when is a farm not a farm?

When it's an amusement park. Better late than never with the photos, right? Here are some choice pictures from our trip to Remlinger farms last October.

Bragging

Rusty got a medal at school yesterday because he was the only kid in his class who could remember the theme of the month. The theme is "Caring for our Planet." I asked him how he can care for the planet and he said "you can carry it in a spoon or in your hands." I guess "caring" and "carrying" do sound alike.

Most of the kids he's been with in school for the past year have turned four and are moving up to the pre-K class for the next school year. His birthday isn't until the end of September so he is scheduled to stay where he is, but his teacher approached Merrill yesterday and said that Rusty will be bored to tears in her class because they're learning to recognize numbers up to ten and the letters of the alphabet. He knows all his numbers and every time she shows a word to the class he starts sounding it out. YES!

Marathon pictures

You can also see a video of us staggering across the finish line if you go to http://www.rnrseattle.com/. Follow the link that says "watch yourself cross the finish line" and type in 11033 or 11034 as the bib number. It makes you watch a commercial but then it shows video of the finish line at the time we crossed. Pretty cool technology.

Marathon report

This morning Merrill and I ran the Seattle Rock n Roll marathon. We went out too fast, but finished in 3 hours 57 minutes. I had a goal to finishe under 4 hours so I'm happy with that. It's a marathon PR for us by 18 minutes. Now we have lost the ability to walk.

One of the best parts of the race was going by the water station where a lot of my coworkers were volunteering. It was at mile 9 and I was still feeling pretty good at that point. What a cheering squad! It was awesome. The course had three out and back portions so it was fun seeing my (much faster) lunchtime running buddy coming by on the opposite side of the road a few times.

One thing that was not awesome were the "bands." It seemed like they were few and far between. There were a few good ones that were playing fast loud rock music, but way too many of them were playing slow folksy type songs when I ran past. One of the bands was just one lady with her guitar. Not motivational!

I felt tons better at the end of this race than I did at the St. George marathon. I even had enough left to sprint the final .2 mile. I wish I'd been a little smarter about pacing at the beginning though. The official results put me as 1148th overall, 356 for women, and 71st for my division (women 30-35, I'm guessing). Out of 25,000 people that's pretty good! Ok, a bunch of the 25,000 were probably running the 1/2 marathon, but still.

Weekend update

Kid baseball is getting fun to watch. Last season we played in the little league organization. The kids played about 7 innings and the games lasted multiple hours. This year we're playing with the YMCA and it is awesome! Even though there are about 19 kids on the team the games only last about an hour. They're three innings long, everyone bats, most of the kids hit the ball so there's some action, and the coach really knows how to keep the pitches coming quickly so the game moves by fast.

Here's Bruce about to hit it out of the ballpark: Here's Rusty posing. He was a really good spectator for most of the game. We're signing him up for the next round of YMCA toddler tee ball.

Later that weekend we went for a bike ride along Centennial trail. We went about 6 miles out and stopped at this deck to have some snacks and then road back. We've got one of those trail-a-bike things and a bike trailer for little kids. It made me want to go on more bike rides this summer.

Helmet hair:

Always running:

You're probably jealous of my shirt:

Memorial Day Weekend

Last weekend we went to visit Mom and Bob at their Lopez Island property. Their house is almost finished and looks great. Another month and we'll be able to sleep inside, which will be great because sleeping in a tent with kids is not as relaxing as it sounds.

In order to avoid the ferry traffic, we parked our car at the Anacortes ferry landing and walked on with all of our gear. Bob picked us up on the island. There was literally no waiting involved. Parking the car is as expensive as driving it on the ferry, but not having to get in line for the ferry two hours early is priceless!

The boys had such a great time that they were already planning a return trip when we were on our way back home. Next time we're thinking we'll bring the bikes.

Stupid Strep

The weather is gorgeous. It's going to be a beautiful three day weekend. T-ball was cancelled so everyone could enjoy it. We were planning on going up to the island to visit my mom and see how the new house is coming along.

Except I have strep throat. I've had it since Tuesday. It kills. I've never had strep before. I finally saw a doctor this morning and he gave me an antibiotic and a prescription for Vicodin! I've taken vicodin once before and didn't like it at all but I'm willing to try it again if it will maybe just help me sleep.

Being sick is the pits. I haven't run since Monday. Lame!