5k Foot Pursuit Race

Jason and I along with my brother, Joe, and his wife, Jen, ran the 5K foot pursuit race in Narragansett last Sunday.  It was the perfect day for a race.  It was sunny, not too hot and not too cold.  I was hoping for a personal best time since I have increased my training running pace quite significantly in the last year.  My running partner here is a faster runner than I am and she has continually pushed me to go faster.  I am happy to run with her since I enjoy improving my running and challenging myself.  In any event the gun sounded and we were off and running.  I headed out ahead of Jason initally to clear the crowd but he quickly caught up to me and passed me.  His pace was not much faster than mine however and I had him in my sites for most of the race.  For the final mile stretch I was trying to close the gap between us but I just couldn't catch up.  I knew he would never let me pass him and would have had to try and sneak past him as he kept looking over his shoulder to see where I was.  That was fine though.  I crossed the finish line 7 seconds behind Jason which was a huge accomplishment for me.  I did achieve my personal best 5K race time with a 7:46 per mile pace coming in at 24:04.  I think I can still beat that but I'll enjoy that time until I have the chance to beat myself again!  It was great to run a race with my brother as well.  He pulled in an awesome time himself given he only started running about a week before the race.  I was very surprised to see him cross the finish line  in under 28 minutes!  He and Jen are going to try to stick to a running plan and run a 10K in the fall and a 10 miler next summer.  I'm excited that my brother might get into running as I am and I'm looking forward to running with him in the future.

New sunroom furniture

With summer approaching we finally bought a tv and furniture for the sunroom.  I'm looking forward to enjoying a cool breeze while watching tv this summer.  Finding sunroom furniture is difficult since there aren't that many places that sell it.  A lot of places sell it online but Jason and I wanted to be able to sit on it so see if it would be comfortable.  There were some places nearby that sold sunroom furniture but they were incredibly expensive.  We finally found a place to buy firniture that we could test out in the showroom and wasn't ridiculously expensive.  I still have to put some final decorating touches on the sunroom but it is looking good and the kids and Jason and I have really been enjoying our time out there.

Boston Marathon

This year was the first year that we have watched the Marathon.  For some reason even when Jason and I lived in Boston we never went to the marathon.  I think now that I'm a runner and have run a marathon I have a much greater appreciation for what the runners in the marathon have put in to training and all the hard work it takes to make it to race day and finish.  This year we decided to watch the marathon from about mile 1.5 with the kids.  Before the race came through I had the girls run on the road so that they can say they have run part of the Boston Marathon route.  Who know, maybe they will run it for real when they are older and they will always have this picture as a memory of their first time running on that road. 

The kids wore their running gear to cheer on the runners.  They were a little shy at first but then really started to get into it.  They were giving high fives and cheering loudly for everyone which was awesome.  The runners were great too and at times would line up to give them high fives.  Some even cut across the road to give high fives.  The girls ended up with a pair of sunglasses and a red sox hat that runners gave to them as they passed by.  The kids were occassionally grossed out by some very sweaty high fives but it didn't stop their cheering.  It was a beautiful day to be a spectator but a horrible day for runners.  We were sweaty from standing still so running 26.2 miles must have been brutal.  I went for a 5 mile run once we got home from the race and that was incredibly hot so the runners deserve a lot of respect for finishing that race!

Logan's birthday party

It is nice to be back in the States so that we can actually go to birthday parties for the family.  This is the first birthday that Logan has had that we have even been in the country.  The kids had a great time joining Logan at the Children's Museum for his birthday.  There were enough kids and parents around that I think I only saw Logan for a brief glance a couple times.  Our girls were also running around having a great time.  They were playing with the other kids and with each other.  When I finally caught up with them they were painting each other's faces.  They actually did a great job.  If they ever want to make a few dollars when they are older they can hire themselves out for face painting at birthday parties!  It is hard to believe that the kids are all getting old enough that we don't have to keep track of them 24/7.  They get freedom to enjoy play with the friends and cousins and the adults get to relax a bit...good for everyone.

Easter

This year for Easter we stayed home and kept it low key.  We have been busy and have a lot going on in our lives so decided to not add any stress.  We went to chruch on Saturday night so we could just relax in the morning.  I made cinnoman rolls the night before so that in the morning we could just pop them in the oven.  We woke up in the morning to a not left by the Easter bunny.  The kids followed the yarn around the house to find their Easter baskets.  The Easter Bunny left them candy but also, books and clothing.  I appreciate that the bunny understands there is only so much candy that kids should eat!  Even though usually we would not allow candy before breakfast we made an exception for Easter so the kids were quick to eat up some of the candy.  The video below is what happens after kids have candy before breakfast!  Anyway, we took it easy for the rest of the morning, had salami, cheese, crackers and bread for lunch and headed out to the driving range int he afternoon.  We decided on a simple dinner of take out Chinese food.  After dinner I hid some eggs in the back yard and we let the kids have an Easter Egg hunt.  It was a different but nice way to celebrate Easter.

Museum of Science

After enjoying the Ecotarium we decided to see when the next available date was to get discounted tickets from the library to go to the Museum of Science.  Fortunately for us it was on Good Friday and the kids didn't have school.  We headed into the museum in the morning and spent the entire day there exploring as much as possible.  Jason and the girls had mapped out the key things they wanted to see so that we made sure we didn't miss something "really important".  We saw the dinosaur exhibit, the lightening show, the planeterium, the butterfly garden, geckos, New Enlgnad habitats, natural mysteries and the piano staircase.  You could easily spend multiple days exploring the museum but after spending the entire day there the kids were happy and tired and ready to head home.  I'm glad we went as it has been one of the things on our list of "things to do" and Jason has wanted to go for a long time.  I think it is the prefect age to go the musuem b/c the kids can really understand things and ask questions.  They enjoyed everything so much that I'm not even sure what they would say was their favorite.  I can say though the cutest picture came from the buttefly garden.

Ecotarium

The kids had a day off from school so we decided to bring them to the Ecotarium near us.  We had never heard of it but our town library has discounted passes to many museums in the area and it was available so we took it.  The kids had a great time exploring everything.  They got to see how wind moves even though you can't see it.  They had a fan blowing air onto pinwheels but then they had bif matts that the kids to move to change the direction of the wind and how it was hitting the pinwheels.  It was fun to see them figure out how to direct the air.  They explored different rocks and shells as well as watching a possum.  This was a stroke of luck since we had no idea they had a possum on exhibit but Ali (for some unknown reason) has been fascinated by possums so it was perfect that they had a live one that she could see.  I think one of their favorite things at the ecotarium was the Hurricane simulator.  They stepped inside this booth with Jason and closed the door, hit the button and the wind ramped up to category 1 force winds.  It was great for them to see it since Sofia has a fear of hurricanes.  It is really more a fear of the unknown so having her feel what a hurricane would feel like here (as opposed to the carribean) I think helped her to not worry about hurricanes.  They liked it so much they went in again without Jason.  Overall, a fun day spent as a family.