Ride for Spike's mom

Each year, Spike rides in honor of her mom who made a point to be able to bike her age. This year, Spike is injured with a broken foot and unable to do the ride. We decided that between the 5 of us, we would be able to bike the 69 miles. We have some good bike paths near us after a few miles with great views so we took to the road on the weekend. 

I will point out that Aaron's bike does not have gears and he hung with us through the hills and all. 

A nice stop by a creek

Toast to Spike's mom

Aaron was really tired afterwards. But he really wanted to go to the pool. 

Asheville with Spike

This weekend I went to Asheville with Spike to run in a trail race. It was great to get away and spend time with Spike. And it was my first race since before Aaron was born!! That's a long, long time. My race was only a 10k while Spike did the 30k. It was up in the mountains through some pretty cool trails. 

It's beautiful up there

Pre-race drive up the mountain with Spike

I did fairly well at my race coming in first for my old lady age group. :-) I was pretty proud of my race though I think I told myself I was done racing because I didn't like the pressure I put on myself to do well. I trained hard for it and was prepared and did well so that's what matters. 

The 3rd place girl had already left. The awards were a while after the race, but before the 30k runners had come in so I was a captive audience while Spike was still out there running. 

Spike finishing her race. 

Florida

The day after Christmas, we got in the car and headed south. First stop, Gainesville to spend some time with Spike. We all had a wonderful time. We saw gators, ate burritos, played with Tilly, saw campus, ran the stadium, and chilled with Spike's puppy and kitties. 

After spending a few days in Gainesville, we headed further south to Naples to hang out with Mom, Tommy, Colleen, and their kiddies. We went to the beach and played at the pool. It was a great escape from the stresses of home, a wonderful get-away with excellent weather and fun with family. We had a beach day and there were actually waves. The kids got to boogie board and play in the waves. 

On New Years Eve, Em and I went back to the beach during the day. The other kids did not want to go so we took a girls morning at the beach. It was great to spend some one on one time with her which is something we rarely get to do. There weren't many waves, but there were millions of cool shells so we did our fair share of shell collecting. And because we brought the boogie boards, we caught some tiny waves (likely made by passing boats but a wave is a wave) together. And since we hadn't done my dad's traditional "ice cream in new cities" ice cream, we found a little ice cream at a nearby deli. And we got some matching bracelets. Was a very nice morning with Em. 

Welcome 2016. Farewell 2015. 

Swimming with Addy & Kally. 

Visiting the swamp

I had a relatively last minute escape to Florida to visit Spike for a weekend. Sadly, I hadn't been down to Florida since she moved there too many years ago to admit. I drove down on a Friday and got to spend the weekend seeing her stomping grounds and escape the cold that was running through everyone at home. 

We met some gators in the swamp. Yes, those are real, live gators near us. That was as close as we got to them. And then we got out. We also did a nice 20 mile bike ride. It was the first time I had ridden my bike since before we moved to NC. Believe it or not, I (thankfully) did not fall off my bike, foot clips and all. And Sunday morning we went for a 6 mile trail run. Then I hit the road back home to come home to the cold waiting to nail me that week. 

Gator selfie!

Congrats Spike!!

Spike rocks!! She completed her first full Ironman!! That's a 2.4 mile swim, followed by 112 mile bike ride and finished off with a marathon (26.2 mile) run. Even just doing one of those events is a lot, let alone all 3 in a row!! Way to go Spike!!! We are so happy for you!! Congratulations!!

The kids wishing her luck before her race

We watched the end of the race online and saw her cross the finish line. What a feat!!! Yea Spike!!

I got my red shoes on

Dr. Spike got Aaron the book "Pete the Cat" and it has been a huge hit in our house. Aaron loves it. And Aaron has some red shoes like Pete does in the book. It's really cute to hear him sing the Pete the Cat song. So here you go. 

Happy Birthday Spike

Happy Birthday Spike! We were happy to have a burrito in your honor. Nothing like some Lucha Libre veggie burritos and cilantro cream sauce. 

Aaron's words

Aaron showing off the words that he knows with Spike. I love how he calls her "Spice".

Spike Aaron read Pete the Cat

Spike & Aaron read Pete the Cat together. This is the longest Bear has sat down for a story. He's a boy of action and not so much sitting so this was quite the feat. Then again, this is a fantastic book.

Mammoth

This past weekend, I went away for a few days to meet up with Spike in Mammoth for some skiing together. It was great to hang out and ski with Spike and company and to get away from the daily responsibilities. Spike got me skiing blue/black runs. The great thing about Mammoth was that for the most part, I could get down from almost any lift on a run of my level. I feel comfortable on blue runs and blue/black are a good and do-able challenge for me. I found several that I could do which was a big deal for me. 

Aaron with his girlfriend. He got to hang out with her one of the days while Jeff worked (he had different babysitters each day which was a new thing for him and he did well). Notice his I <3 coming="" day="" him="" home.="" i="" jeff="" mom="" nbsp="" on="" p="" put="" shirt="" that="" the="" was="">

Aaron's new shoes

After a summer of wearing sandals every day (like the rest of us), Aaron just got a pair of running shoes for the fall. And he was so very happy to have his shoes. During karate, he took me on a walk and showed off his new kicks. I had the Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes song running through my head as he ran along the sidewalk loving his shoes. Thanks to Spike for introducing us to that book (http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Pete-Cat-Love-My-White-Shoes/ - you can hear the story / song)