Bedhead

Thursday morning, 6:30. This is what greets me:

September

Just like that, September is over. Below, some random pictures.

Isaac had his first soccer practice. This kid is fast.

There were lots of afternoons spent playing outside with random assortments of children. For a brief period one afternoon, we had eleven additional children at our home. I love that kids like to flock to our house; I do not love the inevitable damage (broken swings, torn trampoline nets, etc.) that occurs because of it.

During Madeline's ballet class, Isaac and I went over to Panera. He loved his gigantic cookie.

Clara spent a wild and crazy evening at the mall with two of her close friends, one of whom moved away last week. :(

Madeline's ensembles never cease to surprise us.

Lovey rests atop a ceiling fan. Someone had to throw hard to get that thing up so high.

AG Travels

Clara's "AG" (American Girl), Callie, went with us to Virginia. 

Clara made sure Callie was prepared for the trip.

Virginia Trip: Four Miler!

One of the reasons we went back to Virginia was to participate in an amazing race, the Charlottesville Women's Four-Miler. I ran this race three out of the six years we lived in Virginia. Emma ran it with me during my third year, and she wanted to do it again. Unfortunately, we couldn't convince Clara to participate.

Why four miles? As I understand it, the race's founders wanted a distance that was slightly longer than a 5K, making runners work a bit harder, yet still within reach of pretty much anyone's physical ability. Sounds good to me. 

Now, I am not a runner, but this race is an incredible experience. Thousands of women--3,500!--come from all over the region to participate. The cause: breast cancer research. The participants are runners and walkers and non-exercisers, mothers and daughters and grandmothers and cancer survivors and family members of survivors or the deceased….

The registration begins in June, and the race is usually full within a matter of a few hours. It was no different this year, which was the race's thirtieth anniversary.

The trail runs along a two-mile stretch of rolling Virginia countryside. It is gorgeous beyond compare.

On the last mile, along the fence posts flanking the trail, are the names of women who have had breast cancer. Some have succumbed, some have survived. 

All along the trail are legions of supporters--husbands, dads, children, students, friends, family--cheering on the runners and walkers.

It is an incredible, powerful community event. Women who participate once, many of whom really dislike running (like me!), come back year after year to participate. There is a sisterhood and camaraderie in the air. There is no real competition: we are all in it together.

Simply put: it's awesome.

The volunteers, almost entirely husbands of participants, arrive at 5:30 to help with parking, which begins at 6. One car must be parked every four seconds in order for the road to close by 7:30 for the 8:00 race. No ordinary feat.

Arriving at the race, bright and early.

The runners line up according to speed.

Some of the women get a bit creative in their attire:

More of the lineup.

Forty porta potties are in heavy use all morning.

A proud supporter.

Emma and I are excited to begin. The rain has started to fall, cooling things off. The weatherman had predicted an intensely humid and nasty morning. We were blessed with the rain. And I think it sped us up along the course!

On the road, before the race starts, we walk to the starting line. It takes a while because there are so many participants.

A diehard runs among us.

One of my favorite parts of the race is when the leader passes everyone by as she comes down the second mile, while we are still on the first. The collective cheer that erupts for this solitary person is extraordinary. The winner this year was a UVa student who went to the Olympic Trials. She ran it in about 22 minutes.

Emma, about halfway through.

My good friend Nancy and her two daughters make this an annual tradition. Her oldest daughter, now in college, returns home every year for the race. Nancy's mother died of breast cancer. They always grab her poster off of the fence post during that last mile, and they carry it across the finish line. 

Nearing the end.

I met my goal this year of running the race in forty minutes. For me, that's an accomplishment.

Just after the finish line:

Checking the results:

Nancy and her daughters.

Three of Emma's four best friends from Virginia participated in the race. She had a great time doing this with them. Below is Emma with two of those friends as well as their little sisters, who also ran.

Virginia Trip: This Old House

Emma, Clara, and I had a real treat over Labor Day weekend. We headed back to Virginia for four-and-a-half days to see some family and lots of old friends. 

On our first morning, we drove through our old neighborhood, where we had lived for six years. We have so many wonderful memories of our neighborhood and our old town home. I was shocked and saddened to see how quickly the house has fallen into disrepair. In fact, the whole neighborhood has taken a bit of a turn for the worse in the short time since we left.

The new owner wasn't home, and I had to snap a few pictures.

A nest on the roof of the front porch:

The molding, rotting front steps. We scrubbed and painted these steps repeatedly during our time in the house.

The mammoth tree in the front yard has become even more mammoth, preventing any daylight from sneaking through to the house or yard. I have a feeling that tree is going to be a huge issue in a few years.

The weeds in the backyard, where I used to have hostas and flowers, were at least eight feet tall. Some of them grew up the sides of the trellis and stairs and up to the second floor patio of the house. 

Another view of the weeds. The backyard probably hadn't been mowed all year, and the fence door couldn't be opened.

A beautiful shrub that used to grow at the corner of our front porch had been chopped down.

The backyard. It is much worse than it looks in this picture.

The paint around the door is heavily peeling, and the wood is rotting, and mold is growing all along the base of the house.

Whoever occupies the rental next door has put chicken wire around the front yard. Perhaps it's for a pet?

The trees at the end of our street have been leveled to make way for this--

--and this:

And our old dead end now looks like this:

It was a bit disheartening to see how fast our old home, which we worked so hard to take care of, has gone down the tubes. But all I could do was shake my head and feel grateful that we won't have to deal with its many new and looming problems. 

Play Kitchen

Clara and her craft bombs are legendary.

Below, another one is pictured. 

Clara made a toy kitchen for Madeline, out of whatever materials she could scrounge up. The faucet is a straw and pipe cleaner. The burner and sink are paper plates. The soap dispenser is from an empty bottle. Two orange straws are taped together for a towel rack. Loads of toy dishes are loaded inside the box, or "dishwasher."

These kinds of creations by Clara are par for the course around here, and I really need to do a better job of documenting them. 

August visit

My parents came to visit in August for a few days.

One morning, we took Isaac and Madeline and our cameras to a park in the area. It was high noon and really bright outside, so the pictures weren't the greatest.

My dad was the bag carrier.

I have to toss in this picture, too, because my mom played Ticket to Ride: The Isaac Version every day that she was here.