Party Time

I was so excited to learn that my friend Becky was going to host a Christmas party for all of our close friends from high school.  Even though I see some of these girls at various functions, it's not often that we get together as a group.  Everyone was not able to attend, but those of us who did had a ball.  We ate, played games, talked, and watched football.  We also brought our kids, and it was nice to see them all play together so well.   I hope this becomes an annual tradition.

Floating in the Parade

The big news at the Christmas parade this year was that Olivia got to ride on a float with her girl scout troop.  She was sooooo excited to be in the parade.  She talked about it nearly non-stop in the week leading up to the event.  She really put a lot of thought into her role as "parade participant".  One morning I heard her weighing the pros and cons of using her hands to wave versus using her hands to throw candy.  After we decided that she could do both, she felt much better.

Those of use who were spectators were treated to a great time.  My favorite floats were those that played music and got the crowd to participate in the singing/dancing.  The kids loved seeing all of the floats and received lots of candy.  Olivia's float appeared toward the end of the parade, and we all shouted her name and waved at her.  She waved back, and we could really tell that she was enjoying herself.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

The kids were a very excited to decorate the Christmas tree this year.  They were happy to see some of their favorite ornaments come out of the boxes, and were happy to add three new "travel" ornaments to their collection.  Everyone is happy with the finished product- even if all of the ornaments are hung on the bottom half of the tree (within kid-reaching distance).

Subaru Distance Classic

Last year I completed the Tri-2B-Tuff Challenge (3 half marathons in 3 months).  I really enjoyed the experience and decided to participate again this year.  I ran the second race, The Subaru Distance Classic, in Jacksonville on Thanksgiving Day.  The weather was perfect for running, and I finished with a time of 1:57:34.  Since the race began at 7am I had time to run, drive back home, get a shower, and make it to Granny's house in plenty of time for Thanksgiving Lunch.  This is the second half marathon in a row that I've run in under 2 hours- which means I'm doing better this year than I did last year.  I'm (not so) secretly hoping to PR in my final half marathon of the year- which will be on my birthday.  We'll see how that goes.

Olivia's Thanksgiving Program

Olivia's Kindergarten class recently presented a Thanksgiving program at PTO.  Luckily, the PTO meeting was held on the (only) night that Brian was off that week- so he got to go see it.  These kids did a fantastic job.  They were certainly enthusiastic.  In addition to singing in the program, Olivia was one of the kids chosen to lead the pledge of allegiance.  Below is a short video of "Ten Little Indians".  Enjoy!

Gourd-heads Return

 Here are a few of our fall "gourd-head" pictures.  There were several cute gourd scenes set up around town this year.  Our two favorite were the "Married Couple" and the "Support Athletics" scenes.  The kids always enjoy seeing these, and so do I.  I think it makes our town look cute.

Rockin' and Rollin' in Savannah

Two weekends ago I participated in the Savannah Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  This was my first time participating in this race, and the first half marathon that I've run in Georgia.  This makes three states where I've run a half marathon (Georgia, Florida, Delaware). The course was flat and a good portion of it ran through the historic district of Savannah.  There were plenty of water stations and excellent crowd support.  I was high-fived numerous times and one guy even told me that I was "number one". The major downside to this race was that they did not allow runners to pick up their numbers on the day of the race.  This meant that I had to go to Savannah and spend the night.  Fortunately, my fantastic mother-in-law came and stayed with the kids so that I could run.  I ended up with a time of 1.58.23, which is the second best I've ever done.  It's definitely better than that Marine Corps Half Marathon that I ran a couple of weeks ago.  There are several pictures of me running this race, but they were taken by the MarathonFoto people who charge an arm and a leg for them.  I'm going to wait a few months and buy them when they send out a discount code.  Until then, I have a picture of my medal and some photos taken by the local news station to share. This is definitely a race that I'd like to run again someday.