Eight

Vinnie is 8 today!!


Artistic, loud and smart--these words best describe Vinnie!  So what has Vinnie been up to this year??  Here are Vinnie's top 8 for the last year.

1.  We went snow skiing last year in Deer Valley, and for the first time he was able to ski with us for the entire day!  Way to go Vinnie!

2.  He played on the AA Giants with his Dad as the coach.

3.  He joined his big brothers for 2 weeks at sleep away camp and had a blast!

4.  He actually tried a few new foods while away at camp.  Turns out starvation is a great motivator.  Unfortunately he still won't eat new things here at home.

5.  Started second grade, and helped his teachers get to know him better by telling them he was lazy.  They can't say they weren't warned.

*click to enlarge and check out number 1

6. Played Fall Baseball on the Cubs and got his first hit off a kid pitched ball (which was a big deal and took most of the season!)

7.  Learned how to cover up a swear word by using the word "beep".

the above picture was turned in as part of a homework assignment

8.  He continues to demonstrate his complete lack of healthy fear for any kind of adult or authority figure.  At lunch he has been known to ask the principal to open his capri sun.  At the Monterey Bay Aquarium he marched up to the woman lecturing and proceeded to ask her question after question on sharks (until I went up there and rescued her).

Vinnie makes us laugh daily, amazes us with his ability to put together complicated lego sets, and has the singing voice of an angel.  I can't wait to see what he is going to do with his life because I know it is going to be great!  Happy birthday Vinnie!  We love you!

Here I go again...

 Anyone who has been on Facebook regularly has noticed that I have been doing some awfully long runs on the weekends.  I have been training for a marathon, Surf City in Huntington Beach on February 5.  Again.  I get a little nervous saying that out loud.  Why?  Because last year when I was training for the exact same marathon,  I ended up with a stress fracture in my hip, preventing me from running for over 4 months.  It happened one week after I bought my plane ticket.  So what have I done different this time?  I haven't bought a plane ticket!!  No way.  I am driving down.  I have even been reluctant to blog about it, for fear of something bad happening.

So why now?  Because I just finished running my last 20 mile run and am now in official taper mode (which I find more painful than the 20 mile runs.  Weird, I know.)!!   I am pumped up and feel great!  I am still a bit nervous about an injury.  Hell, I could fall down the stairs tomorrow, or trip over one of the boys' cleats in the garage at any moment.  Let's just say though that I am cautiously optimistic about my chances of making it to the starting line this time around.

What about my goal time? Up until now I have been saying that my goal is to make it to the starting line.  I feel  I need to move past that now and choose an actual time goal.  My one and only marathon 3 1/2 yrs ago I ran in 4:31, but was injured through most of my training, and injured during the race.  At that time in my running, my PR for a half marathon was about 2:06.  Things are different now.  My recent half marathon time was 1:51.  My long run times/paces have been all over the board.

16 miles @ 9:21 pace
18 miles @ 8:52 pace
20 miles @ 9:05 pace--felt AWFUL at the end and was staggering the last mile
16 miles @ 8:54 pace
20 miles @9:33 pace--felt better, but still wiped out and dry heaving at the end
17 miles @9:08 pace--felt great!!
20.5 miles @ 8:58-- This was my run today.  I felt really good!  I actually felt like I could have kept running.  I didn't throw up at all and chowed down a bag of Cheetos when I got home.

So fellow running buddies--what should I reasonably expect to be able to do?  I am thinking 4 hr 15 min for sure (which is a 9:43 pace).  I am hoping for faster though.  Thoughts?

New Years Eve, East Coast Style!

Better late than never, right?

Zachary had plans for the night, as usual, which means we did not have a babysitter.  We thought about finding one, but never actually got around to it.  We decided since we couldn't do anything fun, we would have a party for the younger kids.

We invited handful of the cousins- Peter, Gian, and Laurel (all age 9 years) and William (age 8 years).  With my younger 3 we had 7 kids here for the night.

 We started off with a silly string fight.  Seemed like a cool idea.  The kids had fun, but unfortunately the cans lasted less than 5 minutes, and Christopher cried because he couldn't figure out how to use his!  Next time, more cans and a tutorial for Christopher prior to the party.

We had heated up the hot tub so the kids played in the water.  Much to my surprise they even went in the pool!!  The water was so cold that the temperature didn't even register (it just said less than 50).  They would jump in and swim across, then get back in the hot tub as quickly as possible.  Nuts!!

Then it was pizza time!!  To say I was regretting those horns the entire night is an understatement!

The kids then settled down for a movie (or 2) until 9 pm.  We went outside with poppers and confetti to ring in the  (almost) new year.  They were all asleep by 11 pm, with me soon following (Pete was long gone on the couch by then!)  But don't worry.  Thanks to my 13 year old who decided to text me a "Happy New Year" message at midnight I was awake for the real new year as well.  (Apparently Zach's party was just getting started!)

Wishing everyone the best in 2012!!