Rick's marathon day

Rick completed his first marathon in about 4 hours and he felt pretty good afterwards too. He said it took about 10 minutes just to cross the starting line. Yes, the starting line...no typos here. I don't think he'll complete another one. Too crowded, but he said it was cool to run through various parts of Denver and saw some great neighborhoods and parks. I'm sure he'll complete several more trail half-marathons. That's more his style. He loves being outdoors and he definitely prefers smaller venues.

We also got a night (an over-nighter that is) without the kiddos. My mom and step-dad came over to babysit and the kids had a blast playing with them. Rick and I stayed at The Sheraton in downtown Denver and it was in a great location, along 16th St. mall. (An outside walking mall. The road is closed to all vehicles except buses.) And it was super close to the start/finish line at Civic Center Park. The park separates the State Capital and the gov't buildings. After getting a night away we realized how desperately we need to take advantage of date nights.

Our room was HUGE!

What a wonderful weekend, beautiful weather and great accomplishments for Aidan and Rick. Way to go!

Yes, Aidan really did complete a marathon....

however, not all at once. His school's PE teacher signed the school up with Kid's Running America to get the kid's interested in running and staying healthy with aerobic activity. So Aidan told me he wanted to participate. It required him to go to the school early 2 days per week and run 1.25 miles each day so they would have completed 25 miles by the time the McDonald's kids mile run occurred. (This is also in conjuction with The Denver Marathon Rick will be running, but more about that tomorrow after he's actually competed.)

We are so proud of Aidan! Not only did he complete his first marathon, but he was a fast little runner. He always came in the top 4 of the kids who participated (that's anyone in the school...so kids who are older than him) and he ran his final mile today in 8:11! Very impressive!

Fall is here

Fall is one of my fav. times of the year. I love the transitional seasons...looking forward to a change of seasons. Anyway, enough of my diatribe, we've been busy with everyday life and I guess I haven't brought my camera with me to take many pictures lately, but here's a few:

Aidan's a Fireball this year

Aidan's playing soccer this fall and seems to like it. He made a goal during his 2nd game so that was pretty exciting. He was supposed to play yesterday, but the high was 33 degrees and the game was at 9am, so can you imagine? We'd all be frozen by the time the game ended. I'm really glad they canceled it, but I hate having make-up games...just more chances for reschedules due to weather. Soccer's a tough game to play here in lovely CO. Weather can be wonderful or awful in the spring or fall...you just never know.

While at Michael's last week I bought a Halloween gingerbread house. Cute idea? Yes! Great family activity? Maybe...depending on the age of your kiddos. Kind've an involved craft for an 8 and almost 5 year old, but hey it was theraputic for me. I had a RAGING headache before starting and now my headache is gone. (And yes, I had taken Excederin to no avail.)

Do you think I have what it takes to be a pastry chef? Not quite!

As for Halloween itself? Kellen will be Luigi from Super Mario Bros., Aidan plans to be Mario (if his costume arrives on time. And I have looked EVERYWHERE! Every place is backordered...keep your fingers crossed). Curren will either be a spider (what Kellen was at age 2, if he's walking by then) or a monkey (what Kellen was at 10 months). Lots of activities planned for Halloween too so I hope to post lots of pics. Stay tuned....