MMRF Race for Research: In Loving Memory of Aunt Laura Toby

In April, we went down to California for Chelsea's Aunt Laura's funeral service.  Her aunt, her dad's brother Brian's wife, passed away this spring after fighting multiple myeloma cancer for six years. Laura was a wonderful, caring person, fun-loving and always had a smile on her face.  She will be greatly missed!

 

 

 It just so happened that the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's annual 5K race/walk for a cure event was happening Sunday, April 7th, the day after the service, in San Francisco. Brian and Laura's daughters, Jillian and Megan, organized "Team Toby" for the MMRF Race for Research event held the following day. Find out more here: MMRF

Many of the family members we able to attend, so we had a large group, 120 people. Our team raised a significant amount of money to go towards multiple myeloma research. 

Here's Team Toby!

 Aunt Laura was very involved in the community theater, so Jillian organized a flash mob in her honor, for Team Toby to do at the MMRF race. She organized 3 separate dances and choreography for each, which she put on You Tube for the entire family to practice at home.  We all came together out of the crowd for the flash mob, which was a surprise for the other attendees at the MMRF Race for Research event.  It was awesome and really fun! Great job, Jillian! You can view it here: Team Toby Flash Mob 

 

Maggie and Megan

 

Cake with a favorite quote of Aunt Laura's on it

 

Toby siblings: Barry, Barbara, Brian

 

Some of the Tobys:

Back row:

Me, Andrew, Barry, Tiara, Brian, Chris, Megan, and Laura

Front Row: Chels, Stephanie, Tiffany, Maggie, Jillian, and Scott

 

Me and Chels

Cousins-time! Laura, Stephanie, Me, Chels, Tiffany

 

More Toby cousins: Candy and her daughter Tiffany

Chels and I with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background

Cindy, Stephanie, and Barry

Barry's sister Barbara's family: Chris, Uncle Paul, Laura, and Chris' girlfriend Tiara

Andrew ran in the race, great job!

Toby sisters: Steph and Chels

Andrew and Chels

After the race, we all spent some time together at the park.  Cousin Jillian and her husband Scott's twins were the favorites of everyone there! Kellan and Ellora are so cute!  They are about 10 months old in these pictures

Chels, me and Kellan

They are so cute!  Barry is having a blast with them--someone is ready to be a Grandpa!

Stephanie and Ellora

 

Andrew with the Twinkies, they love him!

Ellora trying to "help" her brother

 

Chels is excited to be here!

Stephanie and Ellora, so cute!

Someone is ready to be an uncle, I think!

Aunt Barbara and Uncle Paul

We went out to lunch at the Presidio after the race, it was nice to catch up with everyone!

 

Even though we came together under sad circumstances, it was wonderful to see the family, and to honor and remember such a special person in all of our lives.  We love you, Aunt Laura!

Beautiful Hawaii

 

Our last day in Hawaii, we travelled north on the island, up to a park with a beautiful lookout point.

 

Chels, me, and Cindy

Cindy and Barry

Me and Chels

It was gorgeous!

 

There was another little park we stopped at, on the way back to town.

 

Chels and I at the second park. It seems that every place you stop in has beautiful views!

 

This is the statue of King Kamehameha in the town of Kapa'au, where we stopped for lunch. This is his birthplace.

 

 King Kamehameha is famous for uniting all Hawaiian Islands, then ruling over all of them post-unification.  This allowed the islands to remain independent, until Hawaii became part of the United States. 

We had lunch in Kapa'au, where I had my first Pina Colada. It was delicious!

 

 

 

A few days before, Chels and I travelled to the Hilo (rainy) side of the Big Island.  This is where the famous (still active!) volcano Kilauea is. 

 

These are the Rainbow Falls, outside of Hilo.

It was very high, about 80 feet total! It was sunny and warm when we visited the waterfalls...

However, by the time we got to the lookout for Kilauea, this is the weather we found at the top of the volcano!  Here's Chelsea at the lookout--can you see the volcano?  I took this picture from inside the visitor's center, I was not going out there! :)

Here's another statue of King Kamehameha in Hilo

King Kamehameha statue decorated with flowers and leis

 

We had a nice drive over to Hilo, and had a beautiful sunset on the way home

 

 

The last morning in Hawaii, we walked around the Hilton Hotel and Resort, where they have a private bay coming in for the guests to swim in.  We also saw children swimming with dolphins in a pool...

They had these Greek-looking statues, which I loved. Here's Chels, mimicking the look on the horses' face

Me and the funny statue

I love all the beautiful flowers and foliage.  Tropical plants are so colorful!

 

Goodbye Hawaii, aloha until next time!