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Chariot Double Jogger - $150 (Redmond)

My babies have grown out of this stroller :-(

If you are a jogger and have small children, look no further. This stroller was purchased new in 2006, and used by a nonsmoking, nonpet-owning family. This stroller is in excellent condition, clean and ready to go. Features include: rain cover, large back storage, net-mesh storage in back, plus a small zipper-ed enclosure near handlebars.

Sale includes safety flag and bicycle attachment. (one flaw can be seen in picture - right handlebar grip is worn)

do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers

Well, the deal is done. in fact, I received three potential buyers the first day I posted this sad news. A man named Twon bought the stroller, even after I vetted him, making sure he actually is a jogger (he is mostly going to use this stroller for biking - I just know it).

I am sad to bid farewell to this part of my life. I used this stroller SO much. This stroller was my sanity. Maybe with this grand exit, I will focus on the joy. So, here we go:

My beautiful daughter in the beautiful stroller

Sappy? I know, I am milking this for all its worth. Even as I go through files of pictures from the past 8 (!!) years of stroller ownership, I see so many places where I can say, "Oh, I took the stroller there." Few possessions in my life have held such a grip . . .

See, other kids love the stroller too

Despite the melancholy tone of this post, there is joy. Joy in a medium which allowed me to get fresh air every day.

Miracle -isn't it?

These pictures speak a thousand parenting words.

My third caller of the day listened to my sob story after I told her the jogger was already sold. She thanked me for giving such a good review of the Chariot (she had asked about the Burley).

Phew - with all of this emotion off my chest I can look confidently at these sweet pictures and just think, "I am a survivor." I made it through challenging days of little-child-dom. I wonder what my next tangible, vain, get-me-through-adolescence, love will be; my Toyota Highlander perhaps?

Goin to Jackson

I love that Johnny Cash song/duet with June. The lyrics go something like, "I'm goin to Jackson . . . .goin to Jackson town".

The end of the school year was definitely stressful and adding travel plans immediately after the last day of school didn't help things any. I was able to pack and prepare for the most part, but once I sat in the car, I couldn't make it ten minutes without falling asleep. Poor Darren, he pulled over once to trade off driving (heading to family reunion in Wyoming). I happily got going with many snacks in hand. . . . only to make it about twenty miles. Seriously, Darren said he had seen the mile marker where we exchanged seats. I couldn't go another mile before I needed another rest. Pathetic.

Oversharing these details helps set the stage for this post, I promise :-).

Needless to say, we did make it to the family reunion in Star Valley, which was Awesome. Seeing my dad for the first time since he'd had one major health crisis after another in January, February and March was definitely high priority for me.

I was also excited to see my niece McKenzie since she came home from her mission to Kansas. I was happy to be with family again. It all felt surreal - I was in a beautiful mountain-ish area with my family. Heaven.

Cousin Fun

Cute Girls

We had a room with a view :-)

Cottonwood Canyon - I think :-)

Moss Posse

The reunion was over in a snap. It was all so fun and happy and simply great. After we said our goodbyes, my little family headed northward to Jackson Hole. I had already made reservations for a hotel and we just planned to stay a night before heading over to see Darren's family in Idaho Falls.

The drive from Star Valley to Jackson is gorgeous, by the way :-). Once we got into town, we couldn't find the hotel I had reserved. It turns out, I had reserved a hotel in Jackson Missisissippi. I'll blame it on the internet age. I have no idea why my phone thought I wanted a hotel in Missisissippi, but when I did the search, that was what came up I guess (couldn't possibly have been oversight by the user, right?). This is another example of pushing too hard at the end of the school year :-).

Jackson was loads of fun. We went down the Alpine Slide that first evening. My kids were each so funny. My oldest was extremely cautious,

my middle child extremely happy to be sliding along, and my youngest, well, I will let you interpret her reaction.

Reports were that she screamed the entire way down

Olympic Runner

I like to run.

For fun.

I live by the Olympic Mountain Range, and by "by" I mean like within a five hour drive (including ferry ride).

We might have run exactly over this creek
<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/port%20angeles" target="_blank"><img src="http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/sherryleal/Port%20Angeles/twilight-creek.jpg" border="0" alt="port angeles photo: Port Angeles twilight-creek.jpg"/></a>

So, a few weeks ago, three of my running buddies went over to Port Angeles (gorgeous) and ran a race in the mountains. It was awesome. Truly. The race was all trail running. I did the 10k (aka - wimpy) and my friends did the half marathon (She-Ra).

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/bjizzle6968/shera.jpg

Needless to say, with all of this kind of breath-taking scenery,

I was down in these mountains - cool huh?

paired with my breath-taking lungs :-), I tripped on the trail, skinning my knee (even tore a whole in my pants). Don't worry though, I'm OK. (I'm very glad I didn't slip down the mountainside - these were not flat trails).

Sort of like this

After we got home (Saturday night), and I was able to relax a little (Sunday afternoon), I nursed my poor little knee (c'mon people, sympathy here) by pulling up one of my capri legs to give it air. I may or may not have looked a bit strange.

Anyway, some very nice friends came to the door to deliver some very delicious cookies (I love cookies). I didn't answer the door initially. My 8-yr old, who's terrified of dogs, did and she promptly slammed the door in their faces (b/c their dog tried to come in our house, their dog's name is Max and is very little and playful). Hearing this rude behavior :-) (I wasn't aware of the dog part), I ran to see what was going on (forgetting to pull my pant leg down over my "owie").

I opened the door and went outside to talk with these kind friends. They immediately asked what was wrong with my knee to which I enthusiastically answered, "I ran a race in the Olympics". They looked at me really strangely, almost as though they were confused. So, to help them out, I repeated myself giving just a bit more energy to my already spastic personality. "I ran a race in the Olympics, it was just gorgeous. I fell and skinned my knee." By this time, my friends must have thought I was having some kind of delusions. They were probably thinking, "OK, how do we slowly disappear - this lady is crazy." They, again said, "What?" which was about the time I figured out that, oh yeah - I am not an Olympic runner but a runner who ran in the Olympics -- ha ha ha.

Innocent until proven guilty

You know, there are just so many things we as parents try to teach our children. Let's see, today, for example, my children wanted to know what "swollen" means. It happened to be so handy that my oldest daughter could demonstrate swollen with her emergency elastics (she always has hair bands around her wrist because a girl just never knows when they might come in handy). She showed how red and "swollen" the tips of her fingers could get after squeezing the blood out. You know, this is the kind of discussion that occurs in elementary-age households across the country.

Apparently, I have missed the boat on teaching my children swear words. The other day, my daughter excitedly showed me a story she had quickly whipped up. She narrated it at the same time I read the story. Just to give you a full picture: in addition to the already plethora of "shit" endings, she has a tongue thrust and pronounces all of her /ch/ as /sh/.

I think I'll quietly put this story aside. I'll just keep it in her "special" things box. It is very special indeed ;-).

Key Lime Pie -- mmmmm

Ladies and Gentlemen, girls and boys, welcome back to America :-)

By this point in our trip, our kids were very comfortable checking themselves in and out of the child centers, our room, the ice cream bar . . . .savvy? Every day before this our son begged and begged to just be allowed to "explore the ship".

So we let him.

Honest.

He had an id bracelet and room key, and we had our cell phone so we just left him on the boat. And, he will tell you that was the best move we've ever made. He had a complete blast. When I asked him what he did (maybe four hours), with a huge grin on his face he reported, "I went up and down the stairs thirteen times". Then I asked him if he had any ice cream and the grin came back - with a sheepish, "Yes". He also spent time in the child center. He will definitely tell you this was his favorite part of the cruise.

Meanwhile, we were having a little key lime pie.

We found a beach and enjoyed swimming and relaxing. It was another beautiful, sunny day. I loved talking with Darren. The girls were so much fun. It was just a great vacation day.

So, the significance of these pictures are that our oldest daughter became ecstatic when she saw the name of this museum; Mel Fisher. Apparently in one of her series, there is a character named Ruth Rose who goes back in time. We heard about Ruth Rose's adventures a number of times, in fact she is probably like family :-).

I honestly can't remember being reunited with our our son, but he was so excited to have been "grown up" and allowed some independence.

We enjoyed the last night of entertainment once again. I looked at all of the fancy pictures taken of our family that would've cost $250 dollars (in the ship's library) and then went to bed around midnight.