A Victory at the Races!

Well, many people ask Doug and I how we do it with our busy work schedules and the four kids... well, I decided after years of wondering why anyone would run if they weren't chasing a ball that running would be a great way to manage stress and minimize the effects of eating from stress so I started a few months ago. Doug started in June and today, we finished our first 5K race! Here is us about 20 minutes after we finished... still a little red faced but very happy to have finished.

We completed the 3.1 miles in 30min, 45 seconds. Doug ran solid and steady the whole time; I kept insisting I NEEDED TO WALK once we hit the 2.5 mile mark (my only goal was not to walk at all but being a treadmill and track runner only, I am not used to hills) but Doug kept encouraging me and once I saw the 3 mile mark, I gave it all I had, just to be done (I did learn in racing that you don't get to stop at the finish line - you have to go a little further to get out of the way and I am sure the look I gave the guy who told us to keep going at that point was not a pleasant one).

So now we are ready to go again... our goal is under 30 minutes on the next 5K, which will be the end of September. It was a lot of fun. I had been so nervous but I won't be again. It was great people watching, for a good cause, and a great mix of abilities and athletes. I was thrilled that while the fastest women had a time that I will never be able to achieve, she was 48 years old. The second fastest woman was 38. No offense to the under 30 crowd but I find these victories very inspiring and was glad that the youngest age groups didn't sweep the event (the younger runners were probably out running marathons or something but since I have no proof, I'll push that thought aside...)!!

More on the kids in the next few days... beach pictures and stuff.

Kate

We Adopted Again!

Not another child of course. Four, at least for now, are keeping us busy enough. On July 17th our readoption of B was complete. We wanted it to be a bit more memorable than the canceled check and the envelope the Final Order of Adoption arrived in so we asked the judge if he would take a picture with us and he agreed so here is the picture from yesterday. Now that the adoption is considered final in VA's book, when we file our taxes for this year, we can claim the adoption tax credit, which of course is just an added bonus... what it really means is we can now apply for B's Certificate of Citizenship since she is still considered a LEGAL immigrant (since only I traveled during the adoption) and should she ever need a replacement birth certificate, she can get one here in the U.S. Yet another day to celebrate!!

Have a great day,
Kate

Camera Troubles & Busy Days

Our camera died and to be honest, most of the fun of blogging is showing off pictures of the kids so I apologize for the lack of posts. We have also been very busy. The good news is that we should be getting pictures back at the end of the week from a short trip to VA Beach where we used a disposable camera and now, we have a new camera! Yeah! So now I need to make up for lost time so there will likely be posts daily at least for a few days. Here is one of my favorites for now.

E and P are insisting that B has buried C's Chewbacca toy. Now our ground is very hard and B is just not that strong so I have my doubts since they have been digging around looking for it a few times since this picture was taken but E and P keep insisting she did and in this picture, they were discussing the burial spot. C is upset that they will never find it and either E or P made the comment that B just wanted "to grow a Chewbacca tree." B is in her "I don't know where it is" pose.

More tomorrow,
Kate