Daddy Daughter Dance

Last week Ella and Casey attended the Daddy Daughter Dance at our church.  Casey surprised Ella with a wrist corsage that was very pink and had lots of sparkles.  Ella played games at the dance and even got her nails painted.  After the dance they finished the evening by going out for ice cream.

Happy 5th Birthday Ella

My how time flies! It seems like just yesterday Ella was born.  Now she is 5 years old - wow!  This year Ella celebrated her birthday with friends and family at The Play Place where there are lots of inflatables to jump on and have fun.  This year the theme of her party was Jessie from Toy Story.  A big thank you to Auntie C.C. who made the cake for Ella's party and cake pops for her classroom friends.  Here are a few pictures from her parties - there are more to come :)

 Blowing out candles on Ella's actual birthday.  

Ella asked for this Barbie house for a VERY long time.  She couldn't wait to play with it once she saw it.

Disney Marathon Weekend

From January 9-15th we took a trip to Disney World for Marathon Weekend.  I ran the half marathon on Saturday the 12th and Casey ran the marathon on Sunday the 13th.  We made a family trip of it so we also visited each park for a day.  We spent a night on the road and arrived on Thursday afternoon to our hotel - The Art of Animation.  Per Ella's request we stayed in a Little Mermaid themed room.  We also picked up our race packets that day and visited the huge expo.  On Friday we started our morning with a visit to the Contemporary Hotel for breakfast at Chef Mickey.  Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald came to see us at our table while we ate.  We then spent the day at the Magic Kingdom.  On Friday I got up at 3 a.m. for a 5:30 race start for the half marathon.  It was such a fun run.  There was characters along the race route and all kinds of entertainment.  I think I had a smile on my face the whole run.  It was just amazing!  Running through the Magic Kingdom and seeing the beautifully lit castle took my breath away.  It truly was an awesome experience and one I recommend to anyone!  After the race I headed back to the hotel to clean up and we then spent the day at Hollywood Studios.  Colby and Ella's grandfather "Pup" joined us for the day too. For lunch we ate at Hollywood and Vine to dine with our favorite Disney Jr. characters Handy Manny, Jake, Special Agent Oso and June from the Little Einsteins.  On Sunday it was Casey's turn to get up at 3 a.m. for the 5:30 start of the 20th anniversary of the marathon. He also loved racing through each of the parks and taking pictures with the characters along the way.  While he was running the kids and I got a head start at Epcot.  When Casey joined us we celebrated with some German beer and brats at the Biergaten.  We sat at a table with some other fellow runners and enjoyed lots of good conversation.  I think we stayed for almost 2.5 hours.  For the rest of the day we enjoyed walking around the many countries and ended the night with a quiet spot to watch Illuminations - a sentimental show for us as nine and a half years ago Casey asked me to marry him on the bridge in France during the fireworks show.  We finished our vacation with a trip to The Animal Kingdom on Monday and Downtown Disney that evening.  We had so much fun it was really hard to come home.  We are already starting to plan our next trip to Disney for Marathon Weekend in maybe 2 years.  Since I had so many pictures I wanted to share here is a slide show of all our favorite pictures from the trip.

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year.  It was filled with many fun things.  We visited Santa's Village, had an overnight stay at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, was able to spend a week with my parents and took a drive through the Galaxy of Lights in Huntsville.  Ella loved visiting with Santa this year but I can't say the same about Colby.  The second he was placed on Santa's lap he freaked out.  It made Casey and I laugh a little.  This year Ella wanted Santa to bring her a set of walkie talkies and Colby really wanted a pirate ship.  We enjoyed a wonderful day together and loved having my parents here for Christmas Day.

The Many Adventures of Lizzie and Everette

Lizzie and Everette are elves from the North Pole that come to visit Ella and Colby every Christmas.  They come after Thanksgiving and stay until Christmas Eve when Santa picks them up in his sleigh after delivering presents to our house.  The main job that Lizzie and Everette have while they are visiting is watching over the kids and reporting to Santa every night if Ella and Colby have been a good girl and boy.  They also love to play tricks and bring small surprises too.  Here are pictures of some of the funny things they did this season.

 Playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with friends.

" Shhhhh don't move - Colby and Ella won't find us here."

 They brought the kids some Rudolph hats and stickers.  They tried to hide with our Rudolph figurines.

 Movie time.

 Lizzie and Everette did a little painting one night while the kids were sound asleep.

 Colby woke up to find they had painted his nose like Rudolph.  

 Reading a new book with friends.  Notice the elf hats Dora and Diego are wearing :)

 A snowball fight in our playroom.

 Lizzie and Everette must have been hungry one night because they helped themselves to juice and some crackers.  They made a big mess!

 They took a bubble bath one night in our bathroom sink :)

 They loved reading books at night using the kids head lamps.

 They made a zip line go through our living room :)

 They played music using Ella's guitar.  Lizzie played while Everette help the music book.

Everette made snow angels in the kitchen using flour.

Singing in the Choir at Church

Ella sings in the Cherub Choir at church every Wednesday evening.  She really loves to sing but gets very nervous when on stage.  Over the past week Ella was quite nervous to sing in front of the congregation.  She needed lots and lots of encouragement.  Not only did she stand proud with a smile on her face but she also  sang beautifully!!!!!  She was so brave!  Mommy and Daddy were so proud of her we almost started crying.

Colby the Trail Runner

Here's a few recent videos of Colby on the trails with Daddy and the dogs on a warm fall day. Looks like he is going to be way faster than Daddy.

Ella the Rock Climber

Here is a video of Ella that we took on a recent trip to Chattanooga. She has pretty good technique for a four year old.

Stump Jump 50k and Chattanooga Weekend

He there ya'll (ok that was a little forced). How about "hey there folks". Casey here. Amy asked me to post about our weekend in Chattanooga and my experience at the StumpJump 50k. Here it goes.

 

We went back to our favorite town south of Boston this past weekend. We just love Chattanooga and it makes living outside of the Northeast that much more bearable. I had decided this past summer that I wanted to jump from my regular half marathons and various trail races into something "a little more serious". I've been addicted to the ultra-running community for the past year or so and can't get enough. So with some research and planning I signed up for Rock/Creek's Stump Jump 50k (that's about 31.1 miles or 5 miles MORE than a marathon). Anything over a marathon is called an ultramarathon and there are some really long races out there including many 100+ milers. I love trails and have been running them for about 2 years now. Amy has nearly caught me a couple of times in a race and running this far on a trail was the only way I could make sure that she didn't beat me. To get passed by a woman is known as being "chicked", I would like to patent being passed by your female spouse as being "wifed".

 

We checked in a the packet pickup and expo Friday afternoon. There was a bunch of vendors and give aways. After hitting up all the booths, were Ella collected lots of stickers and handouts, we checked into our hotel. We tried out a new hotel this time around right on the river a little ways down from the Walnut Street Bridge and loved it. After settling in for a bit we went back over to Coolidge Park for the "carbo-load" dinner and a panel session with some of the elite runners in the race. I got to listen to Max King (from Bend, OR) answer a few questions about how he prepares for a such a wide variety of races. Max recently won the first 100k event he ever entered and also competed in the US Olympic trials in both the marathon and the steeplechase (CRAZY!). There was a raffle during the dinner and I won a pair of shoes (actually the same brand I wear now) and Amy won a KEEN T-shirt. At the same time there was a hot-air balloon glow going on next door. While I staid for the panel, the kids and Amy checked out the balloons. After the balloons we headed back to the hotel to get some rest so we could get up early.

 

The kids enjoyed visiting all of the balloons.

 

The next morning we woke up early and head up to Signal Mountain for the start of the race. We were told to get there early since there were so many people signed up for the race (over 800) that they expected a traffic jam. So we drove up the very curvy road in the dark and got a great parking spot right in front of the start/finish line. I fueled up and got ready for the race and even found Amy a cup of coffee.

 

Casey warming up (note the parking space number)

 

Soon after we arrived and about 45 minutes before the start it began to rain. I had planned on it being kind of cool, but didn't count on the rain. I love the rain and especially love running in it. Anyways I don't think anything was going to bring me down. By start time it was still raining and it was clear that this was going to be a pretty big race with so many people lining up (there was also an 11 mile race) and with a helicopter flying over the start. 

 

 Casey checking in with the kiddos before lining up

 

Helicopter photographing the start (can you say downwash)

 

I'm not going to bore you with all the race details. I will say that this is a pretty tough course with some steep descents and climbs and very narrow single track which makes it hard to pass. There were more than few bridge (including one very bouncy suspension bridge) and creek crossings. After the start Amy decided to drive to one of the aid stations along the race route and surprise me. She had told me that she was going to stay at the start/finish area until I finished. So at a road crossing around mile 13 as I was heading out of the woods I noticed a woman with the same color sweatshirt as Amy's, and she was holding the same camera that we had, and there was a car that looked like ours. Wait a second that's Amy!

 

Casey near mile 13

 

Amy drove a little further down the road to see me again at the Mile 19 aid station. It was about a 5 minute drive for her and an hour plus run for me. This was the aid station that had the drop bags and I was able to sit down and change my socks to avoid getting blisters. I also refilled his backpack with supplies. Ella had picked some flowers for me to bring along for the last 12 miles. Between changing out of my wet socks, sitting down for 60 seconds, and seeing the family I was really pumped up and took off down the trail at a good pace.



  

 Casey recharging and Ella giving him a flower for good luck.

 

A little over 6 hours after I started I crossed the finish line of my first 50k. I placed 99th out of over 450 finishers in the 50k. It was a cool and rainy day with a slippery course and some of the fast runners even got lost. Aside from being a little tired I was very excited and pleased with the race and can't wait to do another. Such a great experience. After the race we headed back to the hotel to clean up. Amy and kids enjoyed the hotel pool while I laid down for a bit.

 

 

 Turning the corner to the finish line

 

Walking back to the car to change

 

The following day we went to the Chattanooga Sunday Market followed by a much requested trip to the carousel at Coolidge Park.

  

 

 Ella waving to Daddy

 

Colby on the Merry-go-Round



 

 Ella in mid-flight

 

What a great weekend. We can't wait to go back to Chattanooga in a few weeks for Amy's half marathon and I can't wait to run another 50k.

 











Happy Birthday Colby

While we were in Maine Colby celebrated his birthday with family.   For his actual birthday in August we celebrated the day with birthday donuts in the morning, followed by a trip to the "Jumpy House" as Colby likes to call it.  We ended the day with Colby's favorite dinner of pizza and ice cream cake.  Colby had fun opening presents with Mommy, Daddy, Ella, Fenway and Chloe.  It was a great day!

Our Trip to Maine

In July Ella, Colby, Fenway, Chloe and I took a road trip to Maine to visit family while Casey was away on a mission trip to Korea and Nepal.  Colby and Ella loved spending time with their cousins and Fenway and Chloe loved swimming in the lake.  Chloe even learned how to jump off the dock.  This video shows some of the memories we made during the 18 days we were away from home!

Dancing Before Bed

Last week Ella and Colby were dancing before bed.  Colby made me laugh as he was trying to hold out his pajamas to dance like Ella was doing with her dress :)  Make sure you turn up your volume so you can hear both of them humming.

Adventures in Babysitting

This week our house was filled with lots of furry friends.  Not only did we have our two dogs and fish to take care of but we also took care of a neighbors guinea pig and a friend's dog.  We loved it!

Meet Sam the guinea pig.

Meet Rush - Chloe's best dog friend!

(other than Fenway of course)

 

Chloe and Sam keeping an eye on each other.

Rush meet Sam - Sam meet Rush :)

 

A Visit from Auntie C.C.

Last month Auntie C.C. came to visit.  We had so much fun while she was here.  We went swimming, went to the Alabama Jubilee festival, took a trip to the Unlcaimed Baggage store, had a tour of Cathedral Caverns, went to Nashville for a day, enjoyed the end of the year musical at Ella's preschool and had a fun evening at Point Mallard water park for a family picnic put on by Casey's employer.

Ella at Alabama Jubilee.

Ella and Auntie C.C. loved looking at the hot air balloons.

Ella was so excited to have her picture taken with this "pincess."



 Our ride in a hot air balloon.

We celebrated Auntie C.C's birthday with home made chocolate covered strawberries.

Eating lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville, TN.