Forest Friday

Rather than participate in Black Friday, we decided to head to the forest--Shelby Forest. Believe it or not, we'd never taken the kids there! We went once when Warren first moved here with our dog, but since we came home covered in ticks, we never went back. Warren's motorcycle gang goes through from time to time, but it was my nine mile run a few weeks ago that renewed my interest in hiking there.

The kids were somewhat unexcited about going--preferring instead to stay home and stare at their video games. The dogs, however, were thrilled from the get go.



Picard is actually smiling.



They kids really wanted to bring the cats, but I eventually talked them out of it! Once we arrived, the monkeys were thrilled. "This is awesome!" Satchel said. The grapevines were even bigger than the ones in the old forest.



We decided to do the 3 mile Woodland Trail, which you can see from this tree, gets a lot of action.



For whatever reason, the kids were fascinated by the small bridges.



And the broken bridges were even more fascinating!



Venturing down into the creek beds was a must.



I told Jiro to get in this picture for scale. I wanted to remember how big the tree roots were. However, now all I can see is how BIG my baby is!



Warren was enthralled by the new mushrooms...these felt like lamb ears.



And is was cool to see some new plants, like these horsetails.



Jiro took to "replanting them" all along the trail.



The best part for me? Holding Jiro's hand. It isn't too often that he wants to do that anymore.



Warren had to pay the monkeys a dollar each to convince them to put their hands in this hole.



At the half way point, Warren decided we should go off of the trail. It had gotten to be pretty rough on the kids due to the up and down, up and down. Oh, and I'd only brought about half as much water as he thought I had.



In our efforts to find a shortcut, we probably added a couple of miles to the hike. At least they were on flat terrain.



When we did finally get back to the car, we had one thing on our minds--burgers at the Shelby Forest General Store!

Turkey Day

Turkey is not as good as ravioli, but we had a very nice Thanksgiving nontheless.

As I have for the past two years, I started it off at the Turkey Trot in Shelby Farms with Ashley. It was the very first race we ever ran. The first time we did the relay, which meant we each did two miles. Last year we each ran four and our husbands did the relay. This year, since we've been training for the half, we decided to actually race. By the end, we were actually sprinting. It was crazy! I told Jiro that there were 3000 runners and he guesses I came in 1500th hundred place. I'll take it!



After a shower, the fam and I loaded up all of Warren's cooking supplies and headed to my mom's house. (Does your mom have salt? Does your mom have garlic? Does your mom have celery?)

I had to make one emergency grocery store run for an aluminum baking pan and beer, then my mom, the kids, and I went to the movies so Warren could have the kitchen to himself.



Back at my mom's there was still some waiting time, so the boys went out to practice their basketball. In this picture you can see that Warren knocked both monkeys down before landing this awesome shot.



Here is the chef with his awesome bird.



And my mom, who is in her seventh decade of life, remembered for the first time that her grandmother always made pineapple upside down cake on Thanksgiving. She decided to make one as her belated birthday cake. It was YUM.



The kids were all about the turkey legs.




After dinner, we all needed a rest. (The Whole Foods turkey had double triptophan, I think.) Then we played Blokus, the best board game ever, until the wee hours of the evening.

Gigi's Birthday

My mom's birthday was on the 15th, but since she wanted to have a bowling party, it took us awhile to find a day when everyone could get together. We ended up going the night before Thanksgiving, and we had a blast.



My mom makes really funny faces when she bowls. Since they aren't always pretty, I made her smile for this picture.



My sister is actually in a league and has her own shoes. They are sparkly. She has a ball too.



Warren had a really good game and it turns out it was due to his pretty pink ball!



My brother in law showed up for the second game, and got 7 strikes! It was insane. He would not let me take his picture.

When the kids finished their second game (they played a lot faster than the adults), my mom sent them off with a fist full of dollars. Later Jiro said, "If it was Gigi's birthday, why did she give us money? We should have given her money!" I explained that she was just nice. "Gigi is the nicest EVER!" he agreed.



We've now decided we must bowl as a family at least once a month. Next up, Cosmic Bowling!

Ravioli Day

My favorite pre-Thanksgiving activity is going out east to the compound to make the Zanone family ravioli with the Alleys. This year I was the very first person to arrive! I left Warren at home to finish his tart in peace, and the kids ran off the minute we walked in the door.

In the kitchen, Richard was just getting started on the dough. It didn't seem like as much as usual. Kristy told me that this year we were only making 25 dozen instead of the usual 50 since they weren't going to Georgia on Thanksgiving. "What!!" I complained. I felt like my fun had just been cut in half.



Of course that wasn't true. Taking a cue from Elizabeth, I decided to just relax.



Soon the rest of the ravioli team arrived, and after a few snacks and sips of wine/beer, we settled in at the table to get started on the ravioli construction. Meredith and Somerset were *almost* as excited as I was.



Warren, for the first time ever, actually arrived in time to make some ravioli. (He's usually sick, busy, or comes just in time to eat.)


(Photo by Chip)

He made a few and then went off to chat. I was the only person who refused to get up until we were done. At one point, due to a ravioli math error, we thought that we weren't going to have enough filling for the 25 dozen. I rallied hard for us to make an emergency grocery store trip to get the ingredients for more filling. (I'm dying to know the recipe.) But before I could convince Richard, Kristy realized she counted wrong. We were right on target. Damn!



As much as I love making the ravioli, nothing really compares to eating it. That is definitely the best part.



The kids officially have their own table, most of them choosing to eat homemade noodles with cheese. The adults gather together and savor each bite. It's awesome. And it totally makes turkey and dressing seem BORING!

I think this was the first year that neither Satchel or Jiro showed in any interest in helping, even a little. I just let them do their own thing while I did mine.

As always, a big thanks to Richard, Kristy & Andria for inviting us to share in this family tradition! I look forward to it all year!

Scenes from the weekend

Friday nights have gotten pretty mellow for us since I started training for the half. I do my long runs at 6am on Saturday, so I'm usually counting the minutes until bed when I get home from work. However, last Friday Jiro was insistent that we go to La Michoacana and get some ice cream for his Saturday night guests--Miles and Natasha. So we loaded up and went in search of ice cream. While there, we of course needed to eat paletas.



Once dessert was out of the way, the monkeys moved on to dinner. They added a cup of corn and some nachos to our order. Since we were half way down Summer Avenue, I suggested we top off our nutritious meal with a visit to the Los Jarochos taco trailer that parks on the corner of Summer & Perkins in the evenings.



This is Satchel's happy lengua taco face. Ha!

Once sated, we all headed home to curl up and watch a movie.

Saturday morning, Satchel came in to my room at 5:30 just as my alarm was going off complaining of a stomach ache. I assumed it was due to the "healthy" eating the night before, but after some serious questioning, he told me that a kid threw up at school and several other kids had been out sick.

I set him up on the sofa and alerted Warren to the fact that he was on puke duty until I got back from my run. Upon my return, I learned that he had indeed gotten sick, twice, so all morning plans were put on hold. Since Vanessa, Miles & Natasha were only in town for a few days, we decided to risk it and have a playdate anyway. I planned to keep Satchel isolated, which was easy since he was sleeping. However, by the time they showed up, Jiro started complaining of a tummy ache.

The kids got to play for a bit, but once Jiro put himself in bed, we knew things were not good. And, Tashie couldn't stay away from her most favorite Satchel once he woke up.



Hand santizer was passed around, and the playdate and sleepover were cancelled moments before Jiro started puking. It's been ages since anyone was sick around here, which I guess is a good thing. We tried to take the temporary set back in stride and catch up on some much needed rest.

Once the monkeys were stabilized, I left Warren in charge and spent some quality time with Vanessa and some other Rhodes pals who were gathered over at Marlinee's house. It was super fun to get to hang out with my old roomie and her precious little nugget, Reilly.



By Sunday, the monkeys didn't have an appetite, but they had a little energy. The B Team came back over and we took our traditional hike through the old forest.





Back at the house, we busted out the ice cream that we had bought on Friday night. The monkeys didn't want to eat any, which tipped me off that they really weren't back to 100%. Tashie and Miles enjoyed it though!



Then it was time for the B Team to go visit other family and my mom to come watch the monkeys while Warren and I went off to Chucalissa for the Chefs and Chiefs benefit dinner.

There was really yummy food--like this pork belly, pate, and pickled lotus root bahn mi from L'Ecole Culinaire instructors.



And Warren gave me a tour of a trench that he and co-worker spent Friday cleaning up.



We had a fun evening together, and it's always nice to get to hang with a bunch of anthropologists!

Despite the illness we still managed to have a pretty good weekend.

Best of all, Vanessa got the kids back to Massachusetts with no vomiting.

Skatepark!

It's almost too good to be true, but it is 100% true--we have a skate park in midtown! And it is beautiful!




Last night was the official opening, and we were thrilled to cheer on the amazing and awesome and sweet and smart and all around super star, Aaron Shafer, who was the driving force behind the project. He asked everyone to please love the park, take care of it, and bring new kids to learn how to skate. We plan to do all three!



Our equally awesome and supportive mayor was also on hand to say a few words and receive some much deserved applause.

There were over a hundred skaters/scooterers/bikers there last night and it is clear that the Tobey Skatepark is going to be packed all of the time. It's really awesome.



Warren and the boys are so excited, they got up early to go and skate before school today. Seven a.m. is a good time to go if you want to beat the crowds. We're unofficially calling it the Old Man Hour. Right, Scott?



I'm hoping that soon 6am will be the Old Lady Hour. Aaron has agreed to teach me and whatever other crazy old ladies I can find a few tricks of our own. My only concern is breaking something before I run the half in December! (I could still run with a broken arm, right?)

Soccer Wrap Up

I guess I wore myself out with the detailed recap of games 3 & 4. Game 5 was cancelled due to Fall Break, and then we had bad weather which led to one practice per week for several weeks and we kind of lost our momentum. Game 6 made me cranky because it was the first game I felt like we might have deserved to lose, even though we tied. Then I had to have a little talk with myself about making taking it all too serious!

Game 7 was better despite resulting in another loss. The highlight of that game was one of our players having to play for the other team since they were short. It was fun to see how he handled having to play against his friends. And when the other team won, it was really funny to get to congratulate him on his first win! I thought both Satchel and Jiro played well, but again, whatever momentum we had going, was gone. Both boys, maybe most of the team, is lacking a sense of urgency. We also have problems actually getting the ball in the goal, despite numerous attempts, which is frustrating.

Last Friday was our last practice and Saturday was our last game. I am really going to miss Friday night practices--that's when the moms (and sometimes a dad or two) have cocktail hour. We really have a great group of parents who are fun to hang out with.



Saturday's game against Christ the King got off to a rocky start. We weren't sure if they were going to have enough players--they did--and then the ref never showed up. One of the other moms reffed, so we were good to go. Unlike all of the other fields we played on, this one had full size goals. I figured this would work in our favor since we have a problem getting the ball in, but it might also work against us since we are used to defending a much smaller goal. Coach wisely put his son, our biggest player, in the goal. In the time it took me to run to my car and get a whistle for Lee to ref with, our team scored! Both Jiro and Satchel were in the starting line up and as much as I wanted one of them to have been the shooter, I was very relieved to know it was jack that scored. I plan to see them make their first goal with my own eyes!

There was a lot of back and forth and a lot of running and subbing. Just before the half, the other team scored, so we were tied going into the second. The second half was more of the same, and I was worried we would stay tied, but in a moment of perfection, three of our guys, perfectly spread out, made a final run to the goal. One took a shot, the goalie deflected, and then another got the rebound. It was very exciting! And then just a minute or two later, Lee blew the whistle and we won! We won!



Through all the excitement we did manage to get a team picture.



Have you ever seen a cuter bunch?

On Sunday, we had the end of the year party back at our home field. It started with ice cream sundaes on the playground.





Then we had a totally unexpected Parents vs. Kids game! It was me and about six dads, including the coach, against all twelve kids. (Although I think there may have been some siblings too because it seemed like there were 20+ little people running around.) Oh my, it was SO.MUCH.FUN. Sadly there are no pictures. (Maybe that is a good thing!) The parents won 3 to 0, but the kids did not make it easy!

Once we were all good and winded, and had moved muscles we never use enough to be sore for several days to come, the coach called everyone over to get their trophies. He had them line up shortest to tallest, then instructed them to all try and score on him. They couldn't have their trophies until they did. This too was hilarious and super fun to watch. I of course made videos.

(Oops, I flipped the camera, mid video.)





When it was Satchel's turn, he was a little over-confident. (And I was a little bossy.)



His second attempt was much better. (And too fast for me.)





It was a lovely afternoon and a great way to cap off the season. I think we are all going to miss it. Satchel has asked if I will help him run in the off season and how could I resist that? We may have several family practices between now and the spring.