I Rocked Seattle!

I ran my first marathon! I did it!! 26.2 miles. 4 hours + 20 minutes. (9:57/min average pace)
Stats: 25,000 runners signed up for the inaugural Rock N Roll Seattle Marathon and 1/2 Marathon.

• 5,618 runners participated in the Marathon, and I crossed the finish line before 3,515 of them.
• Of 3,067 females, I came in 815th.
• In my age group, I crossed 165th (not sure out of how many).
• Miles 2-13 were my favorite miles. A bald eagle soared over me as I ran along Lake Washington at Mile 5 or 6.
  
• I paced at a 9:29 minute/mile for 13 miles (1/2 Marathon).
• I thought I was going to throw up on Mile 15. The cramps went away in the 16th mile.
  
• I actually ate a salt pack at Mile 17 - gross.
• I dumped water on my head at every water station - felt so good!
• It was in nearly 80 degrees by the end of the race!
  
• I realized that I don't really like GU at all. (In the cooler weather, I didn't mind it at all.)
  
• Mile marker 24.5 was the highlight of my race. It carried me Mile 20-24, and I nearly hyperventilated with emotion when I saw my family cheering me on! I passed by, waving incredulously while trying to take deep breaths and not cry, then rounded the corner, composed myself and had a glass of water, and went by on the loop back with renewed enthusiasm and high fives for my kids! What an awesome moment!
  
• Mile marker 26.0 (Jacqui & Chris!) and 26.1 (Marty & Dave) brought surprise supports!
• My first words to Jacqui afterwords: That was the hardest thing I have ever done, and I will never do that again!! By 5 p.m., I was calling my running coach and asking how long I needed to wait before tackling the challenge again! Crazy!!!
  

Thanks to everyone ~ especially my family who supported my training and my race and cheers me on every day!

If you want to watch me cross the finish line, you can go to this site. I wore bib #18226.To see the above pics in larger format, go to this website.

Family BBQ (More from Jordan's Grad Party)

Cake is GREAT!

At Jordan's graduation party, Katelyn had a few bites of chocolate cake. Then while we were watching family compete in a bean bag toss, she found an "empty" bowl with cake and ice cream remnants! What craziness to waste such delicious drops, she thought, and proceeded to lick the bowl ...
She even shared her treasure of a treat with Noah!

Kate in Action

Kate loves to go on adventures! She squeals and claps as we start getting ready and loading up! I'm not sure if she likes the trip or the destination more, but watching her in the car is always a treat because she's bopping her head, tapping her feet, clapping her hands, waving her arms, dancing and singing to the music! Too cute!

I gave Kate her first bang trim before bed last week, at 14 1/2 months old.

After a spaghetti dinner (hence no shirt!), Kate enjoys a graham cracker!
Learning to blow bubbles ... she almost has the blowing down, but hasn't come close to discovering that the wand doesn't go in your mouth!
We have to watch Kate carefully around the bikes! She climbs right up onto them and is ready to go ~ never mind that her feet don't touch the pedals! She loves to be pushed around on the bikes and scooters!
The Big Red Car is also a huge hit! This little car has delighted so many of the kids in our neighborhood! It's remarkably stable and so long as Kate has a helmet on, the boys are free to push her all around. Kate loves it the most when we push her fast back and forth between two people! She starts grinning ear to ear, holding tight to the steering wheel, and bouncing up and down in the seat! Great fun!

Happy Father's Day!

That's one full lap! Happy Father's Day to one great dad! You are a wonderful father, a supportive husband and my best friend. Thank you for being our rock.

Cherry Blossom

14 1/2 Months

Grandma J made this most adorable Cherry Blossom dress for Kate! She wore it all day and was the highlight of every place we went! At Barnes and Noble, she walked through the rows of books amongst sighs of : "Oh isn't she just adorable?!" "How precious!" "What a lovely little girl!" and "that dress is just perfect, isn't it?!" She also wore it to Boulevard Park, where she threw pebbles into the waves for the first time, mimicking Owen (who was in competition with Grandma to see who could hit the bridge stumps off the shore first!).
It is really the perfect time for Kate to wear a dress like this. She is in the discovery stage, and I watched her "swishing" her hips from side to side, swaying in the dress and making it float around her. It was adorable and sweet. Then she went a got the toy lawn mower and went to work on the back yard! Atta girl! ; )

Super Rock Star Status!

Collin started riding a bicycle with training wheels when he was just two and half years old. He was cruising up and down our street, along Alki Beach, wherever those four wheels would take him. Yesterday, he announced he was ready to ride without training wheels and took off on his very first try!

Me: What do you think?
Collin: It's great! I know I was like Super Rockin' Star Status!
Me: What's different?
Collin: Like how I steer and stuff.
Me: What now?
Collin: I want to go up our hill!

And after an hour or more of practicing on the flat, he conquered our hill, turned at the top, and rode back down! Tonight's Goal: Tackling the curb.

Congratulations, Collin!!!

Family Vacation Part 2c - OMSI

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry ~ April 2009

Discovering about caves, woods, hibernation and winter survival was a great experience! The kids climbed into caves and used flashlights to find bugs and spiders and reptiles!In the pic above, they are piecing together a puzzle showing the change from winter (bottom picture) to spring (top picture of puzzle).

There are an amazing water tables too! This one has fish and buckets and boats and different dials and slides. Another showed the water traversing down a mountain, through a valley (past the animals that drink from it) and into the ocean. Collin especially loved that one.
This museum is seriously so fun! Owen loved balancing the balls above this air pocket and watching them float: