Orange Beach 2012

We had a great time at the beach! Bruce, the kiddos, and I went with Bruce's parents to Orange Beach last week. Hurricane Isaac made things pretty windy that first day, but it didn't really matter since we didn't get into town until 2:30 or so. After getting settled at the condo, we ate dinner and bought a few groceries for the weekend and then put our tired babies to bed. The next morning we woke up to much calmer winds and sunshine - we were so grateful for nice weather!

Owen, Kathryn, and Sullivan really enjoyed this trip - they were on their best behavior the whole time (well, with the exception of a little whining here and there and a couple of time-outs). It was the first trip to the beach where everyone played together like big kids and there was no rushing back to the room for nap time or bottles. There were no strollers on the beach and we only used four or five swim diapers for Sullivan. Crazy. We would take the kids out around 9:00 or 9:30 and go in for lunch around noon. After lunch and a little quiet time, everyone would head back out from 2:00 until 4:00 or so. O, K, and S shared the "kid room" and the girls each had a twin bed to sleep in and Owen slept on a pallet in the floor. My little dude loved it! We took their stop light, night light, and fan to make it look and sound like home and I think that helped.

Bruce and I really enjoyed getting to catch up with his parents and the chance to get away for a few days with our little ones. We ate lots of ice cream, played in the sand, searched for sea shells to add to our sea shell jar, went for several early morning runs, and just relaxed. It was just what we needed! Our family is already looking forward to next year's beach trip!

And because we love food the way we do, a restaurant recap from our trip:

Doc's Seafood Shack - Excellent service, a great kid menu with healthier options than your average kid menu, yummy crab cakes made in-house. I now know that Doc's is famous for it's gumbo, wish I had tried it! Guess I have something to look forward to. :)

King Neptune's - Family-friendly and cozy and quite possibly the best shrimp po-boy I've ever had. There was no wait at 6:00, but by 7:00 there was a line of people waiting outside. Bruce had cajun seafood pasta and it was sinful. He kept eyeing my po-boy and I kept eyeing his pasta. ;)  I think it would be hard to find something on that menu that wasn't delicious.

The Shrimp Shack in San Roc Cay - Kid's eat free all day, every day - one free kid meal w/ one adult meal. Bruce and I had fish tacos and ordered the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer. They were very tasty and came with a wonderful remoulade.

Shaggy's - Everyone went to the Flora-Bama for the Alabama game and we went to Shaggy's. Best fried green tomatoes of the whole trip! Plenty of tv's, a beachy drink menu, and friendly service. Right on the marina and they had a great two-man band playing on the deck when we left a half-time. Fun!!

So we tried four new restaurants this trip and would gladly go back to any one of them! Try one or all of them next time your in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach.

All I Want To Say This Morning Is...

 

 

ROLL TIDE!

 

Bama 41 - Michigan 14

 

Marathon Training Update

Five weeks into my marathon training and I'm happy to say things are going well (I've probably just jinxed myself). My friend Meg is going to run with the marathon with me...bless her! We ran the half together back in February and I so enjoy her company on our long runs. Meg and I have a similar build and a similar running style and that makes it easy for us to train together. We're doing it right this time: experimenting with pre-run breakfast foods, cutting back on our cross training classes to minimize our chance of injury, training with water and GU Chomps (love 'em), staying consistent with our weekly mileage, slowing down our long weekend runs for optimal conditioning, and taking our rest days. We did a nine-miler yesterday and this weekend we'll do 10; our mileage is increasing quickly. Yikes! I feel great today though...thank goodness! It was a road run instead of a trail run and I was worried about how my knees would handle it, but so far, so good. Nine miles, for whatever reason, is a tough distance for me. I remember thinking that during half-marathon training as well. Why 10 and 11 mile runs seem less painful, I don't know, but that's the way it is for me. Maybe it's at nine miles that I realize "Okay, this is the start of the long runs." At least that run is over and the reality of this running schedule is sinking in.

Similar to gummy bears in texture, Gu Chomps
are a nice alternative to gels and help endurance athletes replace
lost nutrients and boost energy during training and/or racing

It's about time to invest in a fuel belt and I've got my eye on the Nathan Trail Mix 4. I tried one on recently and was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and snug it was. I bought some Brooks Ghost 4's last month and I think I've found my shoe for the marathon. Perfect for classes at the gym and long runs; lighter in weight than the Glycerins, but way more support than the PureFlow's. My watch has really come in handy too. No longer are we forced to run mapped-out routes or guess at our mileage - it's simple and easy to use and I like that. I bought Meg and myself a couple of bondibands and those headbands do a GREAT job of keeping the sweat off my face and out of my eyes. They're so cute...I'll be buying more soon. I feel like I'm getting all of my running gear kinks worked out. Experienced marathoners say the week or two before a marathon is not enough time to introduce anything new into your runs. By the time we hit our 17, 18, 19 mile runs, I want to know what works for me and what doesn't. That's not the time to learn you hate something you're wearing.

 

I'm still really excited about the marathon and feel like we'll be ready by December. Once the weather cools off and the humidity isn't such an issue I think we'll feel even more optimistic about the race.

Nathan Trail Mix 4

bondibands

Brooks Ghost 4

 



As exciting and challenging as all of this marathon business is, there's another race I'm looking forward to even more. Kathryn and Owen told me recently that they want to run a race with Mommy! They've asked me several times recently if they can go run with me, so I know they're interested. I'm looking for a good one mile fun run in the next month or so and we need to "train" a little between now and then and find them both a good pair of real running shoes. I know they'll do great though - I'm looking forward to crossing the finish line with my sweet twins!

Deployment Update & Picnic Pics

Deployment Update: Bruce will NOT be deploying next week. He WILL deploy at the end of October and return sometime during the first week in December. He'll miss Halloween and Thanksgiving (no worries honey, I'll save plenty of Reese's Pieces for you and freeze some chicken and dressing for you to have when you get home), but that's okay. It's hard to believe he's never been deployed during the holidays...it's our turn without question for a "holiday deployment." Bruce will be home in time for our anniversary, Christmas, and O and K's birthday. We're all pretty happy now knowing what to expect and when. The "not knowing" is always hard.

Now for a few picnic pics.

 

My Mom came down today and went to the park with us. We packed a picnic and enjoyed the nice weather. I even got to sneak in a short run while Mimi and the kids played on the playground. It was a fun afternoon and we were all so happy to see Mimi!

Family Fun

Art by Kathryn

My little artist. How awesome is this picture? I don't know what I'm supposed to expect from a three-and-a-half year old, and maybe it's just me, but this seems advanced. This little girl loves arts and crafts. Kathryn enjoys painting, coloring, play-doh, cutting and gluing, and even making necklaces and bracelets with beads. If it's artsy, she likes it. I can't wait to put Bug in an art class...I know she'll love it!

Running Gadgets

Runners participating in the Rocket City Marathon (and almost every other race in Huntsville) are not allowed to wear headphones. I started thinking about this after I signed up and decided I'm okay with this. Good thing, the entry fee is non-refundable. Ha! I listen to my radio on my phone when I run and use the Runtastic Pro app to check my distance and pace. Listening to the radio while running in Birmingham (especially on the weekends) is fine - lots of channels, lots of music, few commercials. However, Huntsville doesn't have that many stations to pick from and the three of four songs I do get between commercial breaks very well may be from 1998. Not worth it. My headphones bounce around because I can never get them adjusted right and after a while I just want to rip my phone and arm band off and let my arm swing freely. I guess what I'm saying is I don't really feel like I'm losing anything by not being able to wear headphones.

I decided I wanted a GPS watch to replace my running app, but I couldn't and wouldn't splurge on one of those Garmin watches. They do really fancy things for high-tech runners and that's not me. I want to check my distance, pace, and maybe calories burned. It came down to the three sub-$100 watches above: Timex Marathon GPS, Soleus GPS 1.0, and the New Balance GPS Runner. They all do simple things for runners who want to know the basics about their run. Runnersworld.com had a nice review of these watches and from what I gathered, if you liked one you'd be just as satisfied with the others. I decided to buy the New Balance watch because the testers said it was the easiest to read while running. I can't wait to test it out! Anyway, I guess the whole point of this post was to show runners that there is something in between a basic runner's watch that tells time and has a stopwatch and the really snazzy, high-priced GPS watches. Happy running!

Rocket City Marathon

I've lost my mind. It's official. I said I'd never do it, but it looks like I'm going to. I've signed up to run the Rocket City MARATHON. Yes, my first 26.2 mile race. I know it's crazy, but this is something I really want to do. I guess I feel like it's now or never. If I do start the nursing program in January I know there won't be time to train for something like this for the next two years. I also thought it would be a great way to finish 2012. Right now the only goal I have for this December race is to finish in 4 hours, 20 minutes or less. I'm excited about this new challenge and if there's anyone out there who would like to run this with me...let me know!

I've already decided that the key to getting through training is to take the training schedule week by week and to ONLY look at that week's running requirements. When you're out running three miles and you say to yourself "17 more?" or "23 more?" it's very easy to think "What have I signed up for?" :) One day and one run at a time. I know my training will have to be more consistent than it was when I was training for the half and I know I'm going to have to really protect/be mindful of my knee. I can't tell you how many times I've heard experienced runners say that getting to race day healthy is half the battle. I've always liked the expression "slow and steady wins the race," but "slow and steady finishes the race" might be my new mantra. Only four months and 6 days until race day!

28

My sweet babies! I loved celebrating with my crew!

I'm 28 today! It was a wonderful birthday with plenty of cake and lots of sweet cards, phone calls, and gifts from my friends and family. I feel very loved and blessed tonight and I'm so thankful for the 28 years God has given me. Having Bruce here this year for my birthday was really special - he was gone last year and it just wasn't the same celebrating without him. Getting to have cake with my babies and my husband was the best birthday gift of all. My sweet in-laws kept the kiddos last night and gave us a night off. Bruce and I spent yesterday and this morning just hanging out doing things we normally don't get to do. We went to the pool yesterday and this morning, I took a nap yesterday (I can't remember the last time I took a nap!) and we slept in until 7:30 this morning (if you have little ones, 7:30 is LATE!). We went to dinner last night and watched a movie when we got home. It was a relaxing 24 hours that we needed.

My 27th year was a great one. It was definitely a year of change as we got settled into our new home, Bruce settled into his new job, and I decided to go back to school to become a nurse. This year I ran my first half-marathon, went to my ten year reunion, potty-trained Owen, made new friends in our new city, walked Bourbon Street with Bruce and friends after Alabama won it's 14th National Championship, learned I actually have a green thumb, and made it through our first deployment since having children. I also got called "Ma'am" by the bag boys down at the Piggly Wiggly more times than I'd like to admit, but hey, that's okay. I like where I'm at and life is good! I like to think that we only get better with age. ;) I know this year will be full of great things, plenty of challenges, craziness, and probably a few surprises along the way, but I'm a year older and feeling a little wiser and ready for whatever this year might bring!

How cute is this cake? The babies loved it! I thought it was perfect
that there were three little fish on top.

So I know I've been a terrible blogger this past month or so. Studying has occupied every single free moment I have during the day and blogging has been put on the back burner. The good news is my biology final is next week and I have an "A" average right now! Woo-hoo! I really need to hang on to that "A" because I'll apply for the nursing program in a couple of months. I have enjoyed school so much this summer! I'm already looking forward to fall semester. I know now that I definitely made the right decision about going back to school and I can't wait to start the nursing program. I promise I'll take more pictures of our sweet kiddos and update the blog more often after my exam next week. Until then...

What A Mess!

I walked downstairs yesterday to find this mess waiting for me (sorry for the grainy pic...camera phone). But hey, if everyone is happy, not fighting, and entertaining themselves, that's fine with me. Bruce and I call this the "sacrificial mess." Sometimes if you want to clean the upstairs you have to be willing to sacrifice the order and cleanliness of the downstairs. That's just the way it goes at this point in our lives. I sat on the stairs for a few minutes watching the babies play and it wasn't long before I started to think about how all-too-soon I'll walk in to a quiet, clean house day after day and my heart will long for the days of walking into a room to find a huge, unexpected mess. I don't like cleaning up these messes day-in and day-out, but I sure love the little angels that make them.

Go Panthers!

Yesterday I took a few pictures of Owen, Kathryn, and Sullivan for Joshua's (my youngest bro) high school football program. (By the way, the fact that I just said "youngest brother" and "high school football program" in the same sentence is CRAZY! I feel very old.) My parents thought it would be cute to have the kids holding up signs wishing their uncle good luck to go along with a few other pictures of Joshua from past football seasons. Getting two three year olds and a two year old to hold signs, stand still, and smile is even harder than one might imagine. ;) It took us a while, but I think we got a few good shots they can use for the program. We're looking forward to cheering for Uncle Joshua this fall! Go Panthers!

We took the first few pictures inside because it was raining yesterday morning. Hooray for rain!

I have no idea what was so funny, but this picture sure is cute!

Bug was the only one that didn't care about the car driving by.

Here's Owie...hamming it up for the camera.

The best shot of the day.

Kathryn was DONE.

Sod, a Painted Porch, and a 5K

Last week Bruce got to work on our back yard and added about 500 square feet of sod to it. He spent most of Wednesday tilling, mixing in top soil and leveling, and then spent Thursday laying the sod. It looks sooo good! Don't forget that the only reason he was able to lay sod down was because he cut down trees and cleared out all along our back fence earlier this year. It's looking great and I can't believe how much greener the grass is in only five days! Our back yard looks like a completely different space than it did a year ago when we moved in. Bruce and I are both hoping it rains soon. Some free water would be really, really nice. It takes a whole lot of water to keep sod alive in the first few weeks. I'm dreading our next water bill.

On Monday Bruce painted our porch. If you've ever been to our house you may or may not have noticed that our porch and our house were not the same shade of gray. Well, that's no longer the case. They match now and what a difference a good power wash and a new coat of paint makes!

So to recap...in the last two weeks, my sweet, hard-working hubby has hung a new storm door on our back porch, laid sod in our back yard, pressure washed and painted our porch, and pressure washed our front sidewalk and back sidewalk. Is there anything he can't do? :) Thank you honey for continuing to make our house look and feel more like home.

Here are a few pics of the sod project.

Day One - tilling and prepping the soil.

End of day one. All cleared and waiting for the new grass.

 Day two - after Bruce put the sod down.



Day five - getting greener by the day. Looks better doesn't it?

Last Saturday I ran in the YMCA's Ronnie Noojin Race to the Courthouse 5K. The proceeds from the race help individuals and families join the YMCA who otherwise wouldn't financially be able to do so. The YMCA has been great for our family and if there's anything I can do to help others join, I'll do it. The race started at 8:00am and, I'll be honest, I about threw up when I crossed the finish line. No seriously, I gagged a little when it was over. Have I mentioned I'm not a summer person? The heat and I just don't get along. I finished the race in 27:32 - an 8:52 pace. In this heat, I'll take it. I look forward to trying to beat my 5K time...when it's much cooler. There are a few races I'd like to run in this fall, but the race I'm most excited about is the Warrior Dash in October. It's a 5K race with tons of obstacles thrown in. I can't wait!

I really enjoy racing. I know I'll never win one, I'll never run a 6 minute mile or anywhere even close to that. But I don't run to win, I run to beat my last time and keep myself motivated and I'd be fibbing if I said I didn't like that butterlies-in-my-stomach feeling just before a race starts. If you're up for the challenge (and the heat) next summer, sign up for this race. Like I said before, the proceeds go towards a great cause!

School is going really well. I've got an "A" average right now and if I can't just hold on to that over the course of the next two weeks while we're learning all of the bones (and features of all 206 bones) and muscles of the body, I'll be a happy camper. Summer is flying by, only six classes left in the summer term.

Guess that's it for now. I know everyone stops by our blog to see pictures of the kiddos and I'm sorry I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately. It's just been busy around here. I'll try to do better and get some pics up of the kids really soon! Promise!

Waiting

I started school last week and yesterday I took my first online quiz and my first lab quiz. I'm going nuts waiting to find out how I did. I feel pretty good about both. I want to say I feel really good about them, but that feels like bad luck somehow. I'm hoping my grades will be posted by tonight...I'm a total stress-eater and I'm eating anything and everything I can get my hands on. No seriously, I started my day with a brownie with frosting if that tells you anything.

Later this week I'll take my first lecture exam (which covers about 100 - 120 PowerPoint slides) and next week I'll take my first lab exam. There's so much material to review between now and then and the lab exams are pure identification. I'll have to identify the internal parts of a fetal pig, human torso model, human skin model, parts of the cell and microscope. It's not that any of it is particularly hard, it's just a ton of information to remember. I had the hardest time falling asleep last night. I kept thinking about the torso model and labeling the parts in my head over and over again. I'm sure that huge cup of coffee before class didn't help much either though. Anyway, as stressful as it is and as much as I dislike studying after the rest of my family is in bed (at that point I want to crash too!), I'm enjoying class and I remember now how much I used to enjoy school. I enjoy it even more now that I'm taking it seriously and working towards a very specific goal. Fingers crossed for good grades coming my way!