Grandma's Shop

Norma's hair shop is connected right to the house, and the kids have fun playing out there even when Norma's working.  But it's even more fun when grandma isn't working and they get to do people's hair themselves.  Trying out every single product on the shelves is so much fun!  Aunt Lisa got her hair done by Willow yesterday (I didn't have my camera...sad...)  And grandpa got his hair done for the 2nd time today by Jayden.

And then Jayden did Willow's hair too.

And I guess grandpa fell asleep in the chair, because he didn't even know that Jayden took a pair of scissors to his hair.

Norma discovered it this evening after repeatedly looking at Wayne and asking what the heck was wrong with his hair.  When Jayden was asked if he cut some of grandpa's hair, he didn't even hesitate, "Yeah, of course I did"

Tuna

Royal and I haven't taken a real vacation since our honeymoon.  Real vacation meaning somewhere we lay around and sleep in and maybe drink too much occasionally and not have real life to deal with and where we get kind of bored by the end of it and are ready to come back to real life.  Now that we live in Kansas, our vacations consist of coming back to Washington since we hardly ever see our family, and now that we have kids, our vacations are pretty much work.  Usually, this year included, I come out to Washington early with the kids to spend more time "on vacation", but really it's just I do my usual "job" of taking care of the kids but in a different location.  The first part of our vacation was spent up at Kaylee's house.  It is so fun to be with my sister, doing our days together, instead of on the phone talking about our days.  But, it is work.  The cooking, and feeding, and cleaning, and kids everywhere kind of work.  It's really fun, and a tad more chaotic than my everyday life, but still it's work and by the end of the day when Kaylee and I would finally get the kids to sleep and the house was quiet and we'd finally get a chance to do something with each other, we were too freaking tired and we'd end up falling asleep on the couch, or going grocery shopping kid-free because we were, yet again, out of food.

Now, I have left the Wagner compound and have hauled all our stuff down to the Lovingfoss lair in Kelso, for the second half of our "vacation" and to await Royal's arrival.  It's a different kind of work down here.  I don't so much have to worry about the food aspect of it.  Royal's parents house is always full of food, and his mom loves to cook, so there's always left overs to reheat, or she'll be at the stove making something.  So that parts not so hard.  The kids are a bit older now, so I don't have to be on top of them all the time making sure they are staying out of things.  The work down here comes in a whole different area - if it's not a house project - ripping our carpets, painting houses - then it mostly has to do with storing up for the winter.  And I came on this vacation expecting this kind of work.  Knowing I was coming during the time I'd normally be canning in Kansas, I hauled all my empty jars out to Washington knowing that I could get all my canning needs filled here in Kelso. 

I arrived on Thursday, and the work began soon after.  Norma got a call from a fisherman on Saturday that the tuna had come in.  So, Wayne took the truck down to Ilwaco and picked up 750 pounds of tuna.  400 for Norma and myself, and the rest for other people in town.  Norma and I spent a good 10 hours in the kitchen on Saturday.  She fileted the fish, I stood at the sink and cleaned the fish, and then we stuffed it into jars and started pressure cooking it.  Norma got up at 6 this morning to keep working and we finally finished with everything today around 6.  Holy aching back and feet and holy stinking hands and clothes.  I've taken 2 showers and still can't seem to get the fish smell off my fingers!

Here is Jayden bringing another fish into the kitchen for Norma to filet. 

 He was really excited to watch, and really wanted Norma to cut one of the fish's heads off so he could carry it around.  Pretty sure he's got a bunch of Royal running through his veins.

We had coolers and coolers stuffed with fish.  We forgot to actually count the fish, but have figured out it was probably around 25-30 fish.

Before processing

And after!

From 400 pounds of fish, we got 226 jars, mostly pints - we had to use some others when we started running low.  This is by far the best tuna I've ever had, and my kids love it.  So here's to hoping my half of the fish will last at least a year...  :)  Or I guess I know what I'll be doing on my next "vacation"

More Teeth Down

Jayden has lost a total of 3 teeth while we've been here in Washington!
His new smile!

Today is our last day at Kay-kay's house.  We are gathering our things, packing up the trailer, and heading down to Grandma and Grandpa's house today in Kelso.  Royal flies in 5 days.  Our vacation is half over and soon we'll be driving back to Wichita.  Vacations just never seem long enough, even when they are like 6 weeks long...

Seattle to Portland

This past weekend was the Seattle to Portland (STP) Bicycle Classic.  204 miles on a bike over 2 days.  You can do it in 1 day if you want, but there was no way I even thought that was possible for me.  I rode with a friend of mine from Washington, Jessie, who had done this ride 3 other times, stopping in Centrailia, the half way point each time.  We set a bit loftier goal for this ride, because my in-laws happen to live on the STP route in Kelso.  The thing is that Kelso is 150 miles into the ride, but it meant we could sleep in a real bed and eat real food, instead of sleeping in a tent and eating vendor food.  Although vender food sounded pretty good.

I was really nervous the week or so leading up to the ride, because I really felt like I wasn't prepared enough.  I only managed to do a long bike ride up to 60 miles once and I was only riding my bike 2, if I was lucky, 3 times a week.  And I only rode my bike 2 days in a row occasionally.  And then there was the fact that I was training around Wichita, a land with no hills and the ride was going to take place in Washington, a land full of hills and mountains.  The only thing I had going for me was that I was having to train in 15-20mph winds, but I just wasn't sure how well that was going to simulate hills.  Eventually, I just started telling myself that it didn't matter how fast I went, I just had to keep pedaling.  I didn't really set a time goal, but for time estimation purposes, I figured if I could ride an average of 15mph, that would be doable.  That would mean 10 hours on my bike the first day and then add in all our breaks and stops, so maybe 12-13 hours,  but if I could somehow manage to do that it would mean only 50 miles the 2nd day, and 50 miles felt possible!

The night before the ride, my plan was to go to bed when my kids did, like around 8:00, since I had a 2am wakeup call.  I managed to go to bed around 9, but thanks to the thunder and lightening going on outside and the rain/hail pounding on the top of the trailer, I didn't get to sleep until around 11.  And for good reason!  Check out what the lighting hit right next to Kaylee's house!  So, on 3 hours sleep, I got up, got dressed, made a bagel with peanut butter, grabbed a banana, and my caffeinated energy drink, tried not to mentally freak out on myself, and waited for my ride to pick me up around 2:30 and drive Jessie and I to Seattle

The first wave of riders left the start line around 4:45am, and we positioned ourselves in the second wave.  I mean the more time the better, right?  Let's just get the pain over with sooner, right???

Getting our overnight bags to the truck that will drive them down to Kelso

 We took off from the start line around 5am

It was a crowded mess and people were flying.  We were going about 19mph with people all around us acting all crazy swerving in and out trying to pass.  You know how the beginning of races are, but it's just a tad more scarier with your feet locked into your bike pedals and wondering if you have reflexes fast enough to slam on the brakes. Then all of the sudden, right around mile 8, a bike right off the left side of my back wheel totally crashes.  I have no idea what the heck happened, but Jessie said she saw a big crack in the road that he dropped his front wheel in.  There was no recovering for him, he was flat on his side, still locked into his bike sliding across the road.  I could literally hear the skin being scraped right off his leg.  Luckily, the people around/behind him managed to swerve out of his way because I didn't see/hear any more bikes going down.  We managed to witness 4 other crashes during the day and saw a guy in the back of an ambulance.  Jessie said it was the most crashes she'd ever seen before.

We made it 25 miles to the Kent/REI Food Stop, where we stopped to eat peanut butter tortillas, bananas, this super delicious coconut cashew energy bar, and drink Odwalla.

The weather was really quite cool.  I had thought about not even wearing my long sleeve shirt, because the previous days the weather had been getting really warm a few hours after the sun came up, and then I wouldn't have to try and cram it into one of my bike bags when I warmed up, but I am so glad I didn't do that!  It stayed cool for the majority of the day, even sprinkling on us a little bit.  It was cloudy and probably in the low 60's and while it felt a little cool when not on my bike, I'm pretty sure it saved my legs and body from getting too tired.  We weren't dripping with sweat and trying to replace a ton of water and sugars and salts.  The problem came when we were getting ready to leave the Kent food stop.  Jessie looked down at her hands because she said they felt funny.  Her fingers looked dead!  They had no blood in them and felt numb and tingly.

We stopped by the first-aid tent on our way out of the stop to see if they know what was wrong with her, and they said she had Raynaud's Syndrome.  They said she just needed to warm up her hands, and didn't we have gloves???  Uh, no....  The first-aid station didn't even have a heat pack or anything and they couldn't get us in the building to warm up her hands with warm water, so the only thing we could do was keep pedaling and hope that the Jessie's body would get warm enough to finally allow blood flow back to her fingers.  It took awhile, but her fingers eventually turned back to a more normal color.
We rode right along and came upon the first horrible hill of the ride in Puyallup around 40 miles and then onto the Spanaway Food Stop at 54 miles.  The Spanaway stop was sponsored by Jamba Juice so we stopped and ate veggie wraps, the most delicious cookie I'd ever eaten, and Jamba Juice!

Then, we were on the road again headed towards Tenino, only a mini food stop, but where some of my support crew was hoping to meet up with us!  My legs felt surprisingly good, I was really quite surprised because I totally remembered what my legs felt like when I had done 60 miles, and I was pretty much toast, but somehow I looked down and saw 75 miles on my bike and my legs felt just fine!  10 miles later, 85 miles into the ride, we rolled into Tenino where my mom, Kaylee, her kids, and my kids found us!

We laid on the ground, stretched our legs and backs, rested for a bit, ate some food, refilled water because the sun had finally decided to come out and we were starting to get a bit toasty.  Eventually, we had to get moving because we still had 65 more miles to get done.

 I'm not sure what the heck happened, but on the stretch between Tenino and Centrailia, something lit a fire under Jessie and she started riding so fast.  It was so much fun, I pretty much just sat on her back wheel and let her pull me the next 15 miles into Centrailia, our halfway point! 100 miles done!  Centrailia would of been a really fun place to stay.  Tons of food, live music, beer garden, lots of people, not to mention they were handing out all you can eat creamsicle.   And you all know how I feel about creamsicles, right???

 Here is a small picture of all the tents that were being put up.

I was super excited to use a real bathroom, one that had soap and water.  I washed my hands like 3 times.

 We took a pretty long break in Centrailia and we went to the cafeteria and loaded up a gigantic potato.  I was so freaking hungry!

We laid on the grass for awhile, stretched out our legs and backs, and then threw up a couple headstands because we could.  :)

Then right before we left, we ran into Jessie's friend and turns out my blog stalker, Melissa!  (that's right!  I'm totally calling you out!  let this serve as a warning for all you other stalkers who never leave me any comments!!!!  :) just kidding....well, sort of....:D)

Then, we were back on our bikes trying to convince ourselves the next 50 miles was going to be a good idea.  I actually felt pretty good, I should of realized there was going to be a problem when Jessie was starting to fall asleep while eating our potatoes.  Jessie was quite the trooper, and I feel quite guilty about dragging her the next 50 miles,  I was just so sure she was going to catch a second wind!  She was so tired and her food was just sitting in her stomach making her uncomfortable instead of giving her energy, and I think mentally she knew what we had in front of us, while naive-rookie-me figured it would just be like what we had been riding, so let's just get it over with!  The next 50 miles were some of the worst hills ever and while they were rolling hills, it seemed like the uphill parts were so much longer than the downhill breaks.  It was some of the prettiest scenery during the whole ride, but holy cow was it hard.   We decided we'd take the ride in 10-15 miles increments, that seemed doable.  We'd stop, reassess, and decide if we wanted my in-laws to come pick us up and be done for the day.

We made it 20 more miles down the road to Winlock.

 We took a short break and decided we could do another 15 miles to the mini-stop in Castle Rock.  15 brutally hard miles, because of the hills, very tired legs, and had I mentioned that the 3 little toes on my left food had been numb and asleep for a good 75 miles, and I had shooting pains going from my wrists down to my fingers???  And it was about at this point I'd look down at my speed and realize I could run up this hill faster than I was riding it.   I was really feeling like I could be done at this point, but mentally I knew Castle Rock was so close to Kelso.  And I really felt like we were getting close to Kelso and my in-laws, when we actually made it to Castle Rock and saw a fishing boat parked on the side of the road and this shirt.

I'm pretty positive Jessie was ready to be done riding, however she wasn't ready to be the one to call it quits.  So I said I knew that Lexington was pretty darn close and that Lexington was right before Kelso, and if we couldn't make it past Lexington, I had a friend who lived there and we could ride to her house.  So, we pushed on and I prayed for downhills.   We finally made it to Lexington and we both decided that this was far enough for one day and we were toast.  We were only a few miles outside of Kelso, but we needed to be done, so we rode the short distance to my friend Pam's house and called my in-laws and asked them to come pick us up.
This is the picture we posed for

However, this is how I really felt

144 miles in 1 day, definitely a new distance record for me!  We left Seattle at 5am, and arrived in Lexington around 8pm, 15 hours of fun and 11.5 hours of actually sitting on my bike pedaling.   We made it to the Lovingfoss house, ate a bunch of food like chicken teriyaki, ice cream, and pie! Then took showers and then I didn't see Jessie until the next morning, but I managed to stay up talking with Pam and Norma, called Royal, rolled out my legs and back on the foam roller, and tried to get a few knots worked out of my back before I finally went to bed around 11.

My alarm went off at 5am.  Way. Too. Freaking. Early.  I was so tired.  But I got up, got dressed, ate a bagel, banana, scrambled eggs, drank another caffeinated energy drink, took a handful of advil, and bio-freezed my legs, before we finally were dropped back off in Lexington around 6:40, in the pouring down drizzling rain.  Lovely way to start the morning.

While I was so tired from the distance that we had done the day before, 50 miles felt totally doable, and I was excited to get across the finish line.  The only good thing about doing all those hills on Saturday was that we didn't have to do them on Sunday, because it turns out pretty much the last half of this darn ride is all very hilly.

We made it across the Lewis & Clark bridge and crossed into Oregon!  And rode in the rain to the St Helens Food Stop.

We ate sandwiches, grapes, pretzels, and the best darn tasting rice krispie treat I'd ever had - well probably not really, but it tasted like it was!  My legs were sore and tired and so were my knees, and everytime we stopped it seemed to take a good 5-10 minutes to get them warmed up again, but once I was going, my legs felt pretty darn good!  We rode more uphill and more uphill and more uphill until finally we crossed into Portland city limits!!!  Sadly, we still had 12 miles to go, but after riding a total of 190 miles, whats another 12???
Here we are, about to cross the St John's bridge into the city of Portland!

We still had to wind around and through the city, and the last few miles were extrmeley frustrating because I seemed to hit EVERY red light.  Stop. Go. Clip in. Clip Out.  It was like a freaking bad dream where you are running and running and can't ever seem to get to whatever it is you are trying to reach.  But finally, FINALLY, there was the finish line!

And Jordan was there waiting for me!

It was a fun ride.  I'm pretty sure I'd do it again.  Not like tomorrow or anything, but another time perhaps.  And I'm pretty sure I'd do it the same, with riding 150 miles the first day and 50 the second.  Because for one, I'd get to sleep in a real bed and not in a tent on the ground, and after finishing that 50 miles on Sunday, I could not imagine having to do another 50.  It just felt so good to be done.

 And, um, not to be too nit-picky or anything, but the STP brochure said it was going to be 204 miles, and I only logged 203.15, I feel kinda jipped....

Fountain Fun

Sorry all you folks who follow both Kaylee and me, because we are practically living together at the moment and doing everything together, so all our pictures and activities are going to be the same.  I take pictures, she takes pictures, we swap memory cards and download each others pictures, it's just the way it's gonna be for awhile.  It looks like you're gonna have two new posts to read, but nope, it's the same post, just on two different blogs.  :D

We decided to venture out with the brood today.  Now that Kaylee keeps popping out new kids, we can't all fit in the same car, so we have to drive separate everywhere we go.  It's quite a production to get us out of the driveway and we're both really paranoid about leaving someone behind.  With 2 cars with extra seats and car seats, and my kids playing musical cars each trip, it's totally possible!  We went down town in Olympia today to the water fountains by Capital Lake.  Right next to my old favorite yarn store.  I didn't even get to go in.  Maybe next time...

The 3 older boys ran around like crazy people.  Willow and Easton were much more hesitant.  Willow didn't even get wet.  Easton only got wet because he ventured out when there was only like 1 or 2 water fountains going off and then he kinda got trapped when all the other ones started going off around him.