Fort's Cancer Sux!!

ANOTHER BREAST CANCER WALK? ......OK!

Headed up to Dayton friday night to get up bright & early for Dayton's Making Strides 5K (3.1 mi) breast cancer walk, that started at 5/3 field and went down the river and back...We walked with the coolest team there: "Melissa's Friends".....THATS ME!!! It was comprised of some of my mom's high school ya-ya's and some of her Moraine Meadows co-workers. Thanks Sharon Tangeman for putting it together!
Looking very excited to get walking. Of course mom and I chatted the whole way about this "warm-up" walk.....blah blah blah....and made jokes about how, ..."When we finish the walk, it will feel like we're just warmed up!" I told mom we needed to be careful about looking like bigshots, and comparing this walk to the 3-day walk the whole time. No matter how long we decide to pat ourselves on the back for the feat, no doubt others will get sick of hearing about it, if they havent already. John, Dad & mom....
Here's team "Melissa's Friends!" ready to go!
John, Amon (Mandi's husband) and dad walked the whole way together talking about "The Hills"...just kidding, they talked sports the entire 45 min and dad deemed Amon a, "Walking Sports encyclopedia".
Mom sports the 3-Day bandana, the 3-day shirt, and the 3-day fanny pack, just in case anyone doesnt belive her tall tales about the 60 mile walk. We're like overexcited concert goers who will wear the performers concert tee-shirt until EVERYONE we know has aknowledged we were a part of the event.
After the walk, we headed over to the WEbster St. Market and then to the deli at the reception hall where Nick got married. Before Nick's office moved to Moraine, this is where nick had lunch just about EVERY DAY. We met the owner and chatted him up - found out that Nick and Mere were dieting and Mere would call the market and blacklist items that Nick could NOT order. We found that, as my brother would say, HILAROUS.
After we got home from the 5k, mom and I both agreed that our bodies were still recovering from the week before, but not like you'd think. After 3 miles, it only felt like a warmup, so we agreed that another four miles was necessary to pacify the beast....and so we took off.....

Later that night we headed to Carroll hs for their Oktoberfest. Think fish fry with brats & sauerkraut & german potato salad....Cant say we're all not a little proud when we arrive - dad's Alumni Hall of fame plaque is displayed right as we enter. Way to go pops!

Grandma won this basket at the raffle, and I started taking things out of it....I probably shouldnt have, and she let me, but I had too many beers and couldnt control myself. I plucked out a magnetic calendar and some chapstick.

Mom, John and Dad again.....this picture was a blur, as was most of the night.
WHOS READY FOR SCRAPBOOK MOUNTAIN???? WE ARE!!!!
We struggled to stay awake to hear all the raffle winners for the gift baskets....I put TWELVE, count em, TWELVE tickets in the "Fall Harvest" basket because I "Heart" fall and Pumpkin Spice candles.... Last year after the constant popcorn burning episodes, I arrived at Scrapbook Mountain to find bags and bags of microwave popcorn littered throughout my supplies, comically placed by my aunts. This year, I tried a new approach. I went on a rant about how much I wanted that fall harvest basket and that all I ever wanted was MORE PUMPKIN SPICE CANDLES......what a funny, funny joke that would be to be showered with Pumpkin spice candles! I suck.

Ron won $100 and jan won some kind of fan basket....full of goodies. She only put her ticket in there because of the Hershey bar poking out of it!
Jean won some money AND a gift bag! I kept trying to talk her out of the eyeshadow she won, but she wouldnt budge.

Thats about it for our weekend. Looks like Cleveland is the winning location for next year's 3-day walk. I think Ill start a team called "Forts Friends" or something, and Ill have all the info up soon. Let me know if you have any ideas. If you're interested in getting geared up for next year and learning more about the walk, you can do it at www.the3day.org Cleveland is August 22-24.

Having a team bonfire here at the house at the end of the week - should be fun. Ill have lots of pictures up. TWO WEEKS TILL SCRAPBOOK MOUNTAIN!!!!