Wednesday, June 24, 2009

"Don't talk with your mouth full!"

Lennon was chewing on my cell phone... and when Susie saw it, she said,
"Lennon, don't TALK with your mouth FULL!"I'm pretty sure that she did not intend such a pun, but it sure made me chuckle.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

A Visit that was Practically Perfect in Everyway!

Dave's mom, Dorothy, came for a visit last month. It was so fun and went by way too fast. Here are some things we were able to do during her visit.
Mary Poppins
Dorothy standing in front of the Sears Tower... forgot it's new name.
Lincoln Park Zoo
Grandma, Susie, and Lion.
We actually went to the Zoo twice while Dorothy was here, because we didn't get to see much the first visit... and it was a fun outing. Susie and I roaring at a bear.

Navy Pier
This is officially my new favorite picture of Dave and I. We thoroughly enjoyed these distorting mirrors at Navy Pier.

Skyline Boat Tour
Dorothy treated us to a skyline boat tour. It was a beautiful day to see the city in such a way.... much fun.
Susie's just a little excited in this picture. Handsome boys.
Grandma and Susie... love that view!

Lake Michigan
Dorothy's first visit to huge Lake Michigan.
Ooooo, love that chubby face!
Susie just LOVES the beach... she gets in the water no matter how freezing it is, and just can not get enough.
Susie enjoyed digging holes in the sand and finding rocks with Grandma.


We had so much fun with you Dorothy! Come back soon!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Half Marathon

This past Saturday, June 6th, I ran my first Half Marathon! It was definitely hard, but such a great experience. It was in South Bend, Indiana... the finish line was in the Notre Dame stadium... yes, the very stadium in which one of the best sports films took place: Rudy-- way cool!
Me just before the race began.... ooh, man I was nervous and excited and wanted to cry all at the same time! I swear that I got a total of about 2 hours of sleep the night before, just because I couldn't get my mind to stop thinking about things to do with the race! Luckily, my sweet cousin, Kim and her hub let me (and my friend Michelle!) sleep at her place (which was closer to the race) the night before... so I only had to wake up at 3:30 am instead of 1:30 am! Thanks again Kim and Bubba!

Michelle and I before the race.


Michelle, Me, Mindy.
I was so glad to be running this race with good friends--it made the race that much better!
Running is definitely not a natural exercise for my body... I feel that my body likes anaerobic and flexibility types of motion much better than aerobic. So, my goal was to run the race within 2.5 hours, which was a challenge for me (I run pretty slow)... but to my astonishment, my goal was accomplished! Yeah!!!
I clocked in at 2:21:56
The first 10 miles felt pretty good, but the remaining 3.1 were treacherous! The best part was entering the stadium... people were cheering and clapping, which gave me a boost to sprint to the finish line (which I did not feel I could have done even 3 miles earlier!).
Posing by the Rudy statue after the race.
Oh, how I was sore during and after the race! This picture shows a blister on my pinkie toe. After the race, I took off my shoes and it honestly looked like another appendage was growing off said toe. It was HUGE and full of liquid-- it also didn't feel so great rubbing against the inside of my shoe during the race... not to mention the other blisters, ouch! But, my blisters weren't the worst of it, my knees felt so stiff and sore... it started to feel like my knee's were grinding bone on bone.
Despite the pain, it was truly a great experience that was not only physically gratifying, but emotionally as well. It was heartwarming to see the support of complete strangers holding signs, setting out sprinklers or radio's on the curb to encourage and cheer on the passing racers. Just minutes into the race, I became overwhelmed and teary eyed by it all. It is definitely something I look forward to doing sometime in the future... not the too near future though!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

"Workin' at the Car Wash"

It's been good enough weather lately, to give ol' rusty a nice scrub-down. Susie enjoyed "helping" too.

Car wash Rain-dance