01.12.11 Aquarium

The day after the marathon we kept Matthias so Rick, Kristi & the kids could go to the Magic Kingdom. Monday night they got to our house, and stayed with us for a few days. It was so nice to just hang out with them. Tuesday they watched Eli & Leah while I taught my class, then Kristi and I went to the mall while the kids took naps. Wednesday we got up, packed a lunch, and headed to the Aquarium. We wanted to get there in time to see the Penguin show-and we made it just in time.
It was pretty cool-well...at least I think it was. Eli wasn't really interested, so I was chasing him for a while.

Lookin' at the fish.

Creepy

Looking through the magnifier thing at the tiny fish.

We found Nemo!

The smoke is always a hit with the kids...it's one of Eli's favorite spots :)

'Petting' the stingrays

These birds were pretty funny. They came up so close! One snapped at Isaiah. It was pretty funny :)

Who will win the staring contest?

Even Leah got to look at the fish.

Everyone went outside for a bit while I fed Leah. It was a gorgeous day.

That's one big fish...

The kids liked the tank where you could touch these fish too.

Apparently Rick played with my camera...

I think you're suppose to play INSIDE those...

A bunch 'o happy kids :)

It was a really fun morning.

Afterwards we went to Ryan's school and ate lunch in the library. Fun times for all :)

It was really nice to have Rick & Kristi visit. Hopefully they'll come again soon :)

01.09.11 Downtown Disney

After the Marathon was finished, we headed back to the hotel so the kids could take naps...and so Ryan and Rick could take a nap too :) Eli had already had a nap, so he played at the playground with Edgar for a while and then played in the arcade that was at the hotel. He's perfectly content 'playing' the games without spending money. We'll see how long that lasts...

At about 3:00 we loaded things up and headed for Downtown Disney.
We went to this really cool store where you could build your own remote control car. Guess which car body Julean wants...

I think he'd take Mater too...

The cars with a few extra accessories...

The store had a remote control car the kids could play with. That thing was pretty cool. I said to Edgar 'Wouldn't it be fun to get Julean a Lightning McQueen car?' and he said 'Forget Julean, I want one' :) So, now you know what to get Edgar for his birthday ;)

We also went to the Lego store...which could very well be Eli's new favorite store. He loved it there, and cried quite hard when we had to leave.

I think all of the kids enjoyed it :)

After Downtown Disney we went out for dinner (at 5 Guys Burgers & Fries...ummm...YUM!) and then Edgar and I headed for home.

It was a super fun weekend for us. Maybe next year I'll be participating a little more in the running...we'll see :)

01.09.11-Disney Marathon

Sunday morning came bright and early. We got up and packed our car up and were on our way to see Ryan and Rick run shortly after 7:30. We left kind of not knowing where we were going, but amazingly enough, made no wrong turns as we just guessed our way to the spot we were hoping to get to. We arrived at a McDonald's along the route, and had time to get some coffee and a quick bite to eat (ummmmm...the new oatmeal at McDonald's is delicious!). We walked up a nice, steep hill, and waited for Ryan and Rick to come. This picture makes me laugh for a couple of reasons. I was trying to get a picture of Isaiah holding a sign...this is what I got. He's NOT a camera lover. The thing that makes me laugh the hardest, though is Leah's gloves. Click on the picture to enlarge it, and you will see that Edgar has found a pair of Carly's gloves and put them on Leah's hands so they won't get cold. He's always on top of things :) Thanks, Carly, for letting us borrow your gloves. By the way...they are sitting on my counter...
Eli stood along the road dancing, and talking to himself most of the time. He can always entertain himself...

Here comes Rick! He got a nice big hug from Julean.

Oh sure, Isaiah...NOW you'll hold up your sign...

Adriana did get up to see her dad, but this is where she spent most of the time waiting for him...I thought Michiganders were suppose to be more tolerant of the cold than that...(side note totally unrelated to the marathon, but I'm quite amused that 'Michiganders' didn't come up as a misspelled word when I ran the spell check. Maybe it really IS a word...)

Kristi and her kids headed to the finish line to see Rick cross, and Edgar, the kids and I stayed to wait for Ryan. I can't believe I actually got this picture-we were watching and watching, then all of a sudden he was in front of me. Edgar didn't even see him. He ran by, gave Leah a kiss, then he was gone. He's fast like that.

Both Rick and Ryan did an amazing job. Rick was running injured, and Ryan had run the half-marathon the day before. The fact that they were standing at this point is amazing to me :)

Because Ryan ran both the half-marathon and the full, he got 3 medals. These are the two he received on the day of the marathon...the Mickey Mouse one is for the marathon, the Goofy medal is for completing the 'Goofy challenge'...ya know...running both races.

I am pretty sure this is about how Ryan & Rick felt...

Way to go guys :)

01.08.11 Later that day at the playground...

After the half-marathon we went back to our hotel. Rick & Kristi were just pulling into the hotel as we were. It was so good to see them again so soon! Rick, Kristi, Isaiah & Matthias headed to the expo to pick up Rick's packet for the marathon, and Edgar and I took the rest of the kids to the playground (cuz no one would take a nap...which made for a delightful Eli at Olive Garden that night...) Enjoy some pictures of the kiddos at play.
I could just eat him up. He's SO cute!!

These two play so well together. Periodically throughout the weekend, you'd catch them hugging one another. So cute!

:)

Adriana is such a pretty little girl, and such a little tomboy. LOVE IT!

Adriana was so cute to watch as she played with this. She has such an imagination. She was just talking away in her own little play world.

The kids were nice and sandy after we were done, but they had fun :)

01.08.11-Disney Half-Marathon

On Friday, January 7 we loaded up the car and headed for Orlando. We had decided we were going to go watch Ryan, Jenny & Rick run the Disney half & full marathon. We got to our hotel that evening, and as we were pulling in, I looked at the reservation, and realized I had reserved the room for the wrong weekend. Ugh. Edgar went in, though, and everything worked out. We actually got some money back-yay! We got to our room and quickly put the kids to bed, for what we thought would be a good night's sleep. WRONG. Leah cried...HARD for an hour. She's NEVER done that. Never. I was really hoping there was no one in the room next to us. Eli, of course, would not go to sleep with Leah crying, so we were up for a while. I think the kids finally got to sleep around 10:30...and then were up at 7:00 am. We wanted to leave our room by 7:30-which we miraculously came close to doing. We headed to the finish line to see Ryan and Jennifer complete their half-marathon. Eli wanted to show all the athletes his abs...apparently he was warm...
Leah discovered her fingers. It was a very profitable time for her...

Eli got some much needed 'daddy time'. SO glad Edgar is feeling better!

Leah got out of the stroller and into the Bjorn. Lovely self-portrait...

And then came Ryan!

Followed by Jennifer!

They both did amazing. They said that the race was PACKED-they were dodging people for most of the race, and still had fantastic times.

Way to go Ryan & Jennifer!

78.6

So proud of my brothers & my sister in law! Ryan & Jennifer ran the Disney half-marathon on Saturday (13.1 miles)
And Ryan & Rick ran the full marathon on Sunday (26.2 miles)...for a combined distance of 78.6 miles :) That's farther than the distance we drove to see them run :)
Way to go guys! So proud of all of you!
(more pictures to follow of the weekend!)