Muddy Buddy (ATX)

I know, I'm behind on sharing JAG pics with the family. Been a busy month with work and training for the Muddy Buddy, which by the way, was yesterday! I promise, I will be back sometime in the near future with JAG pics and vids. Feels like we spent a month in last weekend...so this is going to be a long post that could probably get boring quick. Look for BOLD headlines on what happened and for links to picture albums. Going to tell you about camping, the Muddy Buddy race, boating and jet skiing on Lake Travis and getting in my truck which was already occupied by a snake. Hopefully this doesn't get boring quick! If you just want to see the pics, check out the photo album HERE.

CAMPING: PEDERNALES FALLS STATE PARK
As I mentioned earlier, James and I have been running and mountain biking to get ready for this race. We kind of started the weekend of on the wrong foot. We planned to camp out at nearby Pedernales Falls Park in Johnson City so we could get a "good nights rest" and not have to wake up super early and leave Austin early to arrive in Johnson City by 7am. Well, waited to long to reserve a camp ground, but we were sold on the idea of having a fun Friday night, campfire and relaxing before the race. So we got the primitive campground. The primitive camp sites are a 0.8 mile trek from the parking lot. Not bad, we got bikes for James, Morgan, Isaiah and myself...easy ride. Well, we got there late. Big surprise huh? So we didn't eat before arrival as planned. Found out 2 things when we arrived: 1) the hike to the camp site is 2 miles, not 0.8 as we originally thought; and 2) no campfires allowed out there...bummer! There went our "fun" camping. Thats cool...we made the trek and set up base.

Now it is getting dark...we ride back to the trucks cause we need to go get dinner. The ride is not easy. Muddy trails, creek crossings, big inclines...Morgan was trooper and got through it all okay. We head in to Johnson City and end up stopping at Hill Country Cupboard. It boasts about having the worlds best chicken fried steak..."over 3 dozen sold." At this point we are starving and could have eaten at Burger King and had the best meal ever, but I think the food was pretty good. Dinner is over and we are back at the park, pitch dark. James pulls out his headband lights, one works and one is out of batteries...I had nothing to offer. Somehow it is enough light to get us back and finally are getting to bed. Oh, we left a sleeping bag in the truck. I open up the one bag and spread it open for me and my bro...luckily it didnt get too cold. We might as well not have brought it...offered little in terms of padding and we didn't get to cover up. I think we all woke up about 20-30 times that night with the rain, wind and lightning....good times! So the plan to be close to the race for a short morning drive was a major FAIL. We're just happy the rain stopped in the morning so we could pack up and get back to the trucks dry. As we pack up and take the tent rain shield/cover off, there are dozens and dozens of daddy long legs all over the tent. They are still there, we just rolled them up in the tent. We're still good though, a few bananas, granola bars, oatmeal and powerbars later and it is...

MUDDY BUDDY TIME!!

This is a race where teams of 2 alternate riding a mountain bike and running and alternating about every mile where there are check points and obstacles courses. The person with the bike goes first, reaches the check point, leaves the bike, does the obstacle course then takes off running. The person who was running reaches the same check point, does the obstacle course then picks up the bike and rides. You continue to switch off at every obstacle course. At the end of the race is a big mud pit where both teammates have to cross it together. The Austin, Tx. (Johnson City really) race was a short 5.4 mile race with obstacle courses about every 1.1 miles. I took off on the bike first, since we got there late, I'm behind the pack and have to be patient while all these slow people crowd the road...finally there is some space and I start weaving in and out of traffic trying to make up time. I am WAY better at biking than running, so I was determined not to fall back on my riding to make up for my slow run time. 1.1 miles later I reach the first obstacle, the High Walls. A wall, not really that high, with indoor mountain climbing type of nubs all over it and on the other side a cargo net to climb down. Was easy peasy. Now I'm running and suckin' wind. 2.3 miles into the race is the next obstacle, the Inflatable Slide...a very TALL slide. Straight up climb on a cargo net the a fun slide down. I'm down and then James starts pulling up so I take the bike and go. 3.3 miles into the race is the Balance Beams, so I ditch the bike and jump up...normally this would have been easy and it was, but it was more challenging doing it with Jell-o legs.

This next stretch was killer, mostly uphill and really muddy from all the rain. I started off good, slowed down and then finished strong...4.6 miles into the race and I'm at the Low Crawl. They have a net low to the ground and you gotta go army style crawling on yer belly to get through. I do and then gotta wait a little longer for James who had the bad luck of getting the bike ride on the worst leg of the race...it was almost impossible to ride most the uphill battle in the mud. He gets there in good time considering and I'm off again on the bike for the final leg. It starts off uphill but I get through it all the way and then relief when I see this loooong downhill ride and I let gravity take over. 5.7 miles later I am at the final Mud Pit and waiting on James. He arrives and we head for the pit and we hear the PA guy, "Here they come...your OAKLAND RRRAIDERS!!" James and I get through the Mud Pit and run the final incredibly muddy and slippery stretch to the finish line...we finished with a time of 54:17. We were in the 76-85 combined age group and finished 7th. Only the top 5 place...we were 37 secs away from top 5 finish.

It was really fun though and we got lots of nice goodies at the end. Really hope to do it again. Here is a vid Zaiah took of us finishing...

LAKE TRAVIS: PONTOON BOAT AND JET SKI
On the way home from Johnson City, Zaiah and I stopped at the Nutty Brown Cafe on 290 for some lunch. Tastee! Got home and then spent way more time cleaning bikes and everything else. Was much easier getting the mud on instead of off. Just as I finished, Mari and the girls pulled up. By 4:45 were back on the road and headed to Lake Travis. We rented a pontoon boat and a jet ski. We anchored in the cove, swam and took turns on the jet ski. The water was pretty cold, but once you were in it got easy. The girls had a blast on the jet ski, it was fun having everyone out there.

SNAKE IN THE GRASS TRUCK

After the lake we headed to Carlos N Charlies to meet the Bruces and the Dunhams for dinner. Holly, Mari and the kids headed there to meet up with them while Isaiah and I carried stuff back to the truck. I get in the truck, about to sit down and I noticed out of the corner of my eye some trash on my center console. It took maybe 1/2 a second at most for me to think: "who left trash on my console" and "it kinda looked like a snake." Of course I totally disregarded the whole snake theory...then the piece of "trash" moved and jumped back out of the truck. Look in and yup...its a snake alright. I saw him head to the back seat for more leg room. I opened up all the doors, but dude just wanted to chill. I get up close to snap a pic and he turns away, so grab his tail to yank him out, but he pulls back and slips out of my hand...and now hes mad. Coiled up and his little mouth wide open. Didn't have giant teeth, but I still didn't want them in me. After throwing the boys Burger King crown at it failed to get him to exit, I break a branch of a tree to try and lift it out. Few failed attempts and it finally turned away and "ran" out the opposite door. It was a fantastic 24 hours!!

Mike's Jiu-Jitsu Tourny

Spent most of my Saturday in Wimberley, TX. to check out Mike in his first Jiu-Jitsu tournament. Never heard of Wimberley before, it was a neat little town and the drive between Kyle and Wimberley on FM150/FM3237 was pretty. Really wanted to stop at several places for pictures, but several things prevented that: short on time, small 2 lane road with no shoulder or place to pull over, and rain. Hopefully someday we can go back just to hang out and explore.

So the tourny started at 10, but Mike's division didn't start to fight until 1 PM. Mike finally got his turn and faced off against one the meanest, rock-solid guys in the building. So Mike came after him right away and almost started a street brawl he threw him off the mat and they almost kept fighting behind the ref's table only 10 seconds into the match. So the ref stops it and gets them on the mat again and they go...again, Mike goes after him pushes him back and off the mat, this time Mike falls face down and his opponent falls on his head and Mike's forehead hits the ground.

Take 3...finally both are grappling and they end up on the ground. Hard to describe the pretzel twisting that begins...so just watch video. I was corrected about my Twitter post, Mike did not tap out, the ref stopped the fight. Which was probably a good thing, his arm was bending in his the human arm is not meant to bend.



In the end, Mike took home 3rd place after only one fight. He was supposed to fight for the 3rd place, but his opponent forfeited after taking an accidental blow to his chin in the previous fight. That was my first time watching a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, very interesting. The kids fighting were fun to watch, but don't think Holly would have enjoyed it. There were a couple of girls fighting against all the boys. It was cool to watch this one girl, she was maybe 12 years old, beat this one boy and then give him a big ol' happy smile and a hug.

Easter and Beyond

Been a long time...so here comes a quick (maybe not) update. Mari and the kids came to visit Easter weekend. Colored Easter eggs Saturday afternoon, Mari spilled the coloring and made a mess. Big bag of confetti disappeared off the counter top, haven't seen it since. That evening we went to IBM and got a bunch of pics with the bluebonnets. Then it was off to dinner at the County Line on the Lake. Long wait and there were not even any turtles in the river to keep us company. Here is the full photo album on Kodak Gallery.

Rewind a little further back into March and we had Poppi staying here with us for almost a month. The boys got to really get to know her and had so much fun with her. This Photo Album has all the March pictures.

And finally some videos of the boys. The first video is from March 4th when Poppi was here. She was letting the boys play with her glasses. The looked like goofy little nerds wearing her glasses.



This last video goes way back to October 18th, 2009. It is a video of Jeremy learning to go from sitting to crawling and then back to sitting up on his own. He got so happy when we cheered for him!

Bailey wearing Poppi's cap

Jordan's Surgery

As we were walking in to the surgery center for Jordan's eye surgery, I was praying that God hold him tight and protect him. Then I started to notice the children and parents around me. There were so many children with obvious physical and mental challenges. I changed my prayer to a prayer of thanks. We are so blessed to have two healthy boys.

Later Jordan was so good while we waited for the surgery I was able to look around and observe the other people there. The parents with the children that had wheelchairs and obvious head surgery scars were patient, loving, happy and content with their children and the long wait before seeing the doctor. The parents with the seemingly healthy children were impatient, complaining (about the wait and not being able to eat or drink in front of the hungry, thirsty children who had to fast before surgery) and yelling at their kids; who in turn were yelling themselves. Made me want to always keep the mindset that this may be my last days with them and I want to spend it patiently loving them.

1 Year (and 2 mos) Check-up

The boys had their 1 year check-up yesterday. Was late because the boys can't be sick for their "wellness" check and vaccinations. We've had almost a 3-4 week streak of good health in the house! The boys cried when they got stabbed in the leg with needles 4 times each, but they recovered nicely when it was done. Jordan had to get blood drawn to check his iron (it is better, but still a little low) and they drew his blood the "normal" way. I sat down with him and they checked his arm, he had a good vein. So they put that rubber strap around his arm, tapped his vein, I held him while a nurse held down his arm, then another nurse stuck the big needle in and drew blood. Jordan watched the whole thing and didn't even flinch. It was crazy.

JAG Stats (Percentiles)
Jeremy: Length 31-3/4" (70%), Weight 23lb 13oz (50%), Height 49" (75%)
Jordan: Length 30-3/4" (50%), Weight 21lb 14oz (25%), Height 48-1/2" (50%)
They didn't write the percentiles down for us...so that is coming off our flaky memory, but they should be really close.

And now its picture and video time! It's been a while since I posted pics, so got a few albums to share:

• Jan-Feb Photo Album
• JAG Playing Out Front Photo Album
• Garcia/Chisum Family Photo Album
• JAG Walking Around the Hood Photo Album

And a couple vids...

In this one Jeremy learned how to spin and both boys started doing it and falling down.



This one is from our after dinner walk yesterday. We got the boys a wagon this weekend and this is the first time using it for our walk. Jeremy loves to push it and was pushing Jordan. I would steer, but it was mostly Jeremy doing all the work!