Triathlon continued...

Look what we found in the paper today...its our hero from the triathlon. Apparently we aren't the only ones who thought this guy was a great inspiration!

http://hneolive.therepublic.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VFJQLzIwMDgvMTAvMjMjQXIwMTcwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Historic Homes Tour

We were not able to complete this task. we tried to volunteer but no one would call us back or email us back and it wasnt in our financial cards to be able to attend.Sorry.

Thanks to all of our sponsors!

Woodruff + Webb Optometry

This is where we would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our sponsors and everyone involved in making this years race a success for us. This event could not have been what it is without your help. Our team has had the most amazing time running all over town, meeting new people, and discovering Columbus. We don't expect to win this race, but we have learned so many amazing things about Columbus, and we have met some really GREAT people along the way, which means so much more to us than any prize. we have made friends that i believe we will keep in contact with for years to come. We have found so many fun things to do, and so many interesting places that we will have a good reason to stay around Columbus for years and years and be happy to bring our friends and family members in on the fun. we have learned in this race that your efforts don't always show and that the lack of effort in other teams can appear to be More than it was, but we take pride in knowing that we did our best and we had an amazing time which something that is priceless. we cannot thank all of you enough for provider this once in a lifetime experience for us.

sincerely three definitely successful damsels!

Big Brother/Big Sister

we dont have any pictures to show you for this activity but here is a copy of the email that we are distributing to help BBBS with their program.


Hello all,This e-mail is being sent to you by participants of the Amazing Race of Columbus on behalf of the Big Brothers/Big sisters (BBBS) program of Columbus, IN. If you have received this e-mail, consider it a compliment. The Big Brothers/Big Sisters program of Columbus is seeking well-qualified volunteers, as there is currently a shortage of "Bigs." Within the BBBS program, professionally supported, one-on-one relationships are created between between children and caring adult volunteers.This is not something that requires a huge time commitment or any special skills, you would simply be a mentor and friend to a child.Attached is a Q & A document with frequently asked questions. If you or someone you know is interested, please forward your contact information to Laura Moses, who is the program Director. Her e-mail address is : laura@foundationforyouth.comInterested volunteers are invited to attend:
Big Brothers Big Sisters Volunteer Recruitment Gathering
at Foundation for Youth ,405 Hope Ave.
Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008
5:30-6:45 pm.

This will be a perfect time to ask more questions and know more about the program. For further details about the gathering, you can email Jessica Vogel at Jessica.Vogel@siho.org or Lindsay Brown at brownle@yahoo.com.

Thank you all for your consideration of this wonderful opportunity,Amazing Racers of Columbus

Elvis presley...take two

Well we had never been to tc's bbq before so we had no idea that the elvis you were looking for was here. so we thought we would add this elvis to the mix. being the huge elvis fan that i am i think you can never have enough of elvis ;0)

freedom field

Freedom field at Blackwell park is the greatest playground i have ever seen. not only does it have every kind of play equipment imaginable it has several learning tools for children and best of all it is accessible to all people regardless of limitations. the ground is made of Pervious Concrete, which eliminates puddles and ponding on the playground surface and makes it nice and soft on your feet and the playground is handicap accessible. the large features and open space makes it easy for everyone to play and guardians can be close enough by to watch and have access quickly if needed.this playground also has fun learning tools such as braille,sign language and general fun such as telling time, learning the alphabet, and playing tic-tac-toe one of several boards...which i distinctively remember counting in last years amazing race.

The Ethnic Expo TRI-FECTA

Who better to learn culture from than the tri-tans? the point of this race is to network and meet people in the community. yes we already know the tans but this gave us a chance to really learn about the tans. we knew that they were from the Philippines, after a long conversation we had about it during the kick off event. my (Jess) cousin happens to be from there as well which is what prompted our conversation. however, we never went into great detail about who they are and what their culture is to them.we didn't get a chance to hang out with them at the expo because they were volunteering at a booth but they did invite us over to their home after the expo so we could talk. as it turns out they are both Filipino citizens, however they are actually Chinese. cim's father actually came over to the Philippines from china, as well as both of their grandparents, however cim and Jonathan were both born in the Philippines.they speak Fukien (Chinese languages/dialects which are spoken in southern Fujian) and Tagalog(the major languages used in the Philippines).they practice feng shui and still use both Filipino and mandarin manners in their home which they are also teaching iynigo so he will be sure to know where he comes from. we've realized that tri-tan has nothing to do with the fact that there are three of them, its because they incorporate three cultures in their lives everyday :0)

Mill Race Race/ Mayors Walk

Judy and i volunteered for the Mill Race Race, while Lindsay had to work. we were in charge of helping with the children's division. we were able to help steer the kids in the right direction for whichever race they were participating in and when they came across the finish line give each kid a ribbon. it was fun to watch all of the kids come across the line and get special recognition as well as see their faces light up when they realized their finish line was the same as the adults. we also hung out with Michelle and Chris Findley from team-C.E.M.M. Racers.after the race they announced the winner in each leg ( including one of our own justice leaguers) and they had a former Colts player there to give away prizes including autographed footballs, a worn Peyton manning jersey and some signed colts cards. we were able to get our picture taken with Jeff Herrod who was a former American football linebacker that played in the NFL from 1988-1998. He played for the Indianapolis Colts from 1988-1996 and then again in 1998. He played for the Philadelphia Eagles for one season in 1997. At the end of the 1998 season he announced his retirement at the age of 32, and moved to Columbus. He now works for our very own Cummins,Inc.

driftwood valley music festival/ Iron pour

This year we made it out to the Driftwood Valley music festival in time to witness the iron pour. it was really neat to see how much they could do with iron. We did run into the Tri-Tans there and posed for a photo-op. we also toured the iron tent to watch a video on how they make the big sculptures in town and see some other local art.

lets wrap it up!

This way to seymour...we should know ;)

Which way to the
Philippines Cim?


This was our leg 3 wrap up. i havent played putt putt in forever so this was a lot of fun. we joined 2/3rds of the tri-tans, since cim had to take off :0( but its ok because we got to play with baby tan while jon golfed. jon claimed he had never played putt putt before but three hole-in-ones later...we stopped believing him..just kidding jon. in the spirit of threes- damsels placed third in the 3rd leg as well. we are moving up. we went from a blip on the radar, to top 5, to third. watch out justice league we're aiming for first! lol.

Discover columbus- D for damsels!

Talk about some team work! we headed out to the discover columbus sign with the tri tans, and team BASH. Let me just say this hill is steeper than it looks! im surprised it still says "discover columbus" after we got through sliding down it all day,lol. however we managed to get some great shots of all of us making the letter shapes after running up and down the hills, getting mulch all over us and making my ( jess) poor husband stand in 2 foot tall weeds to get some good shots. thanks everyone for making this pic so much fun! i think i can see this on a brochure for the city...hmmm

Dont forget to flush!

We finally got to the kids commons in time to see the famous toilet. the lady was nice enough to let us in for free for 5 minutes since she knew we were part of the amazing race...finally people around town are catching on to the race after months of spreading the word. however once we got in there we didn't want to leave after 5 minutes. i cant wait to go back there and take my nieces and nephews and one day my kids. this place is amazing! we just keep finding so many interesting things in Columbus that we had no clue existed.

Hope Heritage Days

I had been to the Hope Heritage days a few times before, but my partner in crime (Lindsay) and my husband had never been so i made sure to give them the tour. we looked for our qmix friends and then took to the food booths. this year i did find something new to me that i must have over looked in years before...probably because i head right to the food..but we found the log cabin and were immediately drawn to it. we found a group of civil war re-enactors that were happy to sit for a picture. after getting to know our new traitor friend it turns out another re-enactor in his group is a friend of mine in the Columbus City band...small world.

dr. webb ( in it to win it, amazing race winners 2007)

Look lindsay i found dr webbs sign!....oh wait, maybe i should put my glasses on.....oh haha there it is. silly me- maybe its time for an eye exam...if only i knew where to go...hmmm ;0)

elvis has not left the building

When i saw that one of our tasks was to get our picture taken with Elvis i was already planning a trip to Memphis. who wouldn't want to head out to Graceland? but then i remembered we had to stay in Bartholomew county :( so i put on my thinking cap and remembered that Sadie's was the place to be. being the huge Elvis fan that i am i knew they would be able to help us with this task. its like an Elvis museum in there. when we came in and asked for a picture with the king they looked at us funny for a minute and then we explained that we were there for the amazing race. they said oh ok....wait...what is the amazing race? so we talked to them for a few minutes to explain what the race was. we are pro's at explaining this at this point. we have had to explain this to probably half of the people we have seen out on our tasks. once we explain what we are doing people get really excited and they want to know more about it. we always offer the website so the community can keep tabs on us. so even though we didn't make it to Graceland we were more than pleased to find Elvis right here in Columbus!

we are river rats

We decided to be honorary river rats for the day. we headed down to river rat grove and decided to unravel. we ( Lindsay) climbed some trees and then decided to take a nap on the bench. it was such a beautiful day out. a prefect time to enjoy mill race park! it was also nice to get a pic of skopos. the last pic we took was on the 7 wonders tour earlier in the race but it was right after the flood and as we all know skopos was missing, so all we got was the concrete base. unfortunately i cant put that picture on here because we have been without power for the last 5 days following the wind storm. it does make it more difficult to use the Internet but we have pulled together as a team and used every resource we could to get these pictures on here. hope you enjoy!

A wee bit o' scottish fun

This was our first trip to the Scottish festival. We had a lot of fun and i think that this will definitely be on our agendas in the future! although 50-70 mph winds + kilts = not a pretty picture, but all in all we had a blast. we got to enjoy a bagpipe parade, get our pics taken with Nessie ( who knew she was here all along,lol) and we even braved the meat pies. although i decided to go without the haggis. speaking of haggis we thought about doing the haggis tossing contest but with the wind again we thought maybe we shouldn't. no one wants to end up with haggis on their faces, and no matter how much begging we couldn't convince my husband to enter the bonnie knees contest. i have a friend in the Columbus city band who moved here from Scotland in 1972 and he said that my family last name could be Scottish so i think for next year i will do a little research and see what i can come up with. i did see a sign ( which is in the picture above) that said "Owens family st" but i think its for the fair :0)

drive in movie

Here we are at the drive-in movie.i thought i would make of this and invite my sister-in-law and my nieces. the girls love this movie so i thought it would be fun to watch it outside in the park. we had no idea that there were going to be so many fun things to do prior to the movie. the girls got their faces painted, they got to pet a baby pig, ride ponies and learn about owls that have been rescued. we also got lots of safety tips and good ideas for kids from businesses around the community. we ran into the justice league and stopped to pose for a picture. then we parked and got ready for the movie. the tans pulled in next to us after a long trip back from Pittsburgh and we got to enjoy the movie together. it was a fun time!

hospice concert

Judy and i volunteered to help set up for the hospice concert this year. unfortunately Lindsay had to work that day but we managed without her. as we were walking over to the park we were stopped by some girls wanting to ride the people trails but they were lost.luckily we had some experience with the people trails thanks to the amazing race. taking the trails was one of our tasks last year and the 7 wonders tour also brushes on it this year. so we were glad to be able to help these out-of-towners and explain what the amazing race was. once we got to the park we helped put together boxes then put in two trash bags in each and then distribute around mill race park. as you can see above i almost lost Judy in a sea of trash cans but eventually we got her out and away we went. we had to really flex our muscles holding up that hospice sign but it was well worth it :) we got to know the coca cola delivery guy a little and we got to talk to some of the hospice volunteer coordinators. it was nice to know that we were helping such a good cause!

East vs North

i you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose but you cant pick your friends' nose...or wait, maybe you can.lol

sara beth is so patriotic :0)
think this was when brittany thought they got a home run,haha its ok brit!

Well since lindsay and i both are from seymour, and brittany is from crothersville (where they dont have a football team) we werent sure who to cheer for. since judy and sara beth went to east we decided we would wear their team colors ( all the way down to the toe polish lol). we had some good team spirit for the majority of us not being from east columbus. although we didnt dress nearly as crazy as some of the high schoolers. we wont go into that. then a huge storm cloud came over and it started pouring down rain. so after the game we decided to go puddle jumping. by the time we got home we were all soaking wet. and someone ran into me as we were working through the crowd and "smurfed" me, appearantly they thought i needed to have some north spirit. but all in all it was a fun night and it looks like we cheered for the right team!

Puttin' on the Ritz...

1920 here we come!

The wrap up party for leg 2 was the cat's pajama's! we had on our glad rags and headed out to the speakeasy :) we were all dolled up with our beads and boas and cigarette holders-sans the ciggy's of course-yuck! we even got to drink some signature hooch made just for the amazing racers, which was keen. we were glad that we placed in the top five this leg. it shows that we are moving up and hopefully we will continue to do so! it was a whoopie of a time, and how!

Chihuly art and more

for labor day, i (lindsay) went to visit friends in st louis. sunday we went to the missouri botanical gardens to check out the japanese festival going on. as we were walking around, i noticed some art that looked familiar. the botanical gardens had quite a few pieces of chihuly art. i found out from my friend that there had been an exhibit there awhile ago of his art. i told her that there was a cool chandelier in columbus. it was very cool to see the glass sculptures in and around the gardens so i thought i'd share it with the amazing racers :o)

as a sidenote, as we were going through the tropical forest part, i was checking out the signs of the different plants and i found one called the helicopter damselfly. i thought it was fitting to mention it since we share the name :o)

Block Party!

What can we say about the block party, other than it was HOT! Only Judy and Lindsay made an appearance there. Jessica was home sick. Although we forgot the camera, we were there and was up front for the announcements of the leg 1 winners. We were bummed that Damsels did not make it in the top 5, but it gave us motivation to rack up some points for leg 2!

we <3 mullets!

Bad HARE- get it,lol

I was this close to winning tallest hair- 22inches, whew. this was an awesome event and we are already pumped for next years. everyone looked so great! the amazing racers really gave the rest of columbus a good competition!although, as i told the tans- if they would have set their alarms they might have had more time to get ready ;)

Heritage Fund balloon

this was our second attempt to get our balloon from the heritage fund. we found out they aren't open on saturdays so we came back monday. they knew when we walked in that we were amazing racers. we scoped out the lawn so we will be ready for some croquet at the wrap party.

Fair on the Square

we barely made it in time for fair on the square saturday. it didn't take us long to find the most unique thing there though. we found some crazy fraggle rock chickens. the lady was very nice and offered to let us hold them. they were very calm unlike their hair. we made it thru the whole fair before the horn sounded to let us know it was the end (but it also scared us!) hehe.

meet, greet, and eat

there was a nice turn out for this event...but then again whats not to love- we meeted, we greeted, and we eated.lol most of the guys played musical chairs all night so we got to know lots of other teams. we hung out with carl,barbara and dave from the red bull addicts and the conversation quickly turned to our day jobs. the tans also dropped in so that baby tan could try to eat greg's (aka bike) finger. bikes teammate clint was also a good conversationalist although he started the whole musical chairs movement so he couldnt be held down in place too long. most of the cemm racers were there and enjoyed some food and drinks. the newshounds and the damsels were happy to stay in one place so we could enjoy everyone coming to us <:0)

ohhhmmmmm...one body one soul

winding down after a busy day in traffic. we all needed some relaxation and meditation. we were definitely ready for a peaceful nap after this class. its a great little studio and the ladies were very sweet and helpful. aside from figuring out where the building actually is ( 6th st between washington and franklin) it was a great way to find peace with some other teams and enjoy some fabulous refreshments :)

Discovering a downtown eatery with the QMIXers...er uh panty ho's

yummy

The damsels and the QMIXers both had failed attempts at getting to know another team at a downtown eatery and by last minute luck the two teams happened to be available at the same time. now where to eat...oh thats right everything is closed downtown on mondays except the bars, anyone else find that strange? but it was ok because brittany and sara beth had never been the the CB so it was still a discovery for them. we learned that sara beth is a closet valley-girl that likes the Colts and has multiple personalities. brittany is a flasher/ book nerd gone wild that likes the guy-liner.lol. after spending most of the evening together we decided that even when the race is over we will still be out doing crazy things together!

Bonus- Irwin Gardens/picnic

We headed out to Irwin Gardens for a fun and toasty might i say afternoon with team IBC. we went around and looked at all of the wonders that the gardens had to offer and then headed over to Mill Race Park for our picnic. we got lucky because it just happened to be familyfest. we ate some nachos and tacos in a bag and then i couldn't resisit going over to pet the baby cow. it was so cute!

FFY Triathlon

* if the slideshow doesnt load please go to http://www.rockyou.com/show_my_gallery.php?source=ppsl&instanceid=121209290 for pictures, thanks!


At first just and i were not looking forward to getting up so early to do the triathlon. but once we got there, got suited up, and had some starbucks we were good to go. we drove out to our post which happened to be close to judys house, which was a nice perk. we got set up and learned where the bikers were going to be coming from. then randy showed up to join our post. he fit right in. we made him an honorary damsel for the day. he was a lot of fun. he was chasing cars and dancing along with me to keep entertained. we also got a lot of laughs from the bikers along with thank-you's for keeping them in good spirits. i couldnt believe how many bikers thanked us just for suppoting them and stopping traffic. luckily we only lost one biker despite all of our signs, but we got him turned around and all was well. when the last biker had passed our stop we drove behind him for support. then we took a short cut back to tipton lakes so we could get set up to cheer him on the the finish line. his name is chris donnelly and we thought he was amazing. he never gave up and we think that is amazing! i think this is an event i will try to be a part of with or without the help of the amazing race!

damsels heart mike rowe!

We were getting down and dirty cleaning out the trash and drywall left behind after from the flood so judys moms house could get rebuilt. this was on thursday july 24th and the amount of mess left behind and the amount of work there still is to do in this neighborhood is amazing. i am sure they will be working on this for some time to come.

131

whew! 131...really thats it? it seemed like a lot more!!! but it was a great view from the top. although being the damsels we are we are used to being on top of the world ;)

Andy "the man"n- edward jones

* What year was the Bartholomew County Courthouse Built?*

The current Bartholomew County courthouse was built from 1870 to 1874 by McCormack and Sweeney of Columbus at a cost of $225,000.
It was designed by architect Isaac Hodgson, who was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1826 and immigrated to the United States in 1848; he designed six Indiana courthouses.
The courthouse is built largely of brick and has mansard roofs typical of the Second Empire French style. Its asymmetrical "L" shape allows it to face two major streets in Columbus. The inscription indicating the commissioners, architect and date is high up on the east facade.

We also learned in the seven wonders tour that there was a book written about all of the county courthouses in Indiana and ours was on the cover. woo hoo!

.....and party everyday

We had to fight all of our natural urges ( and a large standing crowd) to rush the stage and join the party,lol.

Finger Likin Good

The sign says it all. The kiwanis booth at the Bartho Co fair was all that it advertised and more this year.

She's got the whole world....under her crown ;)

Finding the globe that floats on water did require some thought. However we managed to get there and discovered we had the world at our fingertips, and perhaps we rule the world. haha.

Roller Skating

I cannot tell you the last time i went skating. im sure boys still had cooties. however i strapped on a pair of skates and i pulled myself around the rink trying not to run judy over who also had not been on skates in a very long time and is in recovery from a neck surgery and thought maybe going slow was a good idea. finally i got the hang of it and managed to go around with out holding the railing the whole time. however stopping was another issue. we wont go there.

7 Wonders Tour

Saturday we did the 7 Wonders Tour. It was soo hot but it was nice to learn about the wonders and spend the day with several other amazing racers.

chihuly's neon chandalier


wonder # 2

irwin gardens





looks like some damsel herbs in the irwin gardens




hanging out on the second street bridge- wonder #5eos- wonder # 3. after the tour i no longer wonder who she is molded from :)

EOS- FELLOW DAMSEL

The damsels visiting a fellow damsel in success...she successfully stayed in columbus last year when another amazing race team managed to raise enough money to buy her. go eos + team "the winners"