A Trip to Charm City

I hope everyone is having a lovely start to their three-day weekend! I know we sure are! We made it up to Baltimore today and we had a blast!

We started off the day bright and early by meeting up with some new friends in the ward to go the Baltimore Dragon Boat Club. Our friend Chey had been inviting us to come for quite a few weeks now and we finally had a Saturday that was free! Unfortunately, John has been a little under the weather this week (allergies and a cold), so he just came to watch. I had seen Dragon Boat races in Japan, so I was a familiar with the idea, but I’d never been in one! What a work out! We paddled from a place called Tide Point all the way to Fort McHenry this morning. AND back! ;)

All ready to go!
Getting into the boats…
John got a lovely panoramic view
There I am getting into my boat
Paddles at the ready!
Off we go!

We were probably out for just over an hour (and I gotta tell you, it’s WAY harder than it looks! But that’s probably a good thing…because I may or may not have eaten my way through one and half quarts of ice cream in 4 days this week. I’ll never tell…), I felt bad for leaving John at the dock, but he says he had a good time napping in the sun and watching the boats. I believe him ;)

After we finished and I got showered and cleaned up (we were right next to what I think is the Under Armour headquarters and their gym so we got to use their showers – that place was FANCY!) We pulled our bikes out of the car and headed toward inner harbor!

We followed the waterfront promenade and it was so pretty to bike along the water! We also passed these Ritz Carlton Residencies that we thought would be SUPER cool to live in. But even if we ever got to the point where we could afford it…I think I’d still prefer a house ;)

We just followed the promenade until we reached the Maryland Science Center: Our first touristy stop in Baltimore. :)

It was really cool! There were lots and lots of interactive exhibits and our admission price also came with the shows in the planetarium, so we got to see that and it was pretty fun. (But you better believe I found coupons for a discount on admission ;)

A harp that played music with not strings, but lasers!
Lots of dinosaurs

The Amazing Body Exhibit. I got John to lie down on the bed of nails…though he says he’s done that before (yeah like “been there, done that”. what?!). I was too chicken to do it ;)
I was not very balanced today…
Checking out my fingers under a microscope
John and his skeletal friend, discovering how many bones it takes to twist a doorknob. Quite a few, if you can imagine

The Cell exhibit. John got some pictures of me dancing around this screen that was supposed to use my shadow to select items and then we’d learn about different parts of a cell
More cellular learning

Then we went to the Math Midway. A carnival about math? Hmm…John got stuck on a maze in which you could only make right turns…(He did make it past the very beginning, by the way…ha ha ha)
Making artwork with this funky pendulum-like device. Our pictures didn’t turn out that pretty…
And we rode tricycles with square wheels! Crazy, right? But on this ‘specialized’ track, it was actually pretty easy :)

After we had seen everything, we walked along the waterfront to look at the shops and things.

We found some awesome ships in the harbor
And these dragon paddleboats! Too funny.

We saw shops, restaurants, and street performers! Pretty cool. Then we made the walk back to the science center to get our bikes and head back to the car. It was about 88 degrees today and so we were glad to make it back to our nicely air conditioned apartment :) And I am pooped. After paddling, biking and walking around in the sun, I could do with an ice cold lemonade. Or a milkshake. I’m thinking a milkshake. It has ice cream in it.

A Fresh New Look!

Well?! Whaddya think of the new look? I know. I’m completely obsessed with the chevron. It’s just so…clean. crisp. trendy. ;) I seriously loved my old design, but I was itching for a change.

I’m not quite sure about how I feel about my little labels over there though. Too hard to read maybe?
<==

I love the geometric design though. Just need to figure out how to make it more legible.

Anyway, speaking of fresh new looks, I’m discovering that my tastes are changing. I’m not going to overhaul the entire apartment (I think John would have a heart attack), but I’m definitely logging ideas away for that house we may have…someday…

I’m no longer afraid of patterns (obviously – note the chevron in the back) but I don’t think I would have liked this chair a year or so ago

Now I LOVE it! And I’m sure I can find that fabric somewhere and upholster a chair myself…shouldn’t be too hard, right?! ;)

And instead of the darker colors, I am finding myself drawn toward light and airy rooms. Like this kitchen

It’s so fresh and clean! I think John is liking this shift in my tastes…he’s liked the lighter styles for a while now… ;)

So for now, I must dream. ;)

Official Warrior Status: Achieved!

*Warning: LOTS and LOTS of pictures. And mud* :)

We did it! We conquered the Warrior Dash! And it was pretty freakin’ awesome.

To recap, back in February, John decided he wanted to run this race and sent out an email to me and my dad asking if we wanted to join in. My dad of course said yes, and to John’s great surprise ;) I did too! After a few weeks, my mom said she wanted to do it as well! And thus a tradition was about to be born…

We actually had quite a bit going on this great weekend of the Warrior Dash. We were already planning on seeing Brian Regan live in DC Friday night (which was totally hilarious and he had all brand new stuff!) and then the race was Saturday afternoon. I also got a haircut Saturday morning (which will explain why I look so fabulous in the coming photos…ha!). My dad and sister gave me such a hard time about getting my hair done right before swimming in mud, but I’ll have you all know that I didn’t specifically plan it that way. Promise ;)

Anyway, in the weeks following registration we decided on a team name and I designed some T-shirts! Our team was called “Knickers and Kilts”. Alright. There’s a story behind it. Long story short: John’s into family history. Hunt is an old and (according to my Dad) very proper English name. Moffat is a Scottish name. Knickers=English. Kilts=Scottish. Done. ;) I had fun designing a shirt to tie our name together with the Warrior Dash helmet logo. I think I did pretty good!

Here’s the front:
And the back!
Here’s an up-close of the clothesline. I painted a rather loose interpretation of the Moffat tartan. I know, sweet right? We have our own tartan!

I made one each for the four of us and then one for my sister – she was to be the designated cheerleader. And here we are before the race! Getting our warrior on :)
Well…kind of…John is not exactly looking very warrior-esque ;)

We made the hour and a half drive to Mechanicsville, Maryland to a BMX bike course, where the race was to be held. We picked up our packets with our race numbers, shirts, and fuzzy warrior hats!
(I put my hat on like that on purpose, by the way…I couldn’t fit it over my ponytail)
Mom probably meant to make this face…after seeing runners from earlier waves of the race completely covered in mud…well…she wasn’t so sure about this whole thing…

We found a spot for my sister to watch us and get pictures at the end of the race, and then it was time to line up!!!
The countdown seemed to take forever! But finally, we were off!! (complete with fire torches to send us out)

I have to say that the very beginning was a little anti-climatic. Once the blast went off and we could go, there were so many people that it took a while to get out of the start area and get going. We found out why when we realized that we had to go though and/or jump over a creek to get to the course! That can cause a little traffic…Figures ;)

We bought a couple of waterproof cameras to take with us on the race (which means they aren’t the best quality pictures, but we did our best), so that we could get some sweet action shots. John and I kept one, and we ended up giving the other one to my parents. We thought maybe we’d be able to stick together, but once we got started…well…we kinda left Mom and Dad behind. Here’s one last shot of them at the beginning before we took off ;)

But even though we ended up doing all the obstacles at different times, I’m going to post their pictures with ours so you don’t have to go through the entire course twice ;)

And so it begins…

Obstacle #1 – Mud. Hurdles. And Barbed Wire.

We had to jump over cement hurdles and duck under barbed wire. In the mud. The obstacle didn’t show up right away. No, it came after at least a half mile of very wet, slick, and THICK mud. We’re talking lost shoes if you didn’t tie them tight enough. Thankfully, none of us lost our shoes. But we certainly witnessed it.

While I didn’t lose a shoe, right after the last hurdle I fell into some mud so deep, I got quite stuck. So stuck that John had to come rescue me because I had nothing to grab onto to give myself leverage to pull myself out. Then I fell face first into the mud. But I caught myself. With my hands. So then my hands were covered in mud and it was only the first obstacle!

Obstacle #2 Cargo Net Climb

Climb up and over the cargo net!
See how muddy my shoes are?
Here’s mom on her way down!

Obstacle #3 Climb the wall

We had to pull ourselves up this wall on an A-frame and then climb down the other side

Obstacle #4 Climb and Slide

Another A-frame, but this time we climbed up the first side, but then on the other side, there were only two or three steps, and then you had to slide the rest of the way down! I did not slide. I jumped. Eek!

After we had finished this one, we looked back and saw that Mom and Dad had reached the cargo net obstacle. We snapped a picture and tried to cheer for them, but we were too far away for them to hear us. But it was so fun to see them doing the obstacles!
See? There they are!
 

Obstacle #5 Army Crawl

We crawled under barbed wire. Noticing a trend yet? ;)

Obstacle #6 Climb up. Climb Down.

Another A-frame with ropes to pull yourself up (though this one had nice little steps, unlike the first one) and then you climbed back down the other side.

Obstacle #7 Slip N’ Slide!!!

Giant slip n’ slide at the top of a hill. Totally got a rug burn (slip n’ slide burn?) on my bottom. Ouch! ;) But this one was definitely a favorite. Nice and refreshing after being in the heat.

Obstacle #8 Under the logs

We came to an area with large logs placed over little tunnels that we had to squirm our way through
My thighs were KILLING me by this point! Because I haven’t mentioned yet that between almost every obstacle, there was at least one horrendously steep hill! ;) I should also point out that one of the hills was counted as a specific obstacle (so my numbering is off)…but there were so many hard ones…I can’t remember which one it was!

Obstacle #9 The Horizontal Cargo Net

This time we had to crawl across a cargo net, rather than up one

Obstacle #10 Balance Beams

We had to walk up and then down some balance beams. Thankfully they were rather wide :)
I did strike a pose in that one…so sad the camera had just missed it! Oh well ;)

Obstacle #11 Another Climb

We climbed up and then down another rather random structure ;)

Obstacle #12 The Warrior Roast (aka The FIRE!!! eek!)

At long last came the fire hurdles! And we ROCKED them!!

And finally, Obstacle #13 The Mud Pit

Swim through the mud to get to the finish line! Soooo not sure about this!
When we had watched an earlier group of runners go through the mud pit, they had been able to use their arms to swim through and it looked fairly easy. But then…there was some guy hosing pool water into the pit. By the time we got there, the pool water man was gone. And the mud was. so. thick.
I gave up on the swimming method and would get up and then duck down under the barbed wire. It was so hard to move! I can’t believe this guy next to me got his face in it! (freaky mud man!) I’m not going to lie – the mud was absolutely disgusting.
But we did it! We conquered the warrior dash!
Ewwww! I got mud in my teeth! So glad I couldn’t taste it…blech… At this point the camera was quite covered…so we did our best with the last couple of pictures on the film ;)
After passing the finish line, we went to find my sister so that we could watch for mom and dad to come through.

And here they come!
At this point my mom was definitely rethinking the mud thing. I think my dad said something like “Just get in” ;)
My poor mom got mud kicked into her face/mouth by someone in front of her. She about tossed her cookies right then and there. But she held it in and made it! This face pretty much sums it up for her though:
They did it! (you’ll have to excuse Dad in this picture…he almost lost his pants in the mud pit. He’s making sure they stay on)

Cheering them on as they come through the finish line!
We are official warriors!!!!!!!
ohhh…how romantic! ;)
yep…I love you too Dad!
After the photo shoot ;) we headed over to the “Warrior Wash” and tried to get cleaned up. Think large hoses of freezing cold water. It didn’t really do much…but we got some mud off…

We made our way back to the car and scrubbed off what we could. Once that mud dries, it’s like a second skin! We bundled up and made the trip back home. I gotta say, a shower and sleep never felt so good!

And that was our Warrior Dash adventure! For posterity’s sake, here are our results and times. ;)

John: Finished #1846 out of 8801 participants overall with a time of 41:26.30
Ashley: Finished #2001 out of 8801 participants overall with a time of 42:03.45
Mom: Finished #6336 out of 8801 participants overall with a time of 1:01:42.55
Dad: Finished #6412 out of 8801 participants overall with a time of 1:02:10.45

Not bad, eh?? So!! Who’s ready to do it with us next year?!? ;)