Memorial Day Weekend Part I: Tough Mudder

4 days and 3 nights and you would have thought we'd been living together forever.  After a long curvy drive up the road, hedged in by evergreens, we pulled on to the crunchy gravel to our huge cabin home for the weekend.  A little wood burning fireplace sat in the living room, and knotted pine furniture decked the kitchen.  We were the second couple to arrive, and with each new face to enter, we all got more settled.  That night, we tried to go to bed early, but didn't depart the living room until midnight, each guy with a "healthy nerve" the the next day's event.

The Tough Mudder.

The Nelson's made a perfect breakfast of Denver omelets, coffee and fruit to pump the guys up for the event.

"Two more hours 'till we sign the death waiver, boys!" Andrew reminded them, as they smiled and ate more eggs.

We had decided that the weekend getaway would be 80's themed, and the guys picked out some perfectly short shorts, neon headbands and flowy dress shirts to fit as their team uniforms.  After the omelets were gone, the guys stretched and prayers were said.

 

Four long hours, on a particularly hot and dusty day in Big Bear, these guys pushed themselves.  They had been training together for months.

Jumping off logs, crawling under barbed wire, climbing 12 foot walls, swimming in freezing cold waters.  Sound like fun?

Those of us with babes kept them close in our packs and hung by the finish line, which also just so happened to be the final obstacle:  a mud pit with 10,000 volt shocking wires to run through.  My goodness, we were laughing so hard as each person, hesitant, ran through and we heard more profanity in those couple hours than I have heard all year before each person when splashing face first into the gravely mud, with audible volts in the air.

The Tiny and I found a shady tree for a quick nursing break.  Doesn't take much to make him happy. :)

 

Our eyes searched the horizon, looking for our 80's tough mudders.  When would they be crossing the finish line?  I dashed off to buy 3 quick hot dogs for us mamas, hoping not miss the big finale.  After three and a half hours (yes, seriously!) we got word that they were coming!  We barely caught them in time!  We were just in time to see a few of the guys do nose dives deep into the mud, Andrew in particular getting a loud volt...in the neck.

(Notice him holding his head in the picture below) 

Boy we were proud of these guys!

Our whole crazy group, so happy for our Tough Mudders who completed the task!

The Tiny and I were particularly proud of our smashing redhead, and his awesome mudder skills!

"I love you Papa!"  -The Tiny

But the MVP of the team?  Well that might actually surprise you

*The bad photos were taken by my iPhone, the good ones by them (Well the head banded baby was actually me!)