Sprint for Cancer 2012

Serves me right - I haven't blogged since the beginning of the school year when we went on our college road trip and since then, blogspot has made a few changes.  One of those changes is how to post pictures.  I USED to have to do them in reverse order, in order for them to be in chronological order on the blog.  I did that today and lo-and-behold, they are in reverse order instead.  Since I don't have time to re-download all these pics (or to figure out if I can switch them up), you can either look at them in reverse order OR start at the bottom and work your way to the top.  Deal?

 The kids enjoying a high carb, post-race brunch at Le Peep.  

After a month of paleo eating, 

they happily loaded up on their favorite carbs.  :)

 Team Jude 2012

 Chantell's finish!

 High five, girlie!  You did it!  

 AMS had trained with us for a few weeks, then

was injured and didn't start back until 3 weeks before race day.  

She ran the whole thing, though, and met her goal!  

 Congratulations, girlie!

 Seconds after finishing - in 39 minutes, 

her personal best by several minutes!

Congratulations, COS!!!

She came in 3rd place in her age category!!

 Some much-needed water

 She sprinted and beat her Mom by 1 second!

 COS and Mom as they sprint to the finish

 JSS was asked for an interview by the emcee

after he finished the race!

 JSS PR'd at 34 minutes!  His mom's first

5K was 32 minutes.  He was hauling and

knocked about 9 minutes off his time.

So proud of you, buddy!

 JSS gave it all he had for the 3 miles

and made an incredible finish.  He is 

very much looking forward to his Mud Run

in June and even the Turkey Trot in November,

where he plans to beat 34 minutes.

 Just starting out (COS and Mom)

 Just before we headed to the corral for the race

to begin - I wanted to show that she 

eventually woke up and SMILED.  :)

Sleepyhead...

 The four of us, just before Chantell found us

and we headed to the corral for the start

 Sleephead with AMS and Mom

Newly arrived and ready to race -

well, most of us, anyway.  :)

College Road Trip - QUOTE OF THE WEEK

COS:

Look at all this dust all over me!

(disgusted voice)

Mom:

You think that's dust?

COS:

Yes, because I've been sitting in the car all day.

(This is at the Welcome to Texas rest stop after

11 or 12 hours in the saddle on Friday.

It was lint.)

College Road Trip - Monday

The Mighty Mississippi...and some

fabulous bridges!

My Amazing Aunt Jo - so

glad we got to stop in to

say hello, even if it was short-

lived. It is ALWAYS a pleasure!

We left from Aunt Jo's to drop

AMS off at the school. She

spent the night there,

went to an Intro to Psychology

class the next morning, went

to lunch with several girls and

then we got a tour of the school,

the one at which we LIVED when

AMS was born. When we brought

our precious bundle home from

the hospital, "home" was the

new married dorm on the old

campus. And now she wants

to begin this next phase of her

life where the first phase began -

our alma mater. :)

College Road Trip - Tuesday

College Road Trip - Wednesday

Tour of Pensacola Christian College

JSS's and COS's reaction to our room's view...

priceless.

Thanks to Aunt Carol the day before,

I couldn't resist this ice cream

shop once I saw it.

Our first sunset in Florida...breathtaking

JSS and COS loved their beds!

College Road Trip - Thursday

Began my day with a run...truly,

I have run in the RAIN and it

was less humid than it was this

particular morning! I asked

JSS to take my picture because my

face was beet red.

After brunch at Waffle House

(because it was the only place COS

truly wanted to try while we traveled),

we went to a local bait shop to begin

a day of fishing, frolicking and fun-finding

adventure. It was a day that rocked.

(Yes, she abandoned the board and swam back!

Ask HER why she did that. Funny story.)

JSS wondered if he'd caught a baby shark,

but it turned out to be a lizard fish. Weird!

He was quite the natural at paddle boarding.

I never got off of my knees.

This crazy man HAND FED the seagulls!

They were soooo girly...truly frolicked in the

waves all day long, whatever beach we were

currently visiting.

Look what we found crossing the road to

this little community park, a place where

the bait and tackle shop guy said the fish

were guaranteed to bite. :)

The girls went looking for seashells...

This was after a rain.

Below is what AMS thought was a shell,

and picked it up with her bare hand!

Ewwwww!

Below is a pic of an actual hermit crab

"in the wild" - cool!

A man at the neighborhood park/beach

gave these excellent goggles to us.

Below, unfortunately all three kids

got stung by a jellyfish at one time

or another during the day.

Local fisherman gave JSS

a lot of bait fish. He had caught

all he needed. JSS was THRILLED!

(Gotta love his windblown hair!)

Yep, he caught a puffer fish.

It bit him, too! Made him so mad

that he asked the restaurant if

they served puffer fish that night.

;) He said he wanted to get his revenge.

The dead shrimp were the biggest hit, FYI.

Local guy showing JSS his dinner.

At Flounders, the one restaurant I splurged on

for us the entire time we traveled. It rocked.

JSS and COS saw some people on the beach

with flashlights our first night and

couldn't wait to do it the second night.

Some people had set up a glow in the dark

volleyball court in front of the hotel.

When we went to inspect it, they

let JSS and COS paint themselves.

Wouldn't even let me tip them,

saying they had no grandkids and

it gave them great pleasure

to see JSS and COS so delighted.