ADVENTURE Race!

About a month ago, Danny's very good friend Brian asked him to enter a race with him. It was a very unique kind of race called an Adventure Race . There are some extreme versions of this race, but the one we did was put on by a local group, and you can check the invite website here: www.metzgeroutdoors.com/

To prepare for this race we, well we, ummm we......Okay we did absolutely nothing. We found out what gear we had to have and got that. Backpacks, knife, whistle, oars, life jackets, bikes..... We had no idea what we were getting into. We arrived at 6:30AM (the race started at 8). We dropped off our canoeing gear and left to go to the canoeing drop (which we had no idea the location of). At 7AM (1 hour before race time). Winners of this race are determined by the time and the number of check points collected. We were given a map and directions to begin our search for check points. Here is the map we were given.



We were told we would do a small exercise at 8AM in the fairgrounds (where we were), and then we would had to go to TA1. From there we would canoe (C Check points), Hike (O Points), and then bike (B points that had to be attained in order). After those activities are completed come back to the fairgrounds for some "Special events" and then you will head to TA2 for another map and instructions. Race runs until 12 Noon, you must be back or lose a point for every minute past noon.

Right at 8AM we received an additional map. We had to find 2 check points in the fairgrounds, bring them back and then get on our bikes and head to TA1. Working great as a team we were the first team to find those check points and get on the road. We managed to be the first teams into TA1, where we transitioned into the canoes. A kayak quickly pulled ahead of us. We decided to head the same directions as him, to get the idea of what we were looking for (for check points). We found all the water check points and only flipped the boat once (so now at this point we got very wet).

When we got back to land we had no idea where we are in the mix of everyone, because 1/3 of the people did canoe first, 1/3 did hiking, and 1/3 did biking so who knew who was winning at that point! We headed to hiking which worked great for Brian and I. I was a better runner and would get a head of him by as much as 100 yards (allowed by the rules), and get to the check point, giving him time to catch up and move ahead checking the map for where we should head to next and not really having to run all-the-way to the check points.

Back to the transition area we got on the bikes for the biking portion. Brian is the stronger biker so I just stayed on his back tire and he PULLED me. Well not literally -- he blocked the wind for me and made it easier. It was great. We saw a couple of people during this part, but not many. When we got back to the transition area it was at this point that all teams would have done the same 3 things, we asked where we were in the pack, they said you are 2nd!!!!!!! We were shocked!!

At this point it was special event time. The 4 special events that ONLY one teammate had to do were: Climb an A frame wall (Brian did it), Climb under about 30 yards military crawl (Danny did it), throw a football through a hole (Brian), and run about 1/8 of a mile in a stream and cut a tag at the end, you had to stay in the stream (Danny did and was SOAKED).

Now onto Transition area 2 (sorry don't have the map they gave us then). We had to do Navigating from here with a compass. We did okay for not knowing how to use a compass, but we managed to get 3 bonus check points on this part that no else did because we were hustling. After this we had to do some mountain biking, we brought hybrid bikes which was a bit more of a challenge on the mountain bike trails, but we managed. We were running VERY short on time, so we skipped 2 points on the mountain biking (meaning we got 38 out of a possible 40 check points). I think something like 24-28 were required.

We biked back as hard as we could passing MANY teams. We arrived almost to the second 12 Noon, BUT they didn't tell us that when we got there we would have to climb a hill and go down a HUGE slip-n-slide, which we did and then checked in. We were clocked in 3 minutes late. Little bummed at our time but VERY excited. Then we waited around for awards to see who won.

First they did door prizes, and I managed to win a NICE sweatshirt. Below is the sweatshirt and all the other goodies we had for registering.



Now it is time for awards. They award first and second in 4 divisions. Family, Co-Ed, Women's, and Men's. When they announced first place in the Men's division we were SHOCKED, they announced the winners as team "Left Behind". That was US!!!!! We WON. We were ecstatic. Our trophy was a cool Oar.






With there only being 1 oar we are having joint custody. Every 6 months we will switch who has it. I have it first, and of course you must ask. Where do you put a trophy oar? Well, just take a look.



As you can tell we had a GREAT time, and plan to do it again next year, and maybe try to find some other similar races in the area to do as well.

Danny on ESPN2!!!

Ok everyone tune those TV’s to ESPN2. This Sunday at 12:00 Noon on ESPN2 Danny should be on The Incredible Dog Challenge! It will air from 12-1pm and Danny should be on there doing Disc Dogging with Guinan. The Disc Dogging competitors are normally the first ones they show so don’t tune in late. Should be pretty cool, well at least to us!

Tune in and then come back and leave us a comment. We would love to know how many people stop by our blog.

First Beach Trip

One nice Friday afternoon I (Danny) decided we needed to do something "FUN" on Saturday. I called Jamie up on the way home from work and found out that there were no plans for Saturday so we decided we were going to go to Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan and going to the Beach. We weren't positive if the beach was going to be open so we didn't tell the kids where we were going until we got there. Here is some of their first experiences at the beach (there first time EVER at a beach).



The kids loved the water, but spending time with dad at the water seemed to be an enjoyable activity.





Of course while we were there Sydney need to experience climbing the Dune, so Dad and Sydney headed to the BIG dune to climb. Here is the trip up.


I sound out of breath because these videos are taken right after segments of me carrying her on my shoulders.

I had to get someone else to take our picture up there just I could prove that I helped get her up there.



Sydney had to add her own touch to how you come down off of a dune. I thought it was fairly creative.



Meanwhile back at camp Riker was just loving digging in the sand and playing with the wet sand and rocks along the beach. Seems as though he didn't even care that mom and dad were there at all. Unless it was having mom build castles for him to squish!



The kids had a blast playing. We stayed about 3 hours. We had a snack type lunch while we were there Riker loved to drop his crackers in the sand and still eat them. We tried to stop him, but he still ate a lot of sand. We decided we should leave before the kids starting getting too tired and became cranky. When we told them we were going to leave Sydney says, "I want to stay here forever and ever!!!" So maybe a little of the crankiness was already starting to show through, but overall EVERYONE had a lot of fun (even mom! :-) )



We had to see what the kids had to say when we went to leave. Not much, but thought it was worth sharing.

Sydney starts Preschool!

Sydney is now old enough to attend Preschool. Seems like just yesterday she was learning to talk! It was an interesting time getting her going with Preschool. A couple of weeks ago we went in for an Open House the Friday before Preschool started.



Sydney was so excited and thought it was really cool that you follow the squares on the floor to the Preschool room (Preschool is held in an Elementary school with a small section for Preschool classrooms).



She was so excited at the open house. She found a toy cash register that she thought was just the coolest. Luckily she was nice enough to share it with the other kids.



So the Open House went great. She was an ANGEL. We also found out that she was going to need a back pack for Preschool. We search high and low for the right one. And couldn't find what we wanted (most backpacks at the store are as big as she is!). So mom with her great artistic ability got a generic back pack and did THIS to it.




The big day finally arrived. Time for the first day of Preschool! She was up and ready to go, immediately talking about going to school. She ate breakfast like a champ. She was perfect. Got her in the car to take her. As you can tell she is THRILLED to go.



The teachers are always worried that the kids will not leave their parents to go with them when they get to Preschool. Syd did great. She walked away with them saying "mom don't get out of the car", mom even thinks they had to tell her to turn around and wave goodbye.



We are thinking she is going to be the perfect little Preschooler. Boy were we WRONG. Mom went to pick her up. You pull up and show a number and they bring your kid out to you. Well Jamie realizes they are almost dragging her out because she is screaming SO much. Sort of funny for the teacher, little humiliating for the parents. Needless to say she was not a happy camper. She liked school so much she wanted to stay there!




She was a little ornery the rest of the day, but not as bad as right after school. We spent the next two days, talking, talking, talking, threatening a little and talking some more about leaving school a good happy girl. Two days later when she came out of school she had a frown on her face about having to leave, but she held it together (she was sniffling a bit). We think we are over our first school crisis. Should be a fun year for her. So far she absolutely loves it!