Oktoberfest 2010

This year we traveled to Leavenworth to enjoy the Oktoberfest festivities!  This is our 2nd year and am sure this is becoming an annual trip.  If you have never been to Leavenworth, it is a Bavarian village in our own Washington backyard.  We have camped the last 2 years (cheaper than hotels and within walking distance) and had even more fun this year.  The weather was warm (80degrees) and we even polka'd!  We traveled with our friends, the Swensons, which always makes for an entertaining trip!  Sarah and I got on stage with our favorite band S-Bahn and did some singing.  There was also a lot of Chicken Dancing going on!!!


Daren and Jen



Sarak and Mike (apparently we also like to color coordinate...)



60 More Miles for a Cure

I walked all 60 miles in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for a Cure (thanks in part to my friend Sarah who walked with/ahead of me all weekend!)!! And, thanks to everyone’s generosity, Seattle raised over $6 million for breast cancer research. 

It was, once again, a memorable weekend.  Team Tracy had 21 fearless members this year.  Our team leader and two-time survivor, Tracy, was nominated and chosen to carry the “Courage” banner during opening and closing ceremonies.  It is an amazing and emotional experience to share, even among sea of 2300 strangers.  In spite of a little rain, we walked 22.5 miles through Bothell, Mill Creek, and Everett (just north of Seattle).  

         

Day 2 was sunny and 73 degrees!  We walked 21.7 miles through Everett and the cheering stations were amazing!!  There were people, young and young-at-heart, on every street corner, cheering and handing out treats.  The out-pouring of support was overwhelming and so welcome!  It is always humbling to see why we walk – photos of mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, friends displayed along our path with a simple “thank you”.  Those little reminders help push through another Komen “mile” (the ones they say are a mile but are really closer to two…)!

         

Day 3 – Seattle!  I love the last day because it is familiar and I know where I am!!  After packing our tents, we boarded buses and headed to North Seattle.  We wandered the remaining miles through the rain (in the morning) up Capitol Hill, through downtown and the Waterfront to the Space Needle.  Closing ceremonies was amazing as we paid tribute to those still fighting, honored those who have gone before, and celebrated those who will, hopefully, never have to fight Breast Cancer.  Even if you don’t walk, I recommend you experience Closing Ceremonies and what the 3-Day is all about.

Despite a few blisters (less than last year!), I fulfilled my goal for the weekend: to walk all 60 miles with a smile!  Some steps were a little more difficult than others, but what an accomplishment.  Thank you to everyone that donated and shared words of encouragement!  I could not have done it without you.

Thank you!

Because everyone deserves a lifetime

With blisters still healing, there is talk of registering for 2011…

3-day 2010

Here are some photos from the 3-day.  More to follow!!

Jen and Sarah pre-walk

Jen and Sarah with 1/2 mile (out of 60) to go!!

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Look, its the "Tracy" in "Team Tracy"

Papa

Lewie "Papa" Speer
10 March 1936 - 7 September 2010

(Daren's maternal grandfather)

Twilight Zone

Labor Day weekend we traveled to the peninsula to visit my mom's family in Forks, WA.  It was wonderful!!  Almost everyone made it out and we had so much fun!  Its like our own private retreat.  We played games, watched football, ate delicious food, sat in the hot tub, and even found time to take a Twilight tour (the self-guided one).  I don't know who was a bigger Twi-hard, my mom or my 12-year old cousin!!



We did a lot of swinging too!




Twi-hard!





cousins



ferry trip to Forks