Michele McKee, You are an Ironman!

Sometime soon I'm going to find more eloquent words to write about my Mom being a freaking IRONMAN, but for now I just want to put some pictures and little details on my blog about her big race and simply say that watching her accomplish this dream may well be the proudest moment I'll ever have in my life. I love her, I'm so proud of her, and she is an inspiration.

Ash, Jord, Chase and I met in Sebastopal (a teeny and darling little town outside of Santa Rosa) on the day before the Ironman competition. We left most of the kids with grandparents and felt freeeeee and excited to spend some quality time with siblings and spouses. We laughed--and gagged--through the most disgusting BBQ that small town had to offer and thanked our lucky stars that at least their root beer on tap was Mug; and extra carbonated. After dancing and singing around Safeway and buying every flavor of ice cream they had to offer we turned in for an evening of games, hot tubbing, junk food and watching shooting stars from our little Air BNB homestead. I really hit the jackpot when it came to siblings and their spouses only sweeten the deal. It was such a fun night.

On the day of the race all of us felt the weight of what our Mom was about to attempt and there wasn't a settled stomach among us. We had an early morning planning meeting with Dad (and donuts) at his hotel room and then we were off to cheer the day away, which sounds fun but was more stressful than you can ever imagine. Because of a glitch in the tracking system we spent the first half of the day sure that she wasn't going to finish the race (because of strict time requirements) and while we would cheer and smile and encourage her when she rode past on her bike inside we all thought we'd throw up and cry and maybe even die on the inside. We all let out a huge sigh of relief, and maybe even a few squeals, when the tracking system readjusted to a new route and we learned that Mom would actually be finishing the bike with almost an hour to spare!

Watching Mom finish the bike portion of the race was the moment when I realized that this was going to happen. It was GOING to happen, like for sure. My Mom was going to be an Ironman! (Because for anyone else a marathon is a pretty big deal but for my mom, nah! We knew the run would be a piece of cake if she could just get through the swim and bike, and it was.) I can't explain the elation and relief I felt when I saw her jump off that bike and put her hands high to the heavens. She started yelling, "I did it! I did it!" and I joined in, "You did it, Mom! You did it!" The tears flowed easily and my heart swelled with pride.

About 26.2 miles later my Mom ran across the finish line and the announcer said the words she's been training a year to hear, "Michele McKee, you are an Ironman." A rockstar Ironman at that, with a nice shiny medal to prove it. I felt awfully fan-girlish and even still can't help but mention my Mom's crazy accomplishment in normal and totally unrelated conversation. But can you blame me? 

And just in case you were wondering, there were nine adults super sore the next day and one that felt great...want to guess the batting order?! After nearly 16 hours of competition my Mom ached for maybe a half a second on Sunday night, but other than that felt perfectly perfect. Can you believe that? She's the prettiest and coolest freak of nature I have ever known! We couldn't be prouder.  

The McKee siblings were the only soda drinkers at the yucky BBQ place and we all ordered Root Beer without even realizing the coincidence. I love this cute crew (X2 because I liked both pictures!)

Good company, gross food, great memory!

SUCH a fun game Jord and Mad introduced us too. They always have the best games and the best youtube videos. I'm getting so old and they help keep me young and informed!

7 am planning meeting at Dad's pad (with a couple dozen donuts over J's shoulder!) We have our amazing IronMcKee shirts on and are ready to cheer for our #1!

Finishing a few posters in the room. This one went from Dad's brain to my board and was a fan favorite!

Isn't it the greatest when sisters are also best friends? I hope with every fiber of my being that my Quinn and Cora have this kind of bond. One things for sure, they can look to us for an example of sister obsession!

I love this little trooper baby. She honestly just chilled the day away in our arms and was so easy.

Blurry elevator selfie. At this point we're feeling a little relief because we know Mom finished the swim in time. 

One things for sure, we were going to make sure you both saw and heard us on those sidelines.

This picture was taken at the bottom of a huge hill she was about to climb like a boss. This was still at the point of the race where we didn't think she'd finish and just looking at this picture brings a pit to my stomach. Oh gosh I'm so glad this race is over. And more than that I'm so glad it went our way!

I wouldn't be surprised if Lucy Lu has a future in cheerleading. That girl loved to shake it and cheer!

Logan took SO many fabulous photos of Mom on his nice camera and I can't wait to see them all. This is a pic of a pic of her being a babe on a bike!

We tried to write posters that were going to be super motivating to Mom during her race. I had been taking notes on some of the little phrases she liked to tell herself on the course and one thing which made her excited was to know she was halfway done, or as she would say, "on the back half." We made sure we were holding this sign high when she passed 56 miles on the bike!

THIS IS EVERYTHING!!! This is the moment my Mom stepped off her bike and realized that the hardest part was over. My eyes sting and my heart sings over this picture.

This was when my Mom first started the run and was offering me a kiss on her way to mile 4. I accepted, as you do!

Doug and Carly (James' cousins on his Dad's side of the family) live in Santa Rosa and spent the afternoon with us cheering on Mom. They brought sandwiches and snacks for my whole family and as always, were rays of sunshine and happiness. The entire McKee crew decided they want to adopt them into the family--they fit right in! They are such good examples to me of optimism, joy and selflessness and I want to be JUST like them. 

Some ladies from my Mom's ward drove down to cheer her on for the marathon and it totally surprised her. She felt so loved, and so did all of us. We are so grateful that they came and brought such cute signs to boot!

Mom's mental game was strong as steel but when we could see she was getting a little tired and the cow bell was no longer pulling it's weight we pulled out all the stops for our retired Spartan cheerleader. Ash and I weren't meant to be cheerleaders, or Ironmen for that matter, but I think our hip shaking and made-up cheers were just the comic relief she needed to push her through mile 10 and beyond. 

Shoe lights on and on her way to the finish line--literally only steps to go from this point. I know this is blurry, but do you see that smile?! Michele McKee, you are an Ironman!

The absolute strongest woman I know in every single way.

I love this picture of these lovebirds looking at each other. As with so many things in life, these two both worked and sacrificed so that my Mom could accomplish this dream. She ran the race and she got the medal, but in so many ways he deserves one as well. I'm so grateful for the example he has set of how to love and support your spouse. They are couple goals if I ever saw it!

She TOTALLY did not need our help to walk or stand or anything, but forgive us for wanting to parade her around the finish line like our most prized possession! She is awesome, and could have easily been carrying us around at this point!

Grammie, her sister Ann and one of her friends were also there cheering her on through the whole race!

A medal hard-won!

The original plan for post-race food was Denny's since they're open late and can accommodate a big group but after sitting in their lobby for ten minutes without so much as a look in our direction we peaced out of that joint in search of friendlier (and faster) fries. In N Out was lucky enough to be graced by the presence of this Ironman who was on an adrenaline high and was loving all the stories of her race. An animal-style cheeseburger and so many fries later we all left to find the closest pillow for our sleepy heads (except Mom of course, who was up all night with excitement!) 

Congrats again IronMcKee, and thanks for doing an Ironman so that we had an excuse to get together! I love you!

Tahoe with the Big Wigs

Let's start with the most memorable moment from our trip to Tahoe: the bear(s). 

The kids were playing on the deck our first morning at the cabin and before long they came in to tell us that our neighbor wanted to talk to us outside, ASAP. Fearing the worst (late-bird neighbors with a sensitivity to children and their noises) we made our way to the deck only to find the sweetest early-bird ever who was only wishing to warn us about what should have been our worst fear--a bear! She had seen a hairy, brown, teenager bear walk through her yard just that morning, took a video of his escapade and wanted us to see it so that we could keep our eyes out and keep our kiddies safe. How kind and considerate is she, right? She started walking down her steps, James and our babies started walking down ours with a hope to meet in the middle for a video-watching bear bash but what actually occurred was a whole lot of expletives from her and a whole lot of freak out from me because THERE WAS ANOTHER BEAR RIGHT UNDER HER DECK! A Mama bear to boot.

Luckily we got our kids in the house and luckily our neighbor got herself in the house and really, you should have seen how ridiculous and hilarious we looked screaming at each other through the windows of our respective cabins (because heaven knows we weren't going to go outside and be eaten by a bear, but we also had to figure out what to do!) The sheriff's department came out and with a swift rubber peg to the rump that Mama bear went a-running. And boy was I relieved.

But was that the end of our bear drama? Not quite. That night James and I wanted to go on a "date" in the kayak after the babies were in bed. We swim-suited up and met on the deck but we immediately heard a low, grumbly growl and knew there was a bear out there somewhere (but where?!) Finally we spotted our furry friend swimming in the lake under our neighbor's dock. The working theory is that we were looking at the teenager from the morning and that he had come back to find his mama. It was heartbreaking to think about them being separated and to hear his cries, but luckily before long the bear swam to safety on the shore and since this is my story and I make up the rules I'm just going to storybook end this tale with a joyous bear reunion between mama and cub and they all lived happily ever after. The end. (And hopefully the end to me ever seeing wild bears again. The zoo is good enough for me!)

Photo-evidence of our bear sighting:

Do you see those little ears on that little face under that little dock right there? Quinny still talks about how he was "da cutest widdo beaw" and I must agree, he was adorable, but my guess is that was probably because we could only see his head and not the massive claws below the surface and mostly because he was in the lake and not in our kitchen stealing food. I so love nature but in my heart I'm such a city-slicker and this bear thing...so cool and yet so "never, ever, ever come back!" Anyway, it made for a good story that the kids will remember their whole lives through and for that I am grateful. 

I could pretend that I don't have any other Tahoe stories that could live up to that bear tale but the truth is I could write a novel about the adventures we had during our week with the Big Wigs (and short of words I am not, so brace yourselves!) After an impressive winter and a sizable snow melt the water was higher than we've ever seen it and beautiful doesn't begin to describe the view from our North Shore digs. Add a Wiglet or two splashing around in the water, my eldest playing cards with his Papa, Gigi passing out love and popsicles and my legs getting kissed by the sun and wowzers, it all looked a little bit Celestial.

How did we pass our time, you might ask? How didn't we pass it would probably be an easier question to answer! We hiked to an icy mountain lake and winced when our toes met the frigid water (except for our resident eskimo--James--who found the 40 degree water refreshing and dove under multiple times!); we conquered a ropes course where we learned that T has no fear and his mother has many, heights being a big one; we jumped off our neighbors dock together and learned how to use our silly little phones to capture brilliant little moments in the air; we went deep-lake fishing way before dawn and caught three giant trout that were fried, BBQ'd and baked into our farewell seafood feast (along with some crawdads we caught under the dock, which Quinny now says are her favorite food!). We swam, we kayaked, we laughed and played and even if there were some attitudes every now and again they were basically swallowed up in the amazingness of this trip. It really was that great. Oh, and there was also ice cream so #winning!

It's always great to be on vacation and go on adventures but it's even better when the kids are able to share these memories with family. I am so grateful that we could play with Papa and Gigi for a full week and that my babies can look at these pictures for years to come and know that they are a part of a Team Wigginton that is even bigger and better than just our awesome LA crew. The grandest thank you to the Big Wigs for another wonderful week in Tahoe and a sincere hope that this is a tradition that will never end! 

(And speaking of never ending, here comes a photo dump that does just that. Yes, it goes on and on my friends...) 

When we were here last you could walk on dry ground to where those boats are buoyed and now look at that beauti-FULL lake! I couldn't help but comment on the water levels over and over again because it was seriously remarkable. I love this place so, so much.

Cora's finger wasn't allowed to get wet during our trip so she spent a whole lotta time hanging out in her Mama's arms down by the water. You didn't find her complaining about the non-stop cuddles one little bit!

Me and a few of my crew. Twenty years from now when T asks why we let him dab in every single one of his pictures I'll roll my eyes and smile just as big as I do every time I scroll through my camera feed at night and see nothing but the cutest 8-year-old goober doing what makes him feel cool and confident!

Doesn't do it justice.

Finding every stick and stone that the hike to Eagle Lake had to offer. And let me tell you, there were a lot.

I'm pretty much convinced that Tahoe is the most beautiful place on earth, but I'm pretty sure I've said that before about a million other different places. Gosh, we live in a remarkable world.

This one's for Ev.

And this one's for Coke.

Lest you think I was over-exaggerating about the coldness factor of this water, here is a totally candid shot that Papa took when I was trying to get knee-deep for a photo op. It was so frigid it felt like needles poking millions of times into my skin and immediately made my head throb. And to think, James and the boys went all the way under--crazies!

So worth the freezing temps for this cool picture with that gorgeous backdrop.

Probably one of the coolest pics I've ever taken. Eagle Lake was such a gem.

So many great things about this pic. Least of which is Ev's gun to the lens and Quinny's arms full of sticks! Behind us is Emerald Bay, one of my favorite places in all of Tahoe.

Ice cream for all chickens brave enough to jump off the dock. It was a near miss on one of their parts (guess who?!) but we all made it and boy did that ice cream taste GOOD!

James and his Dad were pretty desperate to hike Mount Tallac but I'm afraid this is as close as they got this time--seeing it in the distance while they hiked around Taylor Creek with the kids. That counts too, right?!

Everett said, "Look, I'm a farmer!" And then put a piece of hay in his mouth!

This year was supposed to be a Mom, Dad and boys adventure at the ropes course, but Ev decided "maybe next year" and so it was just me and Mr. Dab-man!

At this point on the ropes course I was honestly questioning my sanity because technically I signed up to take T of my own free will and choice. Yikes! It ended up being a great experience and T and I had fun but oh what a great lesson about overcoming fears and trusting in others and the power of prayer and so many other great things. And I learned something I would have never known otherwise, there are a million other things I'd rather spend my money on than this again...we'll see what happens if T is adamant again nest year!

On our first day in Tahoe we scored this never-before-used inflatable kayak on Craigslist and we used it on the daily for our whole entire trip. Since it's inflatable we transported it home with us and it's already gotten a little bit of ocean play in Santa Cruz too so it was definitely money worth spent. The boys loved to have their own special club on the kayak--no adults allowed!

Living. The. Life.

Papa and Gigi took the kayak out for a few little spins and we all agreed it was one of our best Tahoe purchases. I'm so glad they got some play time as well!

And speaking of playtime, our kids thought we were mighty crazy (and basically refused to kayak with us again) after we rowed our little boat out pretty deep and jumped and jumped and jumped some more. It was one of the funnest things I did on this trip and I'm so glad for this picture proof of our silliness.

The next three pictures of James and T jumping off the dock are classic! They had so much fun, and James even earned some cool Dad points with his flying dab!

These three generations of Wigginton men went fishing on a chartered boat and while the captain was a little gruff, they caught three fish and had a great bonding adventure. This was one of James' BIG bucket list items in Tahoe and even though I didn't think it would be possible to squeeze it in, the Big Wig's made it happen. Just looking at this picture of their happy 4 am faces makes me smile!

I guess T refused to hold his catches and instead opted to cuddle up to Daddy and Papa while they held those slimy things. "Mom!" he told me later. "They wanted me to hold the fish by the gills. I mean, ew! How disgusting is that?!" My city-slicker genes run in his blood!

Our awesome neighbor was throwing a party and had all these blow-up animals tied to her dock. When the party-goers were eating, she came by and asked if we wanted to go play on the inflatables. Wait, was that even a question?! Of course we did!!! I had wanted to buy one of these for our trip but I couldn't justify the cost so I decided to pass but she made my wish come true. 

Quinn and I legit needed a little rest after all that sun. She's such a wild child but for a few moments she was content to put her glasses on and relax with me.

That guy right there definitely won the cooking contest when it came to preparing trout. James' BBQ number was pretty good and my pan-fried one was bleh (I don't know why I'm even allowed in the kitchen) but Papa, that guy knows how to bake a trout. It was delish!

Quinn and her love of crawdads was seriously cracking us up. She kept begging for more, more, more!

The biggest news of the night was that after an estimated 50-year hiatus from seafood Gigi took a big ole bite of crawdad (dipped in butter, obviously!) I don't know why I was so excited and so proud of her but I was and it was so much fun to share that little moment together. She may not be ordering crab at a restaurant anytime soon, but she was pleased to know that she wouldn't starve if she had to survive on seafood!

This little Tahoe post has taken me five sleepy nights to finish and at this rate, please expect the remainder of our vacation to be blogged sometime before Christmas! Geez, if only I could steal some afternoon energy to use after the kids were in bed this would be a whole lot easier. Oh well, slow and steady wins the race.