Ragnar Del Sol

RAGNAR DEL SOL

February 25-26, 2011

Over the weekend I participated in the Ragnar Del Sol - 2 vans, 12 runners, 200 miles - Wickenburg to Tempe. 

D.C.S. Trailburners

VAN 2 Members

Me, Amy, Leon, Chester, Zane, Kris

Runner 7

Total I had 11 kills.  Kills are when you pass someone.  One guy passed me...I tried to catch back up but he was way too fast for me.  As a team we had over 30 kills, but I think we would have had more if we hadn't been one of the first teams.  Most of the time there was only one other team ahead of us....we started pretty early so teams that started later happened to finish after us but they finished in less amount of time (make sense?)

My Teammates 

Chester (Leon's Dad), runner #8

Zane (Sammy's soccer coach), runner #9

Leon (the stud), runner #10

Kris (Leon's gym buddy; great runner; super nice), runner #11

Amy (Leon's wife), runner #12

Runners 1-6 were in the other van and they were all really fast runners and all seemed to be related to Leon and Amy somehow or another.

At 3:30AM, we had a 5 hour break while van 1 was running.  We tried to get some sleep in the wrestling room at Fountain Hills High School.  The big open space on the left side of the picture is where Chester, Leon, Amy and I were sleeping only moments before.  I couldn't resist taking a picture before we left.

This is right before my last leg.  Here are my splits:

Leg 7 - 4.5 miles, 7:50 pace

Leg 19 - 5 miles, 7:38 pace

Leg 31 - 3.5 miles, 8:01 pace (tough leg...lots of big hills)

Amy and Leon

WE DID IT!!!

D.C.S. Trailburners, Team #88

Place Overall: 78th (out of 306)

Place Division: 26th (out of 141)

Total Time: 28:45:16

Me and the Ragnar Van

The La Loma participants - me, Leon, Amy, and Zane.

Super fun race!  Will definitely do again. Thank you Leon and Amy for letting me in on all the fun.

Fire & Bike

FAMILY CHALLENGE:

Build a Fire with Natural Surroundings (and a couple of matches)

So Monday night, we split into two groups.  Each group got 5 matches and we had to start a sustainable fire with natural items in our backyard.  Fortunately, there were a lot of dead leaves and little sticks around.  Unfortunately, it rained on Sunday so everything wasn't completely dry.

Tommy striking a match.

Austin urging his fire along.

Both groups got a sustainable fire going...I would go with each group in the wilderness (as long as we had a few matches).

FAMILY BIKE RIDE 

After the fire challenge, we decided to go on a little family bike ride.  One of Austin's birthday presents was his bike.  He got it a few weeks ago and has been riding it.  It is a pretty cool bike.  I got it off of Craigslist.

Sammy's also got a new bike (craigslist) for his upcoming birthday.  He got his early as well.  The boys ride their bikes to school everyday.  Austin's kept having problems and Sammy's was too small..

Sarah riding the bike she got for her 3rd birthday.  We ended up going on a mile and a half bike ride.  Sarah was a trooper on her little bike.  I think we will be going on more bike rides while the weather is nice.

There's no picture, but I am riding a bike I got for Valentine's Day.  It is AWESOME!!!  It is a street bike and it goes so fast it scares me a little.  As soon as I finish my marathon, I am going to start training for a triathlon.

Fear Factor - Austin's 9!!!

If FEAR is not a FACTOR...

Austin turned 9 years old yesterday! School was cancelled for Austin's birthday (or maybe it was because of a few past US Presidents birthdays).  We had a Fear Factor theme bithday party (Tommy did the same thing for his 9th birthday and I'm thinking it has to be the traditional 9 year old birthday party now, cause I love it!) 

The brave and willing contestants - Cameron, Jake, Eddie, Austin, Sammy, Kade, Tommy, Caden, and Torin.  They were split into 3 teams.

Team #1 - Austin, Jake, Eddie

Team #2 - Caden, Cameron, Torin

Team #3 - Sammy, Tommy (and Kade)

Challenge #1 - Pushups 

Each member of each team did as many pushups as they could in 30 seconds.  Whichever team had the most won.  Winner - Team #1!

Challenge #2 - Eat two jars of baby food - applesauce and peas 

Representing Team #1 was Austin, Team #2 was Caden, and Team #3 was Sammy.  Sammy dominated! He inhaled the applesauce, whereas Austin couldn't even get the applesauce down.  Caden was taking it slow and steady, but not fast enough to beat Sammy.  Team #3 WINS!

Challenge #3 -  Basketball

Each member of each team made as many shots as they could make in 30 seconds.  Team with the most wins.  Team #1 started things off with a total of 26 made baskets.  Team #2 had a total of 16 made baskets.  Team #3 tied Team #1 with 26 total baskets.

Challenge #4 - Poopy Diaper

We had a hard time convincing the boys that this was "fun."  Austin, Cameron, and Tommy bravely took on the challenge for their respective teams.  The challenge was to find the bubblegum in the "poop" (which was actually chocolate pudding).  First team to blow a bubble wins.  Somehow Tommy immediately found the gum, chewed it, and blew the bubble.  Team #1 and #2 tied for second place.

Challenge #5 - Home Run Derby 

Each player got 5 outs.  An out was any hit ball that didn't get out of the grass.  Team #1 blasted over ten homeruns to take Home Run Derby honors.

Challenge #6 - Clamato Juice 

Eddie, Torin, and Sammy took on this challenge.  Eddie and Torin were classic as they would take a sip and then spit it out.  Sammy, surprisingly, guzzled it and then asked for more???  What???  (BTW - I took a sip of the juice just to see how bad it was and it was disgusting).

Challenge #7 - Relay Race

Stage 1 - hop on leg, then hop back on opposite leg.

Stage 2 - somesault up and back.

Stage 3 - bear crawl.

Team #1 WINS!

Challenge #8 - Hang Time 

Each team took a turn.  They would all hang for as long as they could...we took the time of whomever hung the longest for each team.  Sammy decimated the older kids hanging for 2 mins 50 secs.  Cameron took second hangin for 1 min 55 seconds. 

Sarah and Kade got in on the fun too.  Sammy has definitely been the MVP of this whole competition.

Challenge #10 - Diggin' in the Dirt 

Someone on each team had to find the three green gummy worms in the oreo dirt.  The catch was they couldn't use their hands and they had to close their eyes.  Their teammates had to tell them what color of gummy worm they were pulling out.

Challenge #11 - Pie Face 

Cameron and Eddie wisely opted out of this competition.  The goal was to get messy. This challenge was just for fun, because my kids are always wanting to put their face in a pie.  As you can see from the pictures, they had a lot of fun with this one.

After adding up the numbers, Team #3 consisting of Tommy, Sammy, and Kade took home the honors of Fear Factor!!  Surprisingly, Sammy definitely came through winning most of the eating competitions (the older kids had enough sense not to do them).

Happy Birthday Austin!!!  We love you!

Nine Reasons We Love Austin

1. Responsible

2. Considerate

3. Funny

4. Great Student

5. Best Big Brother

6. Wonderful Friend

7. Chef in the making

8. Excellent Example!!!

9. Makes me SMILE!

Happy Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, we had a "fancy" dinner as a family.  For the first time EVER we used our china.  It was pretty fun.  I need to get it out more often...It is just too hard to get to so it usually stays high up in the cupboard.  We don't really have any "fancy" glasses so the kids drank out of the teacups that came with the set of china (sidenote:  Jim's mom gave us the china several years ago.  I think Grandma King gave it to her...I will need to find out for sure).

Sammy picked this week's family fun activity.  It's a little game we like to call "Attack."

Dad is the attacker.  His mission to hit you with the ball.

Tommy - Attackee #1

Austin - Attackee #2

Sammy - Attackee #3

After some hard playing, it was time for baths.  After baths, it was time for a Valentine treat from Grandma, who gave each of them a box of chocolate.

Sammy

Austin

Sarah

Tommy

Mmm...Chocolate...

2011 Ensemble

Last Saturday (2/12), Tommy and Austin performed in the 59th Annual PMTA Piano Ensemble Concert.  The Ensemble consists of over 400 participants.  Basically there are 13 pianos on the stage and each piano has two people and they all play the same duet...they do this for all different age and ability levels. It is quite amazing. Tommy and Austin both did a marvelous job.

Austin practicing his song, "Rise and Shine" before we left.  This is Austin first time performing in the Ensemble.

Tommy practicing his song, "Star Gazing" before we left.  This will be Tommy's third year performing in the Ensemble.  After you do it four years, they give you a trophy.

Tommy and Austin ended up playing on the same piano.

While we were at home we recorded the boys playing their songs. 

Tommy playing his song one last time before we left. It is a beautiful song, but it sounds even better with the other part.  Tommy has surpassed my playing ability so I was not able to play the other part to help him practice.

Austin and I practicing before we left.  Even Austin is closing in on me.  If you hear any mistakes in the video it is probably me.

This is Tommy with his partner Cody.  Austin's partner was Cody's brother, but I was unable to find them together after the performance to get a picture.

Grandma, Ladd, and Great Grandma came down to watch Tommy and Austin as well.

Tommy and Austin both told me they want to do it again next year.  It is a lot of work, but it is well worth it.