Father's Day- Ribfest

Lots of things happened between Mother's Day and Father's Day but I figure I'd start posting with this week's happenings and then work my way backwards!

We spent Father's Day at Ribfest as we  have for the past several years.  Everyone is pleased with this choice of Brendan's! We meet up with friends, have amazing food, the kids spend hours on the bouncy houses.....what more could you ask for?!

Brendan was VERY happy! Ribs and pulled pork and some other type of meat.  Really great! My kids of course had pizza.  At least 3 other boys in our gathering had ribs!   I was beyond impressed.

 After lunch we made our way back to the bouncy houses.  Damien and the kids joined us this year and I took Charlotte and Olivia  to the bouncy places of their choice since the boys were doing more extreme stuff like boxing etc.  Of course the girls had to go in the bouncy castle!

And the slide! Weeeee!

As every year, we had a mini air show.  It was as cool as ever!  

 Getting ready to go in the batting cage.

Charlotte is constantly asking to be tickled and Brendan happily obliges.  ( You may be wondering why her tongue is such an unnatural dark color.  She had one of those disgusting fake ice cream Scooby Doo bars from the ice cream truck. Yuck!)

The cool gang.

I love the Ribfest.  It was such a great day. Brendan was happy which made the rest of us happy too. :)

Recap...Mother's Day

It feels like eons ago at this point but I really wanted to post these pics from Mother's Day. I'm so far behind on blogging! I really do take too many photos.

Brendan always plans a fantastic Mother's Day for me. It's always perfect!   

We spent a couple hours at my parents house in the morning and then headed off to one of my favorite areas in the world... Portsmouth.  It was such a beautiful day, perfect for the coast.  We walked around a little bit and then went to a fabulous place for a jazz brunch.  Now mind you, this is after we had gone out for breakfast in the morning which the kids begged for. I could eat breakfast 24/7 so that was fine with me.  At brunch, Cole and I both ordered the deep fried french toast.  It was absolutely amazing and tasted like fried dough but lighter.  Love!

After our jaunt around Portsmouth we drove over to New Castle Beach.  The tide was about half way out and so we looked for shells.  We found several crabs in the tide pools which was really cool! We weren't prepared for a beach venture so we didn't have towels to dry off feet or buckets or anything but we still had fun.  New Castle also has a great playground which the kids played on for well over an hour. And their big grassy field....well, that was just awesome. Races and twirling!  I love these photos of the kids. Charlotte kept saying, "I wish Mother's Day was everyday."  We were together, we were happy, and it was perfect.

Because when I'm near The Ice House it has a magnetic pull on me, we ended the day there with getting ice cream for dinner.  Everyone was tired and happy.  A perfect day.

Goal #1 Accomplished: 5K finished!!

In late January I made a list of my top goals for myself this year.  They included a number of things one of them was to run (and complete of course) a 5K.  Now, if you haven known me for a number of years you  know that I was extremely athletic up through high school. Then I became a slacker in college and never picked a solid consistent physical activity.  But at age 35 I've got to start doing something.  So I searched for 5Ks in NH and found the Smuttynose Run for Beer 5K. Perfect!  It was in June which was enough time to train and so I enlisted Lisa to sign up with me.  

I have been running pretty consistently in May and this past week I ran 3.5 miles several times and I felt good after running so I knew I was ready.    Brendan and the kids were going to come cheer me on.  

Well, this morning of course we wake up to showers and rain and I grudgingly told Brendan to stay home. I didn't want to make the kids miserable just so I could have my cheering section.  That being said, I jumped out of bed this morning and was bouncing around the house I was  SO excited.  

Lisa and I drove over to Hampton and of course it was rainy and chilly which actually is not that bad of weather for running.  We signed in along with the 1700 other registrants, got our cool free tshirt and sat back in the car for another 45 minutes waiting and psyching ourselves up.    

I made Lisa take a photo in front of the finish before the race started. :)

 We walked 0.8 miles to the actual start and at 11am we were off! You can see there are hundreds of runners in front of us. I saw lots of marathoners in the race probably using this as a warm up to their big event and and lots of newbies like me too.  As the whistle blew I felt amazing.  Everyone is running, everyone is doing their very best, and I felt motivated just from the energy around me.  It's hard to describe but it was just awesome.  The route was down some rural roads and through a farm land.  Several families waited by the end of their driveways and cheered us on.  Some families handed out water.   It was a those brief moments that I missed my own family but I was ok.  

Lisa told me I ran faster as the race went on and I think I was just pushed on by all of this. I was in the moment and it was awesome.  We reached the finish line at 30 minutes and 22 seconds (Lisa's time was a couple seconds faster.) and I felt like I could have gone farther. It was so GREAT!!

 Wet but we did it!!

Some of our loot from the the companies that sponsored the event.

Line for the Smuttynose Beer Tent.

So WORTH it!!

I'm officially hooked!! My revised goal for this year is to run at least 2 more 5Ks this year and then a 10K next year. I could totally do it!!

WDW Vacation: Last Post...

Well, it's taken me a month to get through these photos but this is finally the last post of pictures.  

We spent our last full day at Hollywood Studios and the very last day at the Magic Kingdom.  Hollywood Studios is fun but probably my least favorite of the parks. There wasn't a lot to do for Charlotte just with her height. After the third time Cole and Brendan went on Star Tours Charlotte finally got enough courage to go with them.  She ended up loving it of course!

We started out the day at on  Toy Story Mania which the kids both love a lot.  It's a 3D game/ride that is just a lot of fun.  I always try to beat Brendan's high score but never can. :)

Cole saw the photo on the right and asked what he was doing there. I laughed and told him that I think he was posing.

When there is nothing else to do we search for characters which Charlotte loves!

Cole got an 11 o'clock slot to battle Darth Vader. He was super excited!

Charlotte and I chilled by the stage and had popsicles while we waited for the boys.

Learning to fight with the light saber. It really was a well done and comical beginning to the show.  

This was REALLY well done.  

 Great job Cole!

Charlotte and I found a sprinkling water fountain which kept her entertained for quite awhile.

 And the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground was beyond her favorite. We went there whenever we had a chance.  She loved the slides and the "spider web" which she wanted to do first with me but then by herself.  She is becoming so independent.  I want to slow her down! She's growing up too fast.

Brendan loves the Muppets. I love old fashioned movies. :)

 More snacks waiting for the car stunt show.

Oh my goodness.  This picture makes my heart melt.

Waiting for Fantasmic.

We met up with the Batts and watched the show with them. Afterwards the kids played around for awhile on the bleachers while we waited for the crowds to lessen.

The next day Cole and Aiden wanted to trade one of their pins for a pin on the board in the resort gift shop.  Cole found one and left his Lightening McQueen there.  I was sad because he loved this one when he was four but I didn't say anything to him about it. However, not two minutes later Cole looks all worried and wanted to come right back into the gift shop and traded his new pin back for the Lightening McQueen.  :)

The next day we visited MK and quickly went on some rides that we either hadn't been on yet or wanted to do again.  

Brendan and Cole had been on the Haunted Mansion already but we all went on this time. I kept telling Charlotte it wasn't real and was all fake but I'll be honest it was a little scary (she didn't say she was scared) and I don't think I would take a four-year-old again. I just want her (and Cole really) to be desensitized too soon.  Ah, just chalk it up to my protective mothering. :)

Last Dole Whip and ice cream and we said good-bye.

Back at the resort we played in the wishing well, got some dablooms, and talked to one of the cast members about the Disney Vacation Club. Someday we do that!

We usually get this shot on the way to Disney but this trip we took US Air in and Southwest out and this statue is in the terminal where Southwest is.   So sad to leave.  Charlotte still tells me at least every other day that she wants to live at Disney. 

Until next time!