Add Warrior Dash to the list of things making 2010 the Best Year Ever

When Jon and I first talked about heading up to the Mid-Atlantic Warrior Dash, we planned to visit DC along the way. One of the reasons we moved to this area was to have easy access to family road trips. Beth graciously allowed us to stay at her place south of DC on Thursday night then Friday we headed straight for the downtown Air and Space Museum.

I would love to show you pictures of what an awesome time the boys had but I failed to take photos. GASP. Even I am shocked. Believe me when I say the boys loved it.

After the museum, the weather was so gorgeous we decided to walk around the National Mall. We were very surprised by how excited the boys were to see everything. Something tells me this picture of my boys in front of the Capitol would make my grandpa Joe very happy!




We walked and walked and walked, stopping for restroom breaks and hot dogs. I took a series of jumping photos and I wish I could say it was the photographer in me but it was sheer luck that I got this perfectly timed so the Washington Monument is coming right out of Alex's head.




We walked all the way up to the monument before the boys were done. We checked it out then drove up to Pennsylvania.




We met up with Joanna (and Andy and Michael) and Maria (and Will and Maya and Lily and Allie) on Friday night. All the kids got along perfectly, which was awesome for having 6 kids with so much energy! Although maybe letting them burn some off by jumping on hotel beds may have helped. The boys still won't stop talking about Michael.




I have already raved about Joanna and how much I like her. Maria was also freaking awesome. I must have a way of picking blogfriends because she was smart, warm, and such a good mom. And look at her cuties!




Saturday was the main event, Warrior Dash. I got kind of freaked out in the parking lot because the majority of the participants were very ripped men oozing testosterone. And then there was us:



I felt better after we walked around a little bit and saw a variety of people. Of all the costumes and craziness we saw, I still think this is my favorite costume. I told him he was committed to the cause to shave his head for this.



We took the kids over to check out the end of the race: the mud pit followed by the fire jump. I don't know what I was expecting but the fire was a stack of Duraflame logs. A LOT of Duraflame logs.



I had grand plans to take my waterproof camera on the run but I forgot it. SO SAD! The course was a blast - tunnels, hay mountains, rope climbs. My least and most favorite was climbing over barrels in a lake. A lake completely coated in green algae and FREEZING COLD. It was literally the coldest water I have ever been in. The bottom was so slimy we kept slipping and Joanna fell completely in. There was a race photographer in the middle of the lake so I'm hoping to see our group shot of us completely soaked.

I had a blast running with Maria and Joanna and just chatting. It's so amazing to me to continue meeting blogfriends and feel like they are old friends. Normally I completely suck at meeting new people. And I'm pretty proud to call these two women my friends, women who would do this in their mid-30s:




This was a pretty triumphant day.




Oh yes, a super triumphant day. A day to truly feel alive.




I am pretty proud my boys get to see me doing stuff like this. Not just the warrior part of it, but being active and making exercise fun. They both really wanted to be in warrior dash and asked when they could participate. And Alex was very psyched about my hat, even if he did end up tasting (?!) it.




Saturday we let the kids swim then headed out for a meal. This was the only time we could wrangle all six of them together for a shot:




A special shout out has to go to our husbands, Jon and Andy and Will. Thank you for kid wrangling, thank you for supporting us, and thank you for helping us make our online friendships a reality.