Hide and Seek!

This past Mid-Winter break Oliver and I got to go out and enjoy the AMAZING weather we were having with our friends Mommybrain and her two little ones, NHV and CJV. CJV, being only two months old, snoozed away in her Ergo carrier while Mommybrain and I got to catch up. NHV is Oliver's age, and the two of them had a BLAST! Cougar Mtn Zoo in Issaquah was great; it's small enough the little ones could pretty much go anywhere and never be out of sight. The best part for me, besides catching up with my fellow mommy friend, was watching Oliver and NHV play. There will be another post just for the shots of them holding hands (almost made me cry!), but first, a rousing game of Hide-N-Seek!

Hmmm...I wonder who's dinosaur boots those are...

Yep! I was right! It's Oliver! What a little rascal...

Along comes his friend NHV...I think she knows something is up...She is a smart girl after all!

Oh my goodness! That scoundrel Oliver is trying to SCARE HER! Silly boy! Don't you know girls love that sort of thing?!?!

Ummm...Oliver? I think the gig is up. She has you soooo figured out!

Good times! Thanks, Mommybrain, for getting us out of the house and showing us such a nice time!

6 Miles and the bigger race

Yesterday I ran (ahem...I use the phrase "ran" rather freely. I jogged about 1/2 of it, power walked the other half) 6 miles last night in 93 minutes. That translates to 15.5 minutes per mile. Not stellar, but steady for me. Because the Spokane Marathon states in it's rules that you cannot run with headphones on, I ran it without. It was the first time I ran without headphones, so I was stuck with just the noise in my head for an hour and a half. The voices went something like this:

Mile 1: Just walk, your calves need to warm up.

Mile 2: Ok, they're flippin warmed up now, they're @#$% BURNING! What have I committed myself to? Why am I doing this? What was I thinking? Oh, look at that nice house...

Mile 3: Running now, downhill, but still, running! It's nice out tonight, just cool enough.

"All I want is a proper cup of coffee made in a proper copper coffee pot,
I might be off my duck, but I want a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper pot.
Iron coffee pots and tin coffee pots don't do so much for me,
if I can't have a proper cup of coffee from a copper coffee pot then I'll have a cup of tea"

....Song running through my head courtesy of "Trout Fishing in America", Oliver's favorite band right now.

Mile 4: Dude, I'm BADASS! (still downhill at this point)...Then, I had to pay the piper. All that downhill meant I had to go UP at some point. A new route tonight meant a lot of uphill but a very good glute workout.

Mile 5: I only have 2 miles left, I only have 2 miles left, "All I want is a proper cup of ARRRRRGGG GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!"

Mile 6: As the sweet little Punjabi man shuffling along on the sidewalk across the street was gaining on me, I somehow found the energy to beat his 85 year old bones to the crosswalk. I am soooooo coool!

But, I did it. Every long run on a Sunday means I've gone further than I've ever run (or hiked for that matter, my longest backpacking adventure was 5 miles...I am such an outdoors woman!) so it's an accomplishment for me every time. October 11, here I come!

Speaking of marathons...My friend Dana, AKA Mommybrain and Toddlerbrain, (you may remember the sandwich pictures just for her pregnant tummy!) is having some issues with pre-term contractions that are being somewhat persistent. If you have time, please drop by her blog and leave a note of encouragement! She is a WONDERFUL mom, funny lady, and good friend. It breaks my heart that someone who is trying her best to be a great mom and wife still has to suffer through scary times like these. Pulling for ya girl!

Awards, friends, and SANDWICH PORN

This whole blogging thing (when I'm not off on Oliver and Shawn related trips!) is great fun. I have been slacking a bit lately, but was planning on a few posts this week. My whole issue with this is, I don't really have all that much traffic. Sure, you, my loyal friends and family (Kolby, lovin Tager's sign language video!!!! Tina, we HAVE to get together again, Thanksgiving two years ago was much too long ago!! LOL).

That might not be an issue this week, so here I am, getting off my tuckus getting a post done. This was orginally going to be titled "For Dana: SANDWICH PORN". I'll explain that in a bit...Dana, the lady in the title, is a great friend and has a very, very, very great blog herself. Two as a matter of fact. And a toddler. And she's pregnant. Whew. Too busy for this girl! Anyway, she presented me this morning with an AWARD and bestowed it with some very sweet words that, truth be told, kinda made me weepy. Thank you, I actually really needed that this week!

So, just in case I get a bit more traffic this week, I'll get those photography posts up (days 12-14 of the Jessica Sprague class were really cool!), put up some posts about our adventures lately (Oliver now has his own "mo-er-cy-kle", and we hit Las Vegas for kids AKA Great Wolf Lodge), a bit more about my own exploits (can we just say that I've had waaaaayyyyy too much wine the last week?!?!? LOL). But, first, let's honor the dear lady known as Mommybrain...

Dana, you had to go and do it, didn't you? You had to extol the virtues of a crack-shop, errr, sandwich shop called...JIMMY JOHNS. It must have been fate that my very first visit to JJ's was punctuated by a huge hug, totally unexpected, from you! For everyone else, let me explain. Dana is expecting her second little one, and has been craving a Jimmy John's sandwich quite frequently. I finally found this place she has been waxing rapasodic about, and who's there? YEP. DANA!!! TOOO FUNNY. Since then, I have taken a JJ's to Shawn for lunch, and now HE'S craving them too...AND HE'S NOT PREGGERS!!! Seriously, since my first visit to JJ's on Thursday the 6th, we have been to JJ's THREE TIMES. Yes, THREE times in 6 days. So, without further ado, the sandwich porn. PS: Dana, there is a JJ's in Redmond too...Right by the new Whole Foods...5 freekin minutes from my house, 1 freekin minute from Shawn's office...

The anticipation...

Oh yeah baby, I love the way you stick that tomato out.

Ohhhh, are you letting your alfalfa sprouts hang out? Let them out!

I love the crinkle of your paper, it sounds so naughty.

Oh, oh, oh, munch, slurp, snarf...

Don't say I didn't warn you, it was titled SANDWICH PORN! LOL