Vermont Farmhouse Marathon

See?  The headline's a double entendre because we stayed at a farmhouse, and ran a half marathon, and the whole weekend was a marathon of awesomeness.  Am I trying too hard?

Okay, let's try again.  Bess and I ran another half marathon!  Hooray!  Except there are no pictures of this one, so it didn't really happen, right?  Thanks for taking pictures of us running, boys!  Luckily I have a medal, so at least I know it's true.  I also did a MUCH better job of running this year than last.  I wasn't plagued by the knee pain I experienced previously, and we finished in 2:14!  Which I know isn't exactly groundbreaking, but for me it was super exciting.  In my last training run I did 12 miles in 2:15, so finishing 13.1 in less time was shocking.  Thanks, Bess for encouraging me the whole way!

Here are a few (million) pictures from the weekend.

Aunt Becky and Dori, who is just getting more awesome every day.

The kids played independently with this mudroom door for hours.  It was the best thing that ever happened to me.  Gabe was the zoo keeper and the mudroom was the office and Ellie kept sending him to check on animals and he had to say "Ding Dong!" each time he came back to the doors.  Fricking fantastic.

There were a million spiders and the kids felt the need to point out every. single. one.

Telescope!

Fixings for a good Vermont oatmeal breakfast.

There was lots of throwing rocks in the river.  David is, of course, as cute as ever.

Holy Muddy Shoes!

She's ready to go!

Uncle John and Dori.

Brian finally coaxed Lily into the boat.

Just chillin'.

Uncle Todd - the king of the photobomb.

Just the farmhouse barn.  I don't have any pictures of the farmhouse proper, which is a shame.  It's my new fantasy-house.

Brian's King of the World!

Aunt Bess and Baby Betty.

John supervising while Gabe stirs waffle batter.

See?  I got a medal!

Aunt Becky and Gabe watching the mist rise off the river.  The mornings were so peaceful, even if the nights were far too short. (We have no one but ourselves to blame for that.)

Uncle Todd brought his fishing gear and Elle and David each caught a bunch!

Phew!  That was exhausting.

Pre-K!

Ellie started school this morning!  She won't tell me a thing about it so I have no idea how it went.  Literally, she said "no, i don't want to tell you anything and I don't want to tell daddy."  Sigh.  It starts already.

Obligatory First Day of Pre-K Photo Shoot

And she's off!  At this point, Gabe and I ran to our car to try to beat the bus to school.  We lost.

This is the truly terrible parallel parking job I had to do at the school to go in and see Ellie's classroom and say goodbye.  I wasn't even supposed to be able to park there, but the lot was full and a nice staff-person took pity on me and moved some cones.  I wasn't about to tell him I can't really parallel park, though it soon became painfully obvious.  He finally told me, "it's fine, you're not going to be here all day, just go!"

Ellie in her classroom.

Gabe sees no reason why he can't go to school, too.

And home safe and sound!  I appear to be the only mother at the bus stop who doesn't speak Spanish, but despite any apparent differences we all busted out our cell phones to take pictures of our little guys getting off the bus.  Moms.  We're such a cliche.  Also, even with the language barrier I was able to tell one kid didn't make it home on the bus.  OMG.  Sooooooooo glad it wasn't Ellie.

Swinging

Ellie gave me and Gabe a push at the Nature Center playground...

Cornucopia

Whoa....August was exhausting.  I'm pretty sure Brian and I never took a breather, and now it's September and HI, how the heck did that happen?  In two weeks we are off to Vermont and I'm running a half marathon, then it feels like summer will really be over.  Halloween candy is already on the store shelves, and Ellie's asking about her birthday party pretty constantly.  Hello, fall.

Yesterday we went to Cornucopia at Phillipsburg Manor.  It's a corn festival, with sheep running around, and a corn maze, and yummy ice cream, and incredible root beer, and all sorts of goodness.  Ellie and Kelsey must have gone through the corn maze 15 times. We also ran into some friends and then came back to our place for an impromptu Labor Day pizza party.  So it was a heck of a day.

Feather!

K, being her awesomely outrageous self.

Gabe let Ellie taste his chocolate ice cream.

A little light music.

Sheep!

The League

Are you ready for some football?  Are you?  Really? Are you sure?  Because we are.

After last year's um...shall we shall we say piss poor season?  Yes, I think that's appropriate.  After my and Brian's piss poor season last year, it's time to lick our wounds and start all over.  (Seriously we won exactly ONE GAME last year.  It takes dedication to be that terrible.)  But, it's Fantasy Football Season again, people...and we had the party to prove it.

Aunt Bess and Betty.  Last year Uncle Todd came darn close to winning the whole thing, despite his abiding ignorance of football.

Bess C and Bailey.  They're moving to Nashville, but nothing will keep them out of the league.

Aunt Becky and Dori.  We're thrilled they (and Uncle John) are joining us this year.

This is what parties at our house look like lately.

The kids found the Cheetos!

Uncle Rob filling in for Uncle Mike and accepting the victory trophy.

It's okay, daddy.  I know you came in last and brought everlasting shame to our family...but I still love you.

More chips!

Uncle Rob had to sit and take a breather during the game to determine draft order.  It's called endurance, Rob.  Work on it.

Vanna White (I mean Becky) and Dori replacing beers for the draft game.

David and his folks stayed with us all weekend.  On Monday morning Ellie told me she hopes "David can live in our basement forever."  Me too, kid.  Me too.

Rob and Mike.  Look at them...colluding already.

Cousin Nancy is brand new to this game, but look at her...I think we may be in trouble.

Seriously, draft day is exhausting.

Uncle Todd shares a giggle.

And then there was a clam boil.  Oh my god, so much seafood.  So much goodness.

So Fantasy Football 2013 is off to a roaring start.  Here's hoping we win TWO GAMES this year!

Funny Faces

I took the kids to the Bronx Zoo this morning and realized we have fully entered Ellie's "make funny faces in pictures" phase.  As Todd pointed out, it never really ends.  A few more masterpieces: