Monument Avenue 10K  

Gary ran in the Monument Ave. 10K again this

 year.  This is one of the biggest races in the country (32,000 participants this year) and a BIG deal in our community.  Gary organized a training schedule for people in the ward and got a bunch of people to participate.   It is a fun race down Monument Ave. past the statues and memorials.  I love the old houses with the cool architecture.  They have lots of live bands playing and a contest for those who run dressed up in costume.   I stayed in bed until he left (thinking that we weren't coming to watch) and then the kids and I jumped up and got down town to surprise him.  We waited at the statue of Lee and the kids gave him a high 5 on his way past.  I like to think that his P.R. (a full 3 min.faster than last year) w

as due to his surprise at seeing us.  It may have been due to all of the training he's been doing, but I like to take credit for it!  

  Sam & Grace at the Lee Turn -around

Runners go up Monument and back down, so we got to see Gary early in the race and then near the end.  

  Gary's in the white shirt w/red sleeves.  

Almost done with the race...

 Sam & Grace with the Oberles

Our neighbors cheered their dad on, too.  Their kids and mom ran in the fun run (1 mile) before the race.  

Ms. PacMan - runners dressed up like a banana, Ms. PacMan and the ghosts chasing her.  

The kids loved this guy!  He ran as Indiana Jones - pulling the huge boulder that was "chasing" him the whole way!   

The costumes were fun - Robert Palmer & his back up girls w/guitars; Batman; etc.  

     

 Gary met up with us after the race.  He was tired, but pleased with his performance.  

This is the side of Lee that he likes to show to us Yankees!  We talked about who he was and why there was a huge statue.  I later heard Grace point to the statue and tell her friend "That guy was a BAD GUY but they still made a statue out of him because the South is weird."  I didn't put it that way, but I couldn't disagree too much!  Sorry Richmonders!  

Cousin Fun - Spring Break

We had so much fun with my brother and his family.  The kids loved having 6 more choices in playmates and Gary and I loved rocking out with the parents when the kids went to bed.  We may have developed a slight Rock Band problem.  Hey, we can quit at any time... just not now.   

We discovered that Bodie has a previously untapped talent for the drums.  He mused aloud about putting that whole pesky IT career behind him and going on the road.  The mother of his six kids wasn't terribly amused.  Stick to Rock Band, Bod.  

The kids played inside and outside and then we did some field trips.  We went to Kangaroo Jac's for some bouncing fun that didn't involve couches or beds.   

               

Grace races Ben  Melanie & Dan - Eli goes AWAL      Aaaahhhhh....

   The real picture!

We hit the beach to gaze at the ocean.  The temperature was in the 50's after all.  That didn't stop the kids who charged full speed into the surf up to their chests!  The water was frigid! 

        

Fearless Kids Josh and Melanie Danny shows us where he's going

        

If pirates could babysit??   Bodie did cool kit tricks  Brave Ben

              

Grace & Eli warming up??       Ruthie freezes          Ben & Sam - did I mention it was COLD?!!

There's nothing like denim when it is soaked through and freezing cold.  Everybody had to strip down to their undies for the ride home... except for some (who shall remain nameless) who hadn't worn any in the first place!!!  

 

We did D.C.  for the day.  A late start, a change of plans, a questionable map, and traffic all conspired against us to give us a "scenic" driving tour of D.C.  We arrived  late, hungry and lost. Did I mention it was cold and raining?   This will be one of those experiences that sounds better when you laugh about it later "Remember when we ran from exhibit to exhibit in the Smithsonian museums before they closed?  Good times!"  We did one day while their family (some would say: gluttons for punishment) when back again the next day.  

  

Cool!       Hiking to Lincoln Memorial   Natural History     Minsters at the Capital

I'm sure it's some sort of cosmic parental karma that ensures that you'll drive 3 hours in the rain while dolling out fractions of the lone granola bar to hungry kids and breaking up fist fights only to run into the Air and Space museum, have a 10 year old boy finally gaze upward at the huge, cool exhibits and exclaim "This is stupid!  I want to go home!"   Insert my parents laughing here... 

   

Time to go  Grace asked for a piggy back ride and this is what she got!

   All in all we had a blast and we're so glad they came.  It turns out that playing Rock Band until 2 am and then getting up with kids in the morning isn't conducive to good health after the age of 25 or so.  I totally lost my voice!   As for Bodie & Melanie,  they say they had a good time, but we'll see how they feel after the 18 hour drive to get back home.  

Wish we didn't live so far away!  

A few more pics

 Mmmmm.... hot chocolate!
Here are a few more pics and videos from our sledding outting for those who were there.  If you weren't there I'm sure you've had your fill of footage by now.  Sorry! 

    Matt avoids another accident.  Cool!

   Sam finally "jumps".  Notice the fist of victory raised from the prone position. Good times.  

   The dads go head to head.  1st place:  Matt; 2nd place:  Gary; and bringing up the rear on the purple saucer is Mike.  Okay, Caleb may have handicapped him at the beginning of the race, but we're only going off of what we see on the video.  

Okay, I won't drive you crazy with any more video clip, but we had a great snow day.  We missed you, KaLisi (& Brooks).  Next year Brooks will be big enough to take a dive into the creek, right?  

Snow Days

      We finally got some decent accumulation.  We had a blast outside with our neighbors and then we met the Toomeys and the Trentadues at the neighborhood hill for some real sledding.  By the time we got there the hill had been well used.   That didn't stop Sam from trying to go over the "jump" that had been fashioned by the huge pipe.

         Aimee, Matt & Brock go for a ride

We forgot to mention to the Trentadues (who met us late) that there was a creek at the bottom of the hill.  Aimee and I were taking pics at the bottom of the hill when we saw this kid come flying down on a sled... right into the creek.  We didn't realize until we'd fished him out that it was Josh!

     Matt & Brock managed to avoid the creek.  

Mike didn't realize it was a creek.  Poor Josh!  He was a trooper with a fresh set of gloves and his hat turned inside out.  

    Josh finally laughs after his swim!     Trentadues  Calee and Grace

  Heather and Grace 

 By the end of the day Sam and Gavin had both taken the plunge as well.  Gavin's had to take the    cake.  He flipped over into the creek head first.  He was soaked through.  The Toomeys shared their hot chocolate and it was time to head home.  

  

            

I also got some good footage of the Oberles (who managed to stay out of the creek), but didn't manage a totally accident-free outing.   

   

We had a blast!  

Snow!

Snow in Richmond!  (Don't worry, the forecast calls for 75 degrees 5 days later)

Grace was the first one outside
So we spent all this energy, time, and cash to take the kids to the snow.  If only we'd waited.  The following weekend we got the actual stuff at our house.  The night it started to snow the kids went out to ride their sleds down the front hill.  They didn't quite realize that the light dusting of powder wasn't going to cut it, hence the video of Grace.

Gee, do you think I'm unprepared in my pajama pants and pool shoes?  

       

  This counts for a snowball in the Confederacy!

        "Sledding" in the front yard??

   Does this count?  

Tubing

We took pity on our kids (who didn't remember ever playing in the snow) and bought tickets to go tubing at a local ski resort.  Getting there involved two attempts (stomach flu killed the first one), driving up to the mountain, and finally we got the payoff.  It was a blast.  Totally worth all the money (the tickets are priced like lift tickets).  

    Sam tries out the tube
Heather and Grace waiting in line 
  Gary and Sam ready for take-off

  A view over the mountain at the end of the day.