Avon Walk 2008

I did it and with help from a lot of people!!! I was amazed at all the people that helped me participate in this walk. I want to start by thanking all of you because I would not be able to share this experience without you :)

What a great cause for an awful disease. I read and heard so many amazing stories during the walk! Many times it was hard to hold back the tears. So many people have been affected and we are still so far it seems to a solution. My blisters and sore muscles pale in comparison to what these cancer people and families have gone through. I will do this walk again next year and I will push harder and longer for more support! Watch out family and friends, lol!!!!

I have so much to share about the walk it is hard to find a starting point. I will start with the pics so they make sense when you look at them. The pics of Mike and the girls sleeping is the morning of the first walk, 5am. I had to have pics of the family with me so I could peek at them every so often to boost me up :) I love my family!

The first 10 miles seemed to fly by and I thought for sure I could at least make it until the 20 miles marker. My girlfriend Jennifer that came on this journey with me was great inspiration and kept us moving. We had some funny times like the crazy Santa cheering us on and quite moments as your walking past slower walkers and reading on their shirts why they are walking. Lots of survivors and lots of daughters. We actually met a male med student that has no one to walk for but wanted to walk to help raise awareness. Lots of men on the walk and lots of cheerleaders that for what ever the reason couldn't walk. We had one young lady that parked off the side of the road and would play some great tunes and dance for you as you went by. She was alone but motivated to keep you going, she did it for two days and was having the time of her life. We had a cowboy dance on top of his car to keep the ladies in good spirits!!!!! We made it to the 20 miles marker and I knew it was time to call it a day. Jennifer kept going for us and we cheered her on as she came through the finish line at the Wellness camp! Way to Go!!!

I walked 20 miles day one and the full 13 miles the second day. It was a great experience and I can't wait to do it all over again next year ;)

Thank you Mike and Mamasita for bringing the girls out to cheer me on. I know they can be a HANDFUL right now, it means the world to me! And a BIG thank you to my friend Jennifer that stayed with me through the event! xoxo :)

check out the pics here:

http://avonwalk08.shutterfly.com/

Oh and one more thing that needs a little explaining...

If you have not already looked at the pictures you will notice a little misspelling. I don't recommend writing anything at 5am. It was not brought to my attention until half way through the first days walk that I forgot to put the "R" at the end of "cancer" on my dedication label. So Jennifer and I got to talking and maybe instead for calling "cancer, cancer" we start qualifying it is "Canoe" because that is what I wrote! I kinda like that..."I walk for everyone dealing with Canoe", sounds much better and it a great conversation starter, lol!!!!!

This walk was dedicated to everyone dealing with CANCER!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

We had so much fun visiting with family for Grandpa's Birthday. The girls were having a blast exploring and seeing new things like the cool Praying Mantis that lives in Grandma Kay's garden.

Grandpa Bruce was getting a kick out of Macy and Remy's obsession with tomatoes, sorry there are no more tomatoes, green ones included left on your plants Grandpa :) Oh and lets not forget the good eats! Can we say "Ring-O-Fire"!!!! Yowza, lol. Grandma Kay looked great and recovering beautifully! Thanks again everyone for a great celebration!

You can check out more pics here:
http://grandpabday.shutterfly.com/

Got Fleas?

What a weekend!!!! If you have ever had fleas you know what a pain it is to get rid of them. The infestation seemed to happen over night. One day we were in and the next day we were out. Thankfully we were able to crash our Henton friends house Friday night and Nana and Pops house Saturday night. Thank you , thank you, thank you!!!

We had to bomb the house twice and ended up calling FleaBusters! Turns out this is the worst year in 20 years for fleas. It has been reported that even if you treat your animals with Advantage and Frontline it is a crap shoot. Nothing really seems to work like it did and it doesn't help when you have opossums living under your house. The humidity levels have also been through the roof in the beach communities and we have been hit the hardest. Some of my friends don't even have pets and they are dealing with this issue too!

I got some great advice from the FleaBusters people. They recommend using Avon Skin So Soft Body Oil to keep the fleas off you and your little ones. They also recommend women boost up there vitamin B intake. Apparently women tend to be a little more deficient than men. Another great product they recommend for babies is Water Babies sunscreen. We have been using the sunscreen and it seems to be working great for now. We should be totally flea free in a few days after they run their cycle!!!

It has been really hard having your house invaded and feeling totally displaced. Next year we will make sure we do more in preventative maintenance because no one should know this much about these disgusting little creatures!!!!!

Despite all the craziness we had some great visits with family and friends and in the end that is all that matters :)

Walking for a Cure

As most of you know Kay has been fighting against cancer for many years and this year I have decided to walk in her honor. Please check out my Avon Walk Personal Page for details. And please send her your best, right now she is recovering at home from her latest surgery, biopsy and cancer removal. She is doing well and resting at home.

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2008/LosAngeles?px=3702623&pg=personal&fr_id=1650&et=4gL63PFvjGlzk3Wfsio-eg..&s_tafId=281015

The funny things we do...

Remy loves to play dress up with all mommy's scarfs and discovering life through new angles. 

Macy has this fascination right now with pointing. Not sure what she is pointing at but maybe she knows something we don't.

Mammoth Lakes, Ca

What a whirl wind weekend, literally. Our trip to Mammoth Lakes was one to remember. Grandma Suzanne, Mommy, Macy and Remy, no papa on this trip...girls only!!!

We had lots of firsts for the girls. They did their first McDonalds breakfast in Mojave, no road trip is complete without a fast food fix! Remy had fun running around all the tables and bugging the bikers, pretty funny! Macy was content sharing Grandma's breakfast.

The girls did really good for their first 5+hr road trip. We had to stop a few times at the rest stops so they could stretch their little legs and as always they brought lots of smiles to everyone that saw them. We stopped in Bishop for a picknic lunch at the park. Grandma got a good work out lugging the girls to and from the car. She was a trooper but payed the price later.

We stayed at Snow Creek Resort. It was perfect. Large open spaces for the girls to run around in and hard wood floors perfect for their toy cars...varoom, varoom!!!

We headed out on Sunday for some sight seeing but got stuck in some crazy wind storms. I have never seen it so windy before. We decided to head back to the resort and call it a day. Didn't want the girls to blow away!

Monday we headed back around 9:30am and of course it was so beautiful outside, not even a breeze. We said "Good Bye" to Mammoth and set off on the old 395 back to LA.

One of the funniest things we discovered on this road trip is the mellowing effects of the sound track from "O Brother Where art Thou - Down to the River to Pray". Every time we played it when the girls were getting fussy they calmed right down...it worked every time, no joke! Another really funny thing that happened on this trip is the discovery of parking lots. At one point both girls were super fussy and I thought maybe a diaper change was in order the only place I had to pull off was at the Crystal Geyser Water Plant, see pic. Grandma said that Remy's eyes opened up super wide as soon as she saw all the space to explore. They had more fun in this gigantic parking lot than in any of the amazing playgrounds we stopped at. This just goes to show you that you never know what is going to spark a little ones interest!

Thanks Grandma for sharing your weekend with us. We had a great time and look forward to another vacation, maybe a little closer to home, hehehe :)

pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYtHDds1YsWTow