Happy 40th, Todd

6/22/2013
We celebrated here at the new homestead in Mandeville with friends and family, boiled shrimp, and lots of laughs.
I only took the camera out for the cake part... I am slacking these days with the pictures!
Here are the few shots that I have.

Locomotive Half Marathon in Kennesaw 2-17-2013

 Me and Tay about to embark on our first half marathon together.

• 10 mile run the weekend  before- check.
• Carbed up all week on bagels and bread and pasta- check.
• Cold weather running gear purchased and accounted for-check.
• Numbers retrieved and free pasta buffet consumed- check.
• Went to bed early the night before- check.
• Woke up early to a breakfast of coffee, bagel (me), HN Cheerios (Tay)- check.

So off we go, and WOW! Was it cold!  22 degrees cold.  The dj dude at the race said it felt like 15 degrees.  The tips of our toes and the tips of our fingers were throbbing from the cold within a few minutes of getting out of the cold.  We walked briskly to warm up.  Then we had to pee one last time.. and all of the body heat accumulated in our layers escaped!

But no time to complain!  Head to the start, they say!  And we did, and within seconds of the gun starting the race, we were off for 13.1 miles around Kennesaw.

As promised, I began the race with this awesome selection:

I can say, now, that this song has never had any staying power on my playlists.  Sad, right?  (callie, I know you are shaking your head!  :)  BUT!  I will say I am converted.  I could actually HEAR the song I played at the start this time.. many other races I did had very loud DJs at the start, etc. and I could never hear that first song.  But timing was awesome... as I pressed play, Eye of the Tiger started, and the gun sounded the beginning of the race!  In fact, it was hilarious... the dude running a few yards in front of me was fist pumping like he was listening to the same song!

At mile 1, the mile markers were set up side by side.

Mile 1/Mile 11

I wondered if we could choose, like in Pedro, which one the "Ace" would be. :)

The streets were very quiet, no real interesting outfits or shirts or roadkill or things to report. :)

I did get to see the building for this place, which I did not know existed until Sunday:  Cryolife

And wow.. look at their locations.. Kennesaw and the United Kingdom.

The building is GINORMOUS.. and we passed it twice.. Todd said there are probably people cryogenically frozen in there, waiting to be awakened and cured...
The whole thought of what went on behind those huge glass walls kept my brain occupied for a few miles, at least.

Somewhere around mile 6 or 7, we headed down a road that led to the Vulcan facilities in K-Saw.  The huge massive amounts of rock kept my mind busy for awhile.  And THEN.. there was the chiropractor set up down this same dusty road in the middle of seemingly nowhere, with a table and all, with a sign that said 'Active Adjustment".. something like that.  I am thinking, "Who is going to stop?"  but then on our way back up the street (from the U turn a mile down) I realized that there was a porta potty set up nearby!  Anyone the stopped to use the bathroom might get an adjustment from this person!  HA!  If I would have stopped and laid on that table, I don't know if I would have gotten back up!  

And on we went...

Somewhere around mile 8, I think, this song played, and I realized how happy I was that I left it on my playlist.

As I looked over at my almost 18 year old running her first marathon, I couldn't have been happier all of the miles that we trekked in almost perfect cadence.  Our only words were me asking if she was good and her giving me the thumbs up... no talking necessary.. footfalls together were our only language.

(geez that's cheezy.. sorry.. true though!)

So we ran through the finish line and got our medals.. and wth.. all of the vendors were out of food!  I was looking forward to WHATEVER anyone had to offer.. this was my only gripe about the race.. there honestly was no one there with food.  Sweet Tomatoes had left some multigrain chips, which I ate two bags of.  Muscle Milk was there giving out samples.. (bleck.. too sweet.. give me some good ol 2% milk, please)... the best thing about there not being anyone else WAS Frannie's Gluten Free Muffins.  I swear I ate 2 packs back to back of these yummy delicacies!  Lemon Zest and Zucchini.... thank you, ladies, for an awesome post race meal AND for sticking it out till the end!

(My theory is that the 5Kers ate all of the food!)

Here we are at the finish!

Awesome experience all in all for our first half together!  Yes we rested and ate our butts off that day!  Yes we were very thankful for having the day off Monday!  and YES!  I am looking forward to our next!

Father's Day 2012

EDIT:  Have to add in here that Taylor, Camryn and Lauryn woke up at 6 to make Father's Day breakfast.

Taylor and Lauryn, bringin home the bacon, fryin it up in a pan

(Camryn was busy creating decorations and her biscuits were baking.)

On to the rest of the day:
I hate that I have no pictures from yesterday, because we all had a fun time, even with the tremendous crowds.  We decided to FINALLY take the girls to White Water, which they were extremely excited about.  Camryn, Taylor, and Lauryn planned their attack on the slides, and all agreed they would ride "Cliffhanger", which was the first slide of the day and Todd went with them.

Autie and I were standing there when they each came down, and I can't believe I didn't hear Lauryn scream!  I don't think she had time to!  

While the big girls and Todd were waiting in line, Autie and I checked out all of the kiddee areas.

This was cute.. a lot of water spraying everywhere which Autumn is not too crazy about.  She was ok with it once I was carrying her and splashing through it.  We headed over to the next kid-friendly area.

This part was a lot more fun.. although she wanted nothing to do with the house part in the center with all of the water falling unexpectedly.  (She has never been one for liking water poured over her head, and now she only likes it if SHE is the one doing it.)  There were three regular looking water slides that moved real slow in this part, and she loved em all, when sitting on our lap. 

So we headed, Autie and I, to the next upgrade of kid areas called the Treehouse.  This spot had some kid slides that moved a little faster, which she would have LOVED I have no doubt if it weren't for the fact that the entire structure had water shooting out, spraying, or falling out of some part of it at all times.  This is the part with a huge 500-gallon bucket that fills up and spills every couple of minutes.  This bucket was a love-hate part of the day for Autie.  She could sit and watch it from a distance where it didn't splash on her all day, I think, but don't get her anywhere near the fall out!  Therefore, we never could get to any of these slides, no matter how fast we'd try to run through all of the water as Autumn was kicking and flailing her limbs to get away from the splashing water and the freakiness. :)

So Daddy took over with Autie for a bit.. well a GOOD LONG bit as it took FOREVER to get through the line to ride The Tornado with the big girls.

Well worth the wait.. all four of us on a raft.  Doesn't look like much but the first drop out of the chute and up the side of this thing... I am sure the people waiting in line were laughing at the insane look of fear on my face as the centripetal forces took over the raft and therefore, all of our bodies.  Fun stuff...

The girls rode Run Away River together 

while Autie played for awhile with Me and Todd and then took a MUCH NEEDED power nap.

Then the girls and dad rode Dragon Tail

while me and Autie discovered her love of the Lazy River, where the water pushes you along.

I traveled the whole loop squatted down so she could "swim", and she was happy as can be the whole 6 or 7 lengths we traveled during various parts of the rest of the day.

The Dad/girl foursome rode Black River Falls= more Lazy River fun for Autie plus ice cream time.

As it began to grow late, we decided to try Bahama Bob with Autie, as all of us fit in one raft, and she was BASICALLY tall enough to ride.  (Doctor appointment had said Thursday she was 35+" and the limit for the ride was 36".)

 

So you ride in a raft side by side, which Autie sat on Todd, and barrel down this white slide, which looked calm enough from the outside.  And it really was, but it went a bit faster than I was expecting and Autie had a look on her face like, well, like she might not trust us again the next time we try to get in anything in water that is different!

The girls had plans of riding more, but it was 7 and the park was closing.  The chicken tortilla soup in the crock pot was calling our names; It was a fun day, and our toes were tired!