Cousin Reunion!

I have one female cousin my age and her name is Brynne. We both lived in Huntington Beach at the same time and we made it a point to get together on a weekly basis to go running. I would push Taylor (now 12 standing in the middle) in a stroller and she would push Jake (now almost 9 on the right and Drew, not pictured) in a double stroller. It was so nice to catch up on life on a weekly basis even though we were at totally different stages of life - she was married with three kids and I was single. But here we are 5 1/2 years after I moved to Maryland. I'm now pregnant with Baby #3 and she now has 5 kids. I was thrilled when she called and said that she and her mom (my Aunt Susie) and 3 of her 5 kids wanted to come out East to see all the US History sights in the area.

We took them downtown Annapolis and went to the Capitol, where General George Washington resigned his commission. This picture cracks me up because it looks like Lacey is introducing her friend, George.

And we also took them to the Naval Academy. Here are the second cousins together.

The cousin reunion!

On our way to church, we stopped at the World War 2 Monument in Annapolis and got a family picture. It's weird to think that the next time we have a family picture, there will be another little person in the picture! I'm 37 weeks today.....

26.2 on 10-10-10

So 10-10-10 was the date to motivate. Or so said the organizers of the Chicago Marathon. This year, I, Dave was persuaded to run my first ever marathon in Chicago with some other family members. So off I went to the windy city to run my marathon. The first thing I did when I got into town was to continue to carbo-load on some red velvet pancakes at the Bongo Room with my sister in law, Maret. These pancakes (and everything else we ordered) were out of this world!

Maret and I had some time to kill before the rest of the crew showed up, so she took me to the Institute of Art. Do these next couple of pictures remind you of any famous movie?

And we also had to go see the Bean!

Once Seth, Wes & Lindsey showed up, we went to the Expo and had to commemorate our run with this art work. Not only was it my first marathon, but it was also Wes and Lindsey's first one as well.

And here we are after the race. We were all very happy to be done. The weather forecast dramatically kept changing as the day of the race got closer and wouldn't you know it - it was 89 degrees when we were running. A sharp departure from a year ago when it was in the 40s. Needless to say it was more than we were expecting. Also, an injury I got 2 weeks ago flared up again on me around mile 10. I didn't run the race I expected to and so it was a little more disappointing than exhilarating when I crossed the finish line. Nevertheless, I did finish.

Afterwards, we all went to Naperville and met up with the rest of the family for a BBQ and a good 'ole time. We were all sore and tired, but here we are again - all 5 of us, showered and relieved to be done with running for awhile.

Will I ever do another one? That remains to be seen. I can honestly say that running a half-marathon sounds fun to me now. I wonder if that officially makes me a runner?

Fall Festival

On Friday evening, Lacey's Pre-school held it's annual Fall Festival. Lacey kept calling it "my party" (Yes, Lacey, this is all just for you!) and Tanner was thrilled that he was finally involved instead of just dropping off Lacey and going home like usual!

The moon bounce was a definite hit!

And a festival isn't complete without a little junk food! Good thing I took them to the dentist for the first time last week!

And we're loving this Fall weather! High 60's and sunny. Love it!