ATTENTION---Thanks!

We have been supported by so many of our friends and families to help us to qualify to ride and support the American Diabetes Association and the National MS Society.

We have to turn our donations in tomorrow and Steve is still a little short on his donations. He is not as aggressive as I am about asking for money, imagine that.

It really is a great cause and we are really close to meeting all our goals!

If anyone can squeak out a donation for Steve, we'd really love it! Plus it supports a great organization that makes a big difference in the lives of people who suffer greatly from this MSterious disease.

Here is a link to donate.

Thanks for supporting us!

Curing Diabetes

Last year’s American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure ride nearly killed us. This year, it couldn’t have been any nicer.

We had a 9:00 am start time and were off. The weather was a little chilly so I wore my jacket and leggings along with my team-sparkle skirt which makes me extra fast. We were going so fast and passing so many people on the first 14 miles that our Team Captain reprimanded us for being too far off the right side of the road for so long. I think he was jealous that we were faster than him. Also a little skirt envy I suppose.

We rode to the first stop and despite our tremendously fast pace and our 10 minute head start our friend Jason Brock arrived just about 30 seconds after us at the first rest stop. We seriously felt like animals until he showed up and we had to pass the animal baton to him. The man is a biking machine.

Jason lead our pace line from then on. He was like the engine of the bike train we were in. Many others enjoyed the draft he provided as well.

The weather was just perfect. Not too hot or too cold. It was a Baby Bear/Goldilocks kind of day.

This ride was so different from our last on this course. It was so pleasant, but we kept having flashbacks of what it had been like in the specific part of the course we were on. The good thing about last year’s ride was that we had quite a story to tell after we were through. You know you've had a bad day when you are delighted to end it in a Truck Stop shower.

Just as I was beginning to wonder if there was anything I'd be able to write about on THIS ride, we heard a big POP! It was Steve’s tire. This was the first time we have ever had something like this happen on a ride. I learned then that Steve had made some preparations in case this ever happened. I was unaware that we carried such things as pumps and extra bike tubes. How very handy. I am glad we were so prepared, even if I was unaware of it. Luckily, it was his front tire which is much easier to repair roadside, so I wasn’t worried.
I was secretly stoked about it because this was around mile 48 of 60 I was totally ready for a break. I didn’t even care that it was on the side of the road. I took a seat road side and stretched my leg and knee joint that had started to get stiff and sore.


Jason and Steve made quick work of the tire change. The Bike Marshalls also stopped by to lend a hand. In actuality, all they really lent us was two ibuprofen for my ailing and somewhat inflamed muscles. One of the Bike Marshalls happened to be one of Steve’s neighbors growing up, Randy Plant. Randy is a big-time bike junky and Steve was excited to see him on a bike event, even if it was while Steve on the side of the road in distress.

One of our neighbors, Chris Service also rode by and checked in on us to make sure we were alright. It was fun to see him.

After the tire change we rode on for about five miles where we found the final rest stop. They were offering free massages here and if someone offers to massage you for free you say YES!


It was a pretty crappy massage, but hey any massage is better than no massage.

We also saw this super sweet tandem bike.
It’s actually the exact one we were thinking of buying on eBay before we realized with didn’t have any money to spend on it. It was a super sweet deal though. We hate to let a deal like that pass especially when the bike was small enough for us to actually fit on it.

With that we hit it hard and rode toward the finish. We rode a bit faster than I probably should have with a throbbing knee, but it was so much easier to keep up with Jason to draft off of him. He was really compassionate to us riding slower than he really needed to by about 4 or 5 mph. It was funny because every time a faster group would pass us (which really weren’t that many) he would feel the call of the wild and speed up to keep pace with them, always leaving Steve and I in the dust. Once he realized he’d lost us he’s slow right down.
Thanks Jason, you were a big help!

As always, I got a tremendous amount of compliments on my green team-sparkle skirt. Everyone kept calling out to Steve and Jason wondering why they weren’t wearing them? All the other SelectHealth Team members we passed asked why they weren’t provided a green sparkle skirt in their race kits? It did match the uniform rather well. So….Team SelectHealth Captain…if you are reading this, next year, green sparkle skirts for EVERYONE! They are super fun to wear, plus they make you extra fast. That’s a scientific fact.

We rode right in and finished our 61 miles in 3:45 minutes our fasted time ever with an average speed of 15.9(that time excludes breaks).We were very happy with our time. We rode in at around 2:45-ish p.m.

We met up with my brother Scott and my nephew Jeffery right after we finished in the race village. They had just completed the 25 mile race. Jeff has diabetes, so this was really all for him.


We collectively decided (and by collectively decided I mean I decided) to skip the provided race lunch with its line that spanned 50 or so yards and headed instead for everyone’s Grandma’s favorite restaurant, Maddox!

As we were headed up the hill to leave the park, Jason decided to ride up the super steep park hillside, mainly to show off. As any good cyclist knows, you can’t put pressure like that on your chain or it will break, which it did. We were just glad it was after the race ended instead of during or before. Idiot.

Bummer. It was a bummer, because we basically had to walk back to the car which was half a mile away. After drafting off of him for 60 miles and after he basically changed Steve’s tire we couldn’t just be like…well, sorry about your chain, smell you later! So we walked with him, and it sucked at the end of the day, but you know…The good news is that we DID make it back to the car and then drove ourselves to Maddox and enjoyed a nice lunch together.

In case anyone is wondering, cars go much faster and are much easier to operate than a bike which really makes me stop and think about why I am always trying to ride my bike so far. Oh yeah, it’s because I hate diabetes so bad, that’s why I do it. You just don’t stop to think about how much you hate diabetes from the comfort of your car. You really have to be somewhere out on the high prairie suffering on your bike because you have been riding for way too long. Yep, I sure hate diabetes.

Thanks to all our fabulous donors that helped us to qualify as riders.

We raised $385 for the American Diabetes Association.

We’ve also raised $280 for the National MS Society. We are still hoping to raise more money to meet our goal of $500 ($250 each) to qualify to ride in the MS race. If you are holding out waiting till the last minute to donate, this is it. Here is a link to Steve and one for Kristin to donate on-line, or give us a call or e-mail or comment and we’d be happy to pick up a donation of any amount large or small in check or cash.

Thank you to our Diabetes and MS donors (so far). Here they are in random order.
Kathie Bradshaw
Debby Miller
Krystle Hawks
Wilford flipping Brimley (aka Angela Davies)
Judith White
Emilee Eyre
Darla Wardle (my mom)
Mari Goodman
Andrea Binns
Maryanne Riley
Julene Sorenson
Elise Wallace
Rose McPhail
Ally Yeats
Corey Marini
Jen Conley
Mark Bigelow
Bob Sokol
Jeff Sokol
Tim Bahr
Tammy Wardle
Brian Brand (recognizing Mary Brand)
Ryan Wardle
Brian and Phaly Elliott
Seymour Butts/Cameron Nelson
Trevor Jones
Aunt Tammy
Grandpa Olson
Theresa Chappell

Alyssa learns to ride a bike!

Today June 3, 2011 was a momentous day at the Steve Sokol household. Today is the day that Alyssa got the hang of riding her bike!

We've been working on this sporadically for several weeks/months. So with some more favorable weather and some inspiration from next door Haydn who learned to ride a few weeks ago she was determined to do it.

Alyssa and mom practiced some on Wednesday and made some significant progress. Today her dad took her out on the street again where she made even more progress.

She could ride fairly well between the two of her parents. She just lacked confidence and stopping ability.


We practiced the stopping and she got pretty good at it. Then she just lacked her confidence. Luckily, next door Hadyn came and rolled out his bike and rode circles around her. Magically, she started to ride, ride and ride some more. She could stop. She could ride. She felt on top of the world.

The next day we took her and her bike to the best spot for begining bikers in the whole world. My parent's church parking lot. She rode and rode for them too. She refused to stop riding, but gave in when Steve and I promised that we would take her for a ride around their one mile neighborhood block after our 30 mile training bike ride if she still wanted to later in the evening.

She was ready-set-go when we got back. Steve stayed back with Sunny and Grandma hopped on her bike and the three of us set off for her first mile bike ride.

I have never seen her happier! She was thrilled for herself. She said: "This is changing my life!" "I can see so much more of the world!" "I just love how I can feel the wind on my face!"

It was one of the most thrilling moments of parenting I have ever had. When we got done with our mile which she rode with only one little crash, she immediately was ready to go again. This time Steve took her along with grandpa. She told Steve she would rather ride a bike than fly in an airplane. She also told Steve she no longer wanted to go to Kindergarten because she wanted to ride her bike. She loved how fast she could get places! It was so much fun to see her world open up to her.

We taught her everything she knows.

Day Seven Disney Remix

I know it’s hard to believe, but we still had one more day at the parks left to enjoy. I was still super excited about it. We did it right though, by taking our sweet time in getting there.

First, we woke up late and then played with our newly acquired bubble guns in the hotel.
We had the whole room filled with bubbles.
It was like being in a bubble themed snow globe.

Next we had another swim with the Brocks at the hotel pool. Jason (Mr. Brock), a triathlete and excellent swimmer, engaged Alyssa in a very effective swimming lesson. She probably learned more in 15 minutes from him than she did in all the lessons she’s ever had from me or anyone else.

After that relaxing swim/hot tub session we showered up and headed out to Wahoo’s again where we all enjoyed some fish tacos.

Even me.
You can see from my face how much I enjoy eating marine life. Fish are friends, not food. Really though, this fish was not bad. In fact it was pretty good. Tasted like… chicken.

On the way back Steve spotted this hotel.
He says this is where we are staying next time. Keep this in mind for your next trip too. Family units are available.

Then we headed back to the parks where we enjoyed another fun filled day.

Here’s Alyssa living her dream, mainly consisting of princesses and Castles.

When you wish upon a star…

Here’s Sunny living hers.

This picture is practically perfect in every way, don't you think?

I got to enjoy my complimentary tortilla at California Adventure.
Thanks Mission Tortilla’s Why don’t your tortillas taste that good when I buy them from Smith’s?

Here is photo evidence that Steve rode the Tower or Terror albeit against his will.
Doesn’t he look like he’s having a good time?

Also rode the California Screaming Roller Coaster. Isn’t that just the best roller coaster of all time? So long and so fast!
Here is Steve and Jason’s photo along with my Brother Ryan and his wife Penny behind them. I went the time before, I have a one fast ride per hour max in order to not throw up so I stayed with the kids on this one.

We also enjoyed a ride on the rocking, sliding Ferris Wheel which Steve opted out of on account of he was sure he would die if he went. Instead he took Sunny on the Merry-Go-Round.
Then he took her again.
Again.
Again
and again. again
That’s at least five times in a row.
Each with a cuter picture than the last. Seriously, does it get any cuter than this?

We enjoyed a fantastic and eagerly anticipated fireworks display.
Sunny looked forward to it the most, but then spent the duration of the show face down in her stroller.
I guess it was a little too intense for her. She did really enjoy seeing Tinkerbell fly, she is still talking about it.



Everyone was terribly tired at the end of the day, especially me.
I hitched a ride with the Brocks and Steve pushed the sleeping kids home in the stroller.

We said good night for the last time in our Comfort Inn Anaheim Maingate home.
The kids enjoyed their last night in their super fun bunk beds.

Day 6 rides, fatigue, swimming and mexican food

After taking the day off theme parking, we surprisingly were still excited to go in for day three of Disneyland. We rode more things we haden’t ridden and some we had. Here are the best photo’s of the day.















I must admit, after three days in Disneyland my stamina wasn’t what it had been at the beginning of the trip. We petered out of the park at around 4 p.m. and headed back to the hotel. In fact I was so weary and started to have some knee pain so I ended up being carted back to the hotel in our stroller along with my two children. I felt like a loser, but I have learned from past experience that when my knee hurts I should stop whatever I am doing.

This is the view from the stroller.
Steve is a champ for pushing his whole family home.

We stripped off our clothes and put on swimsuits and headed down to the pool which was super freezing. The hot tub was nice though so we enjoyed soaking in it with The Brocks. The kids had a great time dipping themselves into the freezing pool and warming themselves in the hot tub. I actually did too.

With limited energy, but feeling somewhat recharged from the “swim” we daringly decided to take the kids to our favorite California Mexican restaurant, El Cholo. It was kind of a trek to drive there and I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to take weary kids to a sit down establishment.

I was wrong though…sort of. All the Brock children fell asleep on the way over as did Sunny. Alyssa was nearly out too when we pulled up.


Sunny stayed asleep during the whole meal and never woke up for any of it. Even the impromptu birthday party we threw for Tjice (Tyce).
Alyssa was so tired she ate most of her meal like this...
It was a real relief to have a peaceful and delicious dinner even if my legs were asleep from having someone sleeping on me. Totally worth it.

We drove home and put her in bed. Sleep, sleep, sleep. I guess I was not the only one down on energy.

We needed rest too. If you can believe for the next day, we planned to have our fourth and final day of theme parking.