the white house at the right time

He is one wicked fast runnah ! WAY TO GO..... seriously, I mean it you went way FAR....I am so proud! O.k., it has taken me awhile to get this post up because I had to pay for my few nights of undisturbed, absolutely peaceful nights of sleep - I came home to my baby pushing through 2 more teeth and now she is sick (no, not swine flu!) and is up, and up, and up during the night, and NIGHT is the time I usually work on the computer....so when I get sleep it trumps blogging! So why does he run? Because he loves every horrible, wonderful minute of it! That's part of it, the other part is that it was an outlet after his mom's passing. Now that is a part of his mental running plan...imagining his mom at the finish line, because that is where she would be. I am starting at the finish instead of finishing at the start..... After the marathon, Randy was cold. A biting northeastern wind was blowing and the guy doesn't have a lot of body fat...running does that to him....poor thing. U...

The Boston Marathon is the grand-daddy of all marathons in the world, it has the prestige, the prize money, the elite runners - some of the winners consider a victory here greater than a victory at the Olympics - in the running world, BOSTON IS IT! Part of the IT factor is the stories of those who make it here. Just before the elite runners came by, before the news helicopter hovered overhead, before I held my camera poised to catch Randy coming by, Jay came by. The crowd cheered, I cheered...I blinked back tears. I have no idea if he was born this way, or if he used to run like Randy and a car accident forever strapped him into this chair, or if a disease is slowly eating at his muscles , but either way here he was pushing 26.2 miles, backwards, unassisted, uphill, with only the push of his left foot. It was watching someone try, really try to do something hard - mentally and physically. Jay's story was at one extreme but it encapsulated the human ability to do amazing things. It ...

Today is the day! To track Randy's progress go to www.baa.org and type in his bib number to see how he is doing, bib number is 5829. Thank you everyone for your support, it has been incredible and means a lot! O.k. I just saw Randy get on the shuttle to take him to Hopkinton Park - the starting point. He couldn't sleep last night, NERVES, despite even popping a sleeping pill to help. Shuttle ride to park - LATE by 45 minutes! Not a calming start. We are only 10 minutes away from the start but apparently the traffic is BAD even by Boston standards, so the front desk told us. We had fun chit-chatting with runners in the lobby, many of them 1st time Boston runners. All Randy's marathons have been filled with the waves of anticipation of the outcome, excitement and the clenched knot that fills my gut and washes down my legs - and I am not even running. Slight fog, damp, misty air - typical SEATTLE weather IN BOSTON - so sad, too bad for those Floriday and California runne...

This guy was on our flight and is on YouTube for rapping the in-flight instruction - pretty entertaining, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivjybzdXVmI Boston is such a great town! One of the best things so far is that Randy and I have slept through the night, no interuptions. It has been a long time in coming - it has been almost 3 years! If I could get sleep like this on a regular basis, I would be unstoppable. O.k., we have tons of pictures to upload - they'll be coming. So far, we went on the Freedom Trail - a historical path leading through Boston that highlights the importance this area had on the beginnings of America - we walked through Boston Commons where many slaves were executed, visited the church where George Washington visited, Harvard Square. Lots, lots more.

Randy and I vacillate when it comes to gift giving - sometimes we want a surprise and other times we want an EXACT thing. This year was a little of both. Randy NEEDED a motor for his fishing boat and to create family memories. I am always taken in on the "family time" thing. " vroom , vroom "- happy birthday, we love you so much, you are AMAZING!!! -"Yeah" they found their baskets Cayleb and Makenzy have been sick. Cayleb was sleeping in but we couldn't start the egg hunt without him, sooo .... big brother kindly went and woke him up, he was happy Easter was finally here! - Found his basket, "cheese." Later in the day, Cayleb said it was "stupid" the Easter Bunny hid the eggs in the house, eggs are supposed to be hidden outside. "I know," I said, "but the Easter Bunny probably didn't think you wanted to look for your eggs outside in the pouring rain." Apparently, tradition isn't supposed to be bro...

This week marked another of the "twin" birthdays...birthdays close enough that we are partying back to back. Makayla and Randy 3 days apart Cayden and Cayleb 3 weeks apart Madalyn and Makenzy 10 days apart Mom...I stand alone, and NO there is no 6th baby to make it even! It was a surprise get away...but a perk to planning ahead is rearranging schedules, as such Randy was unable to come....sadly we left him behind....and headed to the San Juan Islands for Makayla's birthday which conveniently coincided with spring break. This was our first visit so we took lots of pictures, Cayden took 90% of them and did a pretty good job. At the end of our stay, he said he liked taking pictures but wouldn't want to do it for a living...I'm o.k. with that. things we saw on the way- it's about a 1 hour ferry ride- -picturesque "personal" islands along the way, notice the skies, they pretty much stayed that way the whole time, yup this is pretty much a Northwest spring...