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.

S'mores

Hey, what's that thing that Scarlett is playing in and why is it in the back yard?  Oh yeah- that's where we're going to build the fire for roasting s'mores.  Step 1:  Receive instructions from Papa regarding proper "s'more roasting" etiquette.

 Step 2:  Get the fire going and approach carefully with your marshmallow.  Thank goodness there are lots of grown-ups around to help out.

Step 3:  Enjoy this delicious treat.  Yum!

Red Rover

When we suggested that the kids play Red Rover, we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into.  Since many of the kids didn't know how to play, we adults joined "temporarily" in order to show them- and ended up playing the whole game.  The kids were so excited to play- which made it exciting for us.  The game ended with everyone on one side running to the other at the same time- lots of giggles all around.

Cow Train and Hayride

Last weekend my cousins were here and we had a cookout at my parents' house.  My dad broke out the tractor and trailer and we took a hayride around the neighborhood.  I think that this was the most people that we had ever had on a hayride at once.  It was fun.  My dad also borrowed the cow train from his neighbor and the kids (and adults) had fun riding around the yard in it.

The Walker Reunion

The first weekend of November is the Walker Reunion.  This year was our family's turn to host, and it turned out well.  The best part of the weekend was getting to see my Quarnaccio and Cook cousins and their families.  My cousin Pam and her family have recently moved back to the U.S. from Germany.  It is great to have them nearer to us because we didn't get to see them a whole lot when they were in Germany.  My cousin David and his family live in Texas, and we haven't seen them in four years.  Needless to say, we had a wonderful time catching up with everyone.  We were sure to take lots of pictures, and I am posting some of those.  We tried to get a picture of all of the younger cousins, but we didn't have a lot of success.  The one at the top of the page seems to be the best.  Sitting on the trailer are Andy, Rachel, Zachary, Claire, MacKenzie, Scarlett, Olivia, Julianna, Ava, Owen and Benjamin.  These kids sure had a great time together.  In addition to the reunion itself, we had a cookout at my parents house, went on a hayride, made smores and did all kinds of fun things.  More to come.

A Super Halloween

The family theme for Halloween this year was "Superheroes".  This turned out to be a really fun theme.  In case you can't tell, Brian is Clark Kent / Superman, I'm Aquaman, Owen is Spiderman, and Olivia is Black Widow (from The Avengers).  I think Brian's costume was the best.  He was a really convincing Superman.  My sister Quincy and cousin Thomas also joined in by dressing as Captain Planet and Wolverine.  As in years past, we met up at Granny Buie's house for pictures and trick-or-treating in her neighborhood.  Thomas and Quincy stayed at Granny's house to pass out candy.  They had music playing and were really getting into it.  One thing that I learned is that all superheroes are not created equal.  No one seemed to know who I was suppose to be.  Quincy had even fewer people recognize her costume.  One kid even littered in front of her- in front of Captain Planet!  What is the world coming to?

   After filling up the kids' new buckets (made by the very talented Aunt Kay), we returned to Granny's house.  The Murray family came over after all of their activities.  Ava and Claire were also Superheroes, so we got another picture made of the entire group. Uncle Bobby tried to convince us that UPS men are superheroes and got in the picture with us.  I'm not so sure about that one.  I think everyone had a great time.  We are already looking forward to next year.

Owen at the Pumpkin Patch

Owen's Pre-K class went to The Pumpkin Patch this year.  This was Owen's first time going.  Owen was excited that his Papa was able to go with him as a chaperone.  These two had such a great time. They got to go on a hayride, pick out a pumpkin, and participate in lots of other activities.  Here are some pictures taken by Papa.