Campout over at Forever Florida about an hour away. The boys participated in a campfire program, did archery & bb shooting, got to play all sorts of carnival games like balloon darts, lollipop tree, ring toss, etc and visited a small "zoo" where they saw some gators, parrots and a Florida panther. They even got to try a "barrel" bull ride made by a boy scout troop. It was a fun trip but a little too hot for late October... I think it was in the 90s!!!

Girls trip to Jacksonville

Jacksonville. Not exactly where I might have imagined taking a "girls trip" with Carly, but my college girlfriend Leslie was flying in for the night before heading north into Georgia, so we thought we'd make the trip up there for a quick visit. Leslie & I had a great time drinking wine & catching up a bit in our hotel room that night and then took Carly to the Jacksonville Zoo the next day. We only snapped one picture of us before we parted ways in the zoo parking lot, but I took lots of pictures of Carly at the zoo and all her favorite animals.

Me & Les - loved seeing her!

Les & Carly enjoying Starbucks

The animals

Carly at the Zoo

The Firemen visit Carly's coop

Our local firemen from Station 72 on Celebration Blvd paid a visit to Carly's class. The got to see the big fire truck out in the parking lot, shake hands with a fireman and wear firehats. I love the look on Carly's face while she's shaking his hand!

Green Meadows Farm

Over the course of living in Celebration, we've been to Green Meadows Farm a handful of times for birthday parties & school field trips. This time I took Carly as part of a "mommy & me" playgroup and had a great time. She loved being with her friends and visiting all of the animals. I think her favorite was holding the little baby chick & duck and riding in the wagon with Addison. Although before we went to the farm, she kept saying she couldn't wait to see the elephants. Wrong place!

Scout Field Trip to the Florida Aquarium

We took our Bear cub scout den to the Florida Aquarium to complete their "Sharing your World With Wildlife" achievement the day after Justin's birthday. This nice young woman talked to them about wildlife conservation and bird identification, helped them with a couple hands-on projects and then took them on a partial tour of the aquarium. We then got to explore the rest of the aquarium and play in their outdoor splash park for a couple hours. Think it will be on our "places to visit" list next time family comes into town... :)

Justin Turns 9

Justin turned 9 in early October and decided he wanted an ice skating party. We had some kids over for pizza, then drove to the Ice Den up at the RDV SportsPlex in Matiland for some skating and then came back home for cake & ice cream. Justin, Owen & Ryan had a BLAST ice skating and pretty much sped around the rink the whole time. The rest of Justin's friends weren't so fond of skating that long and quickly walked their achy feet to the arcade. For those who gave Justin a gift and are reading this blog, thank you so very much!!! We are terrible at thank you cards... :(

Carly & Addison

Here's Carly & Addison Tate (who she considers her best friend) at the church pumpkin patch.

My Best Friend

I wanted to post the pictures that Terri took of our family when we vacationed at the beach together this summer, but I think they might become Christmas presents, so here is a photo of Terri and I (that Ava took) instead. I love ya Terri! You're the best!

Celebration Storm Tiny Mites

I missed posting pictures from Chase's last football games, so here are a few. The Tiny Mites ended up winning their first game against Umatilla at home, which was very exciting! Then we had a REALLY close game in Ocoee that ended in a tie. And Chase missed the last game in Mt. Dora due to the flu. Bummer way to end the season, but oh well! We are so proud of him for practicing 3 days a week in full uniform in the Florida heat, for learning the rules of the game and actually paying attention to his coaches! He'll play flag football this winter and then hopefully be back to Pop Warner ready to play some more defense for the Tiny Mites in the fall. Way to go Chase!!!

Scout Field Day

Here are a few pictures from Scout Field Day in Spring Park where the boys participated in all sorts of outdoor activities like soccer, a map & compass game, knot tying, relay races, etc. Roger & I were at our triathlon, so Popi took the boys. I love the one of Chase doing the sack race!

Escape to Miami on our Anniversary

Roger & I decided to celebrate our 12th anniversary by competing in the Escape to Miami triathlon together. We had a great time, but it was a tough course! The best part was jumping off the yacht and swimming to a tiny island for the race start and the worst part was running over a seemingly long bridge after biking over 8 bridges. My legs weren't used to all those hills! We both survived the race and enjoyed the rest of the weekend napping and hanging pool & beachside in Miami Beach. Happy Anniversary honey! I love you!

Pictures are in no particular order...

Rob & Risa Wight did the race too... here's all of us afterwards!

This is the bridge the run was over (and back over too!)

I was in Rob & Risa start wave, so we hung out pre-race

Two sweaty people with their medals!

This is the bike transition area, clearing out after the race

This is how dark it was when we arrived to finish organizing our stuff

Rog coming across the finish line

(the time is not correct because the clock starts when the pros start their race)

Me coming across the finish line... so happy!