Baltimore's Half Marathon

...was back on October 16th.  A Half Marathon is 13.1 miles. Exhilarating!  It was nice to have an accomplishment with a start and a finish.  Especially given most days feel like one long continuous series of small successes (we got our grocery order and had a day of happy conversations) and small defeats (we ran over part of our grocery order and taught our children a few new inappropriate vocabulary terms).   I liked the working towards something and the finality of actually having done it.

As for the difficulty level, the truth is that it was not that much different than what I do every day.  I'm sure there are some mothers out there who would be nodding.

The atmosphere in a marathon is bustling and contagious.  It can carry you through the race.  People were handing out skittles and gummy bears - beers around mile 10!  One street had Jamaican music jamming and the streets were lined with kids, grown-ups, some armed with pots and pans belting out a homemade rhythm to run to.  Thousands of people came out to cheer us on--and the weather was ideal.  Sunny and cool.  The hills, now the hills were another story.  Apparently, the Baltimore Marathon is only 10 years old.  The reason being, no one wanted to host a marathon in this hill-acious town.  Whew! 

I did learn a few lessons during my month-long training session, and during the race:

1. Don't stop.  If you stop, you may not start again.
2. If you did not train with it, don't race with it.  My warm top layer that had to go during Mile One of the race - the top layer with all my safety pins embedded into it and my race number - was not my most ingenious wardrobe choice to date.   Unpinning and re-pinning while running could constitute a new sports event in its own right.
3. Just drop the red skittle!   In my entire life, I do not think I have turned down a red skittle.  However, if I could have referenced this check list (#2), maybe I would have thought twice.  I think it may have taken five miles, but I did eventually get it down without embarrassing myself by spitting it out onto someone else or drooling on myself.

And, here are a few shots of the race - the first pic is of our very wonderful neighbors, John and Ellen and their buddy who I ran the race with:

Fall Has Fallen

Noah's head, and...

 Feet!

 Noah being Noah.

 Happiness!

Boys are happy and growing.  We love this time of year on the East Coast! :)  I think Thanks-giving is a perfectly timed holiday.  That is what my heart is full of these days.

I am also piling through...mounds of Barcelona pictures.  They light me up with smiles as I go through them.  I cannot wait to share. 

Just a Family of Four

While we were up in Manitoba (September - see post below), we took advantage of a gift card Betty had gotten for us for Christmas (oh, about three years ago) for a photography session.  Pat (the photographer) took us to a local park area where the old Beausejour Glass Factory used to be (now remains).  The area is full of character - nicely wooded and smiling with sunflowers.  The boys seemed to enjoy climbing all around and cheesing when requested.  Pat did a wonderful job and we now have lovely pictures of the four of us - just us, doing what we do.

Here are some of my favorites...

 

 

 

 

 

Just Give Me the Chocolate Milk and Nobody Gets Hurt

We spent the first 1.5 weeks of September in Manitoba, Canada celebrating Kirsten's wedding and visiting family.  She was a gorgeous, glowing bride with all the flare and allure of a Southern Belle.  The small, vivid-green field and Tarheel-blue sky created the perfect backdrop for a perfect day.  Unfortunately, I have to describe this in all words to you as my camera died, right after I took this picture (we had just arrived)...

Funny how a similar thing happened at Neera's wedding - two weddings, zero pictures. Nice.  From earlier in the trip, here are a few  - Rehearsal dinner - Noah and his little buddy Allie:

Uncle Cody and boys

Connor and I also celebrated our 6 year anniversary while up there.  We spent the night at the Fort Garry, an old historic site built in 1913 as a Pacific Railway hotel.  It really embodied the feel of Winnipeg - a prairie city full of "Old World elegance."  Does the smile say it all?

And a few artsy ones we burned battery life on...

The flights home were much less eventful than the flights there, but did officially confirm that we might have what some experts might describe as a 'strong-willed' child.  While I recognize that these are qualities of a leader, right now.... these are qualities of a very busy day.  We had a chocolate milk incident on the first flight.  May I just say, what was I thinking bringing two full pints of milk, pre-opened (one plain, one chocolate, to mix on-flight, really), aboard a small propeller air craft anyway?  By the end of the flight I think everybody knew us by name (or by whatever word they chose to call us).

When we got home, around 2:00 am, the boys fell soundly asleep into their beds and actually slept in!  Just enough rest to geared up and back at it...

 

(Artwork by Noah Bates)
This month, October, we have some pretty darn cool stuff on our roster.  Namely, a half Marathon (Baltimore, October 16th, WOOT!) and a trip to, ahem, Barcelona baby!  As one of our friends so eloquently put it - we seem to be living La Vida Loca!