Our Weekends Lately

We've been busy around here! The weather has been lovely and we've taken advantage of it in between illnesses, which have been plentiful this past month.



For Memorial Day, we went to San Francisco to ride the cable cars. We have a chalkboard that is a list of things we want to do with the kids this year and cable cars was on it! Check!


Waiting in line. We did A LOT of that.

It was an... interesting day. Max LOVED the cable cars and even Ben got a huge kick out of them. The first line to get on wasn't miserable, but the line to come back was horrific. I think we waited over an hour and it was about 2pm at that point. Nap time and long cable car lines don't mix. Needless to say, it was rough.





Luckily, we made it through and got in the car where everyone (myself included!) promptly fell asleep.

This past weekend Ritchie ran his second 1/2 marathon. The man never ceases to amaze me.

We drove to Aptos (near Santa Cruz) to watch him cross the finish line!


Grandma and Grandpa came with us!


Max ran around while we waited for Daddy to cross the finish line!




Bennett was a little cranky because he decided that 4:30 a.m. was an awesome wake-up time that morning. I was pretty pissed about that, too.


I had to wear him most of the time.


Oh, but my man! Waving even after running 13.1 miles.


Love this! A strong finish!


He was exhausted! But, we're so proud of all of his accomplishments!

Just a little weekend update for you all! What have you been up to on the weekends? Does your family do a list of things to take the kids (or yourselves!) to go do? I'd love to know your plans!

Training and so much more

For the past 3 weeks, I have been on somewhat of a health kick. Those who know me know that this is quite a change from my daily life of eating Jack In the Box and drinking beer. So far I have kicked the Jack In the Box. The beer still finds a way to seduce me into partaking in its frosty deliciousness.
So the health kick. I have been running on my lunch hour every day with a couple friends/co-workers. We are gradually working our way up to a brutal 26.2 mile marathon in July. I have found that setting myself up to run a full marathon is a much larger undertaking than I originally thought. We have so far worked our way up to a 3 mile run and I am having a hard time accepting the fact that I will soon be running almost 9 times that amount in a single serving. This has me thinking that there are some life changes in order. First off is the meal plan. If I am to run that far and for such a long duration, I better be properly nourished. Properly nourished has thus consisted of oatmeal in the morning, salad with chicken for lunch, and a dinner of chicken and vegetables. It has been a week of adhering to this menu and so far I have enjoyed the change. It is difficult to stick to, but rewarding.
So much more. Mental commitment to the goal of running a marathon has contributed so much more to my daily life. Breaking through each barrier of physical stress has made me realize that we are much stronger than we let ourselves think. Our bodies are capable of incredible things, but our minds can prevent us from using our full potential. How do we break the mental block that prevents us from doing what we know we can? I have no idea. What I do know is that I am on the road to finding out. So far, I have discovered that simply quitting when you think you've had enough is not an acceptable option. Go beyond what you think you can do and realize what you actually can do.

- Ritchie