Tour De Vine 2009

Hi Folks,
This is Brad. One thing I never understood is why people are expected to fund raise in order to participate in an event such as a 5k, Relay for Life, or a 25-50 mile bike ride. I mean, what's the connection? Kerri tried to explain it to me, but I still don't get it. I think it would make more sense for fund raisers to try and find people to run in the event that they are supporting (I realize that I'm the only person who doesn't get it- and that I'll just have to accept the fact that it is what it is). Anyways, when I was at the bike shop the other day these guys were telling me about this big bike ride they do in Charlottesville every year to support research for Multiple Sclerosis that is a minimum of 25 miles and can go up to 100 miles. It's called the Tour de Vine because they ride through a bunch of vineyards and it happens June 13th. And I thought to myself "Oh yeah, that sounds like fun." Then they told me that if I signed up that day then registration would be free and I'd get a free pair of "biking socks". So I said "Sweet, sign me up." They smiled, took my information, gave me a free pair of biking socks and then hit me with the "There's some great resources online to help you fundraise- we like each rider to raise a minimum of $250.00" I was like "Whaaaat?" and then I realized (Oh, it's one of thooose things). But I'm okay with it because it is a very good cause. I know a number of people who have multiple sclerosis and I think it's great that I can do something to support this cause. I'm just going to pretend that the system is set up the way that I think it should be- So if there are any donors out there who are looking for a rider to participate in the Tour de Vine then I'm your man. You can donate here here Tour de Vine And I'll let you know how it goes. Right now I'm thinking I'm going to ride 50 miles. We'll see.

This is what my bike looks like, I just thought I'd add a picture because posts without pictures are not cool.

Track Season

Track is over. My heart can start beating at a regular rate now. Even with all the crap-o-la I had to deal with, I loved being around pole-vault again. I often couldn't sleep at night because I couldn't stop thinking about practice. I did a little straight pole vaulting with the kids, just for fun a couple of times. I was tempted to really vault, but I never did. What a crazy couple of months. It was nothing like I expected it to be. It's nothing like vaulting on the west coast, I can tell ya that for sure. If you don't want to read the "blah blah blah" below, in summary, I said it was bitter, bitter sweet. I don't know if I want to go back next year, but I am doing a fund-raiser this summer to get more poles in case I do want to go back next year. More about that later! The pictures below are during warm-ups-- not the best, but gives ya an idea of what I was working with. My best boys jumped 9 feet and my best girl jumped 7'6". Not so bad for straight pole vaulting. They're ready to bend the pole next year, if we can get them a pole to bend. People don't share poles out here, so it's every vaulter for themselves--pretty cut throat stuff. Like I said, nothing like west coast, NOTHING at all.

- Brad got a job at night, so I had to take Kaci with me or get a babysitter. Kaci now loves my babysitter, Lindsay, and can say "pole". Kaci also acts out pole-vaulting, she acts out running, jumping, and then says "pole!" It's very cute. We had a little 100lb, 10 foot long pole that I let her run around with at practice, I even helped her plant the pole and fall into the pit once, she loves pole-vaulting! (the pole doesn't weigh a 100 pounds, it can hold 100 lbs!)

- The school didn't exactly have equipment or a facility to work with. 7 poles, no pole bag, no standards (that's what holds up the bar you vault over), and really crappy pits. Did I mention that I had 18 vaulters... yeah, 8 people shared the same pole because we only had one pole to fit them. Needless to say, we straight poled the whole season, which is not as much fun as bending the pole.
- Part two of that is I spent the ENTIRE season trying to make our facility vault-able. I begged and pleaded to follow the rule book. I finally got my way, but people doubted me all the way up until yesterday when everything was done and the big wigs said it looked great for the State meet. I still can't believe they held the state meet at our school when I wouldn't even let my kids vault there for practice since it was unsafe. We are now the only school I know of that follows the rule book completely in this area. I'm telling you, it's craziness out here. People just don't get that pole-vault is a dangerous sport if you don't follow the safety precautions. It kills me, kills me that I was the only one who cared about safety. BAH!

- It rained relentlessly. I'd say at least 75% of the season was rained out. We spent most of our time indoors running in the hallways at the school. Not the sunny weather I am used to from gloriously sunny Arizona. I still got a yucky track tan from the two or three all day Saturday meets I went to that were supposed to get rained out but ended up just being overcast. It wouldn't be track with out those awful tan lines!

- I am the only female vault coach in the state to my current knowledge. I honestly thought there would be other women vault coaches by now, nope. Not a huge deal, just surprising is all. I stood out. It was fun to meet so many different vault coaches.

- I loved the kids I worked with. They were awesome with Kaci. Never used profanity, and gave it their all. I was shocked at how fast I fell in love with those kids. I had a ton of distance kids that wanted to run two miles and then come vault, pretty ridiculous. I had 4 kids that could actually run fast, unfortunately they were in a ton of other events so I rarely got to work with them. It was hard to convince a couple of my vaulters (the ones who had vaulted in grade school, by vaulted I mean they vaulted like 8 feet) to vault my way instead of the old-school way like the other schools in the area with older male coaches. They really wanted to do it the old school way, so I had a hard time getting them to trust me that my way was going to make them more successful. I didn't expect that. It would be similar to me trying to convince the kids that dial-up internet access isn't the greatest way to surf the web. Completely ridiculous. If I go back next year, there won't be any of that, if they don't want to listen to me, they can do another event.

Hersheys Chocolate World

A very long time ago, when my parents still lived on Keim Drive and all four kids lived there with them, we (as in all the kids) watched a show on the Travel Channel nearly every Saturday morning. One Saturday, the show was all about Hershey Pennsylvania. The Hershey Factory, a Hershey Theme Park, and the intense greenery surrounding all of it had us completely dazzled. We all said that we wanted to go there.

Well folks, about 10 years later, I WENT!! Unfortunately I was a little disappointed.

The amazing factory tour that we drove 3 hours to do was a total of 15 minutes. It was a fun tour, they had singing cows and made the whole thing "ride like". It was crazy to see all the stuff they do to make a yummy piece of chocolate. I was impressed, as I always am when I go to a festival or a factory. It amazes me how much work goes into things. Kaci loved it. They even had a little hands on place for the kids to be pretend to be factory workers. By that point she had already eaten her free sample from the tour, so she was more than willing to do anything if it involved chocolate.

Brad has been battling some pretty wicked vertigo. He gets motion sickness just swinging on the swings and the effects last for days, so he wasn't too excited to go on his first real roller coaster. I was so bummed we weren't going to the theme park. It killed me to walk away when I was so close. The rides looked like fun, but it would have been a huge waste if all we did was ride one ride. Maybe if we were rich but still maybe not knowing Brad would be wasted for days later.

The town was cute. We stayed for less than two hours. The greenery wasn't mind boggling, but maybe that's because when I saw the show forever ago I hadn't lived in Hawaii or Virginia yet and green trees and green grass where amazing to my desert accustomed eyes.

All in all, I'm glad I've been. I'd go again if I could go to the theme park. I learned about Mr. Hershey who made his fortune and spent over half of it on a school for socially and mentally handicapped people in his community. Not to mention building the whole Hershey town for his factory workers. He sounded like the kind of guy that made money to help others, not just himself.

(for more pictures you can read the blogs of the other people that went with us, click on The Call Bunch or News In A Minute on my list of bloggers to the right)

Safari Zoo

We had SO much fun at this Safari Zoo. I've never heard Lynda and Bryan giggle so much. They were like kids again. We drove through it 3 times. They also had an area to walk around in. Kaci loved identifying animals she knew. She can do the sign and make the noise for most of them now. It was fun to see her face light up when she saw the monkeys, the flamingos, the pigs, the goats, the giraffes, the camels, the birds... She even learned a new one, deer.



Here's the deal, you stay in your own car and drive through a few acres of land where the animals are free to roam. They had camels, zebras, llamas, ostriches, elk, deer, buffalo, yaks, water buffalo, antelope and some others I'm forgetting. The fun part is that they let you feed em, from your window. Ya hold out a bucket and they come and get it. We laughed so hard feeding the big guys. The ostrich went crazy pecking from the bucket and they'd run to the car so fast. By the third time around we'd just yell "ostrich alert" when we saw one running at us. Kaci was a lil scared the first time through, but by the third time she was holding the bucket too. She loves to feed the ducks at the pond, so she loved to feed these animals too. She would say "deer... eat" and pat her cheek. To help her not be afraid of them we told her they were coming to give her kisses when they'd stick their heads in the car or lick the windows. She laughed a lot too. So fun!!

Doyles River Falls

Our second Shenandoah hike was a blast. We hiked straight down for 40 minutes, turned left and found this:



I love that Lynda and Bryan were the first ones to climb all over and explore. They are so adventurous. They crossed two fallen trees to get up to the waterfall.



Kaci loved the waterfall. She was so excited she kept saying "water" and screeching. Then we took her behind it and she was ecstatic! She kept telling us that the water was on her head. So fun!

A true dad, changing Kaci's diaper out in the woods. I love to document that Brad does this kind of stuff. He's awesome!


She also loved throwing rocks in the water. For the rest of the day she told us about it. She uses a mixture of baby signs and words, so it's fun to watch her tell you what she did. She's really animated.

Grand Caverns

We went to Grand Caverns and loved it. So cool to go 200+ feet underground. We ooh-ed and aahh-ed for the full mile and a half of cave. I found it hilarious that the tour guide pointed out certain rock formations and told us what they looked like. I felt like a kid looking up at the clouds and finding different shapes. What a goofy thing to do. It made it fun, but goofy. At one point the tour guide lady turned off all the lights so we could experience "cave darkness" it was amazing how dark it was. Ya couldn't see your hand in front of your face... or your husband coming at ya for a kiss.

Get Ready for Some Action!

We just had a most fabulous week long vacation Call style. Sorry for our blog world absence. Kaci was a-ok and completely recovered from her bronchitis so we lived it up! Check back throughout the week for pictures from: the caverns, a hike to a waterfall, District track meet, the safari zoo, and the Hershey factory.
(i love this hat, kaci likes to wear hats and this was a freebie... she looks like a trucker, a cute one at that!!)