sorry...

so, I just realized I had to do something to find comments that some of you have left and allow them to be posted. sorry for those of you who have left comments... i just got them, read them, and posted them!!! some were a little dated, but appreciated none-the-less.

thanks!

vacation, part 2

the sunset (seen earlier) only got better... amazing!!!
One night, hubby headed down to the the beach to do some funny stuff with his flash. He's holding the remote control... funny.
Wednesday, we left the resort to have some local food. We got a cab and asked to be taken to a place called "mauricio's". When the cab stopped, I thought for sure he had made a mistake. This place was a thatched roof with blue tarp between a lower layer and an upper layer. There weren't any walls. Plastic tables and chairs. Lots of locals, guys that were piling out of the back of a pick up trucks, looking like they just got done with a very long and hot days work.
The waiter brought us an appetizer (something salad like on a crunchy torilla) and a bowl of broth that was YUMMY. Hubby ordered a combination with lobster, muscles, shrimp, and fish and I got a great shrimp platter with two drinks for only $27 (about 270 pesos). Great deal and delicious food! Getting away from the 'compound' was really great too... away from the americans ;)
This is the board walk downtown (centro) puerto vallerta. Did I tell you it was hot? Lots of venders selling stuff... "you on your honeymoon? great deal today!" or "today, free for you!" or "come in and see, just come in" oh, those vendors were trying so hard to sell to us!

All in all, we did alot of relaxing. I read two books (the Kite Runner is pretty good if you haven't read it), hubby read two books, we slept, we sat, we ate... very nice break!

Friday, before heading for home on saturday we did go on a great tour. We took 4 wheelers up to the mountains and flew through the trees on zip lines!!! I'll get the pictures for that later. Hubby also took a bunch of more 'artistic' photos that maybe he'll post on his site later.

vacation, part 1

Here's the view from our room. It was a bit overcast... the pool on the right was our with the cabanas closer to the ocean. the pool on the left was for the resort next door.
We thought it was hilarious that there was a walmart a quick 5 minute walk from the beach, with a sam's club next door! They're actually building a 'costco' right across the street from the resort. With a blockbuster, KFC, Burger King, and many more... we decided you actually can't get away from America!!!
Dinner on Sunday, the sunset behind us was MUCH more beautiful than shone... it was hard to capture with the flash inside a building!
Same sunset... getting better.

More pictures to come... sorry little time right now. We're getting ready to leave in the morning. Hubby's going to Orlando on business and Sweet Pea and I get to go with him. Sweet Pea's going to meet Mickey Mouse on Sunday!

Later, all.

home again, home again...

quick post...

we're home!

mexico = nice, warm, different, hot, good food, warm, good drinks, hot...
home = nice, cold, same, cold, sweet pea, freezing, jake, really cold, mom/dad, still cold...

more later, I'm tired and am going to bed.

just thought I'd say we were still alive and we didn't stay in mexico. it's too hot :)

sweet pea more than survived (she has grown, has two more teeth, runs, talks, does cartwheels - hee, hee) and grandma and grandpa said they'd come back if we wanted another vacation whenever we wanted. now, all we have to do is win the lottery!!!

later all.

it's snowing and she squeeks!

So, first news of today is that it's actually snowing! Nothing is sticking, but there are definate flakes falling from the sky. Sweet Pea is dressed in layers... not quite ready for the winter coat (it's a 2T and a little big, but that's besides the point). Two t-shirts and a huge sweater plus a fall jacket is fine, right?

Secondly, hubby's parents got Sweet pea the cutest shoes for her birthday in July. They SQUEEK when she walks. Once she realized where the sound was coming from she started stomping in place and smiling at me! Then, she started running all over the place and giggling. I think she likes them and I think they are darn cute. I know where she is at all times, a nice benefit! They're a little big in the toe, but her feet are still a bit pudgy so they fit the width and thickness.

I'll try to get some pictures later and post them...

3 more days till mexico! We're mostly packed, already!

just a few minutes...

We've figured out how to get sweet pea to sleep past 6:30... we're quiet as mice in the morning now. Poor hubby, when he showers at home he's showering in the first floor shower. He's only done it twice, but he hates it. I can sort of understand, there is ceramic tile floor in there and it's COLD! I'd recommend to everyone, not to put ceramic tile floor in your home unless you can also afford radiant floor heating (the really neat hot water tubes that run under your flooring and make it super comfy... imagine no socks in the winter!). We also cannot snooze anymore! No snoozing allowed. Once the alarm goes off, that's it, you're up!

I know, it's silly... when she wakes up early she's cranky AND I'm cranky. I really like to enjoy ONE cup of coffee in peace :)

Sweet pea's learning more animal sounds... super funny. She does an elephant without prompting. BUT, she'll do the elephant when she sees an elephant or a hippo (just pictures, our zoo doesn't have elephants OR hippos!!!). She's also learned what a sheep does! "ba, ba, ba, ba, ba..." and she's almost there with a cow and a monkey! It's really amazing how fast they learn, isn't it?! She can mimic almost anything I do or say. It's almost scary because I'm sure she's picking up some things that she shouldn't because I'm not always aware. We've been working on Grandma (sounds alot like 'ma ma') and Grandpa (gave up and started working on 'pop') for a few weeks. My mom and dad will be here on friday... I wish hubby's parents could be here too... big time bummer.

Well, she should be up, coffee time is officially over. Well, until 1pm of course :)

4 more days until the sun and sand! Did I mention that we're going to mexico? Did I mention that we're soooooo excited! wow, we're really going on vacation?!

80 degree in MN and it's OCTOBER!!!

Two of my friends and our kids were going to head to a park today... but Heidi lives a stone's throw away from an apple orchard... and it's 80 degrees... so what the heck? Let's get some apples and a few pumpkins!!!

Our kids weren't dressed in their fall colors, but we still managed to get some cute pictures.

Sweet Pea, driving the tractor!
Here, she's dancing. She spins in a circle over and over again until she gets dizzy and falls down. I've never done 'ring around the rosie' with her, but she can do it!!!
Sweet Pea loves apples! Here, we're trying to get all of the kids to pose for a picture. They didn't turn out the greatest (at least mine didn't... maybe one of the other cameras got a good one).
Sweet Pea picked out a baby gourd instead of a pumpkin in the patch. She tried to take a bite out of it too... no luck so she threw it down on the ground :)
Beautiful day... winter's coming!!! 

marathon's over...

Well, if you would have talked to me sunday (after the marathon), I would have been in a very good mood.

If you would have talked to me monday, my mood did a 180 (big reason why I didn't post yesterday).

TODAY... I'm in a good mood again :)

Sunday was rough... very rough. The first 9 miles were AWESOME! We were crusing along, having a good time, enjoying the festivities along the way, no problems, happy-go-lucky. Then, I don't know what happened. Mile 10... huh, I was getting super tired. Mile 11... double huh, I was out of energy. Heidi and I had a little chat, and I asked her to go ahead of me. That was difficult for both of us. We both knew at that point we needed each other to have a good run, but I didn't want her to regret the day and wish that she had finished earlier.

Mile 12, I saw hubby for the first time and I BEGGED (and I mean BEGGGGEEEED) him to take me home. I didn't want to do it anymore and I wanted to GO HOME. Luckly, the car was at the finish and I had to keep trudging along. He said he's be at mile 17 for me with my neighbors and my daughter.

I tried to pull myself together and make it the next five miles. My friend Amanda and Heidi's mom and dad were at mile 15... very nice. Hubby and nieghbors at mile 17. Hubby again at 20 (or was it 21?)... hubby again at mile 23 (where we had a little exchange over an ice cream cone he had purchased me and eaten himself minutes earlier... he wore a cup of water for that one)... friends Tara and Jason at mile 24... and to the finish. I actually started running again at 26!!! Thanks, everyone!

So, back to the race. I was pretty mad at myself and trying to deal with the fact that I wasn't going to finish in 5 hours or less... until I reached the Franklin Street Bridge, right before mile 19. Holy cow, I wish you guys could have seen it. God's creation in full view. The bridge crosses over the Mississippi River and wow, is it beautiful. It was then that I realized that I was really going to enjoy the rest of this course. I walked/ran/walked along really enjoying what God created and thanked Him for giving me a body that enduring the training. So, I had a bad race day, no big deal... the training was difficult and I did it... and if I were really running (I mean really, running) I wouldn't be able to enjoy the course, the scenery, the spectators, the other runners. It was a lesson in humility... and I'm thankful for it.

Monday, another story. I was mad again. Dissappointed. Mad. Really dissappointed. It was alot of work and I didn't reach my goal. I'm back to Sunday's attitude though... it was a gorgeous day and I'm really happy that I was able to participate. I still got the cool medal the the great t-shirt and the amazing pictures.

Why, why was it a bad day for my body? I'll never really know. Did I do something different? Should I have done something different? Start out too fast? Not drink enough water the week earlier? Not carbo-load enough? Too hot outside (yes... 80+ when we finished)? I'll never know and that's OK.

Sunday, while walking back to the car, I told hubby to never let me try something like this again. Someone else we were walking near said that running a marathon is something like having a baby... you get amnesia... you starting training again. Huh... I'll stick with the amnesia for a little bit longer. The training was amazing... what we can make our bodies endure. The race (and most races I've run, actually) was hard both mentally and physically...

Here are my stats...

5k (33:08)
10k (1:07)
half (2:31... beat last half time - in may - by 10 minutes!!!)
30k (3:48... slooowwwiinggg down :)
20 mile (4:07...
Total chip time (5:39)

And some pics...

Mile 20 (I think...) in a much better mood.








Mile 11, crossing over a lake as we wound our way around many, many lakes. It was soooo beautiful!!! The trees, the water, the sail boats, the canoes, etc.




BOY, were we really THAT close to the airport?! It was neat hearing the airplanes flying overhead.










Finish line... it took me 8 minutes to get across the start line, so my actual time was shorter than my clock time... I'm in the blue shirt :)





Heidi and me... mission accomplished!







Hubby... what a great support. All of those saturday mornings... thanks, honey!