Biking to End Diabetes

As is probably evident from this blog, we're a pretty active family! Dada decided that he wanted to participate in a bike ride to raise money for a cause near and dear to his heart, diabetes. Abuela Sheri has dealt with type 1 diabetes for many years and Dada grew up watching her stick herself with needles and deal with all the complications of diabetes. So he decided to participate in the Ship to Shore Tour de Cure bike ride in Long Beach. He originally signed up for the 100 mile ride, and then realized that he was competing in a half iron man the following weekend and decided that he should not push it and changed to the 35 mile ride. He even convinced Fafa to participate in the ride with him! Dada raised approximately $2,600 to help fight diabetes and we are very proud of him! We had planned on heading down to Long Beach Friday night and spending time with Tia Biffy. Unfortunately we received terrible news that Kenny "Taco", Tio's dad, had passed away Friday afternoon. We immediately turned around despite Clara's protests to go to Long Beach and spent the evening with his family. It was unexpected and an extremely sad evening. Even little Clara was sad and very concerned that everyone else was sad. She kept asking where Taco was and listing all of our family members and asking if they were happy. Tia told her that Bailey was happy and that appeased her. We miss Taco already.

Saturday morning we headed out early and made it down in time to meet Beth, Ken, and Hadley for picnic in Huntington Beach. Beth and Ken provided a delicious spread and the girls had a great time playing. They enjoyed running around and chasing bubbles. Hadley is six months younger than Clarita and we hadn't seen her since her first birthday. Needless to say, she is much different and much more on the same level as Clara now. It was a blast!

We headed to Long Beach after lunch and Clara immediately fell asleep. She stayed asleep while Dada picked up his packet and finally woke up when we got to the hotel. Clarita was obsessed with the hotel and all of the drawers she could open. Tia Biffy and her fiance, Kevin, met us there and we headed to dinner at a Honduran restaurant where we reminisced about Peace Corps over baleadas! We took in the view (and crazy wind) from the top of Signal Hill, ate some ice cream (Clara requested chocolate of course), and even made a stop at Tia Biffy's mom's house to play with her nieces. Clara was very impressed with Audrey's toys especially her car and kitchen. It was a very fun night.

Sunday Dada headed out to the ride early with Fafa and Abuela Sheri while Clarita and I slept in. Clara chose to eat apple, milk, and chocolate muffin for breakfast and then we headed down to watch the ride. We couldn't actually see any of the ride, but we hung out with Abuela Sheri at the park and walked around the Queen Mary ship (or big big barco, Dada barco as Clarita called it). Sadly we were all looking away as Dada rode in and missed his finish. We got to see Fafa finish as he was a little behind Dada due to getting a flat tire and having to walk the last mile. They did a great job and we are proud of them!

We headed to Tia Biffy and Kevin's place and Dada took a shower and then we went to lunch. Clara took a short nap on the way there and was fussy at first. Luckily she got her second wind and managed to be very happy during lunch (eating her body weight in french fries may have helped). We headed out and Clara was content to play/sing the entire way home. We didn't hit any traffic and she was so happy that we never even stopped and made it home in three hours. It was a great weekend that raised money for a good cause and we got to see great friends!