San Diego Fun

The kids and I flew to San Diego on October 16th for  a week to see the fam and to celebrate Lindsay's upcoming wedding.  It was a great week!

Here are a few shots of them "helping" me pack!

Thankfully both ways the flights went really well.  The DVD player and Dora kept Joseph entertained and on his very best behavior.  He has never seen an episode of Dora the Explorer until the plane ride but obviously was a fan since he watched the entire 90 minutes of it!  He did have to use the bathroom 3 times both ways which is always a bit of a challenge juggling Ella, too, but we managed!  Ella was busy but very good.  I sent a text to my girlfriends in Texas saying that she was like wrestling a monkey for three hours but she was happy so I can't complain.  Definitely glad that Daddy will be travelling with us on our next trip in December though!

Ella wasn't crazy about taking a nap once we got there but thankfully she settled down and overall slept really well for the week.  She had her own room downstairs which worked out well.

Linz landed a few hours after we did.  We sent this to Brian to make sure he knew we were home and to come see us soon!

On Thursday we headed to the world famous San Diego zoo :)  I am going to do a separate post about that since this one already has so many pictures!

After the zoo and naps, the kids and I headed over to the Martin's beautiful new home.  It was such a fun afternoon catching up and watching the kids play!  It was hard to believe that the last time we saw one another was over a year ago!  

On Friday we went over to Laura and Dave's new home. Dave's job with the Navy has brought them to San Diego and we are so happy for them that they are settled in-their new home is beautiful and Sydney and Cole loved showing Ella and Joseph their toys and new home.

Their home is a short walk away from the elementary school and a great park so we walked over, played some baseball and checked out the park for a bit.

On Friday night Bubs came up to have dinner with everyone so that was a fun, relaxing night at my parent's home.

Looks like Sydney stole my phone and took a selfie with Aunt Lindsay at some point during the week!

On Saturday morning before the shower we went for a walk and ended up down at the highschool baseball fields.  Joseph was in heaven and could have stayed all day and played.  He is quite the batter and is able to hit it without a tee pretty regularly.  My dad kept him down at the school and they watched a real baseball game and some football so it was a perfect day for him.

A little swimming with Poppa in the hot tub after the morning at the ball fields. Joseph stayed with Poppa and Bubba while the girls were at the shower and he had a blast!  Watching baseball, playing baseball in the backyard and eating snacks with the boys sounds likes a great day!

We went to Torrey Pines on Sunday to enjoy the beach in October.  Although the day started a bit chilly and overcast it ended up being a great day to play in the sand and really warmed up.  The cloud cover didn't bother the kids at all.

Katie, Abby and Zack met us there which was great!  The kids all had a blast together!

We caught Joseph playing quietly with the dollhouse a few times during the week.  My mom's dad, Pop Pop, made this for my sisters and I when we were little and I am so thankful that my mom held on to it.  I just love it especially how each of the rooms in the house has the same wallpaper that our home in Massachusetts had.  Watching him play with it brought back memories of me playing with it as a child.

We wanted to maximize our beach time while we were there and since the weather was so nice so we went back to the beach on Monday.  We spent most of the time at the playground but it overlooks the beach so that was good enough for me!  So beautiful!

On Monday after the beach and naps we headed back over to Laura's to hang out and for dinner.  We started off at the park again and got some late afternoon energy out.

Attempts at getting a picture of all of the cousins at the park!

Sweet girl!

On Tuesday we stayed close to home since Lindsay flew out that day but we did walk to the neighborhood park and play for a bit.  Tuesday night we went to Uncle Bubba's baseball game which might have been the highlight of Joseph's week there.  He is still talking about.  He loved watching Bubba play and then after the game he would run and then slide in front of Brian and had a little audience from Brian's teammates so he just thought he was the coolest!  Thanks again Bri for letting us come watch!Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the game but here are a few from around the house on Tuesday.

Ella, like her brother and cousins, love Cali!  Cali is such a chill, good dog!

This was just the cutest.  She would go up and hug her!  Awww!

Ten for Texas

On October 12th I competed in the Ten for Texas race, a ten mile race here in The Woodlands.  

Rich, my trainer, put together a trainign plan for me and I had a lot of fun training for the race.  It was the first one that I had trained for in a long time so it was fun to be following a plan and just to be working towards something.

Plus, a few of my good friends were also running the race so training with them every now and then was great and it was fun to be at the race together.

Emily, Tanna, me and Jessica before the race

 At the start line

After the race!

 Rich, Joseph and Ella did a great job cheering!  They were at mile 2 and then again a little after mile 8. Daddy stayed up late the night before making the sign which I had no idea about so that made me smile when I saw them!  

I didn't have a great race-actually it was really rough.  It was really humid and I started out too fast and by mile 7 I was HURTING!  Rich and the kids ran about a mile with me on the trails when I saw them at mile 8 and that definitely helped me finish somewhat strong but I was definitely glad it was over.

Not the best picture of us but just love them so much and was so thankful that they were there to cheer me on.

Even though I wasn't happy with my time or the way that I ran the race (I was really hoping for 7:45 minute miles) I still did pretty well.  Came in 5th in my age group with an 8:17 minute mile.

And I have to add this because it reminds me now and hopefully it will remind our kids one day when they read this that if you work hard and practice that you will improve.  This is from a 10K that I did in September.  I ran it in 45:46 which is 3 minutes faster than what I ran a 10K race just 5 months before.  

Although the race itself wasn't the best, the training journey was great and I am thankful for my health and for the ability to get out there and run!