One of the fun things Kylie got to do this week was go to the Kentwood soccer camp for 3 days.  She may have been the oldest camper there but she had a lot of fun.  There were KW boys and girls players there to support the head coach during the camp.  The coach sent a group picture on the last day...not all the campers were there...but it looks like they had a great time!  The student players all signed the kids' t-shirts and wrote some nice things on there.  They were very encouraging and inspiring too.  Kylie wants to go watch some games this year and hopes that she can make the team when she goes there too!  What a great goal to strive towards! Thanks to Zach for taking her to camp and walking her home.

Our niece Ryan came for a weekend sleepover while her parents went to Vancouver, B.C. for a friend's 40th birthday.  Tanya had to work a bit on Saturday so Jeff and the kids went to the local pool and splashed around and had a blast!  The kids had so much fun we went to the pool on Sunday too.  It was great weather and the kids loved having Ryan here!  Rocky did great with her and she wasn't scared either.  Thanks Ryan for staying with us...we had a lot of fun!

To celebrate the team's great finish, one of the team members, Bob, hosted a bbq at their house to congratulate the team and the volunteers for a fun time!  Great job!

To celebrate the fantastic finish of team Start Slow and Taper From There...all the team members gathered at the end to run across the finish line together!  Woohoo! They finished all 200 miles in 32 hours, 30 min.! Way to go team!

It's time for the Ragnar Relay race again, all 200 miles of it this year,  and most of the same team from last year signed up again with a few new runners...and the same amount of fun!  Jeff rode in Van 1 with David, Paul, Andy, Andre, and Mid. Poor Mid, David's aunt, was the only female but she held her own in the van with her son Andy keeping her company.  Jeff's van ran the first 6 legs of the race, with Jeff being the first runner out of the gate at 6:00 am Friday morning leaving Blaine to the next checkpoint.  Jeff's first leg was 6+ miles and he kicked some serious butt! He led the race for the 1st 5 miles then gave the lead to the Kenyan runner and finished just seconds after her...seriously though...he kicked butt!  He ran his next leg at about 5:30 pm Friday night and did well again and then his final leg at about 4:45 am Saturday morning.  All the runners in both vans did outstanding!  Here's a few pictures from the van and the runners in Jeff's van.

Kylie hung out with her friend Jessica one afternoon and then her other friend Sydney got to come spend some time here and eat dinner with us....all while still in her wheelchair.  She is recovering beautifully and her dr. says she is ahead of schedule.  She is now actually on 1 crutch and swiming in the pool.  Kids heal so fast!  So, the girls had fun hanging out and being silly!

This all started back in June when (I) Tanya was coughing for about 3 weeks before I got an antibiotic to feel better....that seemed to work.  About 2 days or so after I finished my meds, Zach started coughing.  This was about July 2nd.  We left for Whidbey Island on the night of the 3rd.  Poor Zach! He spent a lot of time during the day coughing but the most time at night, hacking away and not sleeping well.  He had the same exact symptoms as I did.  Well, things just progressed worse and on Sunday, July 8th I took him to urgent care.  This seemed to be more than a cold....however, I really didn't expect them to say that he had PERTUSSIS/WHOOPING COUGH!  Yikes!  They did a nasal swab on him and they called me the next day with the results.  This was on Monday the 9th.  Zach had to be in immediate isolation and couldn't go outside until he finished his antibiotic.  Jeff, Kylie and I all had to be treated as well for preventive reasons.  Even though I had just finished my antibiotics, I had to take another round.  Ugh!  It's been a week of hell for Zach!  He can't go outside or do anything fun until Friday.  He did manage to get out last night and play some basketball around 9 pm or so because he figured no one would be out and he could get some air.

 So, because pertussis is a communicable disease, the King County Health Dept called on Tuesday and after hearing about his symptoms and mine, they assumed that I was a positive pertussis as well that was undiagnosed.  Well, this was probably the worst news we could hear!  I told her we were on vacation with family and she asked if there were any pregnant people there or infants.....I said no, but do you know what I do for a living?  As I told her that I worked in an ob/gyn office I could hear her wheels turning and it wasn't going to be good.  We had to contact Valley and they told us to contact the 188 patients that I had contact with during the month of June and they would need to be treated too. Yikes!  That meant a lot of phone calls and overtime!  All of my co-workers had to be treated too.

This is a very scary thing as they warned us that we could be coughing for up to 6 weeks or more.  I guess the next time I feel sick, I'll be calling in and they can just deal with it!  This has been terrible!  We are both still coughing, Zach's is much worse than mine as I think I'm over the worst of it...poor Zach though.  It's been a struggle to sleep well when you cough all night long.

Tomorrow is a new day though and we are hoping that each day we feel a little bit better than the day before.

Our friends Angie and Eric Flom were here from Georgia visiting family and friends and we were all finally able to get together with our other friends Nikki and Mike Kunst at their house in Buckley.  We all used to spend New Year's together as our kids were infants and growing up.  Now, the oldest ones are 16 and the youngest is 10.  Wow how time flies!  Angie and Eric moved to Georgia in 2008 and we haven't seen them since....we had a great time catching up and then took tons of pictures!  Thanks Nikki and Mike for hosting and it was so much fun! Here are the kids names and ages....Cassidy and Katie, both 16.  Zach, Emily and Ty are 14 (Ty turns 14 on Aug 15th). Kylie 11 and Max 10.  I missed the picture of Cassidy and Katie together...dang it.

As we love to do, we were fortunate enough to spend 4 days at Whidbey Island over the 4th of July and with lots of family.  The sun was out and it was a fantastic time!  Tina, Kurt and Kendra came on the 4th and stayed the night.  The kids, including Matt and Maggie, made some trick shots with the basketball and it's pretty cool.  Zach put the videos in a slideshow and put music to it and posted it to You Tube.  Too funny!  My cousin Rob did his 3rd annual firework display and it was spectacular!  The moon was HUGE that night and made quite a spectacle in the sky.  Happy 4th of July!