Hershey Half Marathon

Yesterday was the inaugural Hershey Park Half Marathon. I decided to sign up when Chris and I went there for our anniversary in June and when I told Carolyn about it, she decided that she would like to train for a half and see how she did. After months of sticking with her training plan, and after a successful 10K race 2 weeks ago, she was ready to conquer this challenge! We drove out Saturday with the kids and went to the race expo, kids fun run and then to the park, where we were able to enjoy the rides for free from 6-9pm. We headed to the Hershey Lodge to rest our heads for the night and we all fell happily to sleep.

We awoke to a beautiful, slightly chilly morning on Sunday and Carolyn was a pro, getting dressed in the dark after having all of her race gear laid out the night before. (She did plenty of "reading up" on race day preparations ahead of time). We ate our Cliff Bars and headed to the race site. We arrived more than an hour early, got great parking and spent the time enjoying the pre-race excitement, warming up, and laughing at all of the Hershey Bar characters who were milling about. We lined up and literally bumped into 2 girls that I know from a nearby neighborhood. The gun went off and we were off and running!!

It was a great course, with amenities every 2 miles and plenty of volunteers. What a beautiful morning and the miles ticked away. Carolyn was chatty and breathing comfortably the whole time. We both had our GPS watches on and I was hoping we weren't going too quickly halfway through as we were averaging 8:05-8:10 miles. It got a little windy and hilly along the second half but Carolyn was a champ. Before we knew it, we were at mile 12 and heading back toward Hershey Park. The finish was in their large sports stadium and Chris and the kids were waiting for us inside. Here we are as we just got into the stadium. Carolyn is in green and I'm in yellow.

As we rounded the corner, Carolyn took off in a full sprint. If you look closely at this picture you will see that I am laughing hard because I literally couldn't keep up. I have never had as much energy as she did at the end of a race!!

And here we are crossing the finish!! The time on the clock is when the gun went off, but it took us about 30 seconds to cross the starting line, so our actual finish time is under 1 hr 48 minutes! Carolyn did fantastic!! I literally couldn't keep up with her and you can see she finished 2 places ahead of me.

Afterwards, we met up with the kids and Chris and enjoyed the great post-race spread and the high that comes with a race well run. We ran very consistent miles and I think Carolyn has potential to best her time if she would so choose. Especially after she peeled off her sock to reveal a large blister that she began to notice at mile 6. She didn't say a word about it until the race was over and I still have no idea how she ran so fast at the end. I am so proud of her and so glad that we could share this awesome experience together. We are blessed indeed!

Buh-Bye Summer!

The summer is over, we are sad to say, but we enjoyed a beautiful Labor Day. We took out the slip-n-slide for the first (and only) time all summer. Should've thought of this one earlier...our grass could've used the watering!

Warming up in wrapped up in towels in the sun. It's great to be a kid!

We love corn on the cob and enjoying our patio for dinner.

Autumn's outfit was ready for the next day...the first day of first grade!!

Look closely at the note she put at the top. It says "Hola" and she planned to give it to her teacher. (She learned that from Dora the Explorer.)

Ready for her first day of school!

Autumn came home very excited about her first day of school. I was a little worried about how she was going to do. I have heard that first graders are often exhausted, especially if they only had 1/2 day kindergarten, which Autumn did. But more critical, was that fact that she began in a Spanish immersion program and I knew that her teacher was not going to speak a word in English. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be like on the first day. But she came home all smiles and said that it was a little "different" but that it was "pretty fun" and she likes lots of kids in her class. On the first day of school they learned the days of the week, numbers 1-10 and began colors. She said the teacher is very nice but that she doesn't understand much of what she says. Um, yeah! But they say it's amazing how quickly first graders will pick it up. Here she is at the first grade open house with her teacher, Senora Montes-Kelly, last week.

And here's her schoolwork that she brought home today. :-)

Where has summer gone?

I just realized that I haven't updated this since May. Shame on me! We are leaving for the shore tomorrow morning for 3 fun days at Ocean City, NJ. But when we get back I will surely post updates on all our summer adventures!

Autumn's triathlon

Autumn participated in her first triathlon yesterday. The event was purely for fun, no timing was performed, and every participant broke a finisher's tape at the end and got a blue ribbon. It was a blast. Here she is with her friends, Ashley and Ella and her cousin, Adilyn before the race.

Goggles, swimcap, and lifevest were donned before the 2 lap pool swim.

She did great during the swim, especially once she stopped trying to put her head underwater like she does during her swim lessons. It doesn't work with a lifevest on!

Daddy helped dry her off after her swim, get her sneakers on and then gave her instructions for the bike ride which was about a mile.

Next year Joshua can participate too.

She was smiling during the whole bike ride.

Making the turn into her run transition.

Great running form! :-)

Crossing the finish line!

One happy kid afterwards. What a fun, positive experience!

Big excitement

So there was lots of excitement in the house last night as Autumn lost her first tooth. It was hanging by a string and basically popped out when I pulled it with a tissue. She was beyond excited, wiggling and squiggling when she went to bed, and ran into our room at 2:30am to tell us that there was $1 under her pillow. She couldn't wait to go to school today and I saw her showing her toothy grin to her friends on the bus as it drove away this afternoon - which totally cracked me up. She just spontaneously starts to giggle when she feels the empty space with her tongue. Joshua stares at her in awe and said "My teeth are going to fall out when I'm big." It's hilarious.

Speaking of the Bud, here is a picture of my child that could likely get us arrested if we do not clarify. Yes, he is 3. Yes, his shorts are size 12 months. Yes, they are safety pinned at the waist and still falling off. Yes, his ribs stick out. No, his belly is not normally that distended. I know he looks like he belongs in a 3rd world country and truly, we do feed the child. I think this is a great picture to show my future pregnant daughter-in-law!
 

Family pictures

We had some family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago for Joshua's birthday and Easter.

Love this picture of our sweet 3 year old. I think this is one of my all time favorites.

Easter 2010

What a gorgeous, fun weekend! On Friday the kids and Daddy went to Grandmom and Pop's house for the day. They had fun playing outside all day, riding on their bikes and taking tractor rides with Pops. The Easter bunny made the first of many visits.

Friday night Brooke and Arianna came to spend the night. Autumn and Brooke slept together in the big guest bed and were so cute together. Saturday morning we decorated Easter eggs and then had Easter dinner with my family on Saturday night.

Sunday morning the bunny came to our house and left some treats in the kids Easter baskets. They quickly found all of the eggs he had hidden. They are getting too quick and he might have to get trickier next year!

Autumn was so excited to give Daddy her gift - a musical card that plays "I Want Candy," an inside joke between them as he apparently blasts the song in his car on a "Hits of the 80s" CD.

After church on Sunday morning it was to Mommom and Poppop's house. We enjoyed a delicious brunch and of course, that bunny came to her house too. Talk about sugar overload!

The Garges grandkids (minus sleeping Daniel)

Daniel woke up and we were able to line the kids up by age...so cute!!

All in all, one of the best Easters we have ever had. The kids crashed into bed last night, happy and giggling about all of the fun adventures we had this weekend and giving thanks for all of our blessings.

March

March 5th - Autumn had her first ever school dance. It was for Mommy's and Daddy's as well and she generally stuck to us like glue although she did giggle and dance with some of her school friends.

March 6th - Celebrating cousin, Adi's birthday at Boing gymnastics center.

March 17 - We enjoyed a visit from Mommy's cousins Dana and Devon and their sweet little girl, Kathryn (9 months old).

March 21 - Daniel's Baptism. He is so smiley and sweet at just over 3 months old!

March 27 - Joshua could not wait for his 3rd birthday this year. All he wanted were Matchbox cars - he wasn't disappointed. He even had one on his cake! It was highlighted with a new car bed from Mommom and Poppop.

He loved opening his cards. This one played "The Chicken Dance" song.

Continuing with the car theme, we went to a local car show on his actual birthday. Helpful since Mommy and Daddy are currently car shopping themselves.

And his birthday was topped off by a sundae at Red Robin. We can hardly believe our favorite guy is 3 years old. He just gets sweeter and sweeter!