I Did It For The Ice Cream

Mai's Kindy Revue was last night. Those kids have been practicing for months and as a parent helper yesterday, I got to see a preview as they practiced in front of some of the older students. Mai was spectacular - smiling, singing loud, movin' and a groovin'.

Taking Mrs. Browns' advice, we arrived for the Revue an hour early in order to obtain the best possible seats for me to capture Mai's above mentioned talents on video. As the first to arrive, I got the front seat and settled in to watch Mai play with her friends as they started to arrive.

Some pretty in pink BFFs.

Her favorite teacher in the world.

The kids finally left to get organized down the hall and I barely got settled into a new book before Mai was tapping me on the shoulder asking me to go to the bathroom with her. Once there, she broke into tears and said her leg was hurting so bad that we should really go home (she bumped it on the risers earlier in the day but it hadn't bothered her since...hmmmm...). I told her that I had been planning on surprising her with ice cream after the show and since I knew she could tough it out, after the show we would put an ice cream icepack on her leg before she dug in. This didn't seem to work and the tears came on even bigger and she asked if she could still get ice cream if she didn't do the show. I told her NO. She had a responsiblity to the class to play "California"...who would do her part in This Land Is Your Land if not her?
Nope. She's not going to do it - the pain is excruciating, apparently.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. So I took my great seat in the front row and rocked her in my lap while the show went on without her. She continued to ask me for ice cream and I continued to tell her no. She continued to moan about the leg pain as I ignored her. She continued to cry crocodile tears and turn me into a hot sweaty mess. Finally, 25 minutes into a 30 minute show she jumped up onto the risers and started singing away. As she returned from the stage after "California" she shot me a look with daggers in her eyes and under her breath (but loud enough for all the parents in the front row to hear her and break out laughing) she said "I Did It For The Ice Cream."
hahahahahahahaha. Later as we were getting into the car, she said that she didn't think it would be so scary to do something like this show and she had been faking the leg pain. Oh Really? I never would have guessed :P

Kiara Tackles The Trails #18 - Hoyt Arboretum

Although I didn't get a picture of Ki, she joined me and Paige and Sara on our midweek hike up at Forest Park. We didn't head out until after 6pm and it was nice and muddy. We started on Wildwood trail at Hoyt Arboretum where everything was green and lush.

to Pittock Mansion...

to The Audobon Society. Along the way we saw lots of these little guys.

After much conversation and working up a good sweat, I said goodbye to the girls

and headed home with the most amazing sunset in my rearview mirror and a near full moon ahead.

Perfect way to end the day!

Hamilton Mountain

Mom and Dad were in town for a myeloma conference so we got them for tiny bits of time on Friday and Saturday night.

Mai and Grammy showing off their big muscles for the camera.

After all the rain we had this week and especially yesterday, I thought for sure the gym would call off the Hamilton Mountain Hike planned for today, but I got no such call, so I pulled on my new (and wonderful) North Face hiking skirt

 
and headed out to the Gorge around 9am and met up with 18 other hikers who don't mind getting a little wet.

...and wet did we get!! We reached Little Hamilton Mountain in such short order that we were patting ourselves on the back for our awesome stride, but then were realized we were at "Little" Hamilton Mountain and we really had about a mile more to go to summit the actual Hamilton Mtn. I was bummed I didn't bring Kiara because there were two other dogs, but when we reached the ridge,

I was glad I was not attached to her. No pictures were taken at the scary part as I was sure I would fall over. Rocky, narrow and the hail coming down sideways, I felt rather worried at a point or two at how little trail width there was right next to a 200 foot drop. It took two hours to summit and we spent very little time at the top since we were completely fogged/clouded in. A little lunch and then headed back down. Unfortunately, it also took us 2 hours to reach the trailhead as our little group of four got to talking and headed out ahead of everyone else and ended up lost. Whoops! We actually made it back to the trailhead about the same time as the others, but our hike ended with about a mile or more on road instead of trail. We did walk on the highway right by Beacon Rock, though, so I snapped a picture.

It was a good day, despite the poor weather. I flip flop between wanting to be home cuddled up in a blanket watching a movie on days like this, or out in the elements working up a sweat. I think I made the right choice today!!

Angel's Rest

Third Mother's Day hike of the week accomplished! A group of girls from the gym were supposed to head up to Angel's Rest on Saturday, but only Sara and I were able to make it. It was a beautiful day for views. Just a little hazy, but gorgeous and warm.

Sara just got certified through NASM last fall and is a new trainer at the gym. She's also a competitive bike racer. It was really motivating to hear about the intensity with which she trains. She also mentioned someone at the gym is starting a cyclocross

team this year and I've been very very interested in cyclocross after hearing some of the great stories from other friends...

so....stay tuned...

So back to the hike ~ we stopped here at the rock slide to build our own little rock statue and then

we got a great spot at the top to have lunch. The cutest little chipmunk joined us for sweet plums and a TJs BLT Wrap (mmmm....so goood!!)

Sara had the neatest little mini flexible tripod that I want to get!

Hopefully she'll e-mail me some of the pics of the two of us at the top.

Got home in time to see Ironman 2 with the family. I thought it was humorous but Steve said the jokes fell flat.

Raining today, so we've declared it clean the house day. Or rather, Clean the House At Least Until We Find All The Lost Library Books Day.

Annual Mother's Day Hike At Dog Mountain

Tracy and I headed out for our annual Mother's Day hike at Dog Mountain today. Although a little bummed that we were the only two showing up this year, the weather was PERFECTO and it gave us lots of time to catch up with each other.

Doesn't the hill look beautiful today?

Tracy taking a break.

We made it to the top and ate lunch under the most perfect conditions we've ever had up there. We must have laid there in the sun for at least 45 minutes, back packs under our heads for pillows, eyes closed and just chatting away in the warm sun before we headed back down.

Who's that lady?
Sexy lady.
Real fine lady.

My legs were still tired from St. Helens, but I felt pretty good. One more hike to go this week and then I'm done celebrating Mother's Day!! What a great week!

Part II - The Descent

Boy, I'm not sure where I'm going to go with Part II. The descent is maybe still too fresh in my mind and I haven't thoroughly processed it all.

I think I'll start with a picture of the crater - can you see the steam?? This mountain is ALIVE!!

Unfortunately my legs were not. See...I had pretty much imagined that as long as I made it to the top of St. Helens, I would be fine. Downhill? That's my favorite part of hikes. It's the present with the bow on top for all your hard work of the climb.

Ummm...Julie, meet snow.

I could never have imagined how the second half of this hike would turn out. As we started descending, I realized that looking down a mountain is a lot different than looking up. On the way up, I was concentrating on reaching that top in the very far distance, moving forward, a step at a time. Often, I was pleased that I did have to keep my eyes on my feet, because it seemed less daunting than realizing how far we had to go when I would look up, but I was never afraid.
Now...
going down, I realize just how far up we are and I picture myself falling down the hill, sliding and not being able to stop. Taking out people on my way down. I COMPLETELY FREAK MYSELF OUT.

In addition, I'm trying to follow the simple advice given multiple times by both Ron and Dad:
Lean back.
Dig your heals in.
Keep your toes pointed up.
Use your poles.

oh boy.

My legs do not want to listen to my mind telling them what to do. I can't seem to get my toes in the air and my heels down. My legs are rubber. My tummy is empty. I'm outta gas...
and...we've only got about 3.5 hours to go.


I had heard that people glissade down St. Helens

but I've never actually done it before. I was game until I actually got on the mountain. When I accidentally started to glissade when I took my first fall (or third fall...they all started to blend in together) I didn't go too far, or too fast and it seemed not such a bad way to go down the hill. Most people had either carried in their skis or snowboards (or in the picture you saw yesterday, their mother's ironing board) or were glissading. So smart of them!!

But like I said, I freaked myself out. It just seemed too easy to go flying too fast and end up going off a little cliff to my death...or not being able to stop and just speeding down the hill and wiping out as many Mothers Day hikers as I could.

It was truly frustrating. I felt like such a baby. My legs wouldn't work right, I left my bravery at home, and all I could do was watch Ron flying down the hill without a care in the world and Dad sure-footed as anyone ever has been, just methodically making his way down...
until they had to stop to look up the mountain to make sure I was still coming.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I would never have believed how hard it was to work with that snow. It had softened just enough in most places for the heel in/toes up step to work pretty good, but then you would make that 6th step where your foot just wouldn't penetrate the top layer and I would falter and start to slide and lose control and I guess that's where my problem was. They told me to lose a little control...go with it, slip a little, let the snow help me. It just felt like loss of control and I didn't like it one bit.

Nope, not one little bit.

I really just could not believe how ridiculously long it took to get down the mountain: 3 hours and 50 minutes. Total round trip time (not including the summit lunch) was 8 hours and 40 minutes. At the end, I was making Dad giggle so much with my noodle legs and trying to stay upright and I was so hungry that the snow started to look like mashed potatoes to me and I realized that even though I was feeling a little sheepish, it was all worth it...
...although I did turn around my summit thank-you of having the best Mothers Day ever into a whine to the boys that I couldn't believe they made me do this on Mother's Day, it really was one of those days that I'll always remember with great happiness and pride.

I could seriously write pages and pages about all the great stuff about going up...and the great and not so great stuff about going down, but I think I'll leave it at this ~
It was a fantastic day. It felt good to push myself. I'm not as strong as I would like to think. I'm not as brave as I would like to think. That's all ok. It's all an adventure, this life. God gave us this incredible earth and the people that inhabit it and for this adventure I thank Him!

It's Just A Big Hill, Julie (Part 1 of my Mount St. Helens Climb)

PART I  ~ The Ascent

Famous advice from my Dad throughout the weekend: It's Just a Big Hill, Julie.
Uh huh...


So after packing up all of our stuff Saturday night,  we said goodnight and tried to get some sleep. I set my alarm for 2:40am! WHAT?

We got onto the trail at 5:45am and seemed to be one of the first groups to head up. The parking lot had been pretty full of cars and people who spent the night in tents. They were all waking up to 32 degree temps and I was glad we spent the night in our warm beds. The trek through the trees was peaceful and beautiful.

The first person we came upon was a man in a dress with a matching flower. Not completely unheard of in our neck of the woods, but it shortly became apparent that today was a very special day on Mount St. Helens. The majority of people climbing the mountain...and there were a lot...were wearing dresses and skirts. Wish we had known, because I would have loved to see my Dad and Brother dressed in their finest girly duds. Here's my dad talking to one of my favorite characters - mostly because of the ironing board strapped to his back for sliding down the hill once he reached the top.

This picture shows Dad on the left and if you look way up at the top and to the right you can see the little tiny black dots of people ahead of us.

I really had no idea what to expect of this mountain, other than I was sure that if I made it to the top, I would then be on easy street.
Ahem...so not true (but more on that later in Part 2). So, we made it to the top!! in 4 hours and 50 minutes. This is longer than my usual roundtrip hikes, and it was all UPHILL!!! On Snow!!! Mount St. Helens used to tower around 10,000ft. After it's 1980 eruption, you now summit at about 8300 ft. When I got to the top and looked down into the crater, I couldn't believe I had accomplished it! I'm tearing up now just thinking about the beauty of my surroundings, the day, and being there with two of my most favorite guys.

I was pretty happy that I made it to the top exactly when I did because I wasn't sure how much more I could take. My legs were pretty done. I shed a few tears at the top and thanked Dad and Ron for a GREAT Mothers Day.

Wow, the views!!

So Ron and Dad set up a nice little viewing seat for us and we got to eating lunch and shivering. Although we were warm making our way to the top in light pants/shorts and a few layers on our upper body, we had to pull out the coats and head coverings at the top due to the wind. We had amazing views, the bluest of blue skies and I would pretty much call it a perfect day for climbing a volcano :-)

...to be continued with Part II... The Descent...

Happy Early Mothers Day

Since I'm going to be gone all day on Mothers Day, Steve and the kids gave me my presents last night. I wanted to open them Sunday night, but they couldn't stand to wait.

First I opened Mai's clay handprint that she brought home from Kindy. Jack gave me a sweet pea plant and a cute bear card. Can there ever be any sweeter mothers day present than what your elementary school kids might give you?! Steve bought me a new PowerShot A495 camera (Hooray!!!). It was nice to feel the love.

The kids and I then headed downstairs for our nightly footbath ritual. We light candles,  run hot water in the tub, add some bubbles and stare at the water for a bit

and then we grab our drink of choice: Mai and I have sleepytime tea and Jack usually has an apple juice "martini".

Then we open our book

and read a chapter, before talking about the best part of our day...which usually ends up being more about their favorite part of the chapter we just read. That Evangeline Mudd leads a pretty exciting life! Right now she is traveling into the Ikkinasti Jungle with Dr. Pickaflee to find her parents who are studying the golden hair apes. They've run into some trouble with Dr. Pickaflee's evil brother (we think he's evil?? We can barely wait to read the next chapter tonight to find out!!!) and her parents are surely in danger.

I set the alarm early on a Saturday yet again. My plan was that if I don't sleep in, then it will be that much easier to fall asleep early tonight so I can get a somewhat decent night's sleep before our climb tomorrow. I imagine we'll be up somewhere around 3 or 4am for a great Happy Mother's Day to me!!! so we can be on the trail nice and early. The weather today is fantastic, so I'm hoping tomorrow shows us the same kind of temps and no clouds so we have a great view from the top!

Happy Mother's Day to all my mommy friends!!

Hold a Door

Spent a little cash on hiking supplies yesterday. I lost a glove liner on my last hike, so those were on my list. Dad seemed to think my socks wouldn't be warm enough, but my boots are not that much too big, so I figured a pair of sock liners would help, so add those to the list. My calves have outgrown Mom's gaiters...
so a trip to REI was in order.

I bought the cheapest gaiters and they came with laces. I'm positive this isn't how you are supposed to tie them but figure the boys will know when they arrive on Saturday. I also didn't hook them down low enough - ignore my example :-)

Also tried on my new Yaktrax Dad surprised me with on his last visit. I can't imagine trying to get them on with frozen fingers, though.

And I totally jinxed my ankles yesterday. Around noon they started aching, my right one so bad! I figure it was either the wine I drank earlier in the week or the extra stretching. Either way, I hope today proves better.

So I started this experiment a couple weeks ago.

It wasn't a conscious decision, but something I started just doing one day out of the blue...must have been a day I convinced myself to slow down and live in the moment instead of rushing around all anxious.

I started opening doors for people - For anyone that's around, male or female, but I've had the greatest response from women! I'm not talking about just keeping the door open for the person right behind me or standing back to let that person go through first. No, I mean if I see someone coming 15-20 seconds behind me, I stop, hold the door for them and then go through or go on my way if I'm leaving the building. It has totally been a heart pumper for me. Women are so amazed and gracious and I get these smiles and looks from these ladies like I've done something so extraordinary for them. Simple to do, super benefits for my heart...and I think theirs, too.

Boop boop dittern dattem whattem .... Chu!

Aren't my li'l ball players cute!?! We've pretty much been rained out all week. Mai did have a game on Monday but it hailed on their cute Kindy selves.

I received this picture in my in-box last night

with a note from my brother that we're finally ON for this weekend!! Guess I better start thinking about packing a pack and starting my pre-hike plan of hydrating (I've been so bad lately) and eating my banana(s) daily (after calf cramps last time on Dog Mtn, I'm taking preventative steps) and remembering to get my thrice daily stretches in. Sometime this weekend, weather determinate, we'll be on the mountain.

I think I have finally figured out why my ankle tendonitis has been so hard to completely remedy (c'mon...we're talking 10 months now). I think my body has been having inflammatory problems due to food allergies. I have finally been able to drastically cut down on nightshades(potatoes, tomatos, peppers) which were HUGE parts of many of daily meals for years now. Although I haven't completely eliminated them, I can definitely tell a difference in the swelling/pain in my ankles. I'm looking forward to running again. I'm signed up for The Girlfriends Half Marathon

 

in October. It's a fundraiser for Susan G. Komen for The Cure. Who can resist making it to the finish line with this waiting for you:
Post-Event Girly Fun
• Have a bunch of cute men taking care of you all day
• Enjoy chocolate at the finish line – every girlfriend loves chocolate!
• Be treated to a massage after you conquer the event
• Sit and relax and chat with other cool women like yourself after you finish – that’s what girlfriends do best!

...so my plan is to take it nice and slow and train smart and start with a shorter distance rather than ramping it right up to a marathon. I've got 5+ months to take it slow and easy. I might try Galloway's training plan this time.

Piano and Baseball for Grammy and Grampy

Hi Mom and Dad ~ Both kiddos got hits both times up. Jack was so proud! He loves baseball!! It was pretty cool out there for them - it was a jamboree so TONS of spectators and when it got dark, they got to play under the lights.
Warning: There might be a couple double frames, just keep watching. I edited this before coffee this morning (eeeek).