The Van

***Our van broke down New Year's Eve. We had it towed to our house.(I love USAA) It sat in our driveway till February when we figured we had enough money saved up to fix it. We had it towed to our favorite car repair shop.(Again, love USAA) They replaced the fuel pump. We drove it home. Two days later when I was getting ready to go somewhere, I got the kids in the van and got my seat belt on. Put the key in the ignition.......nothing. Try again....nothing. Try again....nothing. Oh yay! Our van sat in the driveway till last week when we decide, "Hey, why don't we get the battery checked!" (We hadn't checked it already because it was still pretty new...how could it be the battery?) Chris took the battery out, took it to Kragen....4 AMPs. Wow. Next day we took it to Sears where we bought it in the first place. Guess what. Still under warranty for about 23 more days....we got another for free. Shew! For the last almost 4 months we've been driving Chris's Ford Focus and Emily's Mazda Protege. Both small cars. If the whole family had to go somewhere, we would go in two cars. Today, I drove the van for the first time since before New Year's Eve. I felt like I was in a truck; high off the ground...loved it. Only problem was, I kept reaching for the gear shift between the two front seats. Um, in the van, it's on the steering column. Same with the parking break, except in the van, that's on the floor.***

***Since the van's been closed up pretty tight for the last four months, the windshield leaks where there is a rust spot at the top on the passenger side, and it rained a few times....the carpet in front of the passenger seat is black, stinks like mildew and is NASTY***

***Wondering how terrible it would be to just let Chris MacGyver the rust spot with silicone sealant***

***Also wondering how terrible it would be if we just pulled the stinky carpet out and drove the van around without it***

Four Months Ago.........(picture heavy)

I said I would post pictures from the Monster Jam. It was just about 4 months ago, I'm sorry. We have over 300 pictures and I was hoping for some help in selecting them; but so far, nothing. So, I'm posting what I feel like posting and if the pictures that I post are not pictures that other people in this house would've posted, too bad.

First off, it was a B-E-A-utiful day after a full 5 days of rain and flooding.


We rode the bus and trolley there to avoid the traffic at Qualcomm Stadium. Cameron and Gabriel are just fascinated by the MTS. It was very easy, convenient and fun.

Christopher, Gabriel, Chris


Cameron, Emily


Gabriel in a different seat because he was too excited to sit in one spot.


Me.



Pit Party........

We saw the car from Back to the Future, and got an autograph from one of the designers. Saw the police car from the Andy Griffith Show. Tow-Mater from Cars. And we can't forget the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo.

I'm sure you don't really care to see all of the pics, so here's the Mystery Machine..





The Drivers and their Monsters...

Pat Gerber and The Shocker...(truth be told, we got in this line because it was the shortest)


Frank Krmel and Blue Thunder (Yes, that is Krmel, it is not misspelled)


The kids with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle


Mark McDonald and El Toro Loco (Pretty darn long line, but I had to have a picture with my beloved El Toro)



Jim Creten and The Bounty Hunter


Dawn Creten and The Iron Outlaw (She normally drives Scarlett Bandit, but the Bandit was too beat up from the last show and the driver of Iron Outlaw quit...you don't really care, do you?)





The Show

Monster Mutt


Iron Man



Ninja Turtle


Blue Thunder



Demolition Derby


The guy here in the pic spilled his beer under my seat, which ended up all over my backpack and Cameron's earmuffs. I had to dry his earmuffs on my jeans. Yuck. And the guy kept booing Blue Thunder. Grrr...I wanted to throw my elbow back into his face a few times. But I refrained.








We had a great time.

Finished the 5K

I don't even know why I keep this blog. I'm so bad at updating. Thank you all for being patient with me.

Well, the 5K was a few weeks ago. We walked the entire thing. I kinda wanted to walk/jog, but I had fallen off of the exercise wagon and hadn't exercised in about 5 weeks. Also, there were over 5000 people there, and it was super crowded just trying to walk. We would've been running into the back of people if we would've tried to run. Next time we know to start just behind the runners.

By the time we got to mile two, it had thinned out, but I was ready to quit. My lower leg and my back were killing me. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't run any of it, because a few weeks before, I could have. On the other hand, I am proud to say I finished. Anywhoo, we finished it in 58 minutes or so.

I don't have any pictures to post, but I do have a link to them if you really want to see them. I've looked at them and I get so angry at myself for being so big. I think I will start my 'Burning the Bridge Behind' me posts again on Monday. I really need people to get onto me about this and keep me motivated. I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life, except for when I was pregnant with Gabriel. I got into the 260s with him. I'm not there now, but not too far from it. Yuck.

Anyway, here are the links. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

**Edit** For some reason, the links are not turning into links. You'll have to copy and paste. Sorry.

Me...
https://www.opix.net/cgi-bin/index07.cgi?race_id=134&race_ids=134&race=&race_number=2569

Chris...
https://www.opix.net/cgi-bin/index07.cgi?race_id=134&race_ids=134&race=&race_number=2570