NYC Visitors

Last weekend, before the big race, we were thrilled to get a chance to visit with two different sets of friends from NYC who happened to be in town. 

First off, on Friday, we saw our friends Jordan and Trevor Smith (and their beautiful children Austin and Eliza).  Some of you may remember that Austin was born 3 months before Miller while we were in NYC (in fact, here’s a photo of Jordan holding Miller when he was 1 day old!)

We spent some time near my office and had lunch on the lawn - we tried to catch up in between bites of food and trying to make sure Miller and Austin didn’t fall into the water that surrounded the lawn area.  The two boys hit it off well - they were running around and enjoying each other so much that we forgot to get any more pictures than this one from behind. 

On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning we saw our friends John and Summer Ellis who were in town for a meeting at UNC.  In addition to dinner at Armadillo on Friday night, their adorable kids John and Anna Charles came over to our house to play both days and we had a blast.  John is almost exactly 6 months older than Miller and Anna Charles is a little more than 1 - though Tracy hadn’t met AC until last weekend.  Both kids are adorable and we had fun breaking out all kinds of toys, as you can see. 

We loved having our NYC visitors and hope they come back again soon! 

Thanks Jennifer!

On Sunday afternoon, Tracy’s sister Jennifer came up to spend the night and next day with us.  Specifically, she said she wanted to get some special time with the kids but also to make some meals for us to help us out since life is cray cray when you have two little ones.  

We had a blast with Jennifer - Miller especially enjoyed the walk to the playground where he was able to show off all the sights of our neighborhood.  And boy did we ever reap the benefits of her offer to “cook a meal for us”.  Jennifer must have brought half her pantry up with her to aid in making at least 3 different full dinner meals that we were able to freeze in addition to an incredible baked oatmeal breakfast dish and some sides.

We’ve been enjoying the fruits of her hard work all week at dinner time and are thankful for the awesome way Jennifer cared for us.  Thanks Jennifer!  

Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon

Right around the time 2012 started I began asking a lot of people what their resolutions and goals were for the New Year.  Tracy was just a little more than a month removed from giving birth to Charlotte, so one of the top things on her list was getting back into working out.  As a way to make this happen, Tracy set a goal of doing a half marathon in 2012.

I’m delighted to say that it’s not even May and Tracy has achieved one of her New Year’s resolutions.  On Sunday, we both ran the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon.  It was a ton of fun to do a race and to do it together, as the majority of our running exploits over the last few years have been separate.

In order to train for a half when you have two little ones, it requires a lot of teamwork.  For the last couple months, our Saturday mornings have pretty much consisted of one of us doing a run while the other watches the kiddos, then repeating with the other getting a chance to run.  We were pretty diligent about training for 10 weeks or so and it was fun to see the improvement.  When Tracy started she was just getting back to running and doing a couple miles was no easy task.  By the end, she burned through a 12 mile training run like it was nothing.

So we felt prepared for race day but there was the little detail of actually completing the 13.1 miles.  The race started by the RBC Center (apparently now called the PNC Center)  and had about a 5 mile loop up and back on Blue Ridge Rd before a different loop that took us through some farm areas before an uphill climb up Reedy Creek Road and back to the arena.  We had no idea it was so hilly around this part of Raleigh - at least it felt really hilly during mile 11 on the last big climb!

Alas, we made it (Tracy’s run and the course can be seen in the above)!  And while we were tired and sore at the finish line there was a real sense of accomplishment.  In addition to finishing, we both hit our goals for pace!  Chances are we may do another race before 2012 is up!

Happy Birthday Big Pappa!

Yesterday was my Dad’s birthday, his 54th on this Earth.  Of course, if you ask my Dad how old he was turning yesterday he’d probably say “30-24”.  He’s been using that joke for years (along with a few others).  Which is one of the main things we love about him - he may be getting older each year but his jokes will never get old.  

We’re looking forward to getting to spend some time celebrating with him this weekend at the lake, our first trip of the season.  Big Pappa,  your first mate has been talking about driving the boat!  Get ready! 

Happy Birthday Big Pappa, hope you had a wonderful day. 

More March Madness

March Madness is winding down for the NCAA teams but this week at the office there was another kind of March Madness.  For the 2nd year in a row, the American Tobacco Complex where my office is set up a 3v3 basketball tournament for the local offices.  Each company could enter up to 2 teams in a 32 team bracket for bragging rights and a chance to donate some money to the local public schools. 

I have to say, this year the ATC campus really stepped up their game and made it an awesome event.  The games were held in Bay 7, a unique loft event space that usually hosts things like wedding receptions.  Instead of cake and dancing, they rolled in a real, glass backboard hoop and there was tons of halfcourt action.  

The team I played on was pretty strong and we coasted to easy victories in the first two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday.  This set up a match this morning with the Durham Police Department team.  To say that we were outsized is an understatement.  But due to some strong team play and the outstanding shooting of our star guard Andrew Yarbrough, we won by about 10 to advance to the Final Four. 

In this semifinal game we matched up with the downtown YMCA team and it was a back and forth affair.   It was all tied up with 30 seconds left but they forced a turnover and ended up winning by 3. 

All in all, it was a truly fun and memorable event, as lots of our co-workers came down to serve as the cheering squad.  What a fun way to take part in March Madness! 

Wedding Fun

On Saturday we attended the wedding of my cousin, Jennifer, in Raleigh.  It was a lot of fun as we had our whole crew together and it was Miller’s first wedding (though in fairness, he didn’t really attend the wedding as we didn’t want to cause any disruptions. He was perfectly content to hang out in the van watching Thomas before getting to participate in reception). 

And participate he did!  Miller had a blast running around, checking out the photo booth, and pretty much shadowing my 9 year old cousin Luke every which way.  Look how proud he is to be running with his older cousin.  

We were so glad to be able to celebrate with Jennifer and her new hubby Ash and were glad to be able to have the whole family join in on the fun.