the "Human Race"

The Nike Human Race 10K took place around the world in 25 different cities on the same day August 31, 2008. Austin was chosen as one of the race cities because of the Lance Armstrong Foundation being one of the primary benefiting charities. You see, we Austinites are so lucky to have Lance Armstrong as a local celebrity. It was said that there were some 25,000 runners in Austin alone.

Some of our good friends are runners too, and so we planned or running the race together. We went with Jay and Shakendra VanSickle, and Sonya Nalirra. It was so much fun! When Tim signed up for the race, I told him to sign me up too so that I would have to get my butt in gear and start running again, and so he did. Shortly after, I injured my ankle and it has been stubborn about healing ever since. This put a quick halt to my training. Consequently I walked a good portion of the 6.4 miles. The course was brutal as far as hills go. Tim loved them of course. We started just below the Capitol building on Congress Avenue. We continued meandering through downtown Austin, along parts of 6th street,and UT campus. Up, down, up, down. Despite what you may have been told, not all of Texas is flat! The race didn't start until 6:00 in the evening, so it was pretty hot. We were grateful for the clouds that tempted us with rain. I was grateful for the showers they had along the way, they felt soooo good!

Tim and Shakendra finished first out of the 5 of us (of course), Jay was next followed by a dehydrated Sonya. I finished last (big surprise). Once Sonya and I were on our feet again, we had some good'ole Texas Barbeque brisquit, and listened to the live concert band. Another of the benefits of living in Austin is that it's the "Live Music Capital of the World". There were two different music venues going on that night. I think all of us had a great time. This was Sonyas first offical race (I think). You go girl!

First Day of School

These pictures were taken on the first day of school. Brooke and Berkeley are so excited to start a new year. This year Brooke will be in third grade with Mrs. Sabian, and Berkeley will be in fourth grade with Mrs. LaCombe. He will also continue to work with LeAnn Brown and Julie McCrackin. The kids have some great teachers this year. I am looking forward to my girl time while they are at school.

Can a trip to the waterpark get "rained out"?

Ours sure did. A couple weeks ago we finally got around to going to Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels, which is about an hour and a half from our home. All summer long we've been planning to go and all summer long it hasn't rained hardly at all... except for the day that we schedule to go!!! We crossed our fingers anyway and headed south hoping to dodge the thunderstorms.

We hit a few on the drive, but kept an optimistic attitude that the storms wouldn't be bad enough to close the park. Unfortuately by the time we parked and got in line to get our tickets it had started sprinkling. As we finally walked up to the window for our tickets the downpour started and, yep, they stopped selling tickets in preparation to close the park until the storm had passed. Ugh, now what?! Do we sit and wait out the storm which is predicted to last all day, or do we um, find something else to do? We were already soaked and we hadn't even stepped into the water. But sitting in a rain storm getting wet isn't nearly as thrilling as a waterslide. So we decided to find something else. The Checketts were with us and so we piled in the cars and decided to keep heading south and find some lunch and someplace dry to entertain the kids.

The rain just got worse and worse and when we saw a Costco we decided that was best place to stop for lunch. Hey, the deli is cheap and filling and dry!

After lunch we headed to the Witte Museum in San Antonio. Natalie and Emma had gone there a couple months ago with their grandma to see the Leonardo Da Vinci's Machines exhibit. They loved it and insisted on taking Brooke and Berkeley to see it. The exhibit is creations of the machines Da Vinci had drawn in his records. It was really amazing. The things he was imagining were hundreds of years ahead of his time. He had drawing for flying machines like helicopters and hang gliders and there was even a drawing for a tank! It was neat to see someone actually create working models of these machines. If the exhibit ever comes to your city I would definitely recommend going to see it.

The museum also had a wing "the treehouse" for kids that was full of science-based hands-on demonstrations for the kids. We spent quite a bit of time there until the museum closed. Overall what turned out to be a soggy day at the waterpark was a great time a the museum. Enjoy the pics.

Thanks to Kellie for the write up on a great afternoon, despite the rain.

My First Post

Here I am finally posting to my own blog... How exciting. I still feel like I'm learning to ride a bike all over again. I'll have more to come soon, so keep your eyes peeled.