chagrin falls

It was a beautiful day Saturday. Wayne and Linda are up visiting so we met them and Paige, Ken and Izzy at Chagrin Falls for lunch and such. If I could afford it and there wasn't a residency requirement in Cleveland, this is where I would live. I LOVE it there. There is a waterfall that goes right through the center of town. Seriously. Plus there are lots of fun shops to explore and every house is picture perfect. It is like a little fairy tale town. Oh, and they have the best pizza place this side of the Mississippi. My good friend Julie and her family live there and I am slightly jealous of that.

We got there early as Ellie was up at the break of dawn. We fed the ducks, played on the playground, and checked out the falls as we were waiting for everyone. It was a good day. Of course I took lots and lots of pics.

This is part of the falls.

Ellie and Daddy feeding the ducks. Ellie has quite an arm and got most pieces to the ducks.

My new favorite pic of Ellie.

Ellie and me being silly.

Ellie looking at the falls.

Keeping busy while we wait on our food. Ken is brilliant and he and Izzy and Ellie were seeing how many rocks leaves could hold before they sunk.

This one held 6! See the water creeping in?

Ken got thirsty as we were shopping.

One last pic of the falls.


Before I forget, when Ellie woke up this morning, she ran to the window and said "Let's see what's going on in the neighborhood!" Where in the world did she learn the word "neighborhood?" What would I do without her to make me laugh every day? She is so funny.

ok, i gotta know

Who is out there reading? Anybody? I know a few people are and I love it! Anybody I don't know reading? If so, post a comment and let me know!

This is my nibbiness personified...

the 3-day

To sum it up in two words: Painful and Amazing! It truly was awe inspiring.

Basically, how it worked was you started out, and every 3-4 miles was a pit stop with toilets, food, water and gatorade, and medical staff. Each pit stop had a theme and were really fun. Half-way through, you got lunch and then every 3-4 miles were more pit stops until you were done for the day. There were also cheering stations where people could come and cheer us on. I loved the cheering stations! Then when you got back to camp, you ate, showered, talked a bit and went to bed. That was what was supposed to happened for 3 days.

It was not the way it happened for me. By mile 15 on day one, I was so blistered, I had to take a bus to camp to get checked out. I was extremely dissapointed in myself and near tears when I got on that damn bus. Turns out, I also had a sprained tendon in my foot due to walking funny because of the blisters. Fabulous. I spent most of Saturday in the buses that took you from pit stop to pit stop. My feet were BAD and I am losing both pinky toenails. It is pretty! I maybe walked 4 miles on Saturday. I bacame Megan's official "Pit Stop Cheering Section" I finally realized that I was there for the experience and not for the walking, pulled myself out of my hole of self-pity and began to enjoy myself again. On Sunday, my feet were feeling a titch better. I told Megan to leave without me and I would catch up with her at lunch. I felt so bad because I know she wanted to go faster than I was capable of. She was very nice about everyting though. She totally didn't mind and walked with some great women we met. I ended up walking about 8 miles on Sunday. I was very proud of that. I walked it by myself and really enjoyed it after the 3rd mile and my feet went numb.

It is going to be a long time before I can eat granola bars or drink gatorade again. I am sickofit! I might also not wear pink til after Christmas. I saw LOTS of pink the last 3 days.

Below are the best and worst of the event, and then, of course, some pics.

Best:

My fellow walkers. They were amazing.
Getting to spend so much time with Megan. That girl is a warrior princess! She walked all 60 miles and only got one little blister.
The WHOO HOO guy. This 15 year old kid was everywhere! He would be stationed along the path and the only thing he would say was "WHOO HOO!" He is a 3 day hero.
The lady who had a sign out in front of her house that said "Restroom available here!" How nice is that?
The little old lady sitting in her lawn chair who had a sign that said "Cancer has messed with the wrong bitch!"
The food. Not bad considering they were feeding 2,000 people.
The people who stood out on their lawns with water or hoses to mist us down.
All the crew. These people rock. They were happy from sun-up to sun down.
The Kid Crew. A dad and his 3 kids were there every day cheering us on. Very kind.
Larry. This guy is phenomenal. He was just a older man who made it his mission to be exactly where you needed him to be just cheering everyone on for 3 days.

The worst:

Blisters. I got them early and they really hampered my walking. I was so bummed.
The heat. It was HOT!
Sleeping on the ground. Not so fun.
Feeling like a failure. I hate that feeling.

The funniest:

Taking a shower in the men's shower. Yep. That's me. Mrs. Cool. I just didn't pay attention. I walked in, it was empty so I got nekky and started to shower. Apparently, a dude came in, saw my Dora the Explorer pack and my feminine feet and patiently waited for me to finish and kept all the other guys out. Can you imagine how bad it could have been? I could have put on a show or seen some weenies if someone had been in there. Thank goodness there were individual stalls.

At opening ceremonies all ready to go.

At a pit stop on the first day.

What my feet looked like both nights at camp.

Tent city

Hanging out in the tent.

Hanging out in front of the tent. Like my bubb??

Megan chilaxin at camp.

Lunch on the last day. My feet were about to fall off here.

We did it!

After you finished, this is the tunnel of walkers that greeted the finishers. It was truly amazing.


Did I have an amazing time? YES!
Will I do it again next year? HELL NO!

I think next year I am going to be a "walker stalker." These were the people that were not officiated with the event at all but were just everywhere cheering you on with candy, popcicles, and encouragement. They meant more to me than anyone else.

pray for me

My 3 day 60 mile walk for breast cancer starts tomorrow and ends Sunday. I am slightly (ok, terribly!!) nervous. If you are so inclined, please send up some words to the Big Man.

Suggested praying material:

no blisters - the big one
no rain - i won't play golf in the rain, so I really don't want to walk in it for 60 flippin miles
no extreme heat - yes, I am picky
no dehydration - i never drink enough
good food - lets keep the priorities straight here
good rest - a tent on the ground sounds fun doesn't it
clean toilets and showers - ewww!
chris - he might need it as ellie is extremely attached to mama these days
ellie - she isn't going to understand why mama is gone
that all 60 miles are walked...i don't want to wuss out
safety - i don't think this is a huge concern, but we are walking through some seedy areas

I will be back early next week with an update and pictures. I am excited. Really, I am.

visiting tee tee

This is part-two of my "trip home" series. I think this will be my last one. I do want to give a shout out to Abby. It was great seeing you! Max is just the cutest!

I may be odd, but I have always found cemetarys to be peaceful and comforting. Chris and I decided to take Ellie to ME's zoo for a morning adventure and stopped to visit my mother at Union cemetary. (By the way, I don't go like I should and am a horrible daughter.) So we get there and Ellie sees my mom's stone and goes "Tee Tee's bench!" and climbed up on it gave it a big hug. I got a little teary. My mom would have loved her so much.


Then she and Daddy headed off to explore. I just love it out there.


Then something really creepy happened, (cue Twilight Zone music here).

Ellie: I am going to go find my friends now.
Me: You have friends here?
Ellie: Oh, I have lots of friends here Mommy.
Chris: What do they look like?
Ellie: They look like me, silly!

I took a picture as she was trying to find them to see if anything showed up, but I don't see anything. Do you?


Then we went to the zoo. Here they are making a new friend.


And this is what happens when I ask Chris to take a picture of us. He is such a pervert.


It was a good trip home. We should be back again before Christmas!

the weddin'

What a fun weekend. The weather was perfect and the wedding was probably the funnest I have been to, well, ever! It was so simple and classy! It was held at my cousin Lori's house and was just a good time. The invitation said "extremely casual" and it was. The night before, all the girls spent at least 3 hours preparing the food. We were like an amish sect. I swear I cut cauliflower for an hour. I didn't have it as bad as Louise though. She got the job of slicing all the cheese. Jokes were abundant. "Louise is cutting the cheese!" I love my family and miss them terribly. It is so nice to see Ellie with all her cousins. She just fits into the fold like she has always been there.

Here is Chris and Ellie getting ready for the ceremony.

This photo pretty much sums up the evening. Comfy clothes, goofy expressions, fun had by all. That is the groom in the white.

The girls. It took about an hour to round everyone up. I think Missy was getting angry. The bride is in the white and black dress.

Ellie danced her little heart out! Cousin Maddie was a ginormous help!

The next morning, we woke up with a yucky cold. I think Luke single handedly infected the entire town of Parker. If he wasn't so cute, maybe people could stay away.


I have at least 2 more blogs about our trip home so stay tuned.

this week...

ellie measured herself to be almost 3 ft tall,

held hands with her boyfriend, Dominic,

wore her hair for the first time in a baseball cap,

and looked super cool at a restaurant.

say it isn't so

I am going to take a break from my daily life blogging to address a disturbing trend I have been noticing.

I was at the mall recently and noticed JELLY BRACELETS in a store window. I laughed, thought it was a joke and moved on. {As an aside, in my search for a picture to put on here, did you know that jelly bracelets have sexual meaning? Certain colors have certain "acts" associated with them and wearing that color, means the girl is willing to do that "act." Blue and black are the biggies... Who knew I was so promiscious when I wore them at 12?}


Ok, back to the disturbing trend. So I laughed off the jelly bracelets but then as I was shopping online for some fall clothes for Ellie I ran into these on the Children's Place website. Um, still laughed, but it was a nervous laugh, like, this can't be happening! STIRRUP PANTS??

Then I saw this picture and knew it was true. Run! Protect the innocent! The 80's are back. It was bad enough the first time. Please, don't let your children be victims of this hideous "fashion" era. Isn't that why skinny pants were invented? To get the look of PEGGED JEANS without the horrible pegging? I am so disappointed in Kate. She is usually so classy.

So you saw it here first. I am so disturbed. I will admit that I was a victim of all 3 pics you see above. But I was an impressionable pre-teen. I blame my mother. She should have told me how stupid I looked. So I am imploring the moms who read. Make fun of your kid if they want to wear any of these looks. Do whatever you have to do, just don't let it come back!

gross!

To me ketchup is for one thing: french fries

This is the list of things I have seen Ellie dip in ketchup that I am ok with:

french fries
sweet potato fries
potato chips
sausage
turkey patty
chicken nuggets

This is the list of things I have seen Ellie dip in ketchup that made me throw up in my mouth a little:

pancakes (she gagged when she dipped them in (gasp) syrup)
froot loops
green beans
eggs
carrots
corn bread
cantaloupe
grapes
tofu
toast
raisen bran
black beans
broccolli
corn on the cob

I mean seriously. Gross. I am all for her eating her veggies, but it is almost not worth it if I have to watch them being doused in ketchup first. This is something she has inherited from the Davis side.

i love having a girl

She is so girly! She noticed I painted my toes a different color and insisted that her toes match mine. So we had a little pedi afternoon. She must also be wearing jewels at all times. It is a negotiation to get them off for naps and bed. I just love it.

I might take the title statment away when she is 15 but for now...it sure is fun.

mini vacay

Our dear friends Adam and Julie gave us free tickets to attend the Monday practice round for the PGA Championship in Detroit this weekend so we took them and headed off for an overnight excursion, kid free! Julie's parents belong to Oakland Hills where the tournament is being held and it is NICE. We left on Sunday to play some golf, have a nice dinner and see a movie. It was heaven. The course we played was very nice. Chris was especially fond of the refill system at the course restaurant. The man likes his diet pepsi.

Here he is teeing off. What a stud. We were paired up with another couple who were slightly odd but fun to play with. My goal was to break 100. I shot 100. Boo.

Here is the clubhouse at the course where the Championship is being held. I have to admit that I am surprised at the number of quality golfers we saw. It was really fun. I even got some autographs.

I went just to see Stuart Appleby. The man is gorgeous. I didn't see him, but did manage to get my picture taken with him. Isn't he dreamy? Poor chris was mortified to take this picture.

Ellie stayed at Paige's house and had a great time! Paige said she was really good so I am relieved about that. The only problem however, was that Paige and Izzy gave Ellie a tramp stamp! Imagine if you will, a ginormous spongebob squarepants tattoo on her lower back, right above her little butt crack. Ellie is very proud of it. I took a picture to post on here, but it just looked wrong and too suggestive. You never know who is reading... Paige also taught her to say that she wants bodacious tata's. You should hear her say it..."I wants bodacious tata's!" Thanks Paige.