Reach the Beach

Aubree set off just before 6:00 am Saturday. I had cake club, played with the kids and friends. I started packing for our ONE night with Delilah and her twins. With help from Heidi and Lane Brooke, I finally got the kids in the car and the car loaded. Certain I got everything, we set out on the road, 1 mommy, 2 kiddos.

After the children fell asleep, I drove in bumper traffic for what seemed like hours, and I had to PEE. I sat tortured for miles. Trying to imagine a solution, I turned around to gaze lovingly at my two sleeping babes. Their feet were bare. Miles from home and stuck with a full bladder on the highway, I had forgotten shoes and socks. I laughed so hard, I nearly had to pull over.

I finally pulled over behind a roadside fruit stand behind some bushes. I had to leap through a bunch of thorny brambles, of course, so wound up bleeding all over my arms. When finished inspecting my new bloody wounds, I looked up to see that I was squatting, directly facing the on-coming traffic. No stopping now, when you've saved a gallon of pee. But all that mattered at that point was the children stayed asleep.

When I finally arrived at 4:00 pm, I was told to park down that gravelly street, walk back, them get on the shuttle bus to get to the finish line,with my 2 children with their soft bare feet, and the wind was blowing. And it was about 50 degrees. The hildren's teeth began chattering when I opened the windows. Right then I saw Erica, Mandy's special lady friend; I nearly cried. She helped me like some guardian angel.

Windham and Harper, my little troopers, were SO excited to get on a big school bus. The ride was only about 1 mile. Theywere cold and bored an overwhelmed and waited for Mama at the finish line like champion superfans!




Shannon made it through the finish line at 3:30! Nuts. Aubree, Mandy, and Genevieve arrived at 4:59!





Mandy



Mandy, Aubree, Genevieve




Genevieve




Vivienne, Shannon, Mandy, Aubree, Genevieve

And then Harper and Windham played chicken with the ocean and lost,




Jeff, holding Vivienne, Harper on her butt in the waves, Delilah, and Windham (Theo's with Shannon)

and soaking and freezing and teary eyed, we had to ride the bus back to the car. I have never been more proud of them. I explained I would take off their wet clothes in the howling wind, that they would be cold, that the freezing cold would only last a minute while I whipped them into their jammies and wrap 'em up with their blankets. Their teeth chattered, but they did not make a peep! My sweet kiddos are turning into adventuresome warriors. I'm so proud of them! And I'm so proud of my wife for pedaling 104 MILES!!!