Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year in a beach house in Ocean City, Maryland. No, it was not beach weather (it was so. cold.), but we were only one block from the beach, and it was still awesome to go out and walk around and watch the waves. Rachel and Theresa came from Arizona, and Elisa came from Madison, and we had so much fun all weekend.

We started the weekend with a Thanksgiving program at Bria's school:

On Thanksgiving morning, before we drove out to Ocean City, I ran a 5K with my friend Hillary. (I hadn't run since the half marathon, and hey! I haven't run since!)

We packed our car to the absolute brim, and set off.

We decided to feast on Friday, so once we arrived, we set in on some pre-feast preparations, including brining the turkey. The next day, I tried my hand at spatchcocking our turkey, and it turned out awesome. You can read more about that here. Yes, that is me holding a turkey spine.

Our feast was delicious! Can't believe I didn't take more pictures of the spread.

Sam and I worried Bria would be bored without any other kids, but she was in absolute heaven having her aunts and godmother dote on her all day long.

Sam, Bria, Rachel, and Theresa rented a beach cruiser to ride along the boardwalk and check out the scene.

While Elisa and I walked on the beach and sat on these rocks for a good hour watching the waves. Elisa had never seen the Atlantic Ocean! And it did not disappoint.

There was a Winter Fest of Lights while we were there, and it was a perfect nudge into the holiday season. We were all freezing cold, but had a blast. After the tour around the lights, they had an indoor area with hot chocolate and Santa. Bria's first encounter with a Santa impersonator, in fact.

(Happy Birthday, Jesus! Something I had never heard before coming to the South.)

We decided to go out for a nice dinner to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Since Bria has the soul of an adult, she did great, even saying to the waiter at the end of the meal "thank you so much for a delightful evening."

On the last morning, Sam got up extra early to watch the amazing sunrise.

Elisa and Bria kept each other company on the long drives.

On our way back, we stopped in Annapolis to eat lunch and walk around. Such a quaint little town! I can't wait to go back and explore more.

Check!

This weekend I crossed a major item off my goal list by running the Richmond half marathon. I've been really inspired by several friends who have trained for big runs, and when some of my friends here in VA said they were doing it, I knew this was my chance. Training totally kicked my trash, but I had so much fun on the day of the race, and it felt amazing to cross that finish line (a full thirty minutes ahead of my goal!). (For a much, much longer report of the race, you can read here.)

Of course the biggest thanks has to go out to Bria and Sam who formed the world's greatest fan club, cheering me on. They sacrificed a lot for me to go out running all time-- especially the long Saturday runs. I seriously couldn't have done it without them.

Cox Farms

Last weekend we wanted to squeeze in a little more fall/Halloweenish fun, so we set out for Cox Farms for their pumpkin smash (they drop pumpkins from a tall crane and also launch them from a catapult). We took our nephew Colin, which is always thrilling for Bria, and we had an awesome time! It was absolutely freezing that day, but totally worth it.

 

stinky pigs-- they both plugged their noses without prompting or coordinating.

tons of slides! it only took about an hour to convince bria to go down one.

this was my favorite thing ever.

Star Wars Halloween

This was the year. Bria wanted to dress up as Queen Amidala for Halloween, and the natural progression was for Sam to be Han Solo and me to be Princess Leia. I enlisted my friend Katie to help me sew Bria's costume, and every time I sat down to work on it, I thought "what did I get myself into?!?!" but I think it turned out pretty well. The biggest obstacle was the headpiece. By the morning of Halloween, I had settled on just having her wear a gold headband (which means without makeup at her school parade her costume was pretty unrecognizable), but Sam had a stroke of creativity and crafted her headpiece while I furiously whipped out my Princess Leia get-up in the couple hours before the trunk-or-treat.
I always told Sam I would only do a family-themed Star Wars Halloween one time, so he better choose which year wisely, but I have to admit, I kind of loved being Princess Leia. Dare I admit I would totally do it again?

Frankenstorm

We've been holed up here at home the last two days as Hurricane Sandy swept over the East Coast. We made several trips to the store this weekend to stock up on shelf-stable food, and felt pretty prepared going in. We've had several other major storms prepare us for Sandy, so we were set with water, flashlights, and candles. We lost power on Monday around 5 pm, and we were certain it would be at least Wednesday or Thursday before it was back. I was thrilled to wake up suddenly to all the lights in the apartment around 5 am. The only issue we've had was similar to Hurricane Irene-- leaks in the building mean our walls and window frames leak, and this time it reached the carpet. We're hoping it will all be dried out by tomorrow.

To keep ourselves entertained while we were homebound, we made a little video, reporting on the weather. It was actually really nice to have Sam around so much these last two days, and we really enjoyed each other's company. Bria got to watch Star Wars Episode 1 in preparation for Halloween, Sam and Bria made their own Doc McStuffins memory game (this took hours, which was awesome), and we each ate our weight and then some in shelf-stable junk food. 

Mostly, we just feel so lucky to have gotten through unscathed when there are flooded homes, people missing, and still millions without power. We are also feeling grateful to so many friends--near and far-- who checked in on us. We had so many people offer to let us crash with them when our power went out, and we even braved a quick walk to our neighbors' to eat dinner prepared on their gas stove after we all lost power. Forget the news; forget politics: there is love and good in this world.

Action

First video: Bria was rather inspired by her cousins this summer and wanted to take a karate class. I enrolled her in one at our local rec center and purchased her a gi off Amazon. We took a little video a couple days before the first class. She's my favorite little ninja. Unfortunately the class was a total bust. My first clue was when the super cool young 20s instructor told me "all the other classes like to play games, but I think that's a waste of time. I only teach them self-defense." After 45 minutes of practicing a series of about six moves (including three different elbow moves) over and over, just punching/hitting/kicking into a padded wall (seriously, that was it for 45 minutes), I told Bria we didn't have to go back. Obviously she didn't want to. We'll try again next year at a real martial arts studio. But clearly she's already got some pretty impressive moves.

The next video is Bria showing off the curtain I finally made for her room. Nevermind that it took me three years to finally address the cardboard, foil, and leopard print sheet situation that blocked out all the light. Ugh, what an eyesore. Now her room is lovely!

Natitude

It's been a while since I've been able to adopt a local pro sports team. I mean, it's hard enough to get me to be enthusiastic about any sport, really, so I guess my location has nothing to do with it. But I grew up going to Rockies games every spring and summer, and even though I think baseball is b-o-r-i-n-g, it's an all-American event, right? We've gone to at least one Nationals game each summer-- Sam sneaking in several more here and there with his brother. When we moved here, I think the Nats had the worst record in baseball. But, folks, we must be the lucky charms, because since we moved here, they have moved up to having the best record. You're welcome, Nationals. Feel free to cut us a portion of your profits.
We went to the last home game of the regular season last week, and it was particularly fun, since Teddy finally won the presidential race. Bria brought her dear friend Ada, and we cheered on our Nats to a grand victory. Fun fact: Bria's favorite player is Bryce Harper, since his was the only shirt in her size when we went to buy Nats gear at Target before a game earlier in the season. She gets his name confused with National Harbor. And whenever anyone gets up to bat, regardless of their team, she loves to yell at the top of her lungs, "DO IT!!"

So . . . do we think our Nats have a chance at making it to the World Series?
That's a clown question, bro.

Teddy wins!

 

The beloved playground, where we usually spend an inning or two

A game earlier this summer when we watched a sudden rainstorm move in-- torrential downpours had us trapped in the stadium for about an hour, with tornado warnings near our house. The rain delay last several hours, but when the game resumed, the Nats came back for the win!