Podderific Weekend

I know this is out of order but I am trying to catch up on my blog and update it better... but there are no guarantees!
September 5th was Anthony's first soccer practice and game. He had to be there at 8:45am *yawn*.



Immediately after soccer, we packed up the van and headed to Pennsylvania- just beyond Gettysburg!
I have been part of an online parenting community since I was 15-10 years ago! Then I was known as "Aunt Beth" now 10 years later I am known as "BK_BETH". We had our first even meet up as a large group. Several of the people had met a fam or two before. But in August 09 we started a new group "The Parenting Pod" and in celebration of the Pod's 1st Birthday we had a meet up at one of the Admin's homes! It was fantabulous! Exciting beyond words for me and a long time in the making! My WONDERFUL hubby came too which made it even better! Our longest distance traveled was Tink came nearing 1000 miles from WI and then Nell came from NY. It was just awesome!

We were suppose to meet Zac's girl friend Rebekah in Lynchburg but he called on our way home to ask if we could meet them half way, so we stayed at a hotel near Christiansburg, VA and got to meet Zac and Rebekah at the Olive Garden! Then we hit up the mall. Unfortunately after so much running this weekend the munchkins were as lovely as usual!

After we told Uncle Zac and Rebekah good bye we went to see Marko's family! We hadn't seen Uncle Bernard and Aunt Helen since Anthony was a month old! They had never met Jayna:-0 and she's inching towards 5 years old!! We also saw Momma, Aunt Carolyn and Aunt Dee! It was just a fabulous weekend!! It'll be hard to compare again until at least Thanksgiving:-)

MS 150 Day 2

We started riding day two about 5 or 10 after 8am. We left MeRlinton and quickly came upon Uncle King's mile Marker...56... backward... YOU KNOW you like playing around with pictures;-)


It didn't take long to get to Dad's mile marker... we remembered this year!! Go us!

We rode to the first rest stop... but I guess the volunteers slept in or we ate too much on day one as there was nothing except fellow bikers and a porta potty there. So we kept riding to our "lunch" stop from yesterday. It was barely 10 at mile marker 39 (started at 57) so was really too early for lunch so i grabbed a soda for later, 2 cookies for later and ate a bag of chips... yeah I know real healthy Beth the Biker! Oh yeah there was a heard of escaped cows on the trail but it took too long to get Uncle King moving from the rest stop so I didn't get a pic with them before the farmer recaptured them- bummer. The next piece of excitement was Drupe Tunnel:





Remember there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Then we rode from mile 39 to 29 when we found out water whole from last year... except this year I joined in on the craziness!
















Right after leaving the swimming hole we saw a family of deer... of course than ran almost too quick for my camera but I tried!


That was mile 29ish. We rode past 25 to the Rennick rest stop. It was 100% opperational on day two!!! Not only that... they had PRESLICED oranges which means you don't have to waste ten minutes trying to peel them yourself!!!!!


Then we headed to Anthony. By lunch my knee was hurting. By now my left knee was totally throbbing.... wishing at this point I new Gabe's magic to ride 25 miles with one leg... We got to Anthony at 1:30ish. At 1:45 Dad decided he'd finish up on the road, it'd be quicker that way. Then he could get the car and pick us up at the end of thrail without us having to do Goliath the mountain! So Uncle King and I finished on the trail while Dad took on the road.
Uncle King and I found an Anthony sign:-) I showed my Anthony and he was thrilled by this picture:-)


Dad was very excited he passed 7 road riders the last 12 miles! Here he is at the finish line

I finished my ride at 2:50! This couple, Uncle King, two ladies, and the marshall were about 20 minutes maybe just 15 behind!

While waiting for Dad, I snapped these to show you the path of how far we biked!



Dad came and got us and we were back to the college by 3:30. We had barbeque, cole slaw, baked beans, brownies, water and tea. Check ot the super cool water bottles... you should prob know I am a pig collector!


We all got little medals.. and we arwarded Uncle King haha!


We registered for next year and hopefully I forget the pain between now and then! Mins my knee it was a great ride!

MS150 2009 Hotel stay and Ceremony

We got to the Snowshoe Inn about 5:00pm. I immediately put on my suit and hit the spa!!! Talk about biking relief haha!





Shortly there after Uncle King and dad joined me! We swam til 5:40, as we had to catch our ride to the top of the mountain at 6:00pm!








We started waiting at 6, along with several others as we were instructed. FINALLY at 6:18 a mini van pulled up. I got to ride in the trunk... not even a full trunk as it was packed with boxes about 1/3 a mini van trunk while everyone else crammed in as well and we drove up top! We enjoyed supper, veggie lasagna (what I had), normal lasagna, and italian sausage penne, salad, rolls, and THE BEST EVER Rasberry topped cheesecake!!!
Below MS Workers Christy (blonde) and Allison starting off the ceremonies!


First an awesome speaker, Duane Ruggier gave us a "3B" message (Basic, Bold, Brief-- he said he was focusing on brief;-)) He has had MS for like 15 years since he was 23 years old. He said when he first got it there were really like no therapies, meds, treatments etc. Now they have so much to offer and hopefully (soon) a cure. He has great trouble walking. He nearly fell getting up to the podeum. You can simply visualize the dibilitating ailments of this aggressive disease. He was an exceptional speaker, very inspiring, and gave you more of a reason to pedal, to finish, to raise funds, to continue the fight against MS! How cool is it the law firm he works for is one of the biking teams!?(AND A BIG $ money raising team at that!)


Our next speaker was Gabriel Redding (www.gabrielredding.com)Gabe's first real distance ride was the MS150 last year. AT that point he decided to ride ACROSS THE COUNTRY to raise money for the National MS Society! How crazy is that 3,000 PLUS miles:-0!! He went through 13 states, got lost twice, met a wolf, rode 25 miles with one leg after hurting his knee tendons. He average 81 mles a day. He was gone for 43 days riding. He would ride 8 days and rest for one. That means he only got 4 days off!






You should check out his webpage www.gabrielredding.com and check out his song dedicated to those with MS "Overrun".
Then came the awards. MY FAV with Burger King crowns is King of the Hill--- they had a Queen too;-)

They had two rising stars




There were some other awards for top fund raisers and volunteers and such. At the end I got my picture with the main speaker Duane!

We got back too the hotel after yet another super crammed ride to our hotel! We swam til 9:35. I was asleep before 10!
We were to meet our ride to breakfast at 6am. Dad set the alarm but never checked to make sure the clock was set right. It was 5:49 when we got up. We rushed to be at the front by 6... I was there Uncle King and dad were 2 mins late, but so was our ride! We ate eggs, hashbrowns and pancakes for breakfast with orange juice... we skipped the biscuits, gravy and bacon. We wrote back to our MS friends Debbie and Andy. Then it was time to get on the bus at 7am!
Here's dad and I just before 7am; andthe deer eating right outside; a thank you from the local MS patients we are helping raise funds for: