Saturday, July 28, 2007

Mission Accomplished!!!

Since the last post, our lives have been consumed with the Missouri River 340, which is the worlds longest non-stop canoe/kayak race, from Kansas City, Kansas, to St. Charles, MO. Drew and Curtis Bourgeois participated, finishing yesterday, in a time of 79 hours and 4 minutes. There is a website you can check out, which has all the relevant info, for those who are interested. It was quite an undertaking, and I'm happy to say that it's over. Here's a copy of my final update, just sent a few minutes ago...
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On 7/28/07, Sara Lemberger wrote:
Sorry to keep you all in suspense!! We (mom, Bacchus and I) traveled to St. Charles yesterday, to surprise Drew at the finish line of the MIssouri 340. Drew had estimated that he and Curtis would be paddling in between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., but we got to the boat ramp early just to be safe...which was great, because they found a burst of energy at the end, fueled by another tandem team passing them several miles back. They paddled hard, covering 20 miles in only two hours!!!! They finished the race officially at 3:04 p.m., with a total time of 79 hours and 4 minutes. Whew!!!!

Drew and Curtis were tired and travel weary, but enjoyed sitting with a bottle of champagne and telling stories about the race. There was a reporter (from the Columbia Missourian, I think), who had interviewed them pre-race, at several of the checkpoints, and who arrived in St. Charles after the finish. She will have audio clips, as well as a slideshow on the Missourian website (I'm not sure exactly when). We are so proud of their accomplishment! The conquering hero is still sleeping right now. I THINK he took his medal off before bed, but can't be sure!! :)

Please forward this to anyone who was getting the original emails that is not on this list. I'm writing from home, and don't have all the addresses that I had before. Thanks everyone, for your support over the past week, for Drew and me...I have new respect for single mothers...

Love, The Reunited Lemberger Family

We have tons of pictures, and I'll be uploading them as soon as possible.

Gotta go...Drew is sleeping, and Bacchus is fussing...

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

July 11th, 2007

Sorry it's been so long since I posted! We've been fairly busy here, as everyone has been, I imagine! Let me see if I can summarize:

We purchased the house in Rocheport on 06-15-07, and for awhile, were busy with demolition. We are now to the point that Rocheport Planning and Zoning needs to approve our plans for the outside changes to the house, and that could take until next month's meeting. Drew went to a meet and greet last night, but got side-tracked by plans for a new boat ramp in Rocheport. Which leads us to the next item on our agenda...the Missouri 350.

The Missouri 350 is a kayak/canoe race from Kansas City to St. Charles on the Missouri river. It's touted as the longest race of it's kind in the world. It takes place from July 24th through the 28th. Drew and his boss (Curtis) have signed up, and Drew has been busy building the kayak for the last several weeks. It's nearing completion, and then they will start training, and then will participate in the race. They have 100 hours to make the trip, while stopping at eight or nine mandatory checkpoints along the way. Anyone interested in being in the "support crew" should call us...the support team meets the team at the various checkpoints along the way, supplying food, water, and God forbid, medical care. I think my parents are going to be helping in Kansas City, and will hopefully then drive to Columbia to keep Bacchus and me company for the rest of the trip. I think "basket case" may adequately describe how I might be feeling during that time!!

I've been busy at work, getting ready to transition into a new building that will host GED and various other classes every day. For me, it means moving from a building with 100 people, to an office with three other people. It should be considerably quieter, and more productive. I've been making a lot of jewelry during quiet moments at home, and selling it for extra spending money. It's not much, but it keeps me busy.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my friend, Kathy, who died last summer from a brain tumor. We are approaching the year anniversary of her death, and I'm still having a lot of trouble dealing with that. Part of that is guilt that I haven't seen her husband, Shawn, or her son, Lucas during the past year, having been caught up in my own family, for one, and not knowing what to say to him, also. Yesterday, as I was cleaning out my office, in preparation for the move, I glanced through my 2005 calendar (yes, I keep them, just for this purpose), and saw all the casual "dinner with Kathy" notations, that took place before she got sick. There weren't nearly enough of them. Not like the old days, when we got together at Booches, our favorite bar several times a week. We grew up, and she was pregnant in '05, and all of our lives started changing. Gather ye rosebuds, people...

Well, that's it for now. I woke up at 4:30 this morning, thinking about all the things that have been nagging at me lately, begging to be done, and I decided that updating this site could be easily taken off the list. (Check)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. Oh, shoot. I forgot to mention Bacchus, and this is, after all, his blog. So, in a nutshell, he's doing great. He has been toying with words, mostly "Ba ba" and "ma ma", but in a whisper now, instead of out loud. Maybe he's trying them out? He's up on his hands and knees, rocking back and forth, but instead of getting his legs moving in a forward motion, he collapses like a bad souffle. Jessica said that Grayson did that for what seemed like a few months before crawling. I can wait! I'm patient! We're having some general fussiness in the evenings, and I think that bedtime is creeping slowly sooner each night. He's sleeping longer in the mornings, for sure, and hasn't woken up during the night for several weeks. He is much smilier in the mornings (much like me!), and we enjoy several minutes waking Drew up in the morning before we head off to Columbia. I'm not sure Drew enjoys that as much as we do, but it gives me a chance to run in the kitchen and make my sandwich to take to work, or do some dishes, etc.

So THAT's all from here. I miss you guys! (Whoever reads this...and I'm fairly sure that if you're reading this on a regular basis, you would be someone I would like to see more often!)