13.1!!! I did it again!

So January of 2009 I made a New Years Resolution to Run a 1/2 marathon. The year came and went with maybe a couple of 2 mile runs. So a couple of months ago when my sister Anna told me she was training for her first 1/2 marathon and wanted me to train along side her...2000 miles apart I was all for it! So we did it!

It just so happened that the marathons were on the same day! TODAY! A beautiful, perfect, cool day in both Grand Rapids, MI and in Long Beach, CA. We both kicked butt too! I ran a lot faster than I thought I could and felt great the whole time...really I did!!! (right now, laying in bed...yeah, not feeling so good...my legs feel like rocks!!)

Chuck, Adelee and Gordie came along to support and cheer me on! They had a blast playing with each other in and around the events, looking at the boats, the Queen Mary Historical Ship, the beach, the ocean, bridges, fountains...and watching LOTS AND LOTS OF RUNNERS!!! At the end Adelee told me "Mom, I'm proud of you" Melt my heart!!


BEFORE



DURING


AFTER

Pirate Night at KidSpace

We had a wonderful night at Kidspace on Friday! Gordie has really been into Pirate's since the Pirate Ride at Disneyland. And Adelee, well she loves the Booty! Plus I added a nice photo of Kendall, cause she's so cute too!

August

We sure are having lots of fun and enjoying summer with Chuck in town! Here is a quick overview of the past few weeks! Enjoy!

The kids all dressed up ready to party!


Am I actually going to admit this...Our kitty cat Ni Hao hanging out with me, his favorite spot (besides on my lap...who would have thought?)


Chuck discovered that the kids are AMAZING!!!!! JENGA players (they can each pull up to 10 blocks!!


A wonderful night in the "Wild Wild West" with a petting zoo, playing horse shoes, lasso lessons, square dance lessons, and making cowboy puppets...



A pair of adorable ladybugs wrestling



Meeting Curious George at the Grove



Followed by a wonderful hike and the kids first sight of the Hollywood Sign...very cool!...well, very hot...but very neat :-)




An amazing day at the Natural History Museum...the kids enjoyed a t-rex show, a spider and bee show, lots of cool stuffed mammals, lots more dinosaur skeletons, a HUGE whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling and much much much more! No fear just total enjoyment! So proud of my brave kids!

Meeting Kai Lan

Adelee and Gordie were so excited to meet Kai Lan at the zoo this past weekend. Auntie Jenny and Uncle Nelbo gave Adelee this outfit a while back and when she said she wanted to dress like a princess (very common these days) to go meet Kai Lan, I knew it was the perfect "princess" outfit! She loved it! Kai Lan even inspired the name of our foster cat, "Ni Hao Kitty" (translated Hi Kitty)

Art Class

The kids took a wonderful Art Class this summer. They learned about oil pastels, relief sculptures, the color wheel, texture collages and more. Here is some of the artwork from art class. At the end of the semester, they were part of a nice Art Show.

Reagan Library

Oh my goodness. I can't believe I got to post these pictures. Back in June, we had a lovely day at the Reagan Library with Chuck and Mary.

Letely we have been hitting up birthday parties, seeing Dora at the zoo, riding bikes, playing hockey, playing in the kiddie pools, swinging, and trying to figure out how to get Adelee to stay in bed at naptime and bedtime...ugh. Chuck's job has him working 5 day weeks with very little travel. So we are very very very happy with that!

Gordie's birthday!

Gordie wanted to see Choo Choo Trains on his birthday. So we headed to Griffith Park where we rode on a really cool and fast Merry-go-round (the kids both LOVE Merry-go-rounds!) and to Travel Town, an outdoor train museum with trains you can climb on, ride on and play with. We made it home for naps (except Adelee who found a spider on the wall next to her bed and therefore did not nap) Gordie actually was talking so long in bed that I went in to hug him and I ended up rocking him to sleep (something I hadn't done in a long time...and it was super wonderful to do on his birthday! Then we had a nice family gathering, birthday celebration for Gordie. He got awesome presents including a big boy bike! a hockey net! remote control car! a really cool Hummer truck that plays MC Hammer, and moves with a push of a button! a "Hot Wheels" loop for his hot wheels cars! Plus 2 Toy Story books! He was so happy! It was a wonderful day!