Beech Tree 5K

This past Sunday, we ran our first 5K together as a family.  James was Quinn's buddy runner, and they also ran with Quinn's best buddy Jack.  I ran with Keely, and we ended up running along with two other 2nd graders.  Quinn finished in just over 33 minutes, which was about 6 minutes faster than his first 5K last month.  Keely finished in just over 37 minutes, pretty good for her first 5K and with no training.  Her only practice was to run around our basement for about 40 minutes while I ran 4 miles on the treadmill.  I couldn't believe she ran the whole time, and just kept doing laps around the outline of the basement.

The school got a ton of great photos of the event, and I've clipped those that show our family in action.  It was fun, and I'm proud of the kids for running a 5K at such a young age.

Running is such a great way to keep in shape, and I hope to instill in them an enjoyment from running so that they can continue with it on through their adult lives.  I've definitely been hot and cold about running, but I do think it's important to stay fit and running is just one possibility for that. I'm not sure if the kids will love running, or continue on with other races, but I do know that we all had fun on Sunday, and that's a great start!

Keely's First Communion

Last Sunday, Keely's long anticipated day finally arrived.  She has been preparing, and very much looking forward to celebrating her first Holy Communion and being able to fully participate in Mass for the first time.  She was very excited and looked beautiful in a little bit of old and a little bit of new...new dress, shoes, sweater and old veil, a hand me down from Aunt Lois who wore it on her First Communion many years ago.  It completed her outfit perfectly! 


The First Communion was held during the noon mass, and to celebrate afterwards we held a luncheon at our house.  It took nearly 13 years of marriage, 3 states, 2 kids and 2 cross country moves but we finally held our first extended family gathering at our own home.  Because we live so close now, everyone was able to drive here to help Keely celebrate.  We had 26 people total at our house on Sunday!  Thank goodness the weather was nice and we were able to use the backyard as planned.  James spent many hours toiling and making it look so much better....it's still a work in progress, but the improvement is impressive.


We made most all of the food ourselves including pulled pork & chicken, BBQ sauce, potato salad, pasta salad, and green salad.

Dessert was the piece de resistance though...a homemade, beautifully hand decorated cake made by Keely's very own very talented Aunt Judith.    She spent many hours decorating, and just when I would think she was done she added another touch of beauty.  It looked so good I didn't want to cut it!  But we did have to taste it, and it tasted as good as it looked :)  We were so grateful that Judith could make the cake for Keely on this very special day!

Everyone enjoyed the food and the company,and  we are so grateful to everyone for making the trip to Virginia to celebrate Keely.  It was yet another reminder that the move to Virginia was meant to be...we felt very blessed on this day indeed!

The Best of Friends

By my recollection, Jess and I met the summer after 4th grade when we were both campers at Manalapan Recreation (or what we called Rec for sure).  I was 10, she was about to turn or just had turned 11.  We didn't go to the same school at the time, but we met up in middle and high school.  No matter how much time passes or how far apart we are, we always fall right back in line with each other.  We've spanned different colleges, different states, have been leading arguably different lives - but our friendship has remained true and pure.  We are now both 35, and we marvel that it has been 25 years.

We are both thrilled to finally be living on the same coast...the closest we have lived to each other since we were in high school.  We visited New York in November for the kids' TV debut (which was made possible by Jess) and they made a trip to DC this weekend to stay with us, and do some sightseeing.  We have created a bit of a monster with Keely (Keyak as Ethan calls her) and Ethan...a bit of an obsession.  Ethan just loves her, and was so excited to be seeing her again this weekend.  They spent most of the time together.  She was such a diligent babysitter, waking up much earlier than usual to hang with E, and taking such good care of him.  She even took a bath with him (her in a bathing suit, of course) and I question who enjoyed that bath more.  There was much laughter and good conversations, and Jess and Jon got to experience the bliss of having older children around to care for the little one so that they could relax and chat as adults get to do when their kids get older.  We braved some pretty cool April weather on Saturday to explore DC...walking around the Washington Monument and WWII Memorial.  We followed that with some museum hopping, from American History (love that First Ladies exhibit) to Natural History (the Titanoboa exhibit is pretty cool, along with the old favorites) and then a bit of the Castle and the surrounding gardens.  After some downtime back at the Donovan homestead, we headed back out for an early dinner in Old Town Alexandria.  This was Jon's idea, and thanks to Jess and yelp.com we found what will most definitely be a repeat dinner establishment for us...the Columbia Firehouse.  We walked down to get some cupcakes from what will most definitely not be a repeat bakery for us (they weren't worth the calories) and then down to the water.  We didn't get rained on, and it was a busy but fun day.

Their visit was so much fun, and we wished it would have been a bit longer but it was really perfect.  We're already talking about another meet-up...Philadelphia is being discussed or maybe we will be NY bound again.  It's so great that we are both so close to Amtrak. 

And I've just had the realization that I can credit Rec for both my soul mate and my lifelong best friend.  It's unlikely that James and I would have met without Rec and while it's likely that Jess and I would have, it's still where we can credit the beginning of that friendship.  How amazing!

The Year of the Run

I've never really liked running.  As a teen, I only ran to stay in shape for soccer.  When I didn't have soccer, I didn't want to run because it was always dreadful.  About five years ago, I started running again and enjoying it.  I ran several 5K races but then had foot surgery and never got back to running.  Running seems to have gotten way more popular and I've always been slightly jealous when I heard people talk of running half and full marathons.  Last fall, we happened to be out to dinner on the night of the Marine Corps Marathon which is held here in DC.  I saw people with medals and had a wild thought...maybe I will do the MCM in 2012.  The next weekend, we were in NY for the kids TV show appearance and it just so happened to be the weekend of the NYC marathon.  Again, people with medals and my crazy thought that I could do one too.  Coincidentally, James got me some new running clothes and Lois was in town for Christmas and New Year's...she suggested a run on Christmas Day.  We ran about 3 miles and ran several more times before she flew back to Florida.  I had to do it on my own then, but I started researching races so that I would have something to focus on.  The first distance I set my sights on was a 10K...a St. Patty's Day run in Quantico.  Running it would give me guaranteed entry to the MCM.  I find that I enjoy running more, and was blessed with a very warm winter and spring so that most of my training runs were outside but a number were on the treadmill and that worked well too.  I ran the 10K in the midst of March trips to New Jersey...and it went very well.  My time was very consistently a 10 minute mile, and I finished in 1:04.  I am now signed up for the MCM in October, and a half in June in Annapolis.  I know this will be a challenge, and I often wonder if my crazy thoughts were really just crazy but I'm committed to making them a reality.

In the course of this new found commitment to running, I managed to convince Quinn to participate in a Young Men in Motion program run by his school.  It's a group of 4th and 5th grade boys who gather after school once a week to train for a 5K.  He really didn't seem interested at first, but then he agreed to do it.  He seemed to really enjoy it.  A couple of Sundays ago was his 5K, and I was his buddy runner.  We combined running with walking, and it was a challenge to keep him going and push him to the finish line.  But he did it, and he even wants to do another so that he can better his time.  We finished in just over 39 minutes...pretty good for a 10 year old.  I typically run a 5K in 30 minutes or so, and my (unstated) goal for us was under 40 minutes so we met that.  

We're also signed up for a 5K as a family in May...and James has been running more, mostly helping me on my longer training runs.  It's definitely looking like the year of the run for our family, and I'm excited to continue my training and increase distance!  

Easter in Florida

 We had planned a trip to Florida for Easter weekend long before the stresses of the month of March.  It ended up being perfectly timed, as we all needed a break.  The kids were on Spring Break and we spent part of it in warm, sunny Florida with the Donovan Torviks.  It was so lovely and very relaxing.  I honestly wonder how people live there and go about normal life activities, like yard work and jobs...because all I wanted to do the entire time was sit and do nothing.  And mostly that's what we did.  We went to the beach almost every day.  The weather was hot and humid the first couple of days, then warm and sunny with a slight breeze the next couple of days...honestly, perfect. We went to a treasure museum, and had margaritas and appetizers on a boat at a beachside bar.  We played pinochle, and laughed until we cried playing Anomia.  We took walks around the neighborhood and saw the neighborhood peacock.  We went on nice flat runs, and watched Lois and Ryan tousle at ultimate frisbee.  Quinn and Keely played with and took care of Adelia to their heart's content.  We went to the Brevard Zoo and saw a lot of very unique animals, and some not so unique but always fun to see animals.  We dyed Easter eggs, ate deviled eggs, had a traditional Easter dinner, searched for Easter baskets and had an egg hunt.  We went to Easter sunrise service...although we couldn't hear much of mass, we saw our very first sunrise over the Atlantic.  We set up the tripod and had a family photo shoot.  It was all so simple, and so relaxing.  None of us were ready to come home, but all good things must come to an end.  We are so thankful to Lois and Ryan for their hospitality, they are such troopers even without a working kitchen.  We can't wait until our next time in Florida...but until then we have great memories, and great pictures!

Grandma

Last Thursday, Grandma passed away.  Her health had declined very quickly.  We were fortunate to spend two weekends with her.  It was painful to see her, yet I wanted to be with her.  To have her know that I loved her and that I was grateful for her presence, even though it was not the grandmother I knew.  She was a shell of what she once was, her body wracked with the effects of cancer.  I'm glad that I was able to spend a few hours with her.  I cannot even think of how hard this would have been from 2,000 miles away.  I am only guilty that we were so far away for so long, and didn't spend the time with her that the rest of the family did over these last years.  Relationships are what you make of them though, and I knew and loved her and my children knew and loved their Great Grandma.  She was my last remaining grandparent, and my children's only great grandparent.  I am grateful that they knew a great grandparent at all...I did not have that luxury.  I was a lot like my grandmother, and through her wake and funeral I learned that she talked a lot about me, and spoke very proudly of the woman I have become and the children I am raising.  As my mom stated so eloquently in her eulogy, it was a side of her we did not know but a side of her we were fortunate to hear about from her friends and caretakers that she encountered in her last weeks and days. 

Quinn and Keely had never experienced the death of an immediate family member.  They were very brave.  Quinn was very stoic, but supportive.  He understood that Great Gram was very ill, and that the end was near.  We took them to see her the first weekend we visited, and she was still mostly as they had remembered her.  We did not take them back again, they did not need to see her in that hospital bed.  Keely was very emotional.  She feeds off others emotions and seeing her loved ones upset makes her more upset.  I found I tried to keep my emotions in check because I did not want to set her off.  But at the same time, I needed to grieve and feel the loss and it's good to have your children understand that it is alright to cry, and be sad.  James had the best advice for Keely at the wake.  Great Gram would not want you to be sad and crying, she would want you to be happy.  I truly believe that.  That's why she wanted her wake and funeral simple, with a closed casket.  She was right on with her wishes, and true to her stubborn and independence she got her way even when she was not physically with us anymore.  As we were shopping at Kohl's (one of her favorites), I thought to myself now she is happy, she got us all shopping - one of her most favorite pastimes.  After Poppy died, she couldn't get out as much so QVC became one of her vices.

I'm not sure what else to say, other than we are sad that she is gone but she lived a long full life.  She lives on though in her legacy, her family. I sure hope she is happy, at peace, and with Poppy.  It is strange not to have a grandparent generation in our family anymore, it makes getting older seem that much closer.  We will miss her a lot!

First Penance

On Saturday, Keely celebrated just her second sacrament in the Catholic Church.  This is pretty significant given that the first was Baptism and that was over 8 years ago!  She was so excited, and a little nervous.  She practiced very hard though and did very well.  Her confessed sins were 'pretty good' for a first confession, as noted by the priest.  She was given one Hail Mary as her penance.  We know all of this because she is a very vocal child, and I know I will be glad of this characteristic as she gets older and hopefully informs us of her life happenings.  Quinn was different, he didn't say much - and to evidence that, as Keely was in the confessional I asked him if he was nervous for his first penance about 2 years ago.  I don't think he had ever said, and I had never asked.  He said he was a little nervous, and I said that I couldn't tell.  He said he was nervous inside - evidence of his fairly calm demeanor outside so we couldn't tell.  In any event, Keely is now wiped clean of her sins - or she was, until about 2 minutes after the penance in the car when she fought with her brother again.  She is so excited for First Communion to be held two months from today, coincidentally.