Father's Day Sunday

Sunday I slept in until 10:00! I have no idea how that happened. I had woke up earlier but then fell back asleep. I got up and made breakfast (Trevor asked for waffles so that is what we had) and Scott didn't get up until after 11! I think we were tired. Sometimes it feels like we go so much we just needed a day to relax!

We didn't have any plans for the day so we just sat around and were lazy.

I was looking for a race to sign up for June. I have ran in at least one race each month this year and would like to keep that up. Nothing keeps your motivation up like having a race you paid money for. Well for me anyways! I finally decided on the Redwoods Trail Race. It's probably super hard and hilly but it looks way nicer than running around the zoo parking lot. That was the second choice. I have a little over a week and a half so I better run some 10k's around the neighborhood! Scott is also going to do the 10k (that will be his first).

Scott wanted to go to his Dad's house but it was about 5 by the time we went out the door. Of course when we got there they were eating dinner. I thought we might go out and get something when we left so we turned down their offer to join them. We stayed for a couple hours and then when we left Scott said he wasn't hungry. That of course made me starving.

(Scott and his dad, Jess bought him the shirt)

I told him we needed to go to the grocery store so we did that. Melissa and Trevor hung out in the car and when we came out the battery didn't have enough charge for the car to start. Jessica was close by so I had her go run and buy some jumper cables and give the car a jump instead of calling AAA. They seem to take forever now when you call them. We needed some cables anyways. This is the second time I've had to get the car jumped lately. Hopefully it's not going to be an ongoing problem. We took the battery in last time to get it tested and they said it was fine. 

By the time we got home it was 9:00. I threw on some preseasoned carne asada that I bought for dinner. Scott went out and grilled up some chicken breasts for me. I spent the next couple hours putting together lunch meals for the week. Grilled chicken, brown rice, mixed veggies, some yams and fruit salad.

I ate one today, it wasn't too bad. Probably will be sick of it by Friday if the meals last that long. We will be a couple short for the whole week but hopefully we'll have some left overs from other stuff to round it out.

It was actually probably a little bit too much food (ate the fruit salad for a snack later) but it was less calories than going out and I wasn't feeling like I was starving later.

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Busy Saturday!

Saturday morning I woke up at my usual time and everyone in the house was still sleeping. I laid there for only a few minutes before I decided that it would be a great time to go for a run!

I haven't ran by myself in I don't know how long. The only times I have ran I have had the dog with me and it's been the couch to 5k runs. Usually Scott and or one of the kids is with me too. 

So I snuck around the house and tried not to let on to the dog what I was doing, although he wasn't too happy when I went out the door without him so I know he knows I was cheating on him. 

I didn't really have a plan. I started off telling myself I had to go around at least one lake but eventually I decided on doing the perimeter of the club and ended up doing 4 ish miles. That's the farthest I have ran since my half marathon. I'm kind of mad at myself for not keeping up with higher mileage but I WAS a bit burnt out. Now I have to build it back up again. 

After I got home I decided to make a protein shake for breakfast. We usually have a big breakfast on Saturday's but I didn't really feel like it. I had everything in the blender and Scott came out and told me to make it a double so I made him one too. 

I sat down for a few minutes and then realized that I did not have much time before we needed to leave to go to my cousin's wedding. She was getting married really close to where we live but it was a 10:30 am wedding.  She got married at the same place as my cousin Courtney (other side of the family though) so we knew where to go and how it worked. 

When we got to where to sit the bride's side was in the shade. I told my Aunt that we lucked out to get in the shade and she said that was because she had them switch sides so she didn't have to sit in the sun haha.

I didn't get too many pictures but made sure to get a few before we left.

This is my Aunt Corine mother of the bride and my Dad's sister.

The pretty centerpieces on the table

My Step Mom Denise and my Dad

The bride, my cousin Debbie

The bride's daughter, my cousin Natalie

and Scott and I outside in the garden.

The wedding was very nice and great to see family we haven't seen in awhile.

Since the wedding started so early we were home by two and then went on to plan two of the day. We went over to my brother Joe's house for a birthday/Father's Day BBQ. Poor Joe has to share his birthday with Father's Day every year. He's going to be 30 on Wednesday. That means we are in the same decade age wise. That's funny to me since I know they all consider me SO OLD.  30 to 39 seems the same age to ME haha.

Here we are with my Step Dad 

Everyone that was there. Melissa didn't go so she's the only one that is missing. 

We stayed pretty late. The kids swam, we BBQ'd, ate and played that catch phrase game we always play. I fell asleep in the car on the way home. Good thing I wasn't driving!

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Audio Book Round Up

I've been doing a lot of audio book listening! Time to catch up on a few of my reviews.

Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark

This book starts out with the yearly mother's day call from Mac. Mac has been missing for years but each year he calls his mother on Mother's day to tell her he's ok and not to go looking for him. Mac's sister listens in on this years call and she's PISSED. Why is he being so selfish? His yearly calls make her mother so upset. She can't move because if she does how will he get a hold of her? Mac's sister decides that she is going to figure out what the hell is going on on her own.

This was a pretty good story. Kept me guessing for quite awhile but I did figure most of it out before the end. A good murder mystery that keeps you wanting to read/hear more so you can find out what really happend.

At Risk by Patricia Cornwell

At Risk is the first book in a series. I just realized that. When I was listening to it it seemed like it was a book in the middle of a series and I thought that was why I was a little confused about all the relationships that the people had going on. Nope, it's just a bit confusing.

So the story goes that Win and his girlfriend of sorts are both taking some kind of forensic's training. While he's there he gets a call to go meet his boss and she gives him an assignment to figure out this 20 year old case. But while he's back in the area with his boss there is another crime that he walks into. While he's taking care of that his girlfriend is taking care of the 20 year old case.

While it's a bit confusing I really liked some bits of the story. I liked the boss lady's glass obsession. That sounded really awesome to see. I also really liked the whole Miss Dog part of the story and the Fortune telling Grandma.

Overall I think it was a good story but you might have to go back and reread/listen to a few parts to make sure you caught everything that was going on and how they work things out.

A Hole In The Universe by Mary McGarry Morris

For some reason I really liked this story. It's a bit slow but the story was very interesting to me.

Gordon has been in jail for 25 years. Upon his release the large framed 300 pound man goes back to his childhood home that his parents left to him after they died (while he was in jail). The neighborhood is no longer a nice place to live. It's been taken over by drug dealers.

His old lady neighbor of his childhood still lives next door but the rest of the neighborhood has just went to ruins. Across the street lives Jada who is a teenager and her crack head mother.

Gordon's brother is a total prick but is the only one left in his family. No matter what Gordon does he can't make his brother happy.

Delores, a girl he went to school with went to see him and wrote him letters the whole time she was in jail. Gordon has mixed feelings about Delores who just invites herself into his life.

The book is about all these characters and the struggle Gordon has trying to live his life in the simpliest way possible but everything keeps happening around him and he has to deal with things if he wants to or not.

 A Change In Altitude by Anita Shreve

This is one of those books that I feels like there is just too much information. Too much going on. Like cut it down about 100 pages and we can still have a good story.

Margaret and her husband Patrick are American's living in Kenya. The book starts off with them living with Diana and Arthur while their "cottage" they are renting from them is waiting for a plumber to come fix the toilet or something. While they are there Patrick informs her that they are going to go hike this local mountain. Margaret is like um well maybe I should go buy some hiking boots?

They go on their hike and  one thing leads to another and then their whole relationship (which didn't really seem that great to start with) seems to be thrown off kilter.

The story takes you on a year's journey through the life of Margaret while she tries to find herself. Overall it was a good story. Just a BIT long ;)


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Mendocino and California Coast

Monday morning we got up and hit the hotel breakfast again. I was STARVING since all I ate the day before for dinner was a piece of chicken. I loaded up on the hotel carby breakfast and then waddled back to the room and laid in bed some more. We didn't have to check until eleven and I didn't really see any reason to rush around. Eventually though we got moving and we were on the road by ten thirty. 

First stop? Jack In The Box. I was still starving.  Then we went back and took the road that we rode our bicycles on all the way to Mendocino. 

As our car labored to make it over the hills we thought about how amazing it was that we had actually rode our bikes over that mountain. We may not have done it easily but we did it nonetheless. 

When the road ended we were in Mendocino. Twenty years earlier we took our honeymoon in the Mendocino area. We rented a house at "Irish Beach" for about five days. I had actually looked into renting the house again but it wasn't anywhere to be found. 

While we were on our honeymoon we spent most of the christening every room, doing puzzles, cooking our own meals, driving up and down the coast and trying not to spend much money. 

Because we didn't have any.

It was fun to be in the same area 20 years later.

First off we walked around the little town of Mendocino. 

It's too bad we didn't have front facing cameras back then. We would have had a lot more pictures of us together. Instead we had a little 110 camera with a flip flash. That stuff wasn't cheap!

I LOVE this wooden flower lined walk way to this garage building.

There were tons of these weird flower tree things. Weird. Anyone know what they are? They grew probably ten feet tall!

Pretty ocean view

I love this little wooden fence with all the flowers. This place had a ton of neat sculpture type things made out of driftwood. 

This was the Ford House Visitor Center (we should have went in there)

I would be happy to just walk around taking pictures of all the cute houses all day. But I had Scott with me ;)

After that I drove us down the coast. We found the little area where we rented the house on our honeymoon and drove right to it!

It's kind of weird that it doesn't have a drive way. Scott said he thinks it was like that back then. I don't remember. It looks like someone lives there now. 

Scott said there is a new front door (I don't know how he remembers stuff like that?) but other than that it looks the same. It also has a house number instead of a sign that it was the Engle House. We only saw one house there that still had a name on it so I think maybe they don't rent many houses there anymore. 

This is the side that faces the water. Along those windows was long benches that you could sit on. The kitchen was also able to see out the windows. That part that sticks up is a loft room. 

Here's a picture of a picture of me out on the deck 20 years ago.

and a current view from the road in front of the house

I'm so glad we drove there. It was really fun to reminisce about our time there. 

We continued driving down highway 1 and stopped in the town of Gualala to EAT again. I swear I was a bottomless pit!! So hungry all day. We ended up stopping at Bones Roadhouse. 

We were seated next to the window but this was my view. 

Gotta love a place that lets a dog hang out in the bar.

The view to my side and behind me was the ocean. 

and directly in front of me? A pretty nice view too ;)

We probably should have ordered BBQ since this was a BBQ joint but we ordered clam chowder

and fish and chips

It was all really good! I bet that place is packed on the weekends. I'd definitely go back if I was in the area.

After dinner it was just a long ride down the coast 

and then we had to head inland to get home. I drove until Petaluma and then let Scott take over. It was a lot of hours in the car and driving along the coast was exhausting. We finally got to my Mom's to pick up the kids around nine. We visited for a bit and then had to head home. 

It was a very nice vacation (minus the torture ride part!) 

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Now I know why they cry

So you know when you watch the Biggest Loser and the people on there are just bawling their eyes out because they "JUST CAN'T DO IT!"? I so understand that feeling now.

Sunday was the Mendocino Monster Ride that we had signed up for. 

We got up nice and early and then went over to the hotel lobby. I had a bagel with some peanut butter and a banana. Scott had a full breakfast. Sadly they did not have any coffee made so I went with no coffee for the day. After we ate we got on our bikes and rode over to the college where the ride started (about 1 1/2 miles or so). When we got there we realized we could have just started the ride from the hotel because there was no official start line or timing. DOH. We could have saved ourselves those 2 miles.

So we rode back out and got on the "ride". The ride was on Orr Springs Rd. Like the whole ride. It started nice and then got ugly real quick. Like straight up a mountain. Scott was having a hard time catching his breath and his knees  were hurting. So we would ride up each small section and then take a break. Over and over and over again.

We kept hoping that around that next bend would be the downhill but it didn't ever seem to be there. FINALLY we went downhill and were rewarded again with another horrible uphill climb!!  We were both cussing up the freaking hills. I may have mentioned that we could just be quitters and quit. I was only half joking.

Eventually we finally got up to the mountain peak and the ride was much easier. We made it to the first rest stop and had a few snacks, used the port o'potty and then got back on the road. We continued on and eventually made it to the half way point, our turn around (other people kept going another 15 miles into Mendocino).  That was also where we had a light lunch.  I had half of a six inch subway sandwich, a bag of chips and some m&m's.  We refilled our water bottles and then started riding again. 

They opened this little school for us to use the restroom isn't it cute?

The stats on my phone half way through

the lunch station

We hit the next rest stop. Scott was almost out of water and so was the refueling station. They kept saying it was on it's way but it wasn't ever showing up so he just wanted to go. I was laying down on the seat part of a picnic bench telling him I could wait awhile to get back on the road. At that point I was just.so.tired. He was agitated about the water being out and just wanted to go so we did. 

I told him I wanted to stop at this wood bridge to take a picture, it was so pretty.

Not too long after that I think I hit "the wall" that people talk about. I was just SO TIRED. Scott seemed to be doing great and was riding up a ways from me. I kept feeling the big tears coming on. Eventually I just stopped and let them flow. BIG huge sobs. The ugly cry. Scott stopped up a ways from me and just waited while I had my melt down. Eventually I pulled it together a little bit and rode up to him and then let it go again. "I'm just so tired! I don't know how I'm going to make it over that hill again!!" I sobbed and sobbed. (Did I mention that this was mile 49?)

Scott gave me a pep talk and told me we'd just break it down. "Just try to make it up to that pole up there" he told me. So that's what we did. All up the mountain. We'd pick a focal point and just try to make it that far, take a break, and then make a  new point and ride to it. At one point we were almost to the top and one of the support trucks stopped and asked us if we were ok. We told them that we were and they offered us a ride. We both said "NO!" We'd made it that far. There was no way we were giving up now. 

Scott took this of me coming down one of the hills

There was a promise of Popsicles ahead and Scott was so focused on getting to them. The support people told us that they'd make sure they waited for us. I thought that was pretty nice of them. We were obviously  towards the last of the people on the ride.  Personally I really wanted a nice cold margarita at that point. We got to the Popsicle stand and they started tearing it down while we were there. Someone was saying that there was one more person on the road behind us and while we were eating our Popsicle he rode by. Damn it! We could have not been last haha. 

From the Popsicle stop there was only about half a mile more of uphill and then FINALLY we were to last 5 miles which were all downhill. Thank God!!

Almost to the top

We rode up to the college and the bbq that was almost over. Most people were looking really relaxed and had changed their clothes. We looked worn out and half dead! Well at least I did. 

That was seriously the hardest thing I have ever done. Maybe including twelve hours of back labor before Jessica was born via c-section. At least I had a steady stream of drugs while I was doing that. 

I told Scott I am never ever doing that again. I'm writing this down here so that the next time I sign up for something so stupid you can all remind me that I said that. Distance is one thing but climbing mountains is a whole different ball game!

.

My phone died before we were done but here is Scott's stats from Runkeeper

At the bbq most of the food didn't look too appetizing to me so I had a piece of chicken and a coke. We sat and ate and this one gal came over and was talking to us. She was telling us about all the rides she has done and how when she was a teen she did that ride spur of the moment like with some friends and how it didn't even seem to be such a big deal.

I didn't kill her. But I kind of thought about it.

We had to ride our bikes back to the hotel when we were done eating. I was so sore it hurt to sit on the seat of my bike. Thank God it was mostly down hill to the hotel. 

We got there and I had a drink and sat for a little bit.

I have never in my whole life been that tired. EVER.

We may have come in last and half dead but we did it. We rode the whole damn thing all 62 miles (plus about 3 more!)

We changed into our bathing suits and went down and sat in the hot tub for a little bit and then came back to the room. Scott gave me a massage while I complained about how tired I was. We watched a little TV but I'm pretty sure we were both asleep by 9:30! 

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