Friday, April 29, 2011

Time for some Egg Basher-ey!!

We look forward to this event each year.
It's a simple game, really.
Roll your egg towards another's egg.
They hit.
Only one cracks.
The winner moves up in the bracket.


Check out Kai's determination. Yikes!

This next picture is me, knocking out the previous champion, and while it may appear that I'm cheating being over the line so far....this was probably our 12th roll!
Sometimes the eggs don't cooperate by rolling in a straight line.

Here are some common reactions seen each year when individual's eggs are retired.



This year, however, there was a slightly more dramatic occurrence.
This next roll began a controversial, haven't-made-a-rule-for-this-yet, argument.
Kevin and Shannon had been rolling for a while and at one point, Kevin picked up his egg to roll it again and discovered a crack. Their eggs hadn't hit yet so this was probably from being slightly dropped when rolled or some kind of mysterious expansion caused by the friction of roll after roll against the carpet.

The argument started.
Kevin thought it was perfectly fair for him to grab a new egg.
Most of the crowd did not agree with this move.
"You should have to use the same egg all the way through the very end of the contest."

This was Kevin's first Egg Bash back from his mission.
I think he wanted to win pretty bad.

After a few minutes of heated discussion, Kevin was slightly defeated, not wanting to win or move on with everyone thinking he cheated.

It was up to ME to make sure Kevin's second egg did not give him the title.
And while my form is practically perfect in every way...... :)

......my beautiful, purple, argyle egg didn't have enough stamina to go up against the brave, shiny, new egg who had been sitting on the sidelines the whole time.
Dang!! I really wanted that plaque too.

Here is the beloved (to some) plaque being handed over by our 2010 Champion.
Brooklyn passes it on with a kiss.


Congratulations Kevin!!

(Our colorful egg graveyard)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Pat's Run 2011

I promised a follow up of Pat's Run and gave a hint of possibly updating this blog better with at least some favorite photos taken recently.
I have not done this and I'm sorry.
Not that any of you are hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for my next post, but I like to pretend.

I ran this race last year and did better than I thought I would, with there being so many people.
This year there were even more runners registered!!
So many that they had to have "corrals". Each corral held about 1000 runners and there were at least 28 of them. Corral 1 started and then #2 started 30 seconds after them, and so on. There were still people waiting to start when the first runners came in!

Jeff and I both ran it this year along with Jeff's brother, Shaun.

My friend, Jess, raced. As well as some of our other "Lightning Bolts" teammates.
It's so fun to go through training and races with friends rather than by yourself!

Here's the link for the results if you need proof but...

Carolyn Gardner #1081

Mesa, AZ
Age: 30 Gender: F
26:44
Distance4.2M
Clock Time27:58
Chip Time26:44
Overall Place150 / 22512
Gender Place5 / 11534
Division Place2 / 3358
Pace6:22
Crazy!! I beat last year's time by 43 seconds but I never thought that would get me a spot on the leader board. 5th female out of 11,534!........ What?!!

Jeff was running more for the cause and a recreational activity.
He did really well for someone who doesn't even like running!

Jeff Gardner #3081

Mesa, AZ
Age: 31 Gender: M
39:01
Distance4.2M
Clock Time50:13
Chip Time39:01
Overall Place5985 / 22512
Gender Place4281 / 10978
Division Place1344 / 3057
Pace9:18
Maybe we'll bring Griffin next year to run the kids' race of .42 miles. He's a speedy little guy!

Pat's Run 2012, here we come!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

"It's not cold, Mom." -- said through shivering teeth

This past Saturday Jeff and I ran Pat's Run.
(seperate post about that later)
When we got home, I wanted to put my legs in our cold pool.
The boys came out with me and wanted to take off their pants/shorts.
.......Then their shirts came off.
.....They asked to take off their underwear -- but that's where I drew the line.

Within a few minutes and using slow entry methods, Griffin, Kai, and Trey were all fully immersed.

Trey was given the "leftover" floaties and was most happy running around the edges.

Kai's favorite activity is full speed running power jumps.

Uh oh Spidey! Looks like you've got yourself in a tight spot!

We can't wait for the water to be just a little warmer for us.

Friday, April 15, 2011

"He flies through the air with the greatest of ease..."

Next to jumping on the trampoline, this is the best feeling of flying through the air!
I still get a good jump-off-the-swings here and there when I'm wearing the right shoes.
Warning: Do not do this barefoot nor in flip-flops.
Griffin obviously feels the same way about swings, it's the first place he goes at playgrounds.
Check out this form.... beautiful.

("GIVE ME AN 'L'!!")

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Luscious Lip

The other night, Kai was playing on some bleachers and missed a step. Slipping in his flip flops, he hit his lip. It started swelling immediately and bled for a while.
I felt sorry for him and scared that he had hit his teeth pretty hard as well.


His lip is still pretty swollen and starting to scab.
If you catch him at just the right angle, his huge lip is..... well..... just a tad bit funny.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Photos From The Yard

I don't want to commit to anything yet, but I'd love to work up to doing "Photo of the Day" posts.

In the meantime... enjoy these from our backyard.