Relay For Life

This weekend was packed full of activities ..... all weekend long.  Can you say exhausted?  This morning Zach was laying in bed next to me and said, "mama can you turn off the talking" (meaning my radio alarm).  I hadn't even heard it turn on, and that is not like me at all.  So I guess I was in need of some extra sleep.

So here's what the weekend consisted of:  a "fun" run with the Santa Clarita Runners on Saturday morning, Kevin's last baseball game Saturday morning, Relay for Life walking in the afternoon, Kevin's baseball team party later in the afternoon, back to Relay where Kevin and I spent the night, clean up at Relay on Sunday morning, and a party for our neighbor Sunday afternoon.  I was going to try and fit in an appreciation dinner for church Sunday evening but I just couldn't do one more thing.

Let me start by telling about the "fun" run on Saturday morning.  I got an e-mail on Thursday talking about how the runners club was meeting on Sat. morning to run the Towsley Canyon loop.  This is the same hiking area that I have been going on for a few months now, ever since that whole "lost in the canyon" episode I had a while back.  So I decided to join them.  I ran as much as I could, but walked most of the uphill.  I also was trying out my new trail shoes seeing as I will be wearing them in a few weeks for the Half Dome hike.  Not smart to try them out on a six mile run, so I ended up with a small blister but not bad.  

On to the next activity.  Kevin has improved so much this season and whacked a few balls on his last game.  He has told us that he doesn't want to play again next year, but we'll see how he feels in a year.  He had fun at his team party, eating pizza and cake and being as silly as one boy can be.  

The main event of course was the Relay for Life.  As I've mentioned before, I did the relay last year and found it very moving.  The most emotional part is the luminaria ceremony where they have a speaker, someone who is dealing with cancer now, or who has dealt with it in the past.  Everyone gets a candle and we all light a candle to represent the hope that there will be a cure for cancer some day.  The whole event raise close to $500,000 and the MOMS club raised around $2,700.  Thank you to those of you who donated.  It is very much appreciated!  

And as moving as the whole event is, it's also a lot of fun.  Kevin and I spent the night in a tent there and I was signed up to walk at 11 pm.  I figured Kevin would be sleeping by then, but he was wide awake and walked with me.  He was a real trooper for most of the time there.  I think he loves having the one on one time and especially loves staying up late!  He and I were up until around 12:30.  I was supposed to walk again at 4, but the coordinator of the MOMS club gave me permission to keep sleeping if I didn't happen to wake up.....I kept on sleeping.  We were up around 5:30 though because the sun was coming up and activity was starting all around us.  I was able to come home and nap for a few hours before heading across the street to our next party on Sunday!

Here's Kevin jumping rope at 11 o'clock at night.  Endless energy!

Luminary bags in honor of or in memory of those with cancer.

And a silly Harry Potter

So, on to the next week.  We are having Kevin's birthday party next weekend so this week will be spent getting ready for that.  Oh, and in case you were wondering what happened to my Monday Check-ins......they'll be back.  July 1st I am going to really start up the running again and getting ready for that marathon.  Until then, I am keeping up on my exercise and finding different ways to get in shape.  My neighbors just finished a bet with their friends about whoever lost the most percentage of weight between the couples then the loser would buy a cruise for the other couple.  Now that's some incentive!  I'm thinking I may need to get in a bet with someone soon!