Thursday, October 6, 2011

Auntie Outruns CF In AZ


Aunt Chris at Pinnacle Peak.

A couple days ago I got an email with pics from Aunt Chris telling me about how she hiked for "Outrun CF".  She hiked 3.5 miles at Pinnacle Peak that had lots of ups and downs. She had mentioned to me a couple months ago that she wanted to run, walk, or hike on the same day as us for Outrun CF.  I was so excited to find out she hiked for Rachel and CF awareness.  It makes me teary thinking about it because Outrun CF day has become a very special day for us. 
It's amazing how something so simple can mean so much. 
Thank you Aunt Chris, we love you.
Maybe one of these years we can "Outrun CF" all together.


Looks like she's ready to kick CF butt!

She's awesome!

That little bitty pink dot is Aunt Chris.
What a beautiful place to hike.




Monday, October 3, 2011

Outrun CF Fall

necklace I had made for Rachel


Saturday, October 1 we participated in the second Outrun CF Virtual Run.  The first one we did was in March at the Ko'Olina Lagoons.  I wanted us to go somewhere just as special and beautiful.  I thought about it for a little bit and decided maybe we could do one of the hikes on our list.  Russ and I decided on Ka' ena Point.  It's beautiful, long distance, and it's on our list of hikes to complete by the end of Rachel's kindergarten year. 
We invited some friends to join us, support Rachel, and celebrate a day of kicking CF butt. One of Rachel's best friends, her dad and mom (my good friend) hiked with us.  Also it was so nice to have Russ home so we could Outrun CF as a family. 
We got started a little late.  The sun was blazing with no shade, but that didn't stop us.  It was beautiful....the Pacific Ocean on our right and the Waianae Mountains on our left.  We walked through a nature preserve for nesting sea birds.  We didn't see any of those but once we made it to the point we did see Hawaiian Monk Seals.  They're so cute, too. At the point we had a little picnic of sandwiches, chips, fruit, and water. 
After the picnic, we gave Rachel her Outrun necklace and a little "I'm so proud of you" speech.  She was all smiles and in true Rachel fashion said, "Awe, it's so cute, thank you". 
So, we finished up there, made sure we took plenty of pics of the seals and started our journey back.  We hiked roughly 4.5 miles total that day. 
 After the hike we headed over to Haleiwa (cute little North Shore town), for some shave ice.  Shave ice - not to be mistaken for a snow cone.  While we were there eating shave ice a colorful gecko climbed up in the chair with me.  It kinda freaked me out, I didn't want it to start climbing on me.  There was a local that told us it wants shave ice.  I thought he was kidding.  Well, that little gecko kept watching/staring at me like a dog begs for food.  It really looked at me with "puppy dog eyes".  So, I dropped a little shave ice close to it.  It came right over and started drinking it up as it melted.   Then I got a little more adventurous and spoon fed it!  One of the coolest things I've ever done. 
That pretty much wraps it up our day. 
We had a great day made special by having all of us together and with friends. 
Doesn't get much better than that. 

Rachel posing ocean (kai) side

Rachel posing mountain (mauna) side

Rachel and Jada
look at that....so sweet


Hawaiian Monk Seal

Hawaiian Monk Seal

Hawaiian Monk Seal
high five for kicking CF butt

Presenting her with the necklace
and telling her how awesome she is.

family pic
our shave ice stop
mmm.  so good

little guy really did want shave ice

something I never thought I'd do

it's so cute

other side of Rachel's necklace