Myrtle Beach Spring Break 2014

My friend Stacey bought a condo on Myrtle Beach that sleeps 24 people.  She rents it out but the week of Spring Break she reserved it for herself and some very lucky chosen friends.  I'm so grateful that we were asked to come spend the week.  The kids had a total BLAST!

Newburyport Trip Summer of 2013

We went home to Newburyport for two weeks to celebrate Rebecca's 40th birthday!  

While we were home I arranged a surprise visit from Trent's Air force buddy, Woody and his family.  We haven't seen Woody, Monica and Ashley since we moved from Germany over 15 years ago.  They're retired in Maine now and took a road trip down to say hello.    

It wouldn't be a proper trip home without Crazy Aunt Patsy's Fried Puff Party.

We spent some time with Papa who handed the kids cash and let them have soda, ice cream and cookies!

We cured hangovers on the beach with the girls.  

Currier fell in love!

We went yardsaling with Cheryl.

We had fun playing with our yardsale finds.

We attended a pig-roast at Kristin's house on the lake and I saw friends I haven't seen since high school .

Cheryl and I went to Papa's old house, now turned swanky spa, and got body glow treatments.

We spent a weekend on Cape Cod at my god-mother Helen's house, the Cape Escape.

The kids played in the same lake my brother and I enjoyed growing up.

We spent a lot of time on Hampton Beach watching drunk people get arrested.

We ate Chinese in my old neighborhood in Malden with my Coffee cousins.

It was a vodka-soaked roller coaster ride of AWESOME!

Summer Vacation in Orlando

Florida Vacation

Aunt Carrie gave us a week without kids!  She took both kids down to Florida for a week to spend time with their grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles.

The kids had an absolute blast and we got some home projects completed, slept in, and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

 Trent drove down for a weekend to pick the kids up and gave me the house to myself—pure bliss!

Myrtle Beach Getaway

 

On Friday we drove up to Myrtle Beach for the weekend to celebrate Currier's 7th birthday.  Our first order of business was appetizers and drinks at Planet Hollywood which was right outside our hotel.   The rest of the evening was spent in the hotel Jacuzzi relaxing. 

 

On Saturday we spent the day at the beach and then went to Pirates Voyage—Dolly Parton's brand new pirate themed dinner show in Myrtle Beach.  

 

 

Shiver me timbers! The show was really incredible.  It was a spectacular mix of pirates, mermaids, acrobats, live animals, good food, cold beer, and loud music.  It was the perfect way to celebrate Currier turning seven.

 

On Currier's birthday (Sunday, May 19th) we spent the morning goofing around in the hotel pool.

 

We spent the afternoon day dreaming and drinking at a ocean view bar.

 

And we spent the evening riding rides at Broadway at the Beach.  FANTASTIC WEEKEND!

Roadtrip to KnoxVegas

Rya and I took our first road trip with just the two of us.  On Wednesday, we drove up to Carrie's in Knoxville (about a six hour drive) to return her car.  Rya and I had a blast on the drive up.  We sang, we chatted, we snacked and we laughed. 
 

While at Carrie's I did some organizing projects as a small token of my appreciation for her loaning us her car for so long.  She really is the kindest and most generous person I know! 

 

Trent and Currier drove up after school/work on Friday.  We promised the kids snow so we drove up to Gatlinburg and took them to the ski resort for a snowball fight.  This lead to some crying and a blow to my neck that knocked my back out of alignment (those little bastards play dirty!) but it was still fun and awesome to see the kids play in snow for the first time. 

 

Before heading back home we went out to eat at Senor Taco (for the third time that week!)  I fibbed to the waiter and said it was Rya's birthday so she'd get free dessert and whipped cream in the face.  It was the first time I saw her experience embarrassment.  Unfortunately she's in for a lot of that with me as her mother. 

Disney Marathon Weekend

We arrived Friday evening for the Disney Marathon Weekend.   My Aunt Joanie works for Disney so she was able to get us a great discount at the All Star Sports Resort inside Disney.  Our room overlooked a giant heated pool that captivated us until almost Midnight.  

  

On Saturday my Aunt Joanie and Uncle Ricky treated Trent and the kids to a day at Animal Kingdom.  While they had an awesome action packed day filled with roller coaster rides and amazing animal encounters, I went to the marathon expo to pick up my race packet and then I spent the rest of the day hydrating, stretching, resting and trying to calm my marathon jitters.   

 

Now for the not-so-fun part—Sunday started with a 2AM wake up call!  Yes, I had to get up at 2AM to eat, get dressed and catch the shuttle to Epcot at 3AM.   I arrived at Epcot at 3:30AM with 60,000 other idiots and then waited an hour to begin lining up at the start line.  It took two hours of walking and waiting to finally get to the front of the start line.  My corral took off at 6:25AM. 

Once I began running I felt great and it would occasionally dawn on me, “I’m running a freaking marathon!” and I couldn’t help but smile.  Eight months of training, physical therapy,early bedtimes, early wake up calls and that final ridiculous 2AM wake up call all came down to this and it felt awesome to finally be in that moment. 

The  race started and ended at Epcot and the course took us through all the Disney parks.  Aside from several stretches of crossing highway overpasses, it was a beautiful run with lots to see.  Everything was going great until after the Magic Kingdom I started to feel that familiar pain in my knee caused by IT band friction syndrome.  At mile seven I stopped and did the stretches I was taught to alleviate the pain and the pain would subside just to return even sharper a little later.  This went on and on and on for the remainder of the race.  I stopped at one medic tent to have them wrap my knee only to stop at the next medic tent to have them unwrap it because the tape made it hurt even more.  

 

I was diagnosed with this injury a while back so I went into this race knowing this could happen so I ran when I could and walked when I needed. It was tough and it took every ounce of will power to finish. At mile 22 I hit the notorious "wall" and had a little mental breakdown that led to some crying. That dreaded voice entered my head saying, "You can't do this" but that voice turned out to be a liar.  I just couldn't give up knowing that Trent and the kids were waiting for me at the finish line.   

Oh, crossing that finish line!  "What's it feel like?" everybody asks.  It felt incredible and it's hard to describe but I think it's comparable to giving birth.  It's months of preparing your body to perform and you have all these preconceived notions of how it's going to be but everything is completely different and things don't go your way and it hurts worse than you ever imagined.  After hours of pain you begin to think you're going to die and just when you think you can't take it anymore and after you've told all the doctors and nurses and marathon spectators to go fuck themselves (just in your head of course), you look down at this brand new human that your body created or you cross that finish line that your body carried you for 26 miles—and you're reborn.  YOU FEEL SO ALIVE!   

 

After the marathon, Trent's sisters and their families came to the hotel to celebrate with us.  We mostly hung out by the pool so I could stretch and soothe my sore body.  Aside from my knee injury, I also got a pretty good sunburn, lost a couple toenails and had some ugly chafing in places I'd rather not speak about.  Being surrounded by people I love made all the pain go away.  Well that and the pizza and beer.    

 

The morning after the marathon, Aunt Joanie and Uncle Ricky surprised the kids and took us out to breakfast with the characters.  It was an awesome buffet and I indulged because "I ran a freaking marathon yesterday!"  It was the perfect way to end the marathon weekend.  Oh, did I mention that Trent was playing football with his nephews at the hotel and pulled his hamstring? Yeah, he was limping around that breakfast buffet in a marathon t-shirt stealing my damn thunder!    

 

Running a marathon was a check mark on my bucket list.  I don't think I'll ever run a full one again but I'm so proud that I did.  I learned a lot about myself.  I've spent my whole life hating my body for not being perfect and now I can't stop thanking my body for being so strong. 

 

I want to thank everyone who supported me, believed in me and encouraged me through this whole dream but mostly I'd like to thank Billy Squier for "The Stroke" because that killer melody took me across the finish line!  

50th Anniversary

We spent New Years weekend in Tampa celebrating Trent's parent's 50th wedding anniversary.  With the whole family together, we cooked and ate big meals, played board games, watched football, drank a ridiculous amount of booze, spent a day at Tarpon Springs, watched a slide show of Mimi and Papi's fifty years together, laughed a lot and cried a little.  It was a great weekend celebrating two incredible, loving people!  

  

Road Trip

Because it's not a proper road trip without stopping at a truck stop Hooters at 9PM.  And while I drink beer Currier is at the bar learning magic tricks and Rya is with the waitress learning how to hula hoop.  I'll take my mother of the year award now!

Savannah Rock n Roll Half Marathon

I ran my first half marathon over the weekend.  On Friday Trent, the kids and I drove two hours to Savannah and picked up my race packet from the convention center and then checked into the Holiday Inn at the airport (at $175.00 a night it was the cheapest hotel I could find for race weekend!).  The hotel had an indoor pool and jacuzzi so that made the kids happy and it had a Cracker Barrel across the street so that made me happy (Hello carb loading pancakes!).  After swimming and eating, we settled in our beds for an evening of rest and TV.  In the middle of watching Sponge Bob Squarepants, Currier stands up on the bed, pulls his pajama bottoms down, waves his hand in front of his penis as if presenting a five course meal and says, "Hey Everyone, feast your eyes on this!"  Trying not to burst out laughing I said, "Currier, that's inappropriate where did you learn that?"  He said he just saw it earlier in a movie preview except the kid bent over and pointed to his butt. "I thought it would be way funnier to pull my pants down and do it to my pee pee!" he said.  He was right!  The next morning Trent and the kids slept in while I got up at 5AM, ate a high protein breakfast and took a shuttle with twenty strangers to the start line.  Hardly a word was spoken on that dark and early ride into the city but the van reeked of Biofreeze, nerves, adrenaline and fear.  Once I got to the start line I met some members of the Tri Sports run club for one last pep talk from our trainers, Shelley and Peggy, and my nerves seemed to calm a bit.  "Just have fun", they said.  "You trained four months for this race.  The hard part is over.  Now just have fun!"   

And that I did!  Who would have thought running 13.1 miles could be so much fun!?  There was a live band at every mile and the spectators were an absolute riot!  Some held signs that read, “Don’t stop—that’s what she said!” & “This is the worst parade ever!” & "If running were easy they would call it your mom!" & " Go complete stranger Go!"  Since this was a marathon to benefit the American Cancer Society, many of the runners ran in honor of or in memory of loved ones and many cancer survivors themselves ran—the motivation and inspiration was too awesome and emotional to describe.  I ran this one for my mom who battled a brain tumor for five years before it took her life at the age of 43.   

Crossing that marathon finish line was an incredible feeling.  My time as 2:46 which I know isn't a record breaker but not bad for a first timer with a knee injury.  I followed the trainers' advice and took my time at a 12 minute mile pace, hydrated at every single water stop and even stopped and waited in line and peed at mile five. 

 

The kids thought I won the race since I got a medal (I'm okay with letting them think that) and Trent couldn't stop telling me how proud he was of me (I'm also okay with that!).  After a few race beers at the finish line, we headed back home to Charleston.  On the way home, I was talking on the phone with my friend Stacey and telling her all about the funny signs that spectators were holding and Currier was obviously listening and taking in every word because after I hung up the phone he said, "If running were easy they would call it my mom!"