Rock and Roll Number 2

This past weekend was spent in Dallas completing the second leg of a six (or maybe) seven leg journey. For the past couple of years Davin and I have discussed completing multiple marathons and half marathons in the Rock-and Roll series. We love to do the runs and after several years of running in local or regional runs we thought that it would be cool to make this year’s runs more of a destination run or enjoy some places that we haven’t been before. Not that Dallas really fits into those categories but in order to get in six races we needed to have some that we were within driving distance to help keep some of the cost down. So we loaded up the families and headed to The Big D for the weekend. The majority of Saturday was spent enjoying various spots around Uptown. Although we have been to Dallas a couple of times before we never took the time to visit this area but it was pretty cool. We enjoyed riding the trolley around, visiting a few of the shops, and then found a little local place where we had a great lunch. We also found a great yogurt shop that was so good that we had to visit it twice. We then met up with the Hicks family and enjoyed the rest of the evening with them.

As you can see we love Red Mango!!!

"I am fully hydrated but I want some FOOD!"

Having fun on the trolley!!

Kellen's tent/he slept great under it!!

On the road ready to cheer on our Da da's (can you see litte P in the mirror)

Hanging out near the finish line

Lake Tahoe We Love You

While we are not ones who think of ourselves to be drawn to extravagant or costly things, as a couple our one indulgence is definitely vacations. It is all too common for us to say, “So where do we want to go on our next vacation.” Honestly, that may not even be truthful as we usually have about three or four trips booked and in the works when we start talking about getting ready for the fifth. We certainly love us some travel. All that buildup to explain that we just returned from Lake Tahoe and a wonderful ski vacation that has to rank up there with some of the finest vacations we have been on. It was our first post-child trip and so that certainly played into the enjoyment, and not because we didn’t think or miss the little guy every second, but it was great for us to be able to get away and just enjoy each other and some of the most beautiful surroundings that are out there.

The views were spectacular!!!

We had a couple of great days of skiing.

Missing Kellen at 10,000 feet.

First views going up the gondala

Goodbye Tahoe!!!

Thank goodness for great grandparents! While we probably don’t say it enough, Jill and I both are blessed with wonderful parents. They do so much for us and support us in so many ways, but they also care so deeply about Kellen that it is ridiculous. This was again evident as they both stepped up and volunteered to watch K for a few days and he loved every minute of it. A big THANK YOU to the grandparents.

Happy Trout Day!!!

Just wanted to bring this important holiday to everyone's attention. In Jill's hometown the take their fishing serious as they dismiss school for the day so that everyone can spend the day at the river. So get out and fish a little bit in honor of Trout Day!

More blog to come later as Jill and I are headed to our first vacation without Kellen. We know that he is in good hands as he will be having his own personal vacation and will be spending time with both sets of Grandparents. That said, we know that he may be a handful when we get back, but we wouldn't have it any other way and we give both sets of grandparents our full permission to do what they want, when they want, and however they want.

Not necessarily because we want to grant this permission, but because we know they will do whatever they want anway so we might as well not even fight it.

Wordless Wednesday

Pace of Life

With the help of some 60 degree days we have finally dug ourselves out of the snow. We were expecting 2-4 inches last Wednesday and instead we woke up to 6 inches and after a morning and afternoon of continuous snow, we finally ended up with about 22 inches. Although we have grown accustomed to the “dustings” that are generally received in our area, we welcomed this snow and while others may have had a bit of cabin fever we found that it was a good break and allowed us some much needed down time. Right now it seems like we were going 100 miles an hour in every direction and so it is very unlikely that we were going to get a break any other way and so we welcomed the white stuff. Since we couldn’t go anywhere, it made us stop, collect ourselves and just enjoy the time that we had. We know that it shouldn’t take 22 inches of snow to make us slow down a little bit but we will continue to work on that.

Unfortunately it seems like were picked up right where we left off before the storm and so we have resumed our 100 miles an hour pace. Due to this we will be posting pictures from the last two weeks tomorrow, later this week, or certainly by Kellen’s second birthday. Remember, we’re working on slowing down a bit. We didn’t say that we had it figured out; we’re just taking things one step at a time, and hoping for loads of grace along the way.

Enjoying our Snow Days!

We are about 24 hours behind on the blog update but we are blaming the ice/snow storm that hit our area on Tuesday. We are enjoying our snow days and hope to get a longer post completed by the end of the week. Until then we will continue to enjoy the extra play time with K, reading our books and lounging around, the extra hours that have allowed us to start our spring cleaning early, and just enjoying the break in the normal routine.

Rock and Roll Marathon Number 1

How awesome is it to be able to wear shorts outside in January. This is certainly not common when we are usually subject to temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s but this past weekend we were able to go to Phoenix and we were certainly blessed as we were greeted with some wonderful 70 degree days.
This was the first trip that Kellen has taken on an airplane and so our anticipation levels rose a bit but we could not have asked for a better traveler. Maybe it was the extra seat that we had between us, or the fact that he had so many people around him to interact with, but he loved the flights. Jill and I learned many things as well as this was our first attempt at packing all of his stuff, getting through security with a child, and toting a car seat and stroller through the airport. One of the most important things that we learned is to check the airport that you are arriving at as we now know that Phoenix has their international airport, Sky Harbor, but they also have a smaller regional airport as well. In this case we arrived at the Phoenix/Mesa airport. So we were forced to make some adjustments to our rental car plans and it made for a late night arrival at our hotel but the lesson was learned and will not be forgotten.
We spent some time in downtown Phoenix on Friday as we had to pick up a race packet and visit the expo. Just being back in a large city was great as there is a certain energy level that is created in that environment. We love to explore and since we have been to Phoenix before we were set on making sure that we found new restaurants and places to go to. The majority of the day Friday was spent in the downtown area but we did find some time to relax a bit and it was warm enough that Kellen was able to in the pool.
Saturday was spent visiting the farmers market and shops in Scottsdale, taking Kellen to a train park, and then exploring more of Tempe. It was a busy day for all of us but with the wonderful weather it was one of those days that made us want to stay outside and do as much as we could possible squeeze in.
Sunday morning was an early start as we were up at 5:30 getting ready for the race and packing up a bit. Because the marathon was a point-to-point run Jill had to drop me off in Phoenix and then we would meet up again at the finish line in Tempe. Jill and Kellen were already up and going and so they went out for breakfast and then did a terrific job navigating the city so that I was able to see them a couple of times during the run. As one could expect, it was mass confusion at the finish as there were 30,000 runners and even more spectators, but after Jill and Kellen survived a parking dilemma we were able to meet up. The rest of the day was a blur as we had to quickly get back to our hotel to pack up and check out, drive to the airport, and once again battle through all of the check-in procedures. We made it with a few minutes to spare but that seems to be a way of life for us now and one that we fully embrace as we wouldn’t want our experiences to be shortchanged in any way.

Cheering Daddy On!!