Ragnar SoCal

I've done a lot of crazy stuff in my life (5-day backpacking trips, jumping out of airplanes, marathons -- to name a few), but this past weekend I had one of the most epic and awesome adventures to date: RAGNAR!

It was a 200 mile race from Huntington Beach to San Diego, with a team of 12, split in 2 vans, covering the distance over 36 legs. Only we had a team of 11, with a last minute (well, it was literally about 4 hours before we started the race) drop out. Which meant that instead of running 3 legs each, we had some making up to do. So I volunteered for a 4th leg, putting my total distance at 26.5 miles. I've run marathons before (7, to be exact), but this was way more challenging.

 We started at 6:45 a.m. on Friday morning and our team crossed the finish line at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Nearly 35 hours on the course, shuttling runners to exchange zones, getting little snippets of sleep in between it all. It was awesome! I have almost 300 pictures from the odyssey, and I was able to put them into a video. Way easier than uploading them all to the blog! So, here goes, Ragnar SoCal 2012 with Team "Haulin' Trash Talkers!"

Rolling

Ben discovered the joy of rolling down hills a couple of weeks ago. We were at a local park and he had to copy some big kids. He's still a little top heavy, though, so he couldn't quite manage to get all the way down with drifting to the right! It's still fun, no matter how you make it down!

Easter is Coming!

Well. . . technically, Easter is long gone, but we did some pretty cute stuff in preparation and it wouldn't be the family blog unless I documented it!

Hayden did some super cute projects at school. My favorite was the bunny ears!

We also dyed some eggs, a favorite activity for the boys. This year we had a special helper -- Grandma!

Aside from one cracked egg (which actually cracked while cooking, not coloring!), it was a success! With its casualty, we actually decided this one looked like the Death Star!

I think that was Hayden's favorite, but my vote goes to this little guy with the cute stickers my sister sent!

We are (were?) officially ready for Easter to arrive!

Mammoth: The final round up!

Here we go, the final day our of trip to Mammoth last March. We were originally planning to drive home on Sunday, but since the storm had just cleared out midday -- with the fruits of all that dumping freshly groomed -- we just couldn't leave. Thankfully we were able to extend until Monday! So, while Rich loaded up the car Monday morning, I had some photo time with the boys on the porch. Pushing the snow off the railing proved to be a super fun activity (much to the dismay of the guy shoveling below, I'm sure).

Once the railings were clear and the car loaded, we headed out to another (free!) trail near Inyo Craters. This network of trails is groomed for snow mobilers, but they don't mind sharing with the skinny skis.

This was the glorious Mammoth we remembered -- blue skies, sunshine, warm temps (I didn't even wear a coat!), and fresh, lovely snow! Ben said he wanted to pull the Chariot. It made for a cute photo op, but that's about it. He couldn't even budge the thing!

Hayden immediately jumped on his skis and was off!

With Benjamin following behind.

Once the troops were situated, I skied off solo for a glorious go of it on my skate skis. If you've never ever tried skate skiing, you must add it to your bucket list! It's a heck of a workout, but there's nothing in the world like having your heart pumping as you race along through the woods, the sound of your heartbeat and breath, with glorious views like this ahead:

After about 30 minutes on my own, I rejoined my boys and Rich had his turn to race through the trees by himself. I got to pull a cute little passenger. . .

. . . while these two skied along beside me.

We had the absolute most perfect weekend in the mountains. Just when L.A. was starting to grow on me, as soon as got to the mountains, I truly remembered where my heart really lies!