Team Toyota pics/ Top Momma!

Here is the photo they took at the Danskin Expo for the Team Toyota!

Look at these strong, athletic, triathletes! Go ladies, Go!!

and......



A while ago Marcie put up something about a topmomma site. So ofcourse I had to go register, well I am up on it! So go and click here! See how long I last.

This weekend was the Danskin Triathlon in Seattle!

I was pretty excited to do my first whole triathlon on my own!

This tri was aprox 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile bike ride and 3.2 mile run!

Kalei and I getting ready for the swim, Kalei did awesome I am proud of her!

My nerves weren't too bad before the race, the only bummer was that the weather didn't hold out and it began to rain. It wasn't cold, just raining. I headed to the swim start to see the "elite" athletes and the cancer survivors start the race. The elite athletes are amazing to watch, they were flying through the water! The average time on the 1/2 mile swim is something like 20-24 minutes some of the elites were done in 8 minutes! craziness!



Here I am waving in the sea of green hats!

As I headed out into the water my nerves were gone, I was going to do this! At the start I quickly realized it is a lot different to swim in a wave of 150 people kicking you and splashing water on you. I calmed down about 1/3 way through and relaxed and just went at my own pace. I was surrounded by some great ladies who were all together and adopted me into there group. They were truly phenomenal! Thank you to all the ladies in red! As I got out of the water I looked at my watch and thought wow I am doing good time wise and I feel great! Bonus!


Me coming out of the water



Here is my friend Dianna coming out of the water! I talked her into doing the tri this year, first time for her and she did so good!


I walk/ran into the transition area to put on my shoes and grab the bike - due to the rain I hadn't laid out all my gear so it took me a little bit to find my socks. I saw a friend (Cory) on the sidelines as I got my bike, we both gave a yell and I ran with my bike to the start.


I felt great, but I couldn't get my bike to go correctly. I don't know if it was me or the bike, but I am blaming the bike! Let's just say the bike didn't go very well! I think I was wetter on the bike than I was on the swim! The rain was pouring, you could barely see when I was going over I-90! I felt like I was pulling a car behind me! I don't know what happened! Let's say I have some major room for improvement.



Got off the bike, wow I still feel good I thought! Ran into the transition area again and racked the bike, and grabbed my running belt, and I was off.



My toes were numb for the first mile, then finally I could feel my toes! They felt like they were asleep, so I walked the first mile. Wow amazing after I could feel them, I began to run. I was feeling good. To my surprise I wasn't completely out of breathe when I was running. I am not a fast runner, but I was doing it! There is a small hill at the end of the course... once at the top I knew I was close to the finish so I picked up the pace! Rounding the corner to the finish I saw Patty from Raise the Bar, yelling my name! Wow what rush that is, so even faster I went! I passed four people in the final 1/10 of a mile! Right as I entered the finish chute I heard Derrick yell I couldn't see him but it was great to hear him cheer.







This pic of Kalei is just too good I have to put it in! I think it should be the main pic for Danskin! Way to go Kalei you are wonderful!!


Kalei, Nani, Dianna we did it our first triathlon!! Thank you for all the training everyone - you all did fantastic!

My time wasn't what I would have liked, but if I take out the bike troubles, then I would have been right on, so I can't complain! I did it!!

I have to say a special thank you to Derrick for getting up at 4:30 am to be at the race site and for being a trooper and standing in the pouring rain for hours! Your the best!

There is a couple in September, anyone want to join me?

A blast from the past!

I wasn't going to blog about this, but I figure you have to have a sense of humor in life right? So here I go....



Some of you know about the era in history I like to call the ".com" era, this is where everyone was going to make millions selling things on an online storefront. This started booming in 1999 and was short lived until approx 2001. There were tons of investors throwing money ant start up companies, and there were average Joe's going from making $45,000 a year to $125,000 a year overnight. Money was no object. Some of you are aware I worked for a couple of these start ups. Well one of the companies I worked for took (if I remember correctly) $6million dollars to get there software company going. I have to admit this was some of the best people I have ever worked with, we all gelled and had a great time. We all put in long hours and took one for the team, because we were going to conquer the world. Then in and around late 2000 the investor money dried up. The $6 million was gone and the employees were left with no paychecks. The vendors were knocking at the door, screaming for payment and things went from bad to worse. No paychecks were given for a few weeks, but us soldier employees we were fighters and we were going to fight our way through, so we stayed. Going unpaid. After all we could save this company it was a righteous product (so we thought) after all it blocked out pornography on the internet, how couldn't we fight for it? Well after I think it was month of no paychecks morale tanked and the ship sank. There were many employees owed tens of thousands of dollars. I personally was just under $30,000 from both salary and commissions. This was Feb 2001 employees were told 30 days we would get some kind of payment. Well this "30 days" went on for months and then years. Lawyers got involved and after about a year I stopped wondering when I would get paid. A year ago I got a letter from the lawyers saying there would be a payout! Wow after 5 years? cool I thought. The kicker it was going to be $.03 on the dollar. 3 cents for every dollar I was owed? what that is crazy! Well at this point what can I do, I was going to get something... so be happy. Well a couple of weeks ago I got my check 6 years later this ordeal is over! Out of $30,000 owed to me I received a check for ..... drum roll please..... approx $1,000.00!! oh wow. Derrick and I had a good laugh, wow, we got jacked..... but no... The lawyers got the last laugh. You see the company I worked for was a Canadian company. So when I cashed the check it wasn't even in US funds! Ah smack! They got the last laugh and I received a portion of the $1,000.00! As Derrick says, "now that's funny!" what else can you do but laugh! The story is now over I can put it to rest completely. So I say a final farewell to the .com era. I count it all joy as I did meet some great people during that time and had a blast working with them! I can't complain because I know I worked hard, and some where, at some point I will be given back what was taken 7 fold! So really what is there to complain about? Have a laugh with me ~ oh to the .com era!! What fun it was.

30 years Elvis lives on!

Today marks the 30th anniversary of Elvis (death). Last year I dawned the Elvis suit *with detachable cape in honor of Elvis and my brother John, who is a avid Elvis fan. This year I thought I would post a pic of my brother in the Elvis suit *with detachable cape. Although fuzzy the pic is great, you see my brother only dawns the suit on special occasions. It was his friends birthday so he dawned the suit!









Look at close, he has the glasses on too!









The great thing about Elvis and his music is that it is classic. Uncle John (my brother) has just about every Elvis album and movie out there. Little John who so looks up to Uncle John is now enjoying the Elvis music and he listens to it on his ipod shuffle. He watches the movies with Uncle John and copies the moves of Elvis. I will video it and put it up ~ little John is quite good. Little John has perfected the arm swing that is one of Elvis's signature moves!



I am proud that the love of Elvis is living on in a new generation!


There is a theory out there that Elvis really didn't die, people believe he is in the witness relocation program... while unlikely it is quite interesting that people loved Elvis so much that 30 years later they are still waiting for him to appear. If you would like to dive into that crazy world of conspiracy theories you can! Best of luck!

Fishing time!

Family vacation time! We went fishing again this year - we always have a great time and so many fun stories. The town itself is tiny and really there is nothing else to do but fish. The kids had a great time we played on the beach we went fishing on the boat and just hung out. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for letting us go out on the boat with them~ we had lots of fun!

We went out to the little town on the Washington Peninsula called Sekui to catch our limit of salmon. We were in luck this year ~ the season was ending in two days for King salmon so we could go after the big fish. I believe that the fish Derrick is holding is a King, I am not great at telling which fish are right species it is actually a bit complicated.

Here is Grandpa with his catch!

Lots of fish were caught. I think we caught our limit each days of "pinks" and then close to our limits on Kings and Cohos. I caught a few "pinks" and one Coho! I caught 3 Kings but I couldn't keep them because they were wild, you can only keep them if they are not wild meaning they have a clipped fin.

Josie on the boat! She had lots of fun driving it in circles, Grandpa and I almost got sick due to the boat doing donuts in the water!

Here is Uncle John on the boat.... he has invented a new way to get off of a boat ~ you throw yourself on to the dock and land on your back, everyone is doing it!

Waiting for the big one! Watch those poles.

Spiderman fishing pole ~ little John trying to catch fish.
Here is Grandma teaching John how to fish off the boat!