Marathon Weekend

This past weekend we journeyed to the great state of Nebraska! Why you may ask...Mark and his cousin Brian ran the Omaha Marathon.

Omaha really is a beautiful city and we were fortunate to have several of Mark's cousins join us for the trip. In addition to Brian, we were also able to see Kristen, Lynn, and Joy. Below are pictures from our adventures.

We were able to find better flights out of Chicago so Mark, Grace, and I headed up to Chicago Friday night and stayed at a hotel right near the airport. It worked out so well. We got up when Grace woke up, got ready and headed to the airport for our 8:30 flight. I must admit, Mark and I were both a bit worried about traveling with a baby who wants to be constantly moving, a stroller, carseat, a duffle bag with Grace's toys and my laptop, and one suitcase that we had squeezed everything into so we didn't have to check bags--our hands were FULL! But everything went amazingly smoothly! We got our boarding passes, cruised through security, and had time to enjoy a breakfast together in the terminal.

On the plane, Grace was great. She loved pulling everything out of the seat in front of us, looking out the window, jumping back and forth between the two of us, and peering over the seat and smiling at everyone sitting behind us. By the end of the flight she was sound asleep on Daddy's lap!


When we got to Omaha we checked our luggage at our hotel, met the twins and headed to lunch in the "Old Market" district. We also found an amazing bakery where I got a Snickers covered carmel apple--yum! Everything looked so good that the girls headed back there for breakfast the next day while the boys were running.


We then headed to a great park in the center of downtown. There was a canal running through the center, two huge slides, and lots of green space. We sat there and Grace played in the lawn for about an hour. It was just gorgeous!


We were then joined by the Krohmers and were able to check in to our hotel. Our hotel had a huge indoor waterpark so Brian, Mark, Grace and I headed down to check it out. I thought Grace would like it more than she did but I think she was just exhausted. We'll have to try out another one when she's a little older.


The rest of the evening consisted of a dinner at the hotel, bedtime for Grace, Mark and Brian, and a girls' night out for the four of us ladies! We had so much fun sitting at a little outdoor wine bar, catching up, and watching all the high schoolers who eating dinner in the Old Market before their homecoming dance.





The next day was another early morning. The marathon started at 7 a.m. and Grace was there at the start cheering on Daddy and Brian with her cow bell.

Unfortunately we only got to see them one other time during the race but they both did awesome! Brian finished in 4 hours and 24 minutes and Mark in 4 hours and 44 minutes! Amazing for 26.2 miles. For those of you keeping track, this was Mark's 12th marathon. All have been run in different states. He is almost 1/4 way to his goal of running a marathon in each state!

It's hard to see but Grace's shirt says "Run Daddy! Run!"

We had to check out of our hotel by 1 but our flight didn't leave until 6:40 so we had a lot of time to kill and Mark wasn't really mobile. So after lunch with the Krohmers we headed to the airport and were able to set up a play area in an empty seating area. It was perfect. Grace burned off a ton of energy after being in her stroller most of the day, I was able to do a little work, and Mark was able to rest.

The end of a great trip!

Weekend fun

We had a great weekend! My friend, Meredith, and I hosted a baby shower for our good friend, Sarah Garrison. Mere came down Friday night and we had a great time preparing for the shower and catching up. The shower on Saturday turned out great. It was a co-ed cookout/shower and I think everyone had a great time!

"Auntie" Meredith brought Grace presents. Grace loved them--especially the tissue paper they were wrapped in!

Another college friend, Nickie, came down for the shower with her family. Grace loved her two daughters, Ellie and Amelia who are 6 and 4.

The girls watching the opening of presents...

And Grace thinking they're all for her!

The girls also helped me try to feed Grace. It was hilarious! One had the spoon, one had the bottle, and they both were trying to feed her simultaneously. Grace was a bit overwhelmed but tried her best to keep up!

Grace with the mom-to-be

I love this picture because there are so many just like this but with me instead of Grace

Some of my favorite Alma ladies

Walking--with support

Grace has had a doll buggy for about 3 months. Until this morning she would stand behind it and push it and fall down rather than walking behind it. Or she would sit in front of it and twirl the little thing that holds the beads. This morning I stood her up behind it and she decided that she wanted to walk. She's pretty good at it if you ask me!

Our little dancer

So Grace LOVES to dance! She really likes the new Miley Cyrus song (I blame that on Mark). Anyhow, check out how she dances to it and stops when Mark stops the music. And yes, she's playing with her swim diapers. Her favorite new game is to pull them all out of the box--not sure why we buy her toys when she loves playing with diapers :)

Around the house

Here's the day-to-day at our house...

Visiting dad while he eats breakfast

On the move!

"Why are you following me around with the camera, Mom?"

Waking up from a nap on the wrong side of the bed!

Poor girl gets so splotchy when she cries

Grace loves to read her books. She has a bin of them in the family room and her bookshelf in her bedroom. She loves to pull out multiple books and then turn through the pages. She lets you read them to her but she has to turn the pages and she goes pretty quickly so you have to be a fast reader!

Notice how we have the walkway blocked off with her book bin and one of my filing tubs. It works really well to confine her to a "safe area". Daisy gets a little perturbed that her walkways are cluttered but then she just leaps over the bins.

Grace goes back and forth and back again along the couch--I predict she walks before her first birthday...we'll see if I'm right!

Today I kept Grace home from school. She got sick last night after dinner. It was a mess! And of course it happens when Mark is out of town for work! The doctor said to do Pedialyte at least two hours after she got sick to let her stomach settle. Surprisingly, she slept through the night despite her empty belly. So this morning we started the Pedialyte regimen. By noon we added some Cheerios. We did some applesauce and yogurt at 1:30. And then a bottle at 3:00. Thankfully everything stayed down and we're back on our old routine! If you had seen her, you would have never guessed she was sick. We really had a fun day! I wonder if she planned this so she could have a "Mommy & Grace Day"?!?! If she did, I loved it!