I am a marathoner

Well I can say that I am a marathoner....we'll leave it open for interpretation as to whether that means I have done one or more than one.....it was hard to say the least.  But I am glad that I finished/completed it.  It is a pretty powerful feeling- knowing the commitment that one puts into training for something like a marathon and or half marathon.  We went to Big Sur in CA to run my first marathon, the last weekend in April.  I knew this would be a hard course, but I don't know if I'll ever do another one, so I wanted to make it a vacation.  The kids stayed in WI so it was just Adam and I that went away, we started in Monterey for the marathon and toured around the San Fran area for a little over a week.  I talked my brother, Joe, into running his first marathon also.  He we are crossing the finish line.  It was a hard course, the uphills were hard, the downhills were just as hard, (and there were a lot of both) and there was wind to contend with.  But I'm happy that I can have this memory to share with my brother.  I wish our time would have been faster, but I think there were lots of factors that led to the time, and I know why people do more.  Either A- you love running, or B- you are competitive and want to beat your time.  And I want to beat my time.....so down the road I'll probaby do another.  But for the time being, I'm happy to  hang up the shoes! 

 Here is our cheering squad, Adam and Suz where there to support us.  It was up in the air if Suz would be able to make it, and I'm so glad that she was. 

 The Big Sur International Marathon is ranked as one of the top 10 destination marathons in the world due to the scenic coast that you run along.  Here are some shots of what we got to run.   It was ocean, coastline, and then the road that we ran on, Hwy 1. 

This is the Bigsbee Bridge, a famous bridge that you might see in car commericals etc, it looks a lot bigger on tv, as we ran over it, I was disappointed that it was smaller than expected. 

March stuff

It was Dr Suess' birthday earlier in the month. Hence 'hat day' at preschool. Brennan was so excited to wear his Boise State hat to school, he even slept with it on the night before. (and then he woke with a horrible cold/fever and could not even go to school, such a bummer; they even made green eggs n ham that day- oh well better luck next year)

We have been having a great spring in WI. I can not remember a time when the trees would bud before/around St Patrick's day. It usually does not happen, spring usually hits in May. So we had been taking advantage of the warmer weather. Brennan is enjoying riding his bike. (and that warm weather is gone, back to the 50s, but still nicer than normal)

Quinn doesn't mind a stroll around the block either.

getting ready for a family bike ride, it was a little chilly this evening, but they had been bugging me for a bike ride all afternoon.

as I like to call it, we got the family a 'bike on a bike' it's pretty swift- when he peddles he actually helps the driver, hopefully this will help him get the sensation of sitting tall on his bike and feel what he'll need to do when the time comes to take the training wheels off his bike.

She loves shoes!

Quinn as you may or may not know, is a very determined little girl.....things calmed down a little little bit in early February, she got eartubes put in. She didn't enjoy coming off the anesthesia, here she is with Adam and she cried after surgery for nearly an hour. But the tubes were a good decision, she seems more comfortable.

She loves shoes. She loves to put on everyones shoes in our back hallway and pull the shoes from the racks in the closet. Hopefully she'll get over this love.....otherwise she'll just have to get a job to pay for all those shoes she may want.....

Here she is playing a game with GG at the birthday party. Besides shoes, she loves to do whatever her brother is doing; monkey see monkey do.

I thought it was spring?

We got hit with a winter storm on Friday night, but it has been a really mild winter around here. They usually give the storms names and as the season goes on, we'll end up with storm Natasha and Storm Oliver etc, but so far we are only on letter C. So I am not going to complain too much- I just wish the storms would not come on Friday night, I like running outside on Saturday mornings.....but anyways, Brennan really enjoyed the snow.

There was about 6 in that came Friday night, he played at Papa's Saturday afternoon, and there was a dusting happening when we went outside again on Sunday morning. He was getting tuckered out walking up the little hill in the back yard, so my dad suggested sledding down the drive, and that was fun! At first he was on his bum and then would walk back up dragging the sled, then Papa taught him how to ride on his tummy and steer. And that was better yet! (I on the other hand was worried he'd loose his nose from a tumble, but he was OK)

We finished with a walk around the property, and have a harness to pull the kids around the yard on and a new sled hill in the works for next winter....

Quinn on the other hand...

She didn't really care for the snow. But I don't blame her. As you can see from the photo below, she has capri length snowpants.....and from the photo above, I sat her down to play with the camera that I had just dropped into the snow and she took her gloves off, then put her hands into the snow, and then started to cry. We were all bundled, so I wasn't about to take her back in without taking her on one trip down the hill, but as you can see, she continued to cry, so in she headed to play with Grandma instead.

Party at Papa's

We celebrated with family on Saturday night. It was a very nice time. We had pizza and salad and ice cream cake. My Uncle Mike and his wife Cindy came, and we haven't seen them in about a year. It was a small party, but fun to catch up with everyone.

Here are a few of the great gifts that Brennan got. He really likes his TAG learning tool. He got a world map to use with it. He also got a few TAG books.

Clothes; gearing up for summer and some pants outfits, which are needed, just today he blew another knee out of a pair of jogging pants.....and he got a new pair of shoes and crocs.

and some other great toys; here is the look of excitment!

Thank you to everyone

His first Birthday!

Brennan had his 1st real birthday on Wednesday. All that matters to him was that he had a great party at Chuck E Cheese with some friends from the Y, I don't know that he understands yet that his actual birthday will only come once every 4 years. We planned to take him there on his birthday, and I thought why not invite some kids that he can play with. It was our first time at chuck e cheese, and it was pretty fun- and the pizza wasn't too bad.