They call me Kansas: August 2006

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Cannon's 2nd Bday!

I was pretty bummed when I found out I would be missing Cannon's "Pirate... Arggh!" b-day party, not to mention the last party at Violet & Justin's house in the 'Couv before their big move to P-town... but Hood 2 Coast called... and I had to answer. SO... Sunday, after 11 hrs. of sleep and as much re-cooping as possible... I headed out with presents to the Craft household. It wasn't the same as being there for the party, but the girls enjoyed their gifts (yes, I know it was Cannon's b-day, but I had to get Mia a little somethin' too!)... and seeing them happy, makes me happy!

Cannon... trying her best to get into the freezer for a popsicle...
she even brought the scale in from the bathroom to help her get a little higher... thinking that would help!

Baby Princess Cinderella

Enjoying Cinderella's cake

Whose toy was it again? :-)

Silly girls!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

What does...

197 miles... 12 runners... 1 kick butt driver (Sara)... 1 van chick (me)... and NO SLEEP equal? Hood to Coast 2006! This was my 3rd yr. as a van chick, and I have to admit, this was probably the best year yet! We had a late start time of 6:15pm, but came in earlier than we ever had!! We came in JUST under 25 hrs... 24:59:13 to be exact... and finished 132nd out of 1032 teams!!!! Talk about SWEET!!! I'm guessing not too many of you would be excited about spending 36+ hours in a van with co-workers... but thankfully, I have the BEST co-workers in the world, so it's always entertainment!!

Oh, and for those that don't know what Hood to Coast is... it's a relay race, consisting of 12 runners, each running 3 different legs... starting from Mt. Hood and making it's way to the coast. It's 197 fabulous miles on major highways, gravel roads, with inclines & declines, either steep or gradual, thru through small towns, cities, forests & over rivers... and if it's the Nehalem... you'll be crossing it 3-4 times!! All to end up crossing the finish line on the beach in Seaside, OR. All with no or limited sleep... it's an experience of a lifetime! :-) Check it out...

Sara & I at Mt. Hood (start of the race) Looks a little different from our snowboarding pics from last January, eh?!

Introducing... DM Sole Patrol's Van Chick (me) & Rockstar Driver (Sara)

Our home away from home for the next 36 hrs.

Introducing... Van #1

Friday, 6:15pm... and they're off!

Go Craig! (Mr. Boss Man)

Go Brandon! (works for Danner, friend of Marty's)

Go Chris... even tho he left us for Keen

Go Annie! (Mr. Boss Man's wifey)

* Rockstar Driver Sara *

So dumb. And it's not even late, yet.

Waiting for Annie to arrive... and Marty to GO!

Queen of self-portraits!

We went all out on the H2C gear this year! I know you're jealous...

The later it gets... the scarier it gets!

5am and still kickin'!

Van #2 just rollin' thru to say HI! Is that the sun comin' up... ?

And this is why we do what we do! Just finished 2 legs, and we're off to Mist to get some shut-eye while we wait for the other van to finish their 2 legs.

Brandon on the look-out for Marty. He had the toughest leg of the course... 4 miles up a MOUNTAIN and 2 miles down. Insane.

Annie hookin' Marty up with H2O. He's a true ROCKSTAR!

Sara and her new friend Parallel Park. The cat that supervised her awesome park job with the humongous van!

33 hrs. and counting... we got to Seaside and had time to sit down and eat normal food in something other than a van. Oh, how you take bathrooms for granted when you have nothing but porta-potties for 36 hrs. straight!!

Headed to the beach!

Aaahhh... how sweet! Mr. and Mrs. Boss Man!!!

Derrick & I... looking extra cool in our camos & Dr. Martens gear!

FINISH LINE, BABY!!!

Brad & his son Josh... poor kid started 2-a-days for soccer on Monday!

Together at last! Both vans finally have a chance to socialize a bit on the beach!

This was my 2nd time to Seaside in the last 3 weeks... and I still didn't make it to the water!

Dr. Martens Sole Patrol - Hood To Coast 2006

One last shot...

Insanity has officially hit... it's time to go home!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Draft day!!

All I gotta say is...

being #7 and watching Larry Johnson go #6 sucks.

And I heart Tony Gonzalez.

If you know me, you know I love football... and people that love football. And therefore I love Fantasy Football. For a couple of years now, I've been in my friend Justin's (Violet's hubby) fantasy league the Beer Grifters. This year we did a live draft at a local pub...

It was fun times... all of us in there with our laptops, sweating b/c it was so flippin' hot, but lovin' the beverages, peanuts and trash-talkin'.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Congrats Dr. Kate!!

I love knowing important people! My friend Kate finished her dissertation and has officially become a doctor!!! Not the operate on people kind, but the cool scientist kind that will someday solve all the worlds problems by creating cures for stuff!! Yeah Kate!!!

Too celebrate her years of hard work and fabulous accomplishment... her and the parentals hosted a party at the 'ole homestead outside of Woodburn. I headed out around 3:30pm and ended up staying past 10pm! It was a mighty fine party... mucho props, Dr. Kate!! Her folks have a beautiful yard, including a huge pond in the front with Coy (not sure how to spell it, and too lazy to look it up... but it's the HUMONGOUS gold fish!) and the day was absolutely perfect (especially once the sun went down) for an outdoor shin-dig. Folks were playing horseshoes in the back... the juke box was cranking anything from the Beach Boys to Creedence... tasty beverages were rolled around & delivered in a wheelbarrow... and the kitchen was packed with yummy things to munch on!! Ms. Givens showed up for awhile and it was SO great hanging with all the Zambo folks again!! (Altho Lily was definitely missed!) I somehow forgot my camera... not quite sure how that happened... but luckily Kate's dad managed to snap a few pics and Vickie and Avele captured quite a few great moments... so enjoy!