Spartan Sprint Race 2012

On Saturday morning before heading for home, Michael had a race to complete.  It was in Washougal, WA and the first time this race had ever come to the Pacific NW region.

At the start...

Beginning at 8am they had heats starting every 30 min. with 250 racers in each heat.  It was quite the event.  I think they had just over 4500 racers total.  About an hour before Michael's heat a couple got married at the starting line all dressed in their Spartan costumes - crazy!
Waiting to go...

and they're off.  The first part of the race was 3/4mile run uphill...

About 45 minutes into it is when he first came back into my view - at a spectator  area - for the rope climb.  Already soaked in mud at this point.

(Michael in the middle)

And I got to see him traverse the wall - (he's in the middle again)

Then off and out of sight for quite a while again...I found out it was the 200meter uphill mud crawl with barb wire, then monkey bars and a short run before I found him here:

Now he's really covered in mud!

He went down this hill over a wall and then walked (balancing) on stumps...

A short run then a hop over the fire (he's on the right)

Then run into the gladiators (on the right)

just before crossing the finish line!

You get the medal and t-shirt at the finish!

and he's off to the hoses to clean off!

After getting cleaned up a bit and putting on his new shirt we began the journey back home.  Our first stop about 15 min. down the road at Five Guys and a yogurt place next door - it was so good!

Just 12 hours to go to get home...

Oregon 2012...Rose Garden!

We spent the last couple of days in the Portland/Vancouver area.  The main thing we wanted to do in Portland was see the Rose Garden and eat some good food and we were able to do both!

The roses were so beautiful...

I found these to be my absolute favorite (pic above & below)

The shepherdess is what it was called.

There was a neat view of Portland and Mt. Hood from the Rose Garden.

Driving through downtown I saw this flower shop and had to get a picture! I thought it was neat how they had lots of flowers outside...reminded me of the movies.

We were able to find a great local place to eat where we had some wonderful wild salmon for dinner!  We had a really great time seeing everything we got to see!  Just wish the traffic hadn't been so bad in the area...it was pretty crazy.

Oregon 2012...Camping!

After getting Eva's cast on Monday we finished packing and loaded up and left out Monday afternoon headed to OR.  We made it into the state that night, but stayed at a hotel.  Then Tuesday afternoon we made it to our campsite on the Deshutes River.  All set up...

We took our bikes and rode them alongside the river as the sun set, we stopped for a quick picture!

The next morning after breakfast and packing up we made our way towards the Portland area.  We called this Mt. Hood while we were traveling saw it quite a bit and it was beautiful! So much snow on it still!

We stopped off to see a couple of waterfalls on our way through...

We loved the trees as we drove through Oregon, they were sooo huge and sooo green, quite a difference from the desert we currently live in!  (Ignore the bugs on the windshield)

We made it over to the coast by lunch time.  We ate seafood & salmon at Mo's...one of the only restaurants in Cannon Beach.  It was right on the beach overlooking haystack rock!

After our wonderful lunch we took a walk down on the beach...

Haystack Rock

Then we drove another hour south where we arrived at our campsite for the night at the beach.  Here we are at the beach by our campsite.  It was pretty chilly and really windy the jackets were a must!  Not what I'm used to at the beach, but I've always wanted to see the ocean/beach in the north and experience it.

We could see these rocks and arch to the North

and this was the view to the south

I thought the colors were pretty here as the sun was starting to set...

Sunset over the ocean...

The  next morning after getting our camp showers and packing up we traveled a little further north.  These are those same rocks with arches...

whale watching area/sea lion refuge.  They said they saw Orca's just 2 days before...

to check out this lighthouse

Near the coast it was so green with lots of trees and ferns growing right alongside the road.  It was like a rainforest there was so much green and even moss hanging off the tree branches.
From there we slowly made our way back into the Portland area.  We found this river along the way and had to stop off for Michael to fish a bit...

I got a little video of the river by where I sat and read while Michael fished.  So relaxing and beautiful!

Eva Update

I forgot to mention in the last post while we were at the Insta Care clinic on Sunday Eva weighed 21.6lbs. wow!  And while we were waiting in the room she waved at me in the mirror and smiled so big! (Michael was holding her and I was sitting across the room).  Since then she loves to wave and it's so cute!

Also to note:  Eva is also saying/trying to say "Thank you"  she says a two-syllable sound that sounds like it when we give her stuff, so cute!

We got Eva in the next morning (last Monday) to see the orthopedic dr. and get her cast. 

Here she is havin' some fun playing with her wrap after we took her splint off, and waiting for the dr. to look at it...

We picked out pink with glitter for her cast.  When we got done it was lunch time so we headed over to Chick-fil-A.  She's sure full of it!!

When we got home she quickly showed us how she could still crawl around and even pull up on the furniture!

Big Smiles!  Such a sweetie!

Eva is TEN Months Old!!

 Oh, Miss Eva what a day it's been!! One we won't forget that's for sure!

 You are getting so, so big...and fast...crawling everywhere...even trying to get out of the chair during pictures!

 Such a JOY!

 This morning after breakfast Eva fell down the stairs.  She was doing well afterwards...she took her morning nap, got dressed for the pictures above, went to church, ate lunch, had afternoon nap, then we noticed her left leg was still sore and she wasn't putting any weight on it, so we took her in to the Insta-Care clinic.  They did x-rays and found she had a small fracture in her lower leg, near the ankle, so they put her in a splint. She fell asleep on the way home.  I think she felt much better with it supported in the splint...

 Mommy & Eva

Mommy felt so bad...I put her down in the opposite side of the room from the stairs with her toys and was just a few feet away cleaning up her chair/tray in the kitchen when it happened.  Guess that shows how fast she really was!  She got down and played more this evening with the splint and even tried to crawl around, basically dragging that leg behind her and she was still able to get around pretty well.  Sounds like she may have to be in a permanent cast for about 4 weeks though. :( 

Eva,  you are so strong!  You showed that to Mommy & Daddy today.  You were in pretty good spirits all day without any medicine and we weren't even sure if we needed to go to the doctor.  Just the fact that you wouldn't put your weight on it sent us to to have it checked out, and we're so glad we did. You got your first sponge bath since you were itty bitty tonight and I think you definitely prefer the bathtub!  Oh, we love you so much Miss Eva!