San Francisco is another place I have never been.  We spent 3 days here.  It was fun, we were both so sore and tired from Yosemite/ the race, but we were very active, we walked or biked everywhere- and I think we did that mainly cuz we're cheap.  Our first day there, we took a bus tour around town.  Remember Full House, here are the Painted Ladies, this was in the opening credits of that tv show.

We got up close under the Golden Gate Bridge.

 The bus tour was definately the way to start the trip, we got to see it all and decide where to go from there.  Thursday night we went to a concert, some group that Adam found, I have forgotten her name, but they played at the Independent, which was a cool venue.  I bet that place rocks when you get a big namer in there and sell the place out.

Alcatraz was the next morning.  That was fun.  Someone looked at me quizzically when I said it was 'fun.'  Well not 'fun' it's a prison, but very interesting.  I could have spent more time there (gotta love the tour with the earphones), but there is only so much time in the day.

 We rented bicycles for 24 hrs and put 40+ miles on them.  This was a great way to see the city.  We rode over the Golden Gate Bridge and then rode the bikes up the coast and took a ferry back to the wharf.  We rode through the Golden Gate park the next day.

Can't forget about the tolley car.  We took a trolley ride, just to say that we took one.

And the whole trip we ate really really good.  At first I was carb loading, which is fun, and then it was just lots of food to get ready for the big day of activity and then lots of food at supper due to not eating all day.  Lots of seafood and other good stuff.  One night we were eating and this pimped out cars showed up, and about 6 others.  They were part of a car club.  but I was so surprised by the wheel being up, I thought this was only in the movies and in the hood.  I took some photos of the cars for Brennan cuz he loves cars.

Yosemite

for a few days before the race, we hung out in Monterey.  We went to the Aquarium and whale watching and Adam and Suzie went SUPing (standup paddleboarding), and did marathon stuff.

 On Monday we headed to Yosemite.  Neither Adam or I had ever been there and it was pretty awesome.  People have been asking how my recover from the race was; and it was on the right track.  I wasn't too sore, Monday my quads were tight, but I think Yosemite is what put me over the edge and on the wrong track for recovery.  We killed it here.  The waterfall behind me, Yosemite Falls, largest waterfall in North America or something- yeah we hiked to the top!  It was the hardest hike I have ever done.  So in this photo, we hiked to the top edge which is to the right of the falls.  Hard but well worth it.  And then the reward was the food when we got down, really good pizza.

Our hike on the second day was another hard one, ranks #2 on my difficulity list.  We hiked to the base of Half Dome, saw some nice falls on the way. 

We went to the tree groves, huge huge trees that have been around for hundreds of years. 

This was our last hike of our stay, Sentenial Dome.  I really didn't want to go, it was getting late, we were both so tired, and just like on the ski hills- when you think you are done, you should be done, that last run- something always happens.  Well nothing happened on this last hike.  Thankfully, there were nice views- here I am with Half Dome, we were higher than it, but I just had this horrible feeling that we'd run into a bear.  We did not (we didn't see any all trip) but we did see a coyote from the comfort of our car.

Here is Adam at the top of Yosemite Falls, another good view of Half Dome, as well as the rest of the Yosemite Valley (which you can't see in this photo)

I don't know when we'll get back here, but we will be back.  It was fun, and we needed/ wanted more time.  We plan to drag the kids kicking and screaming on that Yosemite Falls hike, when they are like 16.

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.