Muddy Buddy

Amy and I headed back to San Jose for another try at Columbia's Muddy Buddy race! This time we went by ourselves and had to leave our cheering section at home.

We're all set and ready to race here. The sun was shining and the weather was much warmer this year than last. We posed for a quick photo before getting in some warm up time in on the bike.

We were excited to wear our new matching running NuMu dresses! They turned out to be super cute and super comfortable and even easy to wear on the bike!

Amy had a great idea to tie a bright pink balloon on our bike so we could see it in the transition areas. We just had to make sure the string was short enough not to hit other bikers and riders on the trail!

Just the perfect length when the bike was on the ground!

We loved our pink polka-dot balloon! When I picked the bike up at the first transition I could see it from the top of the hill I was running down. It was so easy to spot in a sea of hundreds of bikes!

Combining our ages put us in the 2nd to the last heat! We had to wait an hour after the first heat began at 7:30. At least the weather was a lot warmer this year. While standing in line it was interesting listening to all the teams that had not done any training at all. Some hadn't even been on a bike in over a year or more! Amy and I trained some, not as much as we would've liked though. We did hit Mines Road several times to get used to riding up a hill on the bike.

There's our pink balloon at the end of the race!

My muddy pose in front of the Muddy Buddy travel trailer.

Amy gets quick pose post 10K bike/run and mud pit crawl.

Head to toe, front to back...I'm covered in mud! Love it!!

This is such a fun race! Who'd think we'd enjoy riding up a super steep hill for a mile (it was said at the race that the San Jose Muddy Buddy is one of the most difficult of all Muddy Buddy races around the nation!), feeling like I couldn't pedal one more inch, climbing over a wall, running 2-3 miles, walking a balance beam, sliding down a big inflatable slide, riding just one more time to then race through a pit of mud?! Can't wait to do it all again next year!

Fit moms rock! Love my Muddy Buddy, Amy!

Time to hit the showers!!! Here's one of the spickets attached with lots of hoses at the "showers."

Amy waits in line for her "shower!"

Muddy shoes, bib and socks!

Gotta remember the gear in the photos! I don't know how I got so much mud on my helmet! I must've dipped my head too deep in the mud while crawling under the ropes in the pit.

Another Muddy Buddy comes to a close...time to head back home. Until next year...

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15240151?source=rss&nclick_check=1

Click on the link above to see an article about the race in the newspaper!

June 7, 2010

Student Store...Time to Spend $$$!

Each week Emma's classes opens their student store. She just loves to spend her money! Before they get to go buy something, they have to count it all up. Mrs. Magana helps Emma count the money she's accumulated throughout the week.

Mrs. Ramirez helps the students chose their treasures each week. There are so many choices and Emma just can't stand to save her money! Each week she brings home some fun little prize from school. She's purchased anything from pencils to the very popular zipper pulls with random names on them! She just loves it! I love it when she is so kindhearted to spend her money on something special for her sister. She's even purchased a birthday present for her cousins, Darrian and Kiley. So precious!

June 4, 2010

Butterfly Release

Allison was very excited to come to Emma's school to help release the butterflies. She even helped me carry all the cupcakes we decorated the day before.

After Emma helped pass out the cupcakes to her classmates, she enjoyed a ladybug cupcake of her own.

One last look at the Painted Lady in captivity.

The kids were so excited to see their little butterflies fly away!

Let the release begin...

This Painted Lady wanted to stay with Mrs. Adams and continue to eat from the orange! After a few seconds she finally flew off into the world.

June 4, 2010

A is for Apple and Allison

Allison received the Dr. Seuss Stretchy ABC game as a Christmas gift and was dying to play. Camden came over for the morning while Lora was taking pictures of a friend's newborn baby. He was the perfect one to play with Allison because he was just as goofy as she was while playing!
Allison was proud to recognize the letter "A" especially because it was the letter that helped her win the game!

Good thing Camden was super stretchy! He had to reach the "F" with his right foot, the "P" with his right ear, the "R" with is right hand and the "S" with his left hand!

Then it was Allison's turn to reach the "C" with her right foot and the "V" with her left ear!

They were both so sweet to help each other play. Here Allison was telling Camden that he had to put his left hand on the "S" that was right in front of her.

Silly friends had so much fun playing the Dr. Seuss Super Stretchy ABC game together!

June 4, 2010

Ladybug Cupcake Decorating

Emma and Sydney were excited to help decorate cupcakes for the butterfly release celebration at school. Lora made the chocolate cupcakes and then Emma, Sydney, Camden and Allison turned them into cute little ladybugs using chocolate chips and Junior Mints.

Allison, crazy as ever, was excited to help out. Although, she was more interested in eating the candies than she was to put them on the cupcakes!

The finished product...all ready to go to school to share with Emma and Sydney's classmates. The students would each get to eat one after they released the butterflies they watched change from caterpillars to chrysalis to beautiful Painted Lady butterflies!

June 3, 2010

Just Run Time Check

Emma enjoyed her Just Run running clinic and was excited to do her timed run so she could see the progress she'd made over the past 3 months or so. Before all the kids did their timed runs, we took a group photo of all the runners. So cute!

After a quick warm up run she was ready for the real deal...

One last little jog to get those runnin' legs ready!

Go, Emma, go!

Emma was so proud of her time. She finished the quarter-mile run in 2 minutes 38 seconds! She improved from her 3 minute 4 second run at the beginning of the clinic. Way to go Emma!

Anna, Emma, Sydney and Camden are all smiles after their runs.

Once the kids were done with the timed run, Amy planned some fun water games. The tricky part was waiting for a warm enough day to have the relays! The spring weather was surprisingly cool. Finally, it warmed up enough to let the water works begin. In this race, the kids had to carry a cup full of water from one side to the other without spilling it. As you can see, easier said than done!

I just love the action of this shot. Water spilling everywhere!

Allison joined in on the fun too. She had fun playing with the jump ropes.

Balan (Amy's sister) is so good with Allison. They had fun playing with the jump rope together.

Now Emma was using her jump rope the correct way. Have you ever tried to jump rope with a cup of water in your hand. Not so easy to do!

In goes Allison! She really wanted to get wet! Thanks, Balan!

Mission accomplished! Allison is soaked!

After getting soaked, she turned into Amy's little helper. She helped gather the jump ropes for her.

Coach Amy and Emma.

June 3, 2010