Cock-A-Doodle-Doh!

Last week was Aidan's very first "Wow, I get to stay home from school for a whole week" spring break. We decided to take advantage of the week by making a trip to Lori's parent's ranch in Tennessee. I always love going to their place, and always look forward to visiting the country. The only unfortunate byproduct of such a trip is the always dreaded ............. take the 18 month old on a plane phenomenon. For those of you that have never had the pleasure of experiencing such a phenomenon, congratulations on the extra years of life you still have in your possession. For those of you that have been "lucky" and brave enough to conquer such a monumental excursion, bow your heads for a moment of silence to pay homage to the years of your life that vanished amongst the screeching cries, stinky diapers, and furrowed brows of irritated passengers.

We got the to airport in plenty of time, and even made it through security in a pretty timely manner. Things were looking up. They remained up until we boarded the plane. Christopher decided that it was just way too quiet on that plane, and he needed to throw a fit before takeoff. It was about that time that essence of life started exiting my pores at an alarming pace. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh.....please start this plane and take off where this boy will stop crying and go to sleep". I must give Lori credit. She handles these situations much better than me, and I can only imagine how tough it is to actually be the one holding the little monster while exacerbated death stares surround your position. He finally went to sleep after take off, and was relatively quiet the remaining flight.

Nana picked us up at the airport, and after a quick trip through the drive thru at Mickey D's we were on our way to the farm. About an hour and a half later we arrived at the ranch, and one deep breath of that crisp mountain air made all of stress just float away.

The first few days we were there it rained.....and rained......and then rained some more. There was lots of time indoors playing dominoes, playing games, watching basketball, and just relaxing. It was fun, but we were all getting a bit stir crazy and wanted to go exploring outside. By the third morning, the rain had stopped, the fog was lifting, and blue skies were starting to show.

It was still a bit nippy outside, and we all enjoyed the warm fire in the fireplace.

By late morning it was absolutely beautiful.


Blue skies meant it was time to play, and Nana and Aidan jumped on the Gator.


"Hey....watch out for the photographer!" While they drove down to feed the chickens and horses and cows, Lori and Christopher and I went to take some pics of the scenery. Oh....and what beautiful scenery it is.........






By the next day it had dried up so much, we went uphill to play on the swing set. It was still a bit muddy (notice everybody's groovy boots), but that did not deter the fun. Christopher and Aidan really loved swinging on the swings, and climbing the "rock" wall. Christopher's favorite thing by far was the slide. He loved the slide, and wore out Nana and Lori.


Aidan loved swinging out as far as he could on the mountain side.


Now this is the look of a boy having fun with his Nana.


Here's Christopher having fun with his da da.


What an incredible view from up here on the playground.


The beautiful day was capped off with a stunning sunset. The camera does not even begin to do this sunset justice. There were so many colors in the sky, and it was so beautiful, it was almost indescribable.


The next morning we woke up to another beautiful day. The main thing on the agenda for the day was to go fishing. Aidan was really excited about fishing, and he let us know about ........ um.....50 times before we actually went. We left Nana and PawPaw in charge of Christopher, while Lori and Aidan and I went down to the pond. It did not take long for Aidan to hooked his first fish, and we were able to capture a picture of that monster before we released him back to the deep.


We all caught some fish, and had lots of fun.

We spent the next couple of days playing outdoors during the day, watching March Madness during the evening, and playing dominoes and Monopoly at night. On our second to last day, we went over to PawPaw's parents house for a short visit. Christopher was looking mighty handsome. Here he is with momma and da da.



Aidan had lots of fun playing by the creek that runs in front of their house.


It really is a beautiful area.



Out last morning was spent packing and getting our minds right for our plane ride home. We took a couple of pictures before we left, and then we headed on our journey home.



The plane ride home was one of our least enjoyable memories to date. Christopher was an absolute hellion, and was so distraught at one point, that the flight attendant asked Lori to go to the front of the plane with the boy. I guess there were fewer people to distract while sitting in the very first row. Needless to say, Lori was really embarrassed. Christopher did much better once he was up front, but he did not sleep the whole way home. Not good. Lori deserves a medal for her unwavering dedication and nerves of steel.

We did finally make it home late Friday afternoon. It's always a bit depressing leaving such beautiful scenery and then coming into our house and looking out the window. Talk about a major difference. Wow.

We had a wonderful time, and once again Steve and Dianne were fantastic hosts. We are already looking forward to our next trip up to Tennessee......one that will probably be.....driven.

William.

PS. I told Aidan I would not tell this story, but it's just too funny to keep to myself. (PLEASE CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON WITH THE WORD ROOSTER ABOVE IT. IT IS LOCATED ON THE UPPER RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE. AFTER CLICKING PLAY PLEASE SCROLL BACK DOWN HERE AND CONTINUE READING) About the third day we were there, Aidan and I went exploring. We were in the Horse stable when I decided to go out of the side door and walk over to one of the other cabins that Nana and PawPaw have on their property. Aidan said that he would meet me there, but he wanted to go down by the chicken house and wash his muddy hands off in a rain barrel that was right beside the coup. I made it to the cabin, and I was on the porch of the house sitting in a swing as Aidan finished washing his hands. He was a couple of hundred feet away, and after washing his hands, he starting walking up the road, and making his way up to the cabin. As he left the road and started up the hill, I noticed a Rooster peek his head out of the coup. At first I did not think anything about it, but suddenly the theme from JAWS popped into my head. The Rooster started stalking Aidan, who was unaware of the impending doom. I thought to myself "surely that Rooster is just showing off and has no real intention of attacking".......boy was I wrong. Aidan had left the road and was about 6 feet up the hillside when the Rooster went into his frenzy. No sooner did I get the words out "Lookout Aidan, that Rooster's coming after you" he was already on Aidan's back, and poor Aidan was already tumbling down the hill. Now, judging from the Ungodly blood curdling scream that was emitting from Aidan's mouth, you would have thought the Rooster might have died from fright, but that was not the case. Instead, he was attached to Aidan like a cat to a scratching post. Aidan was tumbling down the hill end over end, and screaming bloody murder. I leaped up from my swing, and made a bee line to the boy. I reached him after he had tumbled down 20 feet of the mountain, and I punted that Rooster off the boy's back. I have never seen Aidan that shook up. He was crying uncontrollably. After checking him out for cuts and bruises, I walked him back to the house. He came out of it with just one scratch on his back, and a buttkicking he will not soon forget. He did show his bravery later, and went right back in that chicken coup with Nana to collect eggs. He just took a big stick with him.....just in case. The lessons he learned........Roosters are MEAN.


Most importantly : Roosters don't sleep...they WAIT!

6 Squared

Happy Birthday Lori!

We love you.

William, Aidan, and Christopher

STEEL

11 years ago today I made the best decision of my life.

Most of the time, when someone makes a statement like this, it requires quite a tale to support such a boast. Not this time. This time all it took was my reciting two simple words. Those two words provided the cornerstone to my existence, and have given me incalculable happiness. What are these magical words you ask?

"I DO"

Thank you Lori for 11 wonderful years. I could not have found a better mother, a better friend, a better wife, or a better person than you.

William

What The Duck?

So, I'm sitting at the computer wondering if the rain would let up anytime soon, when lo and behold I received a sign.


Yep, that's our front yard, and yep that's two ducks that just landed there about 15 minutes ago. We might be in trouble.

William

Spring Foward

Yesterday's weather was fantastic, providing you were one of the following:

A) Kite

B) Sailboat

C) Windmill

If you were not one of the above, the weather proved challenging, and the wind elicited more than one "this is ridicules" response during Aidan's baseball practice and soccer game. Lori was also not to pleased to find out that in addition to her Saturday morning running groups' scheduled hill sprints yesterday, they would also be fighting the 35mph gust while doing so. Mmmmm...Mmmmmm doesn't that sound fun? It's no wonder why she looks so forward to 6:30am on Saturday mornings. I can't think of one other thing I would rather be doing at that time.............well.....Ok...I lied. What I meant to say was I cannot think of one other thing I would not rather be doing than running wind sprints up hill against a 35mph wind at 6:30am on Saturday mornings. That's about it in a nutshell.

Aidan's first baseball practice was yesterday, and it went great. He was a bit rusty, but I was very impressed with his hitting. With the weather, soccer, and some recent illnesses, we have not had very much time to practice. He picked up right where he left off last season, and he was stroking the ball pretty well. His first baseball game is April 4th, and by that time he should be in the groove.

His recent soccer games have been cold and miserable. In addition to the awful weather, his team has also been playing awful. They have just looked bad, and many of the kids were getting kind of discouraged. Yesterday, they broke out of the doldrums, and played like they wanted to be there. Aidan had his best game of the year, scoring 3 goals, and preventing at least 4-5. We were very happy with his effort, and he had a lot of fun.

Christopher is such a little devil. He is a handful, and getting more brave and more independent each and every day. You have to watch him like a hawk or he will be into something quicker than you can blink. Here is a picture that I took of Christopher the other day. He was playing with my reading glasses, and when he put them on, I thought the looked like the kid from Jerry Maguire.


Such a ham.

I have to apologize for not blogging more recently. After building the new computer, I finally had a machine that would support the most recent video games. I got the game Fallout 3 about a month ago, and it is an absolute time eater. Hours seem like minutes when you are playing, and any "spare" (blogging time) that I have recently had, has been spent immersed in Post Nuclear Role Playing. I have however recently completed the game, so I now have most of my "spare" time back for blogging. So there you have it, you all have been deprived your weekly Thornton updates because of my video game weakness. You should all feel very important now.

Well, got to go. Lot's to do on this beautiful, windless day. I have already mowed the lawn, and I see a trip to Home Depot in my very near future. Lori wants new plants and flowers (Spring is Here!), so you know what that means..............Lori gets new plants and flowers. Gotta keep momma happy.

William

Down With The Sickness

For the last 4+ years, we have been really blessed with Aidan's health. He, unlike most kids, just never gets sick. Injured?........well that's a whole different animal indeed, but as far as viruses, and infections go, Aidan has been almost impervious. All that changed on Sunday when Aidan came down with a really nasty virus. He looked truly awful, and as any parent can attest, it's really difficult seeing one's child in so much discomfort.

Aidan was absolutely miserable, which in turn made us equally as miserable. Now our misery was not the viral kind, but instead stemmed from our feeling of helplessness. There is just not much you can do for viruses, you just kind of have to "ride" it out. NOT A FUN RIDE!

As a parent, there is probably no worse feeling in the world than to see your child hurting and not being able to fix it. I spent the last two days being Aidan's "cabana boy", catering to his every whim, but it hardly helped with his disposition. You know something is terribly wrong with your six year old son when you offer him cookies and ice cream and pizza and all he can muster is a whispered "nah, I'm just not hungry". The horror.....the horror.

His fever finally broke yesterday morning, and he took a very long nap in the afternoon. After waking up from his nap, he seemed like he might be turning the corner. We kept our fingers crossed during the night, and when he woke up this morning, he said he was ready to go to school. Let's hope he makes it through the day OK, and gets his appetite back. Unlike his father, that skinny monkeyboy does not need to lose anymore weight. Hopefully he will come home ravenous and in good spirits.

So far Christopher seems fine. We are praying that he stays that way. We do not need a 18 month old coming down with a viral infection. I'm not sure that daddy could handle it.

William

Oh Lord it's Hard to be Humbled

Well, Aidan's soccer season started off with a bang yesterday, and humble pie was served by the truckload. Wow, talk about a beating.....gesh.....I thought a one point they were going to have to stop the game to repair the net. Aidan, being the fierce competitor that he is, did not take the beating too well, and was visibly upset most of the game. He played his butt off, and we were very proud of his effort, but he could not do it alone. Two of his better teammates were sick and did not make it to the game, and there were just too many outstanding players on the other team for Aidan to make a difference. As a matter of fact, two of the players on the other team looked like they had done nothing but eat, sleep, and drink soccer since they were born. They were phenomenal players, with the ball skills of players twice their age. They could score at will.......and did. Like I said, it was quite humbling for Aidan's team and the parents. Oh well, there is always next game.

I did manage to get a couple of minutes of video of Aidan's game. Thankfully, this minute or so does not include the other team scoring. Please disregard the screaming madman in the background. His yelling did not help, but it did make him feel better.

William

Taking off Cruise Control

I know, I know, it's been too long since I last blogged. I would like to say that it's because I have been too busy, but that is really not the truth. The truth is, there just has not been too much going on lately. No sports, no birthdays, no special occasions, just everyday life. I figured most of you would not want to hear about such routine happenings.

All of that changed yesterday with soccer season officially up and running. Aidan had his first practice yesterday, and to say he was a bit rusty would be an understatement. I have never seen him huffing and puffing like that before. It was like watching a "mini me" after I started back to the gym last week. Both of us have a lot of work to do.

Christopher is becoming more independent each and every day. If his progression stays the same, he should be moving out in the next few months. No, not really, but let me tell you, he is a little firecracker. If it can be climbed and it's dangerous, he's your man......err....boy. I do not remember Aidan being such a Daredevil, and that's a scary thought. He is not quite talking yet, but it won't be long now. He can babble with the best of them. Now we just need to start his potty training. I cannot wait to get him out of diapers. It will be glorious!

I have not taken any new pictures lately, and for that I deserve to be flogged. I will make up for it in the next week, and I will post some new picture of the monkeys. They are growing up so fast.

William

HAL 9000's First Cousin

Well, two weeks ago I did something that I have always wanted to do, but never had the guts to do it. Skydive you say? What, are you nuts? No, this was not quite that reckless, but brave nonetheless.

I purchased all of the components down to that last wire, and built from scratch, a top of the line monster computer. Yep, that's right, all by myself. Now, if that does not sound too difficult for you, just stop reading now, for my shameless boastfulness will just be wasted on deaf ears.

I did a whole lot of research before I purchased a thing, and I mean a WHOLE lot. I am notorious for that, and it drives Lori up the wall. I can spend weeks reading reviews on products that I am interested in, before making my decision on what to purchase. I did the same this time, and it paid off. The new computer is super-stinking-COOL! Now before I dazzle you with pictures of the BEAST, let me tell you what is in it.

CoolerMaster HAF computer case
Cooler Master 1000W Real Pro power supply
MSI Eclipse Motherboard
12 GB of DDR3 Corsair Dominator 1600C8D memory (6) 2GB sticks
I7 940 @2.93ghz Quad Core processor
CoolerMaster V8 processor cooler
ASUS 4870x2 2GB Tri Fan Graphics Card
Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB 10000RPM gaming hard drive
(2) LG CD/DVD R/RW sata drives
NZXT Sentry Dual Bay Digital Fan Controller
LG W2452 High Definition Monitor

It took me a couple of weeks to get the motherboard and the memory to start being nice to each other. I had to flash a new bios, and adjust some of the voltages and the timings, but now she is purring like a kitten. Without further adieu, I present THE BEAST.


Lori thinks it looks like it belongs on the set of a STAR WARS movie. I'm just thankful she agreed to let me build it. It's amazing what a bit of groveling can accomplish.

William

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Tis the season to be jolly, and so on and so forth. This message has never been more clear, as these last two weeks have been choc full of wondrous merriment, and boundless joy. With Aidan out of school, and seeing family, I have been way too busy to blog. I hope to make up for lost time tonight, and hopefully get back on track afterwards. I hope you enjoy a brief synopsis of our Holidays.

After celebrating my birthday, we had a couple of days to finish all of our shopping and prepare for another grand Christmas. Christmas this year was done a bit different. Normally we are here in town for Christmas, and travel to see family afterwards. This year we decided to spend Christmas in Temple with my mother (Grandma) and my brother (Uncle Jim). Lori's parents came into town on the 19th, so we decided to have an early Christmas here, and leave for Temple on the 24th.

Our pseudo Christmas morning (the 23rd) started out bright and early. I guess that anyone who has ever been a kid understands the reason behind that. Aidan was up bright and early, and woke us up to make sure we did not miss opening gifts. Although Christopher is still to young to really understand what's going on, he had no problem with the concept of ripping/tearing off wrapping paper. Here he is just after opening his MEGA BLOCKS dump truck.


Aidan understands fully what it means to open gifts, and he just might be the Mozart of gift opening. He is a blur. Monkeyboy had a really good year, and we could not have been more proud of his accomplishments in sports and the classroom. Because of this, he got an extra special gift this year from his mom and dad, and he was ecstatic after opening it. Here he is just after opening his XBOX 360.Yes, we have created a videohead monster.

We spent the majority of the morning cleaning up the wrapping paper devastation and playing with our new gadgets. It is always so much fun to see the utter joy on the children's faces when they get presents. After we finished our pseudo Christmas at our house, it was time to do our second Pseudo Christmas at Nana and PawPaw's house. Cricket, Wyatt and Jackson meet us over there, and we all tore into our gifts with verve and gusto. We all got some really fabulous gifts, and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Here is a picture of Nana and PawPaw Claus.

Christopher wanted in on the Santa hat festivities so I snapped a picture of him in Nana's lap.


After we left Nana and PawPaw's house about 9:00pm, we decided to pack the CX-9 up and leave for Grandma's late that evening. We figured we could miss all of the Christmas eve traffic. We did miss the traffic, but let me tell you, with everyone in the vehicle asleep except for me, driving at 2:30 am was really tough. I was one tired puppy by the time we got to Grandma's house. We all went straight to sleep and looked forward to our visit.

We spent Christmas eve visiting and playing. We had a lot of fun with Grandma, and even got to visit with Uncle Jim a bit after he got off work. We all got to bed at a decent hour, knowing that the two monkeys would be up bright and early.

Jim arrived about 7:00am on Christmas morning, and wouldn't you know it, Santa was able to find both the boys and left them some pretty cool gifts. Christopher loved the Police Car that Santa left for him,

and Aidan loved the Kick and Go Scooter that Santa left for him. After playing with their Santa gifts for a minute, Aidan and Christopher were ready their presents from Grandma and Jim.

The first order of business for Aidan was to open the enormous box with his name on it. I knew at the time that Grandma had purchased a Gaming Chair for Aidan and had it shipped to her house. She wrapped the box after it arrived, and placed it next to the tree. I got the camera at the ready to record his reaction. Here he is just before opening it.


Boy o boy, here we go.....and just like that the paper started flying. As soon as he opened the box, his expression went from jubilation to confusion in a half a second. I too was perplexed until I stood up and saw what he was looking at. The geniuses at Amazon decided to ship him a HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL STUDIO DOLL HOUSE instead of his chair. He did not know how to react. As soon as I saw it, I told him about the mistake, and told him we would get it corrected. Needless to say, he was a bit disappointed. That disappointment lasted just as long as it took him to open his next present. He got a really cool LEGO helicopter from Uncle Jim, who was also insane nice enough to help him put it together. Here is Uncle Jim with the masterpiece they created.


Christopher of course loved all of his toys. He had so many, he barely knew what to do. Here he is playing with a couple of them.


The rest of the visit consisted of visiting, playing, eating, and having a great time. We stayed until the afternoon of the 26th, and then headed home. I took a couple of pictures before we left that turned out pretty good. Here is Lori and the boys sitting on the swing at Grandma's house.


Here is one of Grandma and the boys.


We had a great visit, and it was great having Christmas again in the house where I grew up.

We spent the next couple of days relaxing in town, visiting with Nana and Pawpaw and Cricket and the boys. The boys spent a whole lot of time showing off their gifts, accompanied by an inordinate amount of screaming. Boys will be boys.

The 29th rolled around, and with it came Cricket's birthday. Oh yeah, another reason to eat some more cake! We went to a very nice restaurant for dinner, and topped it off with cake and ice cream. Yummy. Here is a picture of Christopher wishing Cricket a happy birthday.


Lori's parents left on the morning of the 31st, and our good friends from Houston came in late that afternoon. It has been a while since they have been here, and we were really looking forward to their visit. It was wonderful spending a couple of days with them, and like always time flew by too quickly. Here is a picture of Ken and Hailey just before midnight.


I could not think of better friends to ring in the new year with. Aidan even stayed up until midnight for the festivities. We spent much of the night playing poker. Let me tell you, Aidan is a card shark. You might think I am kidding, but he put a hurting on me and Ken during a long session of 5 card draw. The kid is a natural. Here he is showing his poker face.


Saturday came too quickly, and we had to say goodbye to our good friends. We had a blast while they were here. I snapped a couple of pictures just before they left. Here is their beautiful daughter Carley striking a pose for me.


She is such a cutie. Here is one last photo of Ken and Hailey and Carley, joined by our two monkeys.


Good times.....good times.

Well, believe it our not, that was a brief synopsis of the last two weeks. Believe me when I tell you that you don't want all the details. You would be reading for hours. In a nutshell this is it.......We have a wonderful extended family, and fantastic friends. God has truly blessed us.

Thanks everyone for a fun filled holiday.

William

Ticking Away

I have always heard that age is just a number, each year being just another dot on the timeline of life. I guess that's true, but once you turn a certain age, those years seem to arrive with increased frequency. I know, I know, that's really not possible and every year hast the same number of days +/- 1, but once you are above the age of let's say......35, a strange phenomenon starts occurring. Days start passing like hours, weeks like days, months like weeks, and years are gone in a flash. You have no choice but to surrender to the power of the Aging Vortex. I like to call it Time's Nasty Little Secret.

Well, time's nasty little secret caught up with me again yesterday, as I "celebrated" my 43rd birthday. Man, where did 2008 go? How could it already be my birthday? Do I feel a year older? Do I look a year older? (Don't answer that) I mean really, it feels like I just blew out the candles on last year's "celebration" just the other day.

I made the most of the "festive" occasion, and "celebrated" most of the day with Lori and the boys, Cricket, and Nana. I of course made out like a bandit, and as always I got way more than I deserved. I feasted like a King, and had plenty of royal entertainment with court jesters' Aidan and Christopher there to make me smile. We topped off a wonderful BBQ dinner with my birthday cupcakes. Ohhhh boooyyyyy they were fancy and delicious! Here is a photo of the cupcakes before they met their destiny.


Yummy!

Thanks everyone for making another birthday very special, and keeping me eternally young.

William

Well It's One for the Money...Two for the Show...

Two marathons started, two marathons completed. Whooo Hooo!!!!!! Let's give Lori a big round of applause for her accomplishment. We are all very proud of her. We are also very proud of Cricket. Despite hurting her knee during the 1/2 marathon she was running, she stuck it out like a real trooper and finished the race. I believe courage, and lunacy err....I mean determination run in the family. Everybody had a great time, and like I said in my last post, I was there with camera in hand to record all the seat gripping action. So, in sticking with the theme of this blog.......ON YOUR MARK.......GET SET.............GO.

Have you ever noticed, that no matter how far in advance you make travel plans, the last couple of hours before you leave are still complete pandemonium? It never fails. There must be some kind of law that states that very thing. Heck, I've seen less chaos at European soccer matches than what's happening at our house 1 hour before leaving on a trip. Throw a 16 month old baby in the mix, and the Stress Meter is pegged at Defcon 5. Of course Friday was no exception to that rule, and the morning was spent doing all the things that should have been done last week, and sweating bullets about being ready on time. We finally did get everything in an acceptable state, and left to pick up Aidan from school at 2:00pm.

After we picked up Aidan, we made really good time getting to the airport and parking our car. Once at the airport and out of the car, the "making good time" ceased to exist, and the Stress Meter once again peaked at Defcon 5. You know, there are very few things in life that I would be willing to take a beating for instead of doing them, but right there at the top of the list is...going through airport security and flying on a plane with a very excited 6 year old, and a VERY LOUD 16 month old. It's pretty bad when you find yourself repeating the phrase "please let it be over soon" quietly to yourself over and over. In all honesty, I guess the trip there could have been worse. Aidan occupied himself most of the way playing his PSP, and he was actually pretty quiet. Christopher on the other hand, occupied himself for the first 15 minutes by trying to see if he could get louder than the two jet engines to either side of us. It was quite the competition with no real winner. He fell asleep shortly after that to a thundering round of applause. Ok, not really, but I am sure that most of the people in the direct vicinity were secretly high five'in each other.

We landed in Memphis about 5:30pm. and Nana was there to meet us. After picking up our rental car, we were all on our way to the hotel about 30 minutes after we landed. Once we got to the hotel and unpacked, we made a bee line for Romano's Macaroni Grill. Lori and Cricket needed to carb load for the race, so pasta was in order. I on the other hand, I did not need to carb load, but you know what they say....."when in Rome".

After dinner we drove back to the hotel, and waddled to our rooms. We tried to get to sleep fairly early because we knew that the 5:00am. wake up call would be brutal. It was, but only because Christopher decided for the very first time in his life, to suffer from gas. It keep him up much of the night, and in turn did the same for us. Uhhhhh.....note to self.....pack gas drops for any future trips. As bad as it was for me, it was much worse for Lori. You see, as it turns out, running 26.2 miles is hard on a full night's rest, much less 3+ hours of sleep. I bet she'll remember those drops next time.

We called Cricket to wake her up, and not only was she feeling wonderful about the early hour, she was also stoked about the 27 degree temperature outside. I believe the first word I remember her saying was "coffee", although it could have been "killme" considering what was in store for the morning. The idea of running 13.1 miles or 26.2 miles at 8:00am in 27 degree weather just doesn't sound very appealing when you type it. Actually, come to think of it, it doesn't sound very appealing to me when you say it either.

After getting dressed and having a little breakfast, we set out on our journey. Just before we left the hotel, I snapped this picture of Lori and Cricket channeling their inner Elvi for strength.


Once we got in the car, I was told in no uncertain terms, that my first order of business was to find the nearest Starbucks. Coffee was on the agenda....well at that moment.....coffee was the agenda, and as far as my well being was concerned...priority one. We went through the drive through, purchased their fix, and with Lori and Cricket in Java Heaven, we quickly made our way downtown.

We found a garage to park in that was about 4 blocks from the starting line. I snapped this photo right after we got out of the car.


Just look at those 27 degree cheery dispositions. Ahhhhhhh.....just smell that crisp morning air. We made our way to the start of the race, and actually had about an hour to spare. So, what do you do when you have that much time before the race? Do you take that time to stretch? Do you take that time to warm up? Do you take that time to go over your race strategy? An uneducated marathoner like me might think so, but noooooooooo, that would be wrong. The first order of business is to find the warm Starbucks around the corner and go relieve the cold, and the first cup of coffee that was consumed on the way over. For some reason, Cricket and Lori preferred the warm Starbuck's bathroom over the frozen port-o-potties outside. While the girls took care of business, Aidan and I got a big cup of hot chocolate. Here is a picture of Aidan at Starbucks enjoying the heat.


The race was done in a staggered start, with 2 minute intervals between groups. Lori and Cricket were in the 5th group, and they did actually stretch and warm up a bit once we got to the starting area. Here they are at their starting area.


We had 2 minutes before her start time, so we snapped on last family photo.


She joined the other masochist in the street, and gave me one last smile.


You could tell that she was actually enjoying herself, and it was great to see her so comfortable. She definitely learned from her last marathon. The gun sounded, one last "goodluck" was yelled, and she and Cricket slowly faded into the sea of people.

Aidan and I made our way back to the car, and headed back to the hotel. Wyatt and Jackson and Christopher had stayed behind at the hotel with Nana. We got back to the hotel about 9:00am and I'm not sure who had it worse.....us in the 27 degree weather, or Nana with 3 boys to take care of. Although she said that Christopher had been a little angel while we were gone, I'm pretty sure she was happy to have some help.

We stayed around the hotel for a little over an hour, and then we got in our vehicles and headed back to downtown. Cricket was going to be the first to finish, and we wanted to make sure we got there before she crossed the finish line. We found a place to park, and made our way to the Memphis Cardinals Baseball Stadium. The finish line for the 1/2 marathon and the full marathon were both set up inside the stadium. After fighting our way through the crowd, we finally found a place to sit/stand the watch for any signs of our first family finisher. About 20 minutes after we got there, I noticed Cricket entering the field and I made my way over to snap a picture of her finish.


I was very lucky that it came out clear. Most things that are moving that fast usually come out blurry. (embellished a bit) Congratulations Cricket on your 1/2 marathon, we are all very proud of you.


Instead of going back to the hotel, we decided to stay for the next 1 1/2 hours and wait for Lori to finish. That 1 1/2 hours seem to last forever. It probably had something to do with having to watch and referee Wyatt and Aidan during that time. I am not exaggerating when I say that those two together can take years off your life. They are a handful. Christopher did OK, but he started getting tired at the end. We all waited with eager anticipation for Lori to round the corner and come into view.

Seeing all of the participants cross the finish line with both pain and joy expressed on their faces is quite something to behold. It takes so much training and determination to run 26.2 miles, and strength beyond words to fight through all of the pain. Watching them finish, and seeing that rush of emotion flow from their bodies as they cross that line is really extraordinary. You can't help but tear up as you see a father pushing his Cerebral Palsy inflicted son's wheel chair across the finish line as the sound of a huge ovation fills the air. You can't avoid filling up with pride as one stranger helps another stagger into the stadium as they use sheer will to shuffle their feet the last few yards. Magical.

It was now Lori's turn to make that final turn into the stadium, and as soon as her hot pink jacket came into view, we all cheered her to the finish. Here she is crossing the finish line.


Her official time was 4:09:46 and she placed 965 out of 3000 entries. She was able to knock off almost a full minute per mile from her first marathon. Here she is after the race, wondering how in the world she was going to make it to the top of the bleachers to get out of the stadium.


That flight of stairs, at that moment, looked like a huge mountain. She was hurting, and had suffered sever leg cramps about the 22nd mile. She paused only for a moment to catch her breath, and then she made the slow arduous climb. I of course was standing at the top, waiting to give my beautiful wife a big hug and let her know how proud I was of her.

The remainder of the trip was pretty low key. Lori and Cricket both soaked in hot baths to work the soreness out of their muscles. They were both moving pretty well by the time we left on Sunday. We ate at Chilis on Saturday night, and we toasted their victories with a delicious margarita. The plane ride back was suprisingly uneventful, and I was thankful.

Lori, Dianne (Nana), and Cricket together raised almost $2400.00 for the children of St. Jude's Hospital. It's a wonderful cause, and they all deserve our gratitude for their efforts. Their selflessness and compassion is a testament to their being. They are good people and I am proud to be part of their family.


Congratulations!

William

Bring Me My Chariot of Fire

Well, here it is Friday morning, the day before the big race. Yep, that's right, Lori once again will be diving head first into the masochist's pool by competing in her second marathon. 26.2 miles is now merely a small wind sprint for this seasoned veteran. Well......that might be a "bit" of an exaggeration, but I will say that she has trained hard for this marathon, and we are very proud of her. Her competitive fires are burning bright.

Of course the boys and I, Cricket and her boys, and Nana will be there to cheer her on. We will also be cheering on Cricket, who will be participating in her second 1/2 marathon. Both need a big round of applause, not only for the dedication, but for their fund raising effort. So far, together they have raised a little over $2300.00 between them for St. Judes Hospital.

We are scheduled to fly out today at 4:25pm. It is supposed to be in the 20's - 40's while we are there, so I am sure that we will be freezing our bottoms off while we are waiting for our speed demons to finish. It will all be well worth it when we see their faces as they cross the finish line.

I will have my camera at the ready, and I am sure that I will have glorious tales to share upon our return. I will leave you with that, and I am sure most of you are sitting at the edges of your seats, ripe with anticipation.

William

PS. If you would like to donate to the St Jude cause, the link to Lori's donation page is in the right hand column on this page. Thank you for everything.