MOVIN' ON MAIN STREET

After work we headed over to Clinton for a 1-mile fun run (James) and 5K race (Denise) this evening. What should have taken 30 minutes ended up taking an hour due to construction traffic, so we almost missed James' race (we had 5 minutes to spare...) and I was pretty stressed (because I didn't have the time I had planned for a warm up run to loosen my tight calf muscle). It was hot and muggy, and the course was hillier than I expected based on the course map, but it was still a great race and I was really happy we went. Although, to be fair, we won't likely do another evening race with the kids because disrupting their dinner AND bedtime schedules is too much for them (one or the other is usually fine once or twice per week, but they were WAY grumpy by the end of the awards ceremony). Speaking of awards, we ended up sticking around because we knew they were giving all the 1-milers a medal and we wanted James to get his (he ran the entire mile, with an estimated time of 12 minutes, but we don't know for sure because they actually stopped the clock before he got to the finish line - SO RUDE!) Turns out I got an award too (second in my age group)!! It was a very small race, but I was still surprised to place. I was super happy with my time because I was aiming for 27:00-27:30 based on my training runs and finished in 26:50. That last quarter mile was awesome with Jay screaming at me across the final block I had to round, passing 4 guys (yes, they were older than me...), and sprinting for the uphill finish as I came around the last corner to see 26:something still on the clock! Hooray for another race in the books, and a new PR that I can be proud of (and one that makes me less anxious to run the Watermelon Classic, meaning I can watch the kids while Jay runs). We were very proud of James too, for basically going from car nap (he had skipped his nap at school...), post-donut (a treat at the end of the day at school...), to the starting line. What a trooper!

James and Jay at the starting line of the little 1-mile fun run:

 Off they go!

When Cora saw them coming back around the final block they had to loop, she just took off running (away from me, naughty girl!) towards them, across the grass:

And finished the race by their side:

After a quick jog and one stride, and a trip to the potty, I lined up with the 5K-ers just in time for the start:

Cora and James enjoyed the playground while I ran:

And here I am back at the finish, sprinting with everything I had left (my Garmin showed a sub-6:00/mile pace for that final tenth of a mile):

 Jay managed to snap this photo right as I was going under the clock:

 James and I right after my race, and with our medals:

P.S. We got our medals placed around our necks by Miss Clinton. Such a fancy affair.

GRAMMA PROJECTS

The kids were very busy with projects during their days at home with Gramma last week. They "painted" (new water painting books), colored birdhouses and wooden animals, made sticker art (shown above on the windows), worked with their Cheerios books, and built giant Lego structures (all by themselves). And during their down time they read books. LOTS and lots of books. Three cheers for Gramma and her early access to the library book sale - she always stocks up! The kids had a great week, and we're still working on sticker art and painting (and we put the little birdhouses outside this morning because the kids are unconvinced that the houses are too small for birds). We have a lot to live up to craft-wise now (we've been slacking on that lately)! Good thing I found a blog post filled with lots of fun new ideas for us to try out this summer!

RECENT JAMES-ISMS

James has said a lot of funny/weird things over the past month, and I finally updated his James-isms page. I thought I'd share a few here though, just for fun.

• Driving out of the military park, we turn around to see James buckled but with the straps hanging loose. We look at each other, wondering who forgot to check James' buckles before starting the car. James chimes in with "Gramma was the one!" (I suppose it was her job in his eyes, since she was sitting between he and Cora in the backseat. Cracked us up!) 5/27/13
• At the conclusion of the Memorial Day parade, James admonishes "Hey! They didn't give us any necklaces!" and Cora complains "I wanted a treat!" Apparently all parades are expected to provide beads and candy... 5/27/13
• Getting ready to head out for an adventure, I sit in the backseat between the kids, singing silly songs and clapping my hands and snapping my fingers while the doors to the van are open. James fusses at me and says "Stop it mommy! You're scaring the whole world!" 5/27/13
• James got some new shirts from his Gramma. A couple of them are V-neck shirts. He ran up to me and told me "Hey mama, look at my V-head shirt!" 5/26/13
• James peeks under a rock to look for bugs and finds a large cluster of roly-polies. He excitedly tells us "They wanted to come to a party! It's a roly-poly party!" 5/24/13
• We wake up, yet again, to find an opossum stuck in our garbage can. So of course we bring the kids outside with Gramma to watch us set it free. Jay tips the can and it doesn't budge. We check for babies and there are none, so we dump the can and expect it to go running. Instead it plays dead. We make noise and prod it to try and get it to move out of the driveway, and James pipes in with "Go on with yourself possum!" 5/23/13
• James got in trouble at school for throwing rocks. This has happened quite a few times, and this time his teacher actually called me immediately to discuss punishment since he hit a little girl in the face. After discussing the situation with Jay, we realized that time out, threats and consequences, and reprimands weren't getting the message through. So Jay called the director and told her to send him outside with a bucket to collect all the rocks and move them out of the play area. That should teach him :-) 5/21/13
• We went for an after dinner stroll around the neighborhood tonight. When we got back to our cul-de-sac, Jay noticed some hawks circling overhead and asked me what they were. I told him happily that our pair of Mississippi Kites were back for the summer. James turned and looked at me, and said "No mama, those aren't kites, those are BIRDS!" Time to start the ornithology lessons :-) 5/20/13
• "Hey! I see bush letters!" (Any time James sees letters at overpasses shaped from flowers or bushes, he calls them bush letters. Cracks us up!) 5/17/13
• Driving home from the gym with daddy, paused at the stoplight, James pipes up out of the blue with "We don't eat there. That's a greasy spoon. It's yucky!" Totally baffled Jay. (Of course, James had asked me about the place, a Waffle House, the day before on the way home from the gym, so he was basically repeating what he'd heard from me as to why I wouldn't take him there for dinner.) 5/9/13 
• James calls capital letters "bigger case" and lower case letters "little case", and I just think it's the cutest thing! 5/7/13
• James is going on and on about some random goings-ons and crazy-sounding things, so Jay and I finally interrupt him to ask what on earth he's talking about. His response? "I'm just making up stories. Ha ha ha ha ha!" 4/27/13

LOVIN' ON GRAMMA

I have to go get the kids in a half hour. How much you wanna bet the first thing they ask for is to go see Gramma? This could be a rough afternoon/evening. Miss ya already Jean!

CARPORT POOL EXPANSION

You know what our carport needs? More kiddie pools.

So we remedied that with a trip to Walmart (I know, I know). This one is big enough for floating and swimming (for the kids), and sitting and cooling off (for the adults). While there, we also grabbed some Visquine for a nice, long homemade slip-n-slide (using our mister hose...) and a couple more camp chairs (because taking turns with Gramma all weekend eventually seemed kinda silly - why not just get another?!)

They picked out Batman and Hello Kitty goggles, but didn't wear them long. Perhaps in the big YMCA pool, while swimming with their Puddle Jumpers, they will actually use them...

Pool noodles have so very many uses

We've had this Buzz Lightyear chair for over 3 years (James got it at a daycare gift exchange back when he was barely a year old) and finally had a reason to try it out. It's a hit.

My old pink Ichetucknee floatin' tube was also very much fought over though (so we obviously need another).

James was not at all interested or willing to ride our slip-n-slide (well, he did finally ride down twice, on daddy's back...), but Cora was game as soon as she saw me demonstrate "proper" technique (ahem, photos not included...) and prove it was safe. She preferred to have daddy grab a hand and foot and literally swing her forward so she'd slide faster though. Little daredevil.

I can sit in here with my beer if I want to...

MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

We slept late this morning (8:45am late... luckily our kids sleep in when they're up late), then rushed over to the little Memorial Day Parade downtown.

 "Where's the parade?"

Ready and waiting with waving flags:

Hanging with the Kennedys as the trucks and trailers rode by. Lots of veterans in this parade, many in trucks or jeeps (which James thought were "hunt jeeps", since they were camo - he doesn't really understand soldiers and the military yet, though we're trying to explain it to him), but no floats. It was a really short parade, but the kids were happy to be there, waving to our service men and women, and we were proud to cheer them on as well. (Of course, at the end of the parade, James admonished "Hey, they didn't give us any necklaces!" and Cora complained "I wanted a treat!", since the parades they usually attend involve bead-throwing and candy-tossing.)

The military park had a trailer with some rangers/volunteers in costume:

And the camels walked main street as well:

The boys' favorite part was the "Emergency!" vehicles (including a very old ambulance that looked awesome). Especially the two firetrucks that blared by:

After the parade we snapped some portraits of the kids with their Gramma, then went over to the Cairo museum to see whether any of the tanks were still on display. They weren't. But the kids had fun running around outside the museum anyway.

Next on our list was frozen yogurt for lunch (it was noon, and we all voted for dessert before lunch):

Then The Tomato Place for BLTAs for us adults (who require more than frozen sugar to get through the day), to go, since we had big plans to spend the rest of the day lounging and playing at home:

TAKING IT EASY

Yesterday was busy, and we're tired, so we stayed home today and just let the kids play outside for 9 hours. We weren't wholly unproductive though - Jay is working on the ceilings and I cleaned. The kids had a blast just doing their thing, which is always nice.

While we were out there, we found one of our old corn snakes (we released the few that we weren't able to find homes for 4+ years ago when we cleared our house of reptiles before having James). Our visitor looked very healthy!

(Yes, James' swim trunks are on backwards. He wore them like that all day and refused to fix them...)