the Pinta and the Nina

Last week, the boys and I headed down to the River to see the Pinta and the Nina replicas.  The boats were is town for just a short time so I'm glad we were able to go.  Tanner loves reading about history.  He just finished learning about the Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria at school so he was pumped! 

They has lots of pictures of the replicas being built so Tanner spent some time reading (with help) about the construction.  He also read that a 14 year old built the small boat on the Nina.  Of course, now he wants to build a boat and knows for sure that Chris can help him do this! We stopped by the library on our way home and checked out a few books about Columbus and his ships!



ghost paint

GHOST PUFF PAINT

a big squeeze of Elmer's glue

a bigger squirt of cheap shaving cream

mix together...should be very thick

The boys love this recipe especially because they can pour, squirt and mix themselves.  You CAN NOT mess this recipe up.  I love that I always have the ingredients on hand.  It's very to use food colring to color the puff paint also! Once our ghost dry, we will cut them out and hang them in the windows "to scare people", according to Tanner and Sam.



a weekend getaway

NORTH FACE ENDURANCE RUN

This weekend, Chris and I headed to Atlanta (actually Pine Mountain, GA) for the North Face Endurance Marathon. Chris decided for his birthday this year he wanted to run a trail marathon. I prefer a nice dinner and a new Kate Spade purse but to each his own! Again, I am so amazed that after only a year of running, Chris is running marathons.

Ahhhhh...seven hours in the car by ourselves...heaven on earth! It is so refreshing to spend so much uninterrupted time with Chris...we spoke in complete sentences without having to finish our stories 3 days later. A big thank you to our sweet families who watched our boys for 3 days...what would we do without you!

Our weekend transportation to the race site.  This weekend was a very valuable lesson in trail running races.  I originally wanted to run the 1/2 but it was on Sunday so it kind of threw us...but now that I have experienced one as an observer...I will run next go round! They are very family friendly, laid back, spectators only join at the start and finish and cars are not allowed at the race site so this fabulous yellow school bus took us to the race from Callaway Gardens.  I also learned that small towns have limited accommodations...booking at the last minute not a good choice...on the bright side our "Inn"   kept us laughing!  There was also an Indian Festival that weekend and our "Inn" had some attenders!

Dean Karnazes...Chris has read every book!  This guy is a stud...google him!

My race bestie...she either runs with me, keeps me at her house and feeds more or joins me to watch Chris!  What a great friend!

THE RACERS...each race 50 mile, 50k, marathon...etc left at a different time.  They also had different waves to help with the single track of the trails!

So here go the runners....

and here go the shoppers!!!

Kathryn, Emily and I spent the afternoon shopping! Emily drove up/down? from Auburn to spend the afternoon with Kathryn and I while Chris hit the trails for 26.2.  Sooo glad he did the full, it gave us plenty of shopping time and REALLY excited that he said next time he would do the 50k...more shopping!!  Luckily, for the girls, this town had great shopping...love.

ALL SMILES...and at that moment he said "I could have run 7 more."  7 more, 7 more what...minutes NO he meant miles REALLY...I was tired from riding the bus and shopping!  I mean and I'm a runner but I have never thought about running more once I crossed a finish line...CRAZY!!

So now a little bragging...Chris finished 10th in his age group and 21st overall in the marathon!  See the girl in the yellow shirt...2 photos above?  She and Chris ran together the whole race and she got 3rd overall for the women...WOW!  My place in a race is the "I crossed the finish line alive" place:)

This is Dean signing books for Chris and the boys.  He asked Chris how his run was and how he felt...I'm not sure what Chris said but Dean looked at him and said "if you feel like that you didn't leave it all on the trail...you've got more in you"...Chris of course agreed and said he could have kept running...

So next year...book hotel early, bring the boys, I will run the 1/2 marathon for sure and who knows with Chris maybe by then he'll be ready for the 50 miler!!

No more training wheels!!!

WAY TO GO TANNER!!!
Chris taught Tanner to ride his bike without training wheels a few months ago!!

Sam loves Tanner's helmet..."hat on", "hat on" then he signs "please"!

Uh-oh this could be bad...

Tanner was gentle...and Sam can hold his own...you think it's his gurth?

Estimating

After our walk...Tanner wanted to count all of the leaves, pine cones and acorns we collected. We had hundreds in our wagon so I thought lets ESTIMATE! We got out a jar and got started. Tanner loved it...not the best guesser yet though. After we played with our Nature Walk items he went all though the house getting more stuff to estimate!

100 WAS HIS FAVORITE # TO GUESS!