Six down, six to go

After a busy winter and spring of running marathons Dave took a couple of months off during the summer. There aren't many marathons in the summer and even the late April, early May ones are HOT to run in. Can you imagine running a marathon in July? I can't imagine running a marathon at all, so one in July sounds especially awful.
Here's a re-cap of what marathons Dave (and Andrew) have run so far this year(if you would like to go back to the post about a particular race the links are below)

Miami
Myrtle Beach
Atlanta
Knoxville
Nashville
Pittsburgh

Coming up this fall:

Omaha (this Sunday, September 23rd)
Chicago
Columbus
Savannah (Andrew only as it is the weekend before my due date!)
Huntsville
Memphis

So, Dave needs to find another race to run this fall to get his 12 in 12 months. The Charlotte Marathon is Nov. 17th and there is also one in NC on October 27th. The one on October 27th makes me a little nervous, that is a little close to my due date...

Dylan and I think the baby will be early, but Dylan did tell me that she would come after my birthday. I am hoping for a Nov. 6th or 7th arrival as Carolyn won't be here until Nov. 5th. We will see how that goes since I really don't have any control over when this (nameless still) baby arrives!

Oh, back to the marathons, that's what this post is supposed to be about right?! Dave and Andrew headed up to Omaha a little early, they are staying with Carolyn. Dave has already exposed Andrew to interesting dining in Neola and the Old Market. Today they are golfing with friends and then tonight going to Kyle and Amie's house warming. Dave always tries to pack in as much as he can when he is back in Iowa, hopefully he doesn't get worn out before the race on Sunday.

It goes without saying, but if you can make it to any of the races to cheer these guys on they would love it. Dave always tells me how much it helps him to see people that he knows cheering him on throughout the race. Nina and I have become experts and strategically placing ourselves throughout the race courses so if you have any questions on where to watch let us know! Also, the Omaha marathon looks super easy to be a spectator at, the race course basically runs 13 miles south and then 13 miles north all within a few blocks of each other. Here's the race map, I would suggest printing it out if you are going to the race and any parking info and road closures.

I am hoping I can get some photos from Dave's family that will be attending the race (hint, hint) and will be able to post them next week!

Good luck Dave and Andrew!!

First T-ball Game

Dylan had his first tball game last Tuesday. Dave and I had so much fun watching all the kids. Some did a good job of paying attention and watching when the other team was up to bat. Other kids played in the dirt, pulled up the grass, watched the train go by and sat down on the field. Dylan did a little of everything. He does love fielding the ball though and where ever the ball was hit he would run over there to try and get it. He started out in the outfield and then moved to second base, which was a much better fit for him to be able to field the ball. He did a pretty good job hitting the ball too. He had a great time playing and does a pretty good job of listening to his coaches. They play two innings per game, kids get to swing as many times as they need to to hit the ball and they don't keep score (no outs or runs are counted). At first I was skeptical of the fact that no-one wins the game, but after seeing these kids play there really would be no reason to count outs or keep score. And even if they did count outs it would take forever to get to 3! 95% of the kids are just learning the game, they all have fun and learn how to play which is most important right now.

We have 2 games a week for the next few weeks and then one game a week in October. The games along with gymnastics are keeping us busy just about every night of the week. Dylan doesn't seem to mind though, when we don't have something to do at night he's not super excited to go home. I guess that is good though, he is definitely having fun playing different sports!

(lots of photos below! #5 is Dylan's number)

 

Photos: Tennessee Valley Fair

We had a great time again this year at the Tennessee Valley Fair. Dylan loved the petting zoo, riding the donkey and of course the rides!

Laurel Falls Hike

Last Monday Dave, Dylan and I had a rare day to spend together and while it was raining when we woke up  I was sure it would clear up by the time we made it to Laurel Falls for our hike. Dylan loves hiking and it's been a long time since we have been able to make it up to the mountains for a hike. I decided on Laurel Falls for a few reasons, the waterfall, a paved trail and a relatively short hike (1.3 miles each way). The first hike Dave and I did when we moved to Tennessee over 6 years ago was Laurel Falls. I'd forgotten that it's basically uphill the entire way to the falls...

Dylan had a great time as usual and ran up most of the trail. He did have fun posing for photos too and wanted his photo taken on every rock we passed! Now if only we could get him to hike in shoes instead of rain boots!

Fishing!

Dylan requested a fishing pole for his birthday from his Grandpa Dave, and Grandpa did not disappoint! As soon as Grandpa got out of the car Dylan was right there asking about his fishing pole. Luckily Grandpa had it in an easily accessible location and was nice enough to give the fishing pole to Dylan right away! After Grandpa got the fishing pole assembled, he showed Dylan how to cast the line and after a few tries Dylan started to get the hang of it.
On Saturday morning we headed to the pond at Anchor Park to go fishing. Dylan couldn't wait to try and catch a fish. However, we weren't so lucky, I think we needed worms, we were just using what bait came with the fishing pole. But Dylan didn't give up easily, and had a ton of fun casting the line, reeling it in and learning some fishing secrets from Grandpa!

Grandpa showing Dylan how to cast the line.

Any fish down there?

Maybe over here will be better?

What about here? No luck!

T-ball!

Dylan had his first t-ball practice Tuesday night. I almost died from the cuteness. It was like watching someone try and herd cats...the coach did do a great job though. First the coach had the kids all run the bases, then then each child hit off the tee and ran to each base as each child hit the ball and they ended with catching grounders and even a few fly balls. Dylan seemed to have fun. I asked him before he went to be what he liked most about t-ball and he said "Everything!" he liked running (of course, he loves to run) hitting and catching. He is really looking forward to his next practice and first game next week!

Practicing running the bases.

Waiting for his turn to bat.

Coach making sure Dylan knows to run to 1st base after he hits the ball. 

Now I'll go to 3rd base! (he actually started running towards home plate, I guess we need to work little more on base running!)

Waiting....

Resting, there were a lot of swings and misses before he ran to third base...

Painting with a Twist: Paint your pet

My mom visited a few weeks ago and we were able to make it to one of my favorite places, Painting with a Twist! A few weeks before my mom visited I asked her to look at their calendar to see if there was anything she wanted to paint the week she was there. Luckily, the "Paint Your Pet" class was open on Wednesday night. My mom has been talking about painting a few of her cats forever, so this class was perfect timing.

I decided that I would paint one of her cats instead of painting one of our cats. I'm not quite sure where I would put a painting of one of our cats. :) Mom emailed photos of two of her cats, Minnie, a gorgeous black and white cat and Julius an sweet orange tomcat to Painting with a Twist. The instructor, Leann, penciled an outline of the cats on canvas before we got there so we would have a good starting place. We started out by tracing the cats pencil outline with watered down paint. Then we started to fill in the colors, black and whitish gray for my mom and a multitude of oranges and browns for me. We had great help from our instructor Leann. It knew this class would be difficult, but it was a lot harder than I expected. However, the background on my painting was just blue sky and a gray wall, my mom's painting had yellow flowers and (what ended up as red)a reddish background.

She did a great job on Minnie's face, especially her white fur between her eyes and wisps of her black fur. Leann helped me quite a bit at the end of my painting I was getting worn out and it was just difficult to get some of the fur looking just right. There were only 3 of us in the class, so we had lots of one on one attention, which is certainly important in a class like Paint your pet.

You start by outlining the cats in black.

Then you fill in the background (as you can see my mom started off with a yellow background)

Then you fill in the rest, it's not really that easy though. It was great to have a small class and the instructor there to help with the details!

The (almost) finished paintings. My mom wanted to finish her flowers at home. But look at minnie's face (the  black and white cat) awesome! Both cats are a wonderful representation of their personalities.