the bounce has gone out of my bungee

That's what Wendy said when we woke up this morning. It was very hard to get up, but today was easy at only 10 miles. We walked really fast and came in #2 and #3 officially, although we walked in with #s 4-6 as well. MAN they were fast! This was an AWESOME event. Read all about it on the Walk Blog.

Tonight after everyone got up from naps we biked (ahhh...so different from walking) to Wahoo's/Noodles. Ted is fine with his hand brakes now, but can't shift so I had to help him with that. Luckily it's mostly all downhill (5) on the way there and mostly uphill (2) on the way home. He did great.

I'm tired and sore but really, just fine. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow, but not any worse than that 22 mile walk day. Tomorrow is Sam's first day of Butterflies!

Thank you to EVERYONE who supported me in this walk process, both financially and emotionally. I really appreciate it, and so do those who will receive grants from the MS Society. THANK YOU!!!

better living through chemistry

Today was awesome. If anything, it was EASIER than yesterday. We have 2 theories as to why that is. #1-drugs. We took Ibuprofin at 4pm yesterday and an Allieve at bedtime and again in the morning. #2-the massage. I made sure to duplicate those factors again today, although 10 miles tomorrow should be pretty easy. We even RAN some today! Every now and then I would get so stiff I couldn't stand it, and a light jog actually seemed to lube everything up. Plus it was fun to get cheers from the rest stops when I'd jog in. I developed 2 blisters UNDER my callous on my baby toe. Waaa. It pinches a little so I'm glad tomorrow is short. In general though, I feel great! Tired and a bit sore, but really good. Hooray!

I utilized every single port-a-potty (every 1.5 miles), occasionally TWICE during a rest stop, except for one that I skipped and immediately regretted it. Wendy thought that was funny. For me, it's normal. I always pee clear! Here's my owie toe.

Check out the Walk Page for more details and pics.

the blister that wasn't

Today was great. We were well fed, well watered, well doctored and generally taken good care of. The 15 minute massage rocked too. 20 miles today, 20 tomorrow, then 10 on Sunday. Woo hoo!

I did develop 3 'hot spots' that we addressed right away. I call one of them 'the blister that wasn't.' It LOOKS like a blister. It FEELS like a blister. But when the med guys tried to drain it, it was empty. The pic is of the med guy draining, or trying valiantly to drain, my blister. Hmm. I also have lots of calluses on the sides of my toes that don't bother me at all; Wendy said that's from the training. When you don't train, you get blisters instead. Hooray for us! In general, I feel like that was a 12 mile walk day. I'm tired and sore but OK. Not exhausted.

Read the detailed version on the Walk Blog!

MS Walk Final Update

Wow! What can I say? I am touched and overwhelmed at the generosity of my dear friends and family! Thank you all!!!
We leave tonight for Fort Collins and begin walking at 5:30am or some ungodly hour on Friday. We'll finish up Sunday afternoon and have a 'post-walk party' and then be home Sunday night. We are ready! Bring it on!

MS Walk Update

For those of you who may not eagerly click on my MS Blog, we are about 2 weeks from the big walk! My sponsors have been few but dear to my heart! A HUGE thank you to Sarah, Stacey B., Shari, and my parents for their donations!!! I have collected $200; only $550 to go. Yikes! The weekend long walks are getting reeeeally long and the day to day shorter walks are getting tiring. My feet hurt and I have blisters on the bottoms of my toes. But all in all, it's been a great experience and I hope I can make at least a small difference with the money I raise. If you haven't donated yet and wish to, you can donate securely on line HERE. Thanks to everyone who is supporting me, and especially to Paul, who has dealt with the kiddos FAR more than he cares to, while I walk ALL around Boulder and then come home and pass out. I love you!!

And just in case you need a cute pic (I always do!), this is why I walk.

long long long walk

This morning our long walk/hike was up Green Mountain, off of Flagstaff. It was long, but not too hard. I ate way too much bagel sandwich and felt a little woozy. I also have 2 monster bites on my legs that are killing me.

Holy mountains, batman

Yesterday Wendy took us on a hike. We climbed South Boulder Mountain and then across the ridge to Bear Peak. Oy. Read all about it here.
After a quick nap and shower, we headed out to Boulder Running Company to find some REAL Crocs for Sam. Found some black ones; I couldn't believe he didn't want the red and black pirate ones. Then we took Ted to Ninja Night, where they let Sam stay too! They said he did great and he's been showing me his power punches and front kicks all morning. Mae and I went to Pearl Street for sushi/noodles and some playtime on the rocks. We also went to Outdoor Divas for another pair of shoes for me, so I can rotate between the two pair. Did you know it takes 48 hours for shoes to 'spring back up' to the way they should be? Me neither.
It was a LATE night last night and this morning all 3 are having various meltdowns over silly things. This morning around 2am the smoke alarms went off. I'm not sure what that was about but after about 2 minutes they all went silent. Everyone slept through it, so that was nice! Paul comes home tonight! Hooray!

best $15 I ever spent

Today it was in the upper 90's. Again. So after naps and a short visit with Kathye (hooray!) we went to the store to look for an electric air pump. Success. Less than an hour later, my 3 kids plus our neighbors', Oliver & Elise, were living it up, sliding down the slide into our little pool. Too fun. I got some video but can't upload it til Paul comes home with my computer. He arrived safely at Nancy's in NY, so he can relax and have some fun now! He'll be home Sunday night. Tomorrow morning my sitter is coming at 5:40am, so I can be at Wendy's by 6 for our *gulp* 18 mile walk. This is our longest one yet and I think she's going to want to hike. Oy. I am not a hiker, but I am game for anything. I really enjoy our long walks, both for the company and the time away from my demanding little monsters! Send us happy feet vibes, please!
Oh, and if you'd like to sponsor me, you can find a link HERE. Thank you in advance, and know you can count on me to sponsor you in return!

bits and bobs

Yes, back to bullets. This has been a chaotic week!

• The boys had their first Sunflower camp, Wed-Fri. They've come home filthy, tired and happy. I love the farm. Bren (the owner) reminded me that since Mae is potty-trained, she could do the last August session! They take 2 year olds. Hmm. I'll have to see if she could be in Sam's group. If so....that would be cool!
• Our CSA pickup tonight was refreshingly diverse! (we've had a lot of lettuce!) We received spinach, turnips, garlic scapes, more lettuce, and bok choy. I have some excellent-sounding recipes for the turnips and the garlic scapes (something I'd never heard of! Just the tops of garlic before they're full matured, usually discarded but apparently delicious!) appear in simple sautees with a squirt of soy sauce. We've demolished the spinach already and I want to try a soup with the bok choy and leftover dried porcini mushrooms. Hooray!
  
• Sam went on my walk with me tonight. He biked while I walked (and jogged) by his side. He did 4 miles and never complained. Read about it here.
• My travel group (except for one family we will miss terribly) is starting to arrive from various parts of the US. This will be a very busy next couple of days, but so exciting! We have dinners planned for Fri-Sun and possible Denver activities next week. I can't wait to see everyone, especially those that didn't make it to the winter reunion (Sophia & Amber's families!) We will miss the Mikans so much! I hope that next year we can go there, to make sure to see them!
  
• Today in TaeKwonDo, Ted surprised everyone with his total command of the "Shark" self-defense maneuver. He was firm, loud and exact in his movements and commands. Whoops from the peanut gallery (not just me!) confirmed his success. He was pretty proud.
  
• Paul's birthday is Monday! He'll be 38 years young. Fun!
  

9.5 miles today

Ole is sore. I think he's getting old. Click here to read about our long walk. It was a beautiful day!

10 miles today!

Today's adventure was my 10 mile walk, alone without my walking buddy.
*sniff*
I did it though! Details here.

Weekend Adventures

Saturday was the CF Walk. I raised $818 total, about $300 of it from the Chance Raffle at preschool (which I ended up winning-is that funny or what? I told Stacy not to put my name in but she did and of course I won! Hee. Anyway, Mark added $200 to my $818 so I was over $1000 which means I get a free MP3 player! With all the walking I'm doing, it will be really fun to listen to music and books as the miles get longer. That night Paul and I went bowling with some friends. Paul bowled a Turkey at one point (3 strikes!). After bowling was dinner but I had a crashing headache so we bailed and went to Borders instead. I got to bed at 8:45 and took a Tylenol PM and felt much better in the morning!

Sunday was our 8 mile walk, which we accomplished by walking from Wendy's house up the Royal Arch trail (a killer) and back. Oy. It was Mitzvah Day and the rest of the family was busily working at the JCC, cleaning it up, cutting down branches and the like. Now we are off to our friend's for dinner. Phew! What a weekend!!! You can read all about Saturday's adventures HERE and Sunday's HERE.

Look Ma, no helmet!

Gotta love Boulder. Yes, it was warm today, but barefoot and in a bikini? Ted pointed out that she had no helmet on. Today was a good day. We did our favorite bike ride to the Dinosaur Park, then lunch at Jamba/bagels. Ted had swimming which lets out at 4:30, awfully tight for my 5:15 Parent Orientation at Horizons. We met at Horizons, Paul took the kids home, I went to my meeting and then met up with Wendy to walk. We ended up eating a delicious Indian meal and poking around Michael's before heading back to her house so she could drive me back to my car. I think she said it's about 2 miles back to her house, so I did my 4 today.
The Orientation was really fun. Besides an overview of the school's philosophy, each of the 4 K/1 teachers gave a little talk and we got to ask questions. I knew about 4 of the parents in some shape or form, so that was really fun to hook up again. There are scheduled play dates in the parks over the summer so the kids get to know each other. Fun stuff. And the best news of all: we had assumed we'd have to pay the 5 day/week K-care fee, since Horizons is full day K. The "suggested but not required" donation is $205/month! And since it's not required, you can elect to not pay it! We will, of course, especially since that's almost $200 less than the regular K-care fee. Makes you wonder what Boulder Valley does with that extra $200 per child that isn't actually used by the school. Hmm...

a beautiful hike today

Sundays are long walk days in our training program for the MS Walk. Wendy took us on an absolutely gorgeous hike along the Mesa trail. Ole was a rock star and stayed with me the whole time. It ended up being 6 miles instead of 4, but when it's that pretty, who cares? Next time I'll bring water though! ;-)

Sponsorships, anyone??

The time has come for the fundraisers! As most of you know, Ted's friend Jack has CF and every year we walk the walk, raise as much money as we can, and generally try and help out. If you'd like to make a donation to the CF Foundation (thank you, Aunt Jayne!!!), please let me know. You can mail a check or donate online here.

My friend Wendy's sister has MS, and I seem to know quite a lot of 'friends' who also have it...weird. I am going to walk the 50 mile MS Walk with her this summer. If you'd like to sponsor us, click here.
Here is the info on the MS 50 Mile Walk.

We have a website to chonicle our training. Here is our site.