Back in May...part 1

We went on our very first cruise! What fun to get away for a week! We are so thankful to Jon's parents for keeping all three boys for us! We did EVERYTHING we could do. I was up for lots of fun, and things outside my comfort zone! I didn't want to be tied to the ship or be fearful because I might not get this chance again!


The water is super blue in the middle of the ocean! Who knew!




Jon trying to let the ship loose: (these are some major ropes here, amazed by it)

I was just so in awe of some many things on the cruise. The ropes that tie up the ship were just one thing. they are incredible. I never did see us dock or leave, so I don't know how many people it took to do this, but it's incredible.

We had beautiful weather, and the seas were amazing. We even happened to see wild dolphins out in the middle of nowhere swimming past the ship.

In Cozumel we Zip Lined (me in this photo!)

We climbed the rock walls: (Jon is good at this, and me notsomuch although I kept trying as much as my arms would let me!)

Jon geared up:

Jon coming down:

living in DC

I love living in DC. The past couple of weeks we've really been getting out. I have been taking the metro with all three boys too! There are lots of upsides of the place.

The big downside is the transient nature of people living here. People tend to come here from other far off places to intern or work a job temporarily. Or they work a job, start a family and realize they want to be closer to home again with their family. Or they just move to the 'burbs. I generally don't mind that. I love getting to know people, keep in touch and know that one day when we want to travel to these really cool places they all live, we can go visit!

But sometimes it means that you feel like you want to get to know someone better and it just can't happen because of time. We (I) met a family last year that moved to DC for an internship at our church for the past year. It's time for them to move on. They have two boys and are really fun. Caed loved their oldest right away. I had anticipated not getting to know them because I knew they'd be leaving....I resisted. I tried to avoid wanting to be friends. I had twin babies, so it was easy to avoid with their busyness. But it was so much fun getting the boys together. Today as we had a last playdate for the kids, and all 5 were running around the grass and gravel of the National Mall, I realized that I really did like them! I was sad that I didn't get to know them better and have them over for a meal. We do have great friends in DC, I was just reminded how hard it still is to watch families leave regardless of how well you know them.

Today Amy was willing to corral the kids and enjoy the Air and Space Museum. I pray for the best for them, and we will stay in touch as they plant a church in Miami- but I shouldn't have waited this long to commit to getting to know them better. I know it's more then just us that will miss them too.

All 5 boys


C and A: (Caed actually wasn't feeling great today, so he wasn't so compliant with the smiling)

Running

Me, and the craziness of my home after returning from my first ever race (5K) this past April. Not glamorous:

Another thing that has been taking up my time is running. I am training to run a half marathon. I am trying to follow through on my goal of running the Paris marathon 2011, and so I thought a half marathon about a half year before it was a good goal.

It has been fun....but it sure is time consuming! I do long runs on Saturday mornings (I leave the house about 5:45) and shorter runs during the week, a combination of road running and treadmill at the gym. A road run for me is only 2 miles though since I do it after Jon gets home, and the twins and Caed are manageable for him. It really is a sacrifice on the part of my family for this. I am hoping that somehow we make it through the 7 months after this for the Paris marathon.

I sometimes debate the wisdom is doing it next year, since it's been a hard few months for our family for the half marathon, but I think it's best to just keep going. I am proud of myself for keeping it up. I wish I was faster, but I'll take what I can get.

I am learning so much about running too, it's a lot of fun. I find that I am really enjoying it (besides the bit of a wall I've hit the last two weeks) and want to just keep doing it because my body can do it. Although I probably can have better posture/form, it's not like swimming where I've got to be taught certain strokes, or bike riding where I've got to own a bike, it's more accessible then that and I like that. I recently finished the book Born to Run. Loved it. But I love that style of writing anyway.

I am still figuring out my preferences as far as carrying water, when to wait to eat, listening to music (which is at a bit of a negotiating stage right now. My ipod isn't working, and I've been listening to Pandora on my phone with headphones. I have an arm band for the ipod, but for now I am sticking my phone in the tiny pocket in my running shorts, which gets the phone wet from my sweating!) do I carry some energy things with me for the longer runs, and talking while running when I'm with friends.

I was supposed to run 12 miles last Saturday but was in a bit of a funk, and ended up only running/ walking 6. This weekend it's back down to 10. I'll go with that, and get 12 the following weekend. That's the farthest this training plan has us go.

So here's to a little more time come a month, but only briefly, because I'll need to train to run 26.2 miles soon enough!