Yikes, I can't even remember what my last post was about! I'm assuming that it was while I was still in Texas helping Ashley and Justin with baby Vona.
What fun! That kid kept us in stitches! He's hilarious just like his Mommy was when she was little. He loves to talk, talk, talk! And Nana and Pops make a good listening audience.
Chill-axed at Costco!
Got his own bobblehead thanks to some nice Bears fans
Took a trip with his best friend Mason and Mason's family to the fire station across the street from Nana and Pops' house:
Got to get in the demo fire truck
Trip to the park to feed the ducks
Fun times with his best buddy:
Trip to the park for Evan's (Mason's brother) first birthday party
Family trip to the mountains
Lunch time:
It seems like Mason was always in the driver's seat...except this time, and you can probably see why it's a good idea for Mason to continue to be in the driver's seat! lol Sorry for the poor video quality but I was laughing so hard I couldn't hold the camera still:
At hot rods and harley's we even scored some ice cream!
After 3 weeks Alex returned with Pops and me to Texas where he was very happy to be home, he had a great time while he was visiting but missed his family, so it was a happy reunion. We talked and talked and talked in the weeks beforehand about how Daddy would be picking us up at the airport and then dropping us off at the car rental place. I was very afraid that we'd have one upset little boy if he thought he was going to be able to stay with Daddy for the rest of the day, when indeed Daddy had to get back to work! Alex did absolutely fine!
We were able to stay for another week in Texas. Ashley and Justin graciously lent us their home as they were already at the beach house in Crystal Beach before the wedding vow ceremony. We tried very hard to do things each day with Briana and Erin's families. We had fun going to the Dallas zoo one day.
The petting zoo was the favorite stop
Alex got his wish: A monster jam cake and matching cupcakes
On Friday we headed down south. The Pascual's caught up to us on our pit stop at Buc-ee's
We had planned to all go to the Space Center (Mission Control) in Houston on our way to Crystal Beach on Friday, but Erin and her family ended up not coming as they got stuck in traffic and the kids were tired by the time they arrived in Houston.
Checking out the electronics
Pops meets Vona!
The ceremony on Saturday was very nice.
Waiting for the bride
Some of the wedding party
Jackson wasn't super enthused about the waves!
Pops and I stayed until Sunday.
Most everyone had headed out by Sunday morning so I helped with some of the cleanup before we left to return to Plano.
The night before we were returning home to Washington Briana invited us, Margaret and Doug and Chatwin's over for dinner. Dad had some jalapeno dip from Buc-ee's earlier in the evening and then ate some spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. The combination really did a number on him! He ended up in the emergency room for most of the night. He felt that his esophagus was spasm-ing, which apparently was the case after they ran every test in the world to rule out other things. I shudder to see the rest of the bills, so far we have about $7,000 worth which the insurance company refused to pay because it was out of the HMA network. Fortunately, since we were out of state they should pay 80% after all. Thankfully there was no heart attack, they didn't find anything in the CT scan other than the deterioration in Dad's spine (which he already knew about) and some fatty liver tissue (which apparently is pretty normal for someone his age). About 1:30 or so in the morning we arrived at Erin's to spend the night so we could spend the last day in Texas with the Chatwin kids. It was fun having some time to play with Jackson and Bryn before we headed for home.
After arriving home I've been somewhat consumed trying to get the house ready to put on the market. Consequently my training for the 1/2 marathon was put on the back burner. I didn't do a single workout! Pathetic. But at least I didn't change my mind about running the 1/2 marathon.
Lindsey, Thomas and Brooklyn came last Friday night (September 14th) to attend Thomas's best friend's wedding on the 15th. Thomas had to head for home on Sunday the 16th to get back to work and school but we are blessed with a visit from Lindsey and Brooklyn for two weeks. Grandparent heaven again!!! Brooklyn is the spitting image of her Mommy when Lindsey was Brooklyn's age. The resemblance is uncanny! Especially Brooklyn's great big smile where her eyes light up and turn in to little moonbeams. It's been such a joy to be able to play with her and love on her. It will be hard to let her go home.
Today was the big day. It was the Indian Summer Half Marathon in Richland.
Beautiful race morning
First half marathon packet pick up!
Shilo had a really great breakfast at the hotel the next morning, ham, biscuits and gravy, eggs and muffins. Unfortunately before a run I can't eat much and didn't want to make myself sick, so Lindsey and I each ate a 1/2 muffin! We did take a plate of food back to Dad so someone could enjoy it! lol
Me and Lindsey pre-race pic!
Not only did I get a wing man to encourage me along for all "13 point freaking 1 miles" (thanks for the quote Molly!) but I got a personal photographer as well! lol Lindsey was awesome about taking pictures along the way so I'd have lots of great memories of my first half marathon.
Lindsey thought it highly appropriate to take the pic on the right showing Nana messing with her technology at the start of the race, couldn't get the darn Garmin started at the beginning! Other pics are the half way point turn around cone, still plugging along!
My goals were to finish the race and not to come in last. Well Lindsey and I had talked about finishing the race in under 3 hours which I thought was totally do-able, so we decided to make it a goal to run it in under 2:40 which didn't happen, although we WERE under 2:50. Still waiting to get the official time as I couldn't get my Garmin going until after we started the race and Lindsey forgot to stop her Garmin at the end of the race because she was worrying about making sure we got some pictures! But I will say that I did meet my 2 original goals!
There was one lady that we kept up with for a while and talked to part of the way. She was super nice but in better shape than me so she didn't slow down like I did. But the awesome thing was that she was at the finish line waiting for us and gave me a high five, super awesome! (Can you see her there under the time clock?)
Dad was waiting at the finish line for us with baby Brooklyn. Apparently on the way from the hotel to the finish area Brooklyn had a near blow out disaster caught just in time! lol Dad got the pictures of Lindsey and I crossing the finish line together (thanks Pops, for baby duty NS being the team photographer!).
There was another lady that had been behind us and passed us by, but we'd kept her in our sights for most of the race. Lindsey had suggested that we catch up with her and try to run together. She was a wogger as well, but it seemed like I just didn't quite have the energy to run longer than she did. We stayed pretty consistently at the same place behind her. On the 2nd half we started gaining a little on her and she ended up stopping at a restroom so we were finally able to pass her. I thought I heard her come out of the restroom, but when Lindsey turned around to look for her she was nowhere in site. Lindsey kept looking back for her but for the rest of the race didn't see her. She crossed the finish line quite a bit after we did and said that she just got exhausted from the waist down about the time she stopped for the bathroom and just couldn't get herself going again.
It was kind of fun that we passed a group of ladies within about the last mile that I hadn't even seen the whole race. I guess they just ran out of steam at the end too. Well, who's talking actually! Lindsey told me we needed to run the last quarter mile, we started to and then I started walking again. She kept encouraging me and finally I started giving it my all! Had to go up one last hill (at which point I think I was finally back to 'running' again) and then we could physically see the finish line. At that point she saw the time and said "Mom we need to make it our goal to finish this in under 2:50, you can do this" so I laid on the gas (what little there was left in the tank) and off we went. I believe the time was a few seconds over 2:50 when we crossed, but we'd started way in the back of the pack at the beginning, so I'm expecting us to be a little under 2:50 when we finally get our times. One item off the bucket list: finish a half marathon before you turn 50. My 50th birthday is in about 2 weeks and my goal was formulated earlier this year, so not bad for a grandma! lol (EDITOR'S UPDATE: Official time was 2:49:26)
It's after 11 p.m., I'm sore and absolutely exhausted, so I'm going to sign off and take a nice hot epsom salt bath!
