50 for 50...

Have you heard of the show 30 for 30? Thirty for 30 began as 30 sports documentaries made by different directors, in honor of ESPN's 30th anniversary. That was in 2009, and the show has been going ever since, so I'm guessing there has been well over 150 shows now. If you ever get the chance, there's some fascinating topics covered in the world of sports.  But once again, I digress...

What I was meaning to say is that we had our own Crebbin version this weekend, known as 50 for 50. That's right, Mike raced 50 Kilometers at 50 years of age. Yes, in one day. And we're not talking nice flat road run. It is a crazy, up and down trail run called the Chuckanut 50k.  He and his buddies have been training for this for a couple months now, and it all paid off!  Here they are before the foolish run. Don't they look nice and clean???

Don't they look nice and clean? They were to take a photo for me after the race, but as you can imagine, they were completely exhausted afterward and forgot.

Mike appropriately finished the race in 5 hours and 50 minutes.  He prided himself in saying no 60 year olds finished ahead of him, but actually he did quite well. Out of 400+ runners, he finished 105th, and even better yet, ninth out of runners between 50-59. 

He committed himself fully to this endeavor, and I am really proud at how hard he worked to achieve his goal. He not only physically trained, but he completely changed his diet and lost 20 pounds along the way. He claims he will never do another trail run again, and I kind of believe him on this one, but I do anticipate he is not done with long distance altogether. I and his children will be happy to have him around more on the weekends though, at least for a little while!

Aura Lee...

Yesterday, after seeing her enthusiasm for the piano these past couple of months, Kaia had her first, much anticipated piano lesson. Her comment to me afterwards was "Did you see the smile on my face the whole lesson?" Why yes I did! I would have taken a photo of it then, but I didn't want to distract and have the teacher think I was one of those moms.

Her excitement didn't stop there though. When we got home, she immediately began practicing reading the notes in her new piano book. The level of her enthusiasm tripled when she found a couple of the same songs in her book as in her sister's baritone book. So thus, I give you the Aura Lee duet...

Pi"e" Day

Being that we have two math teachers in our home, and that yesterday was the Pi day of the century, we just couldn't let the day go by unnoticed. Being I am not a regular pie baker, I chose a recipe with a simple crust, that was easy to make. My sister-in-law made us homemade Kahlua for Christmas, so I have been looking for ways to incorporate it in some baking (the mocha kahlua cupcakes were a mixed reception at our house). So I made Kahlua, Peanut Butter Cream Pie for our celebration.  The crust was actually made from pretzels, followed by a layer of crumbled peanut butter and powdered sugar, which was then smothered by the kahlua pudding blend.

And even better, Joshua came home for spring break to celebrate with us!  The mix of sweet and salty was even better than I thought it would be. I'm thinking that switching the pudding from vanilla to chocolate might be tasty too, but it will probably be another year before I make a pie.

Who Said Retirement?

A couple years back, after 25 years straight of coaching, I "retired."  These past couple of months I had a worth while reason for coming out of retirement: my girls! Okay, so I was only a volunteer coach, and it was just 4th/5th grade volleyball, but for the first time, I coached one of my own kids (actually two). 

When I coached, I always prided myself on organization and relationships. I made contact with the coaches before the girls' season, to volunteer my knowledge and assistance. Let's just say they were more than happy to have me there. The first practice I walked into quite the chaotic scene; 46 kids and not much structure or guidelines.  We had only one practice before the first game. Yikes! I taught correct skills, taught drills, created organization, and enthusiasm with the kids.  It was so much fun to see how much they improved. By the end of the short season, they actually looked like they knew what they were doing, and they even had some rallies.

Each week we would form the kids into four teams, and rotate the groups on and off the court for multiple games over an hours span. I was partial to a couple girls who really improved a lot. Both were a little hesitant about trying a new sport, but were game once they knew Coach Mom was helping out. Unfortunately I missed most of the last game due to a physical therapy appointment, but here is some video of Jaelyn's wicked serve that Mike took...

They both admit now that volleyball is fun, and that they can learn new skills with a little hard work and good attitudes. Between gymnastics and soccer, we shall see if they make room for more volleyball and Coach Mom.

Year of the Sheep...

Last weekend we spent a beautiful, sunny winter day celebrating Chinese New Year in Seattle's Chinatown for the first time. In the year's past, it seemed CNY always fell in the midst of wrestling season, so we never had the opportunity to participate.  We were not disappointed that we made it happen this year.

We ate delicious food on the $2 food walk throughout the neighborhood. Our favorites were the dimsun at where else, the Dim Sum King, the Wonton Soup (we watched the wontons being wrapped) at Canton Wonton House, which soothed all of our sore throats, and the Mango Curry with Deep Fried Tofu at Topics Thai food.  Let's just say we didn't leave hungry.

As we watched the performances on the stage, little did we know that we were standing in the midst of the pathway of dragons and lions. We had to part the path like the Red Sea to let them go by! I missed the photo of the cute Seahawk themed Lion, worn by young children, and due to the fact that I cluelessly videoed the dancers and firecrackers sideways on my phone, this is the only decent photo worth showing...

What had not even donned on us before the festival was that Jaelyn was born the year of the sheep in Chinese culture, which undergoes a 12-year cycle until a person reaches his or her Zodiac Year of Birth, which is known as本命年 (Běnmìngnián). We hadn't put it together that this was Jaelyn's year, because on the Gregorian calendar she was born in 2004, but since she has a January birthday, the starting day of the CNY fluctuates, depending on the lunar calendar. So her Chinese zodiac sign falls back a year to 2003. In general, Chinese people are quite superstitious, so that they avoid a year of extremely bad luck for their Běnmìngnián, they wear something red all year long (something that was gifted to them). Red is a sign of prosperity, courage, and brings good luck, which is supposed to thwart off the bad luck. It can be clothing, or very often a piece of jewelry.  

Of course, we don't believe or endorse the Chinese Zodiac and the culture's many superstitions. Thankfully Jaelyn has a joy and courage that comes from Jesus Christ being the center of her life! Just wanted to give a little history lesson for her to understand her culture, and for the few of you who stumbled upon actually follow my blog.