Race Day - Marina del Rey Today!

Race day today!  We headed to Marina del Rey for the day bright and early this morning, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that the days of sleeping in are over for me for a long long long time considering we left the house at 5:30am, oh good morning.  We decided to live life on the edge when we pulled into a parking lot where the parking meter for all of the parking spots was broken, we risked free parking for a large donation to the City, lucky for us we did not get a ticket.  As usual we did not pack light, we had our wagon, chairs, paddles, cooler, scooter, beach tent and who knows what else, but we were prepared for pretty much anything ( I think the Sheriff was even packing heat as well, cause you never know when you might need a gun at the beach, smh).  Mr. Pie spent the day puppy sitting again, he did a great job, he is such an AWESOME kid who loves all creatures and they love him.  Everyone tells us that he "needs" a puppy and I am quick to say he has two at home and no he is not getting a puppy anytime soon, the thought of a puppy makes me hyperventilate.  Today marks a milestone for me in this paddling sport that has taken over my life, today I paddled an entire race, meaning no steering was done (I got to leave that up to someone else), I know this is not a big deal to some, but when you steer the boat you try and paddle as much as you can but your focus is on so many things that you do not get the full experience, so today my big backside sat in seat 5 and I paddle 12 miles, it was pretty awesome, nice little accomplishment for myself, silly I know, I am not sure how are boat did, I was too tired to check that out.  I only took two pictures today, one of the broken parking meter just in case we needed to fight a parking ticket and one of Mr. Pie passed out in the car, dude, that kid was OUT, lol, I take so many pictures of all of the activities that we do and it can be kind of overwhelming at times, so today I decided to be present and live in the moment, so I left my phone in my backpack and decided to remember the memories in my head without feeling the need to post them on Facebook or Instagram. 

Sammy's owner took this picture, so cute.

The look of a really dirty/tired kid who was only able to stay awake for a few minutes, once we got on the freeway he was out for the next 2 hours which included picking up Gracie and getting dinner.

We had a great day, I know I sound like a broken record, cause every post includes that phrase, but seriously, knock on wood, we don't have bad days together. 

We NEVER Stop!

We never stop is an understatement.  I was lucky enough to have a four day weekend and I spent three of those with the Sheriff and Mr. Pie.  On Friday, the three of us were invited to go to an Angel game with one of Mr. Pie's classmates and his parents, we had really good seats in right field and we got their early enough to watch the two teams warm up.  Mr. Pie darn near took a fly ball to the head and I was pretty much freaked out the entire time that we were going to get hit during the warm-up.

These boys were so excited to be at the game.

My guy and I.

They ate this in like 3 seconds.

Saturday the three of us headed to the Irvine Regional Park to do research for Mr. Pie's school project, we decided to take our bikes because we thought it might be easier to get around the park on bikes vs. walking. While there we hit up the Nature Center and OC Zoo (best little Zoo I have even been too and $2 a person), we did not do the pony rides or train, but it would of been fun and since we brought our own bikes, we did not need to rent any.  I have to say that this place was awesome, there was a lot of very inexpensive family friendly activities for everyone to enjoy.  After we were done checking it out, we played Volleyball in the park and headed off to Hobby Lobby so we could get the necessary supplies for the project we needed to create. 

There was a great bike path and we were able to ride all over the park.

They had volunteers walking around with little critters for everyone to pet.

 

This is our project, I think it turned out pretty good.

Sunday the Sheriff went paddling, so Mr. Pie and I rode our scooters down at the beach and grabbed breakfast at Proud Mary's.  We like to play hangman while waiting for our food.  Mr. Pie wanted to go to Doheny and climb on jetty, so I incorporated that into our hangman game.

It was a beautiful day in Dana Point.

This is how we roll on Sunday's.

We had a wonderful weekend together, life continues to get better and better everyday and I could not be happier. 

Santa Barbara - Rig Run Weekend

Saturday was the 2014 Rig Run in Santa Barbara, why they call it the Rig Run anymore is beyond me, cause we do not paddle out to the Rigs so perhaps it should be renamed the Santa Barbara Run, cause all we do is run run run all weekend long.  

Friday I left work at 2pm and met up with the Sheriff, it was a blazing 100+ degrees out and I had not had lunch (bad bad bad idea), so we stopped for Jamba Juice as we picked up Mr. Pie and headed up to SB.  During our first Santa Barbara adventure, I randomly found a Community Center in Thousand Oaks to stop at to use the bathroom and let Milo out to run around, so now we exit the freeway there each trip.  This time we did not stop at the Community Center instead we stopped at the Thousand Oaks Mall to grab dinner and to stretch our legs and we have decided this is our stopping place from now on, it just seems to work out perfectly for all of us.  We arrived to our no tell motel around 8:30pm, unpacked a little and crashed by 9:30pm.  Milo the giant German Shepard was with us and he enjoyed jumping on the beds, but ultimately ended up sleeping with me, I think I have officially made it into his inner circle. We were up early and out the door by 6am, a healthy breakfast of Starbucks and egg sandwiches from Carl's Jr. fueled our bodies for race day (I do not recommend going that route).  I paddled in a coed boat this race, I seriously love coed boats, I had a great crew who paddled their a$$'s off and gave it their all the entire time.  Our boat came in 4th place, we just missed 3rd place by 13 seconds, doh.  The Sheriff's boat on the other hand came in DEAD LAST aka there was no one behind them or as some like to refer it to as DFL, from the stories I have heard there were two people on board that just could not get along and it really messed everything up and by the look and emotion displayed by the Sheriff he was MAD.  I felt bad for the four other paddlers that were stuck in the middle of all of the fighting, hopefully the next race will be better.  More importantly (since we drag him to all of the races), Mr. Pie had the time of his life, he was lucky enough to puppy sit for a gal on our team who just adopted a seven week old Golden Retriever puppy.  Mr. Pie took his job very seriously, listened to all of the rules for the puppy and made sure puppy was safe while her owner was out on the water and made a little $$$ for his handwork and responsibility, the Sheriff and I were so proud of him.  After the races we stayed at the beach, the weather was perfect all day and we had just a great time hanging out and hoping to win a prize from the raffle. One of the Sheriff's friends had suggested a restaurant to go eat at so we went to Brophy Brothers right at the Harbor next to our race site, it was really good but a little pricey.  We left SB after dinner and got home around 9pm, it was a long day and we were all so tired, so it was nice to be home.  Bright and early Sunday morning the Sheriff convinced me to get up and go help rig the boats, I so did not want to but it was the right thing to do.  We got coffee and headed to the beach, it was really nice out and all of our friends were there, so I am very glad I went.   We grabbed lunch at another place the Sheriff's friend suggested (I swear this guy is a walking restaurant guide and I told the Sheriff that we need a list of places to eat at while we are in Hawaii from him), we ate and headed home, the Sheriff started his new shift tonight 6:30pm to 6:30am so he needed to nap before heading to work.  I ran a few errands and then went shopping at the Irvine Spectrum, I was able to find a few things for work and a couple items for summer and our Hawaii trip.  

I did not take a lot of pictures this time, so weird for me.  These are best I got…..

The dork I am thought this was very cool!

The no tell motel was very orange and yes, that is Mr. Pie's blankie and stuffed turtle "cutie".

My bed buddy.

We do not travel light; cooler, skateboard, paddles, sun shade, snacks, towels, chairs, etc.

Mr. Pie and Sammi the pup.

Paddling, Birthday's & Cute Kids!

Yesterday was the first race of the season, it was a beautiful day down in San Diego's Mission Bay and the race day festivities did not disappoint.  The race started off a bit bumpy, it took us 45 minutes to paddle to the start line and we spent 30 of the 45 minutes battling large swell just to make it out there and I have to say I am shocked that we did not flip over.  We had a strong crew, but we kind of lost our power towards the end, which was a bummer cause several boats passed us right at the finish line, but we had a good time and that is all that matters.

My crew! Debra, Me, Ricki, Diana, Melanie and Heather.

The novice heading out to their first race.

The Sheriff asked me to pick up his new race jersey's and being the nice/kind/thoughtful person I am I did.  Well, I guess I forgot to pack myself a dry shirt for after the race, so lucky for me I had two of his to choose from.  I sent him this picture while he was a work and told him it looked better on me than him, I don't think he agreed with me.

After the race, I headed home, showered and headed to the parents house to celebrate Cole's birthday along with my brother in law Mike's birthday and since we were all together we threw in Mother's Day.  We had a really nice time, Kathy made our favorite enchilada's and Super Mom made the birthday cake.

C & M strike a pose.

I LOVE them!

The girls were just as excited to watch Cole open his presents as he was to get them, so cute.

Seriously, how cute is she?

This picture was taken right as Mari ran up to me and gave me a hug thanking me for the gift I gave Cole, she them proceeded to tell me that I was "the best Auntie in the whole wide world" and then of course I told her I would buy her a pony.

He is seriously the sweetest boy, I wanted to hug and kiss him all night long.

after all the singing was done, Mari and I took a gazillion selfies, she is AWESOME.

AND to my M O M……

Your the bestest ever and I LOVE you so much.

I also know Gracie was saying this too.

Happy Mother's Day!

Something new from something old!

This poor blog has been neglected a lot lately but lets be real do you all want to read my weekly updates where I recount everything I did, probably not unless your my Mom and even then she would probably like a phone call from me instead of a blog post in her inbox.  Just in case you said "yes" to that question, sorry, to bad, I am not gonna do that tonight.  So let's take a trip down memory lane, oh about five years ago I had hip surgery, nothing major, you know just where they put your hip/leg in traction, separate the joint, remove extra bone, clean up torn cartilage while dodging major arteries and nerves and put you back together again like it was no big deal and then send you home with rehab papers cause you are now going to have to do 14 weeks of physical therapy that you swore you would never do, cause physical therapy is for those who are weak and don't have the mental toughness to recover from said surgery.  Ya, that was me 5 years ago.  I had pretty much convinced myself that I did not need physical therapy to recovery from this and that I would only go knowing that I could quit at any time and would probably go once or twice and would learn everything I needed too in a short period of time.  So being the responsible patient that I am I googled physical therapy offices in RSM since I was starting a new job there a few days later.  The first search option I clicked on had some creepy guy on it, so I vetoed them right away, I clicked on the next option, they looked normal so I called them up, signed up and was there a few days later.  I went, it was tough and after a week of pain, a new job and physical therapy they broke me, I cried, it hurt so bad and I knew at that moment I needed this.  I stuck it out for 14 weeks, 3 times a week for an hour each time.  So where am I going with this great story you are probably wondering, well I made friends with these people and I see them from time to time here and there and I really like them.  Well, the other day my friend Kris was telling me about the pilates place she goes to and I was intrigued cause a girl I paddle with is doing her pilates training right now and is offering DOCC club members a super cheap rate to train with her as she builds her hours.  So Kris and I talk and talk about it, I go on Groupon and there is my Physical Therapy place offering a really good deal for classes at their place, so I buy the Groupon, call them up, schedule my first private lesson, go to it on my lunch hour and I LOVE IT.  See I was a bit nervous going to one of those fancy studios with everyone in their perfectly fake OC bodies, tan skin and should be on the Facebook page "fit girls", where I just would not fit in, so I am so glad my physical therapy place has started offering pilates in a non-intimidating environment and it also makes it easier knowing a lot of people who work there, so I felt a lot more confident walking in to a new activity that I knew very little about.  I am now hooked, I want to go as many times a week that I can, but it is EXPENSIVE, so I am trying to figure things out, so I can keep going for awhile since I am on a mission to wear shorts this summer and feel ok in a bathing suit.  Operation #byebyethunderthighs and #tiptopshapein2014 has begun.

It almost happened to us - A tale of a very close call!

May is National Water Safety Month.  Year after year I preach about how people need to watch their kids in the pool, how dangerous water wings are and pool fences are a must.   Well, after all of that preaching let’s just say that pool tragedy almost happened to us.  A few days after Caroline’s 3^rd birthday, Ryan and Shannon had a little family party for her at the parent’s house, Cole was sick, so the only kids in attendance were Mari, Mr. Pie and Caroline.  The kids were having a great time in the backyard running around, playing with the dog, etc. as all of the adults were sitting in the house chit chatting just a few feet away from them but just out of our line of sight.  As we adults sat back and laughed I caught Mari out of the corner of my eye running on the pool deck, I freaked out, jumped up and ran outside only to find all three kids playing on the pool deck inches from the pool.  Freaked out I yelled at them to get out of there and proceeded to lecture them about how kids are not allowed to open the gate and play on the pool deck.  Years ago (when Mari was baby) I caught Cole dragging a step stool over to the gate and attempting to pull the top knob up to open the gate and at that moment we made a rule that children are not allowed to open the gate and to this day Cole still asks before opening it when swimming.   Mr. Pie was the one who opened it, it was not his fault we never told him the rule and the natural curiosity of water probably drove him to do it and Mari and Caroline followed him in there.  Now the good news is no one fell in and all three children know how to swim, even little Caroline who has been taking swim lessons for two + years.   The bad news is that all of the adults were just a few feet away and had no idea what was going on, all we knew was the kids were playing together and there was a fence around the pool so no need to worry, right?  WRONG.  There is a lock and key on the gate that we were not using assuming that the kids knew the rules and we did not need to lock it.  The fence and gate are only good enough when used properly with all of the safety features.  The what-if’s still haunt me.  What if Caroline did not know how to swim and she fell in, would we hear her or would the other kids come and get us?  What if there were other kids there that were just friends and we did not know their swimming abilities and one of them fell in?  What if there were younger siblings of Caroline or Mr. Pie that were just learning to walk and we thought they were safe playing with the older kids.  Seriously, the what-if’s that night made me crazy and two months later I still feel the panic and anxiety I did that day when I think of what could have happened.  Ever since that day every time the kids come over the gate is locked and the key put in a spot that even I do not know where it is located, in a sense I am glad this happened, it made all of us more aware of how accidents can happen in a blink of an eye.  We were lucky that is was just a “close call”, but the next time we might not be so lucky and for another family this just might be their tragedy.  Now that the weather is getting warmer it is time to brush up on your CPR skills and take a refresher course; Ryan, Shannon, the Sheriff and I are lucky that our employers pay for and provide this for us each year, but not everyone is so lucky.  Please please please watch your kiddo’s and make sure the gate is locked, closed is not good enough as we found out. 

Probably one of my all time favorite photo's of this girl.

Don't you just want to jump in with them?  

Please share this post with your friends, you just might save a life.

www.nationalwatersafetymonth.org

www.redcross.org