One Happy Little Family: Jess, Christel, Elijah and Cooper

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Hood to Coast!!!

What an amazing experience. I cannot even begin to describe the emotions that go into this 198 mile relay. Think of an emotion, it was felt by someone, if not everyone, at some point during this event. Between the fear of failure, the pain throbbing through legs and feet, the heartache of missing loved ones, the joy of reminiscing, the humor in conversation from lack of sleep, the excitement of being there, the pride in accomplishment, and the sense of togetherness from family and friends who are now family. What a powerful event and weekend!

After dropping the boys off with my parents at Jess's aunt, uncle, and grandparents house, we met up with our team, Soul to Sole, at the airport in Portland, OR. After introductions, we were off to the mountain. The trip up seemed to take forever, we did have to drive half-way up Mt. Hood afterall, we made it to the Resort on the Mountain. We checked in a quickly made a mad dash for dinner before the restaurant closed, then it was off to bed!

~~Bright and early,~~ wait, let me rephrase that, EARLY Friday morning we were off the starting line. With our 7:30 start time, we had to be there by 6:30 to check in and get ready for the next adventure.

Anna and Raleigh ready to head out

Jess and I ready to make tracks for the top of Mt. Hood.

I was the first runner and was nervous and scared, but totally pumped to be starting our team down the mountain. We had time for a team picture at the starting line.

Team Soul to Sole: Ashley, Kelly, Raleigh, Jess, Dan,
Chantelle, Sheila, Christel, Bekki, Brandi, Anna, Jill

Shortly before 7:30, it was time for each Leg 1 runner to head out to the starting line. At this point, my heart was racing so fast I think I could have flown down the mountain. For me, I think I actually did!

And we're off!!!
You can see me if you look hard. I am just above the girl with the curly hair, I'm in the gray shirt and black hat.

Dan and Chantelle at the top

Raleigh and Anna

Holy smokes! Almost at the end of my first leg.
5.6 miles and 53 minutes later, I'M DONE!!!

I didn't realize just how difficult it would be to remember to take pictures along the route. Between trying to watch for and remember to have a bottle of water for the runner coming in, getting ready for the runner going out, etc., remembering where the camera IS, and to turn it on seemed to prove more challenging than I expected. I wish I had more pictures to choose from...definitely a learning experience!

Here comes Anna into exchange #2, ready to hand off to Jill.

Here comes Jill!

Ashley is ready for her first leg!

We stopped to decorate the vans and cheer on Ashley, too.

Might as well get a picture of us! We aren't too tired or sore yet...

Kathy met Ashley just down from us and jogged with her for couple minutes.

So sweet!

Chantelle and her whistle....

Here comes Jess!!!

Raleigh and I are waiting at exchange #11 for Dan to come in.

This exchange was crazy busy! Only a time keeper and the runner could actually be at the exchange.

After the longest 7.6 miles of my life, I am almost done. It was here that I saw Aunt Darlene at the exchange and cheering me on that I lost it and broke down. I started tearing up and crying before handing the bracelet off to Anna and completely lost it once I finished. If it weren't for Uncle Darwin carrying me through, I don't know if I would have finished. I was exhausted, hotter than all get out, and ready to take a nap. I know Darwin and Connie were with us every step of the way.

Ashley and I waiting for Anna to come into the exchange.

Here's Anna!

Time for Jill to run again

Go Jill, go!

We had the coolest van ever. Except for the Taco Soup and Breakfast Burrito....

Jill and Ashley are so cute!!!! Jill just finished her final leg and Ashley was so proud of her sister.

Raleigh flying up the mountain.
I'm sure the 4am Taco Soup and Breakfast Burrito help move him up the mountain.
Toot Toot

WE'RE DONE!!!

I got one picture of a runner from the other van. GO BEKKI!!!

This is what happens when Van #1 finishes...

Go Team Soul to Sole!

We weren't allowed to take team pictures with our own cameras here.

We had an awesome team and support.

Les, Dan, Sheila, Kelly, Raleigh, Jess, Aunt Darlene, Kathy
Bobby, Christel, Chantelle, Ashley, Bekki, Jill, Anna, Brandi

And once again, TEAM #283: SOUL TO SOLE!

Can't wait until next year when we do it again!!!!

The Zoo

While Uncle Rob, Aunt Danielle, Cameron, Kendra, and Kaelyn were here, we ventured to the zoo. Of course we had a GREAT time. The kids were very excited about the animals and chasing each other around.

Cooper was having fun running back and forth across this little bridge. It was fun and totally cute.

The baby jaguars were out and offered great photo ops. Check out this little guy!

Kaelyn loved the penguins.

Eli loves his big cousin Cam and really looks up to him. It always amazes me how willing Cam is to play with and amuse his little cousins. He is such an amazing young man. I couldn't be more proud of the man he is growing up to be.

And my sweet Kendra. She is definitely a girly girl and in that pre-teen phase. She was also more than willing to play with her little cousins and carry Cooper around. What a sweet girl. She'll always be my girl.

The three biggest cousins. They're super cute!

Daddy and Eli getting ready to go feed the birds!

Cooper wasn't exactly thrilled to have a bird this close to him.
His expression didn't change much....

...espcially when this happened. This little bird flew down and kept nibbling on my cheek and necklace. Cooper was less than thrilled to have it this close - he either wanted to be put down or that thing to fly away.