Comets cheer the Washington Freedom

Lauren and a few fellow soccer teammates roadtripped to the Discovery Sportsplex to cheer on the Washington Freedom. The thundersticks were a big hit. ha!


yes, yes...you busted me. I've back-dated this post because I've fallen so far behind in my posting.

The Most Horrible, Terrible Invention Ever Created by Man...

I must have been on Punk'd or This is Howie Do it or Hidden Camera or some similar show. What I experienced could not have been "real". As you probably know, I live in a fairly noisy, rowdy household. I grew up in a large family, I have two young kids, two loud dogs...you get the picture. I don't freak out about noise (particularly when my children aren't the source).

I was waiting in the lobby of the children's swim school with about 30 other moms, siblings, and swimmers preparing for their lesson. I'd say the decibal level was about 60 - 70dB. No big deal. A mom rushes in and ushers her 3 year old to her lesson a few minutes late. Next, she parks her stroller next to me and frees her 14 month old from it and smiles proudly as the child races around the lobby area. I return to my book. The mother really seemed to need to socialize with someone so she moved around the room until she could find someone to verbally admire her little angel. Maybe we were all too focused on our own children becasue before I could register what happened, this woman decided to "up the ante". She slipped on her toddler's new shoes as she gushed about how cute they were. These were NOT cute shoes. They were the devil's invention. Each time that little girl took a step (which was often because she was running all over the small lobby) the shoes let out a bloodcurdling squeak. It was not a sweet little squeak, it was loud and horrible!

The worst part...the mother thought this was so adorable and would encourage her little one to squeak all over the place for a ridiculously long period of time. At one point, I grabbed my cell phone so I could leave a message for Bill because I knew I would not be able to adequately describe just how annoying this sound was.

Move over Dumb and Dumber - "Most Annoying Sound Ever"...there's a new champion in town.

Thank God swim lessons only last 30 minutes.

Our team is RED HOT...

Photo: Memories by Michelle
Kristen is ready to go for gold in her gymnastics team photo. It is our only sports team that does not wear orange.

Good Clean Fun

Bill and I traveled to Richmond over the weekend to compete in our second "Muddy Buddy" race. In the race, you alternate mountain biking and trail running with obstacles in between and then the big finale...slither through the mud pit together to reach the finish line. Thank You! to the clean, kind stranger who agreed to take this picture after the race.

But...slithering through the mud was not enough for us this year. We decided to add a camping twist to our adventure. Bill and I are very inexperienced campers but we seemed to have the right gear and attitude for the rainy camping challenge. Thank goodness for the rain fly and I highly recommend camping cots if they will fit in your tent and you don't have to "backpack" them to your campsite.

Steph and Scott treated us to a fabulous lunch at Lift Coffee Shop and Cafe after the race. I was so excited to see their coffee shop and we had a great time visiting with them and their super-adorable kids who displayed monumental patience enduring the grown-ups' gabfest. The food was great and they even had diet coke for the freaks like me who don't drink coffee.

Last, but not least, a huge thanks to Grandma Linda for watching our kids and taking care of our dogs so Bill and I could roll in the mud together!