Surf City!

This is where it all went down- Huntington Beach, Ca. Last fall Will's three sisters and I decided to do the Surf City Half Marathon together and make a girl's trip out of it. For Mel, Steph, and I, this was our first transition from casual yoggers to distance runners. Becky's a seasoned pro, so she helped coach us from afar. There's no better motivation to keep running through the freezing winter than knowing there is a sunny wonderful vacation waiting for you at the end of it!

If anyone out there is looking for a fantastic race, Surf City is it. We ran on the Pacific Coast Highway with 20,000 other runners. At one point you loop around up a hill and you can't see where the mass of racers ends or begins. It was amazing! It was so well organized with that many people, too. This picture was the way in to the expo the day before the race:

We got some serious swag. The expo was enormous! Free massages, refuel samples everywhere, smoothies, and tons of vendors. An extra plus for me: through a mishap with my lost bib, I somehow ended up with a free $60 technical running jacket, a giant medal, and a VIP pass to the front of the beer line. I tried to tell them it was a mistake. They didn't care. Yay for me.

Race day was unbelievable. I was so nervous I wanted to throw up every time I thought about it. It all went so great though! For me, the first 3 miles were the hardest. It just seemed so daunting and unending. I blacked out from miles 4-8 and don't really remember much, then mile 8 was the turnaround home stretch and we picked up the pace. We got a burst of energy at mile 10 and felt so great- we were almost done! I think we were dancing and singing at that point. Afterwards we took our food bags and waited 1 1/2 for a free 15 min massage. Worth every minute.

The race was for sure the highlight of the trip, but the rest of the time was spent relaxing, eating, shopping, shopping, and relaxing. Our hotel was beautiful, the food was great (and cheap! Tequlia Jack's!), and the weather was perfect.

This was the view from our hotel room.

We may or may not have spent 3 hours in H&M.

Milo's first day of Preschool

I didn't cry, I swear.

A Walk to the Beach

I am so cold. I'm tired of sweaters and gloves. Thank goodness January is almost over- I need my sunshine and my summer and February is one wonderful step closer. I look at these pictures of Milo trekking to the beach in San Diego and it's the only thing I want to do, every day, all day. Just walk to the beach.

The good news is I'll be running along the coast in Huntington Beach in T minus 8 days. Hip hip hooray!

A Brrrrthday Party

The original intent for H's day was a sledding party. I remember the day we brought him home from the hospital it was perfectly sunny, warm, and wonderful, with 3 feet of snow in our yard. Will and Milo were sledding and having the time of their lives. I remember it being the most perfect day. We have a great little toddler sled hill right in the backyard, so for this party I had romantic dreams of snowflakes, sledding, and screaming little kids filled with the joy that is a snow day.

Unfortunately, this week was crazy warm (thanks a lot global warming) and every last bit of snow had melted by Saturday. It actually rained Friday night, just to make sure it was all gone in time for the party. But even though it looked like a wet, soggy spring day outside, I pretended that it really was December and we still had a winter wonderland inside. We had yummy soup and homemade hot pockets, a hot chocolate bar, and lots of yummy treats. The kids made snow globes and were perfectly happy running around playing with all the new toys. It was so fun having close friends and family there. Really, a birthday party is just a fun excuse to get everyone together and for me to make a bazillion paper snowflakes. Oh jeeze I made a lot of snowflakes.

This picture does no justice to how the basement looked. I loved it. There is fabric tag garland, paper chains, doilie snowflakes, tinsel garland, white poms- it looked awesome. I'm keeping it up until February.

The snowglobes were so cute. Milo can't stop playing with his.

I don't know why its so cute when the birthday boy dives into his cake... it just is. It's like an insight into his personality- what will he do when you give him free reign to his most favorite but often restricted treat? Dive in, pace himself, go crazy? Love it, hate it?

Face first. No need for hands or spoons. He just kept bobbing his face into it.

I love this kid.

Happy 1 year Henry!

Hip Hip Hooray!

The tiny one turned ONE yesterday! We celebrated with some candy cane brownies and a gift from grandma and grandpa Radford. We'll save the rest for his party on Saturday. In the video I'm trying to distract Milo so Henry can actually play with his toy. How do you make it so your baby can have his own toys that aren't stolen by the older one? Well Happy Birthday to my little love. I love the toddler stage more than the baby stage, so I'm pumped about this next part. So fun.

San Diego: Installment 2

Thanksgiving Day was so fun. That morning Becky, Adam, Eric, Will and I did the 5 mile Turkey Trot in Oceanside. It was such an awesome race! Up the pier, along the shorline, dolphins jumping in the distance... so great. It was crazy warm by afternoon too. It's defintely easier running at sea level and in perfect weather- I think we all got PRs in that race. Loved it.

Then on to cooking and eating. The best part.

I just realized that the beach pics on the prior post were from Thanksgiving day, and these next ones were the morning of the day we came home. Notice the sun, the perfection. On the beach in the morning, trudging through snow in our driveway in the evening. Blech.

Could this picture be any more perfect? There's even a tiny sailboat on the horizon. I could cry.

Milo was catching waves in his bucket. Again, so cute I'm almost in tears. Why does the beach make me so emotional?

Dear husband: I would be perfectly happy being a bum on the beach, scavaging for seafood at night, basking in the sun in the day. Think about it. Think long and hard and see what you can do.