Skirt Chasers 5K

Sat night John and I participated in the Skirt Chasers 5K in downtown Raleigh. It was such a good time ,well other than the 26 mins of hell it took me to complete the actual race : )
The race was hysterical though. the women wore skirts and got to start 3 mins ahead of the guys. The guys then raced to catch the girls and for the single men (majority of racers) they hoped to find/catch a date also.
Our friend Peter raced with us. The course was really hard, hilly and hot as it started at 5pm when it was about 80degrees. 19 mins into the race Peter passed me (smacked the girly logo sticker i was wearing on my back). Anticipating another smack from John right away I started getting bummed. Luckily it never happened and I beat him by 20 or so seconds, (with my 3 min. advantage! ) I finished a minute and a half slower than my last 5K a month ago, and 80th out of 375 female runners. Not great but I was really just happy i didn't puke like some others as I was hurting bad!

John,Peter and his catch Jen


Peter in black leaving us in the dust


me in green skirt happy to see the finish after all those hills


John in white trying to make sure not to get passed by a guy pushing two kids in a stroller behind him!

"I actually paid $35 for this pain" thoughts to myself about 2 miles into it

mommy,mommy,mommy

i'm not sure if those of you that have kids experience the same nightly exhausting routine that i do. tonight was a typical one for me. i hate summer for one reason only, the sun doesn't set early enough! sophia and logann have recently learned how to tell time so the trickery of the clock is over too! some nights ago i use to be able to lie and say it was 9pm when it was only 7pm, aahh good old days!
anyway tonight i managed to convince them that 8:00 was our bedtime regardless if it was still light out. we got upstairs without major meltdowns only because i let them bring a coloring book and crayons to bed. i swear i will let them do anything as long as it keeps them in their room and i have my peace and quiet.
8:05pm everyone is settled in, i sit down to eat my dinner, 2 mins later, one is calling out to go the bathroom. back upstairs i go. eating again, the other calls out cause i forgot to close closet door (you know thats where the monsters live) back upstairs. few mins later one is hungry, one is hot, one can't sleep and so it goes.
its now 8:55 I just checked in on Logann who is finally sleeping, light on, radio on, fan on, lying amongst spilled crayons and choc. chips (yes i did give my child chocolate at 8pm!).
Sophia on the other hand has just tried to once again convince me that she isn't like the rest of us, and that she doesn't require sleep like we do. Just to get her out of my hair so I could get back to my peace and quiet I agreed to let her sleep in the guest room so she could watch SpongeBob and continue her life as a self proclaimed insomniac. Off she ran to bed and i settled back in, well only for a second.....the guest room closet was left open too!
on my way to ward off monsters and save the night by closing the scary closet door, i know i was fuming and rolling my eyes at her.
moral of the story.......she looked up at me as i was coming in and said as sweet as can be.
"Mommy you did a lot for Logann and me today so tomorrow I will do a lot for you because i love you"
In other words, ha ha mommy we have you wrapped around our little fingers.
No seriously she melted my heart by acknowledging the 5 million stupid little things i do for them each day, and she appreciates it! i often wonder if my girls will become the people i want them to become, morally and emotionally speaking. you never know what the future holds for them but her comment tonight sure gave me hope that we are on the right track!
these are the moments that keep us going....

Happy Red,White and Blue!

We had a fun, busy, Memorial Weekend. John and I ran a 5KRace on Sat, BBQ/Bday party Sunday and then Neighborhood pool party Monday. The girls loved getting dressed up in their patriotic dresses and star flipflops. They decided they must have a lemonade sale too at the pool party so that planning took up most of the morning. It was quite entertaining to watch them create the sign, discuss the money and details and serve the customers.

I was surprised by how much fun they had with it. And luckily by how little they cared about the couple dollars they did make. At first Sophia insisted if anyone forgot their nickel they weren't getting any free lemonade because then they wouldn't make any money! True..... but surprising coming from a sweet 5 yr old. Logann was the generous one that decided she would buy them lemonade then with her piggybank.

the kids were lined up for the lemonade (nasty Crystal Light actually). They had a little meltdown when Mommy refused to go grocery shopping so they could squeeze real lemons. The powdered stuff would have to do. We did get a couple complaints though from the tough big boys.

Ms. Daredevil!

Sophia's future husband! Or one of them! This little dude sportin the Dutch spike is Nolan. He was over Sunday for the BBQ, the son of my good friend Kelly. How cute is he? And the kid can read! He's only 5 but he can read anything you put in front of him. Its the strangest thing ever. John gave him a medical journal once last year and he read it.

there is no I in TEAM.

it wasn't long before they all tumbled. but it was cute while it lasted!




Jonah the birthday boy and Nolan's little bro. Nothing beats Diego and lots of frosting at 3. We had a fun little party just us two families.

Daddy's Little Girl

photos from the other day at the pool......i don't know do you still think they look like twins? lately people have been telling me how much logann resembles me. one things for sure, she definitely has John's personality : )

another baby

my girls want a baby......well they do today! tomorrow they may come to their senses, maybe? we were driving somewhere this evening and the entire 15 min trip i had to hear about why they need a baby brother. i made sure to inform them that there were no guarantees on the brother thing, so they said they would settle for a sister.

i told them i couldn't have a baby because the last baby i had hurt a lot and i still remember the pain : ) well i said it mildly. they got the point though and came back with, well we could just adopt a baby like our old neighbors did! that was quick i must admit.

i then told them if i had a baby i couldn't work and i like working. so they offered to babysit so i could keep working. i told them i like sleeping at night now and most babies don't sleep, so they said the baby could sleep on the floor in their rooms and i wouldn't hear it. i told them if we got a baby then we couldn't get a puppy this summer, they said they'd rather have the baby!

then i told logann if i had a baby i couldn't carry her anymore and she couldn't come snuggle with me in bed because the baby would be there and there wouldn't be any room......she then told sophia she'd really rather have a puppy.

looks like i will forever have a baby, no matter how old she gets!

and luckily the next door neighbor has a newborn that we have been borrowing a lot. they are sweet things. but they would put a wrench in this nice life of mine, i think!
RIGHT?
these girls had me thinking for a sec.
somebody shake me....

Europe

So I am finally trying to finish up my Europe blogging. I am not a very productive blogger these days. I think I'm burnt out! That seems to happen to me a lot. Last year I was an avid cook and gym rat. This year I love eating out and laying in bed : ) Now I need to start loving shopping since none of my clothes fit : (
Well anyway back to Europe. So we totally were spoiled this year with a big trip to Holland and France. My mom was so generous in watching my crazy monkeys for 12 days. I'm sure it wasn't easy for her, they can be a handful! The first week went well, but on day 8 the honeymoon ended and their true personalities came out. So next year we'll be limiting ourselves to a week vacation : )
We flew into Amsterdam and spent 8 days with our great friends Rob and Judith whom we know from Baldwinsville,NY. They live about 45 mins from Amsterdam. It was a great experience staying with them and getting a taste for the true Holland and the way the locals live. The country was very impressive. I can see why they are back there.
We then went to Paris for 3 nights. A few years ago John went to France to follow the Tour de France and has been talking about taking me to Paris ever since. So glad we were able to get there, Paris is by far the most beautiful, historic, and romantic city ever! I loved it, and John even claims it was better the second time around.
My posting dates got a little screwed up and I'm missing the first couple days but I think I've posted enough for now. Enjoy!

Tuesday - Holland

Tuesday was the only really raining day we had the whole trip. The kids were in daycare all day so Rob and Jude took us to see the famous Dutch windmills. Can't for the life of me remember the name of the city but it wasn't too far from where they lived.
We had to take a ferry boat across the river to get to the place. The rain didn't let up much but we braved it and did the tour.

Monday-Amsterdam

The weather was nice Monday so we decided to daytrip it to Amsterdam. Getting to A'dam was easy via the train which we caught just a couple blocks from R&J's house. We had a little problem with our credit cards at the train station. For some reason we couldn't use our cc to buy tickets with the automated machines. We hopped on the train without a ticket and were able to buy one at the next stop from the teller. A little tricky but it all worked out.

The train ride was only about 45 mins with one connection. We got to A'dam around lunch time and grabbed a quick bite to eat right next to Central Station. Note to self never eat a hot dog in Holland, John said they were terrible, they must have been pretty bad as hot dogs are his favorite food!

We decided to buy a ticket for the Canal Hopper so we could get on and off the boat all around the city. Not sure we got our money's worth as we pretty much ended up walking the city but it was a fun ride while we used it.

Our first stop was the Van Gogh Musuem. We spent about an hour there. It was okay and one of those things you feel like you should just do since you're there. Most of the day we walked around checking out the canals, streets,shops. Amsterdam is such a pretty city. I don't think most Americans realize that with all the negative hype it gets.

The dutch watch a lot of American T.V. and its all subtitled so they constantly hear English. Which explains why they speak so well. I liked this billboard

Just before dusk we hit the Red Light District. The windows were being set up (women were taking their places). It wasn't until we came back later that things started picking up. We must have seen over 100 women within a 6 block radius. It was truly an experience to witness. I felt really sorry for the women. A lot of them looked pretty desperate. I couldn't believe how many shapes and sizes there were. All of them were standing in the window in bikinis. 99% of them cigarette in hand. As the guys walked by they would tilt their heads at them or wink. It was pretty funny. We only witnessed two guys go in, though many inquired but didn't commit. I was curious to know how it worked so I tried to convince John to go ask but he was too shy : )

(the girls which you can't see are below the red lights. every store front had a red light pretty much)

strange!

not sure if there were more girls or coffee shops in A'dam. I did learn that coffee shops only serve hash and coffee. No alcohol! Only cafes serve alcohol.

Wed - Holland

Wed morning we went with Jude and the kids to a local park. Very nice park with lots of trails and playgrounds.

From there John and I, in need of a workout, ran back to the apartment. We had a tiny little map with us and no sense of direction. Fortunately with the help of some friendly Dutchmen and a little luck we found our way back home in 60 mins.

We took a nap,zzzzzzz, so nice, and then got ready for dinner and partying. Jude's parents and sister came over and cooked us dinner. Ham,egg and white asparagus casserole, greek salad and turkish bread it was delicious!

the grandparents babysat and the rest of us headed into The Hague for the Queen's night party.

Rob sportin his requisite "Orange" attire

John flirtin with the Orange girls

and making buddies with the beer guy who was wearing the keg on his back. I think John wants one for Xmas

A fun night out with great friends. So nice to relax and hang out like the old days! Well sans kids even better. Thanks for entertaining us guys we really enjoyed it!

Thurs - Queen's Day

Queen's Day in Holland is quite a holiday! Its in celebration of the Queen's birthday or her mother's birthday or someone's . Either way its a national holiday and big parties are held all over the country.
John and I did our usual sleeping in and then got ready to go shopping (forgetting it was a holiday). Since the mall was closed we just decided to go for a walk and happened upon some of the local celebrations.
The first thing we ran into was the "sidewalk sales" basically what we know as garage sales. People were all over the cities selling their junk on blankets. It was crazy! I'm not really sure why people would want to do it on their holiday off from work but they really seemed to be enjoying themselves.
I had fun looking at all the Dutch stuff, (different toys and clothes) We got the girls some really cool Disney character puppets that I've never seen over here. and we got each of the girls a pair of boots. Both things went over really well with the girls and only cost us $4 : )

After the garage sales we went to McDonalds (yes we did!) and we saw a dog waiting in line for food, too funny!

While we were getting money out of the ATM we somehow miraculously ran into Rob, Jude and the kids. We hung out with them and went to some of the Queens Day festivities.

we watched some interesting Dutch competitions,

had some beer and listened to music

watched kids play old school games, hang from jeans

saw some Dutch mansions

checked out the way people get around......

on the backs of others bikes

family of 4, look closely, kid in front baby on back

mom and daughter down the middle of the road...none of this would go over in the U.S. and where are their helmets : )

one bike for the whole family, so cool!