Roughin' It

Sarge took Junior camping last weekend.  They wanted to try winter camping, but here in TX, that means over night it didn't get below 45* (although it was suppose to be below freezing).

So they packed up their gear and headed over to our friend's land and roughed it for a night.

This is what I saw when I came by in the morning with donuts and orange juice for breakfast.  Sarge said they were trying to "Occupy land that won't bother anyone."

All the kids having fun.  Even Sweet Pea was getting into it.

I'm still pulling for a camper.  I like camping, but not roughing it quite that much =)

So apparently...

I'm really bad with posting updates.

I texted a picture of the grandkids to my mother- in- love and I got a text back saying she was going through cute picture withdrawal =)

Sweet Pea is 8 months now and has started to get the hang of sitting by herself.  She's up to about a minute before she tries to fling herself backwards.

And she's talking all the time now.  Which is really cute when we're all awake.  But at 2:30AM, it's not quite as cute.

And she's had her first taste of real food.

We went with avocados.  She *loved* them =)  Hardly got any on herself and tried to help me get the spoon to her mouth as fast as she could.  Next I think we'll try bananas or maybe sweet potatoes.

Here's all of them...  I'm so glad Sweet Pea outgrew the toy stroller so quickly.  Now that she's able to sit up, she's too big for Girly- girl to push her around in it.

Here she is...  Cute, chubby checks and all.  Wearing Girly- girl's hat...  Shhh.  Don't tell her Sweet Pea's already *borrowing* her clothes.

And I have nothing better to do than to play around with photo editing software.

In other, kid related news...

Junior is flying through his 2nd grade curriculum.  Some days a little too fast to completely grasp what he's suppose to be doing lol!  And he will be testing for his purple belt in a couple more weeks.  So hopefully I'll actually find my camera, remember to take pictures and write a post about the =)

Girly- girl has started running with me.  She's aiming for running a race (1k) in April.  I'm pretty sure she'll do great.  She's also flying through her schoolwork as well.  She's really starting to pick up on the reading and loves math.  

And Squish Bear is just adorable and knows how to use it to his advantage lol!

Now that grandma has gotten a full update, I can go back to trying to keep up with the kids =)

New Year's Double

A couple months ago, I came across some information about a New Year's Eve and New Year's Day race. You had the choice of running any combination of a 5k, 1/2 marathon, 1/2 marathon relay and a full marathon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Being the overachiever I am (and knowing my training was seriously lacking), I registered to run the half marathon both days. 

No problem, I thought. I've got the training in the bag. Yeah right. My longest run was 2 weeks before the race and that was only 10 miles. Not once did I do any type of back to back long runs. I knew this was going to be a painful experience. But, I wasn't going to not run and I wasn't going to change what I had registered for. 

New Year's Eve morning dawned bright and chilly. But as soon as the sun came up, it started warming up =) 

The motley looking crew that ran that day... 

 

Spark John and Agent J were dressed in their finest and Coach Nancy and I are just naturally that gorgeous- the tiaras just enhanced it =) 

The race started and I had to keep telling myself to slow day and take it easy. The course was a two loop course along biking/ hiking trails. It was actually pretty nice. Just one tunnel (went through 4 times) that messed with everyone's Garmins. 

I was pretty happy with my time. It wasn't my fastest, but it wasn't my slowest either. And considering that I haven't run a half since right before I found out I was pregnant (August 2010)... 

Results from New Year's Eve: 

TT: 2:04:22 (my Garmin had me at 13.57 miles) 

103 out of 411 

59 out of 279 females 

20 out of 85 age group 

AP: 9:30 (9:09 my Garmin) 

And what do you do after running a half marathon on New Year's Eve? Why, pop open a bottle of champagne and enjoy a toast with your crazy running peeps! 

 

I had great plans of getting to bed early and getting enough sleep, but my kids all conspired against me. Sweet Pea didn't want to sleep because she was all snuffed up and couldn't breathe and the other 3 were so excited about being able to stay up that they kept blowing their horns. I think I finally managed to get a couple hours sleep before the alarm went off. Up and at it, I got moving- just a wee bit slower than the day before =) 

Got to the race site and realized it was windier than the day before. It would have been nice to have a windbreaker... But, no matter. My running peeps were there ready to run again. Well, all except Agent J- he seemed to think that celebrating his anniversary was more important than running with us ;) 

Knowing that I was a bit sore from the day before, I gave myself "permission" to take it easier. You know, run 10 minute miles instead of 9 =) But, I actually felt pretty good once I got going, so increased my average pace. Two loops seemed to go by pretty fast. Or maybe it was just the de je vue I was experiencing... 

Results from New Year's Day 1/2 Marathon: 

TT: 2:09:18 (my Garmin had me at 13.49 miles) 

116 out of 354 

53 out of 215 females 

14 out of 69 age group 

AP: 9:52 (9:34 my Garmin) 

And the main reason for torturing myself like this: 

 

Yup, it's all about the bling =) Three medals- one for each day and then the challenge plate to display them both. 

And I also go two very nice tech shirts- one short sleeved and one long sleeved. 

So, there you have it. A great way to close out 2011 and a great way to kick off 2012. If your in the Dallas area this time next year, this race should make your list.