Thankful

We were blessed to have my brother Jim and his wonderful family join us for Thanksgiving this year. We spent great family time just hanging out and watching the kids all play together. It was so cool to watch them and see them truly enjoy each other.
We did so much, from Thanksgiving dinner to Wii competitions, from High Tea (just us gals) to a movie afternoon, from hugging and talking by the fireplace to sharing meals and laughing with the kids during family photos. It was a visit full of memories and great times and I am so thankful that they braved the 11 hr trip down from PA. They truly made this holiday special for us.

Mazes and Marathons

Wow, what a weekend. Great weather, great time together as a family, great time with friends, just wonderful.
Yesterday Christopher worked on our leaf maze in the front yard. We are that family that despises bagging leaves, so instead we systematically arrange our leaves into a fun maze for Ristow and his friends to run in. Our leaves look neat and are yard looks pretty cool, it's a win win for everyone ;)

Today Ristow ran his first real mile. He has run bits and pieces of a mile before but not known what that distance really looks like. (heck, how many of you know what that distance really looks like? on foot anyway ;)
He did great. Christopher ran with him at a loop at a nearby park. It was so cute watching father and son running together. Ristow signed up for the kid's Country Music Marathon this year. He has to run 25.2 miles between now and April and then he gets to run the last mile on the course of the Country Music Marathon with a group of kids from schools across Nashville and cross the finish line! Needless to say, he is super excited to cross the same finish line that his Dad crosses each year! I am so proud of both my boys ;)

Meanwhile, Jessica played in a Hippo!

Date Night

Whenever we get a chance to go out for date night, we take it! Most times it is my parents who are gracious enough to watch my children, for which we are very thankful.
Once a month we are part of a babysitting swap with 3 other families. This past Saturday we were able to drop the kids off at the swap and then go on a double date with my parents. We had such a nice time. It was nice to be able to have actual conversations with them and not have the kids interrupting. We went out to dinner at Bonefish Grill. It was AMAZING! I think I talked about how good the food was more than anything else. Mmmmmm. If you have one near you and haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.
It was so nice to know that the kids were having a fun time and we were able to just enjoy one another. We talked, we laughed and had a great time.

I am the Wife of an Ironman

Being the wife of an Ironman means that for the last 7 months I have sacrificed our family time for my husband's training schedule. I have spent extra time and money grocery shopping to feed Christopher his 5000 calories a day making sure nothing had high fructose corn syrup or enriched flour in it. I have spent many an evening watching Christopher fall asleep on the couch within minutes of getting home because he has spent everything he had on training and work.
I have also never been more proud of someone. I have never experienced the level of joy and pride while watching an athletic event as I did on Saturday, as Christopher completed his Ironman! The smile on his face and knowing how much went into being able to do this brought me to tears. Then I looked around at the 2,000 other athletes who had given up so much to accomplish so much and the tears flowed harder. You could see the pain, the story, the joy, the commitment in each person's eyes as they ran by.
From the man with one leg hopping through the sand to start the second lap of his swim, to the woman who missed the swim cut off by less than a minute and was forced to quit. There were stories upon stories out there that day. I loved every minute of it.
I made a sign that I held up during the Marathon that said "You are Strong". I don't know if anyone got encouragement from it, I hope so, but I know many people looked and read it and one guy passed and jokingly said "it should say "You are Tired"!"
Another older man running by slowed down and asked "Do these shorts make my butt look big?"
One of other wives and I assured him that he looked "hot" with big smiles on our faces. It was great to see so many people leaning on their sense of humor to make the run more bearable.
One of the best things about the race bibs at Ironman is that the athletes name is printed on the front making it easy for spectators to cheer and encourage by name. It is a personal way to make people feel special and that someone else cares about their race along with them. Cheering at the Ironman is an experience all its own. Your heart breaks at the hurt and your heart flies with the successes. Watching athletes come down the last bit to the finish and seeing the look of relief and pride on their faces was so rewarding. Knowing they completed the 2.4mile swim, the 112mile bike and the 26.2mile run and they were about to join the elite group and be called an Ironman.
And then I saw him. The love of my life running towards the finish with a huge smile on his face. My favorite part was hearing the announcer over the loudspeaker say. Christopher McClintock....You are an Ironman!
It was all worth it.