November 2012

Santa Barbara 1/2 Marathon
Ever since Carter saw his dad finish a marathon, he has been inspired to run.  In July of this year he started running with Chris and I with the plan that he would run the Santa Barbara Half.  Chris was going to run the full marathon and I was planning on running the half with Carter.  As part of a Red Bull employee program called “Fit for Flight”, Chris challenged his employees to run the half marathon in Santa Barbara.  Several of them signed up so it was fun to be there with all of them. 
After I injured myself in San Francisco running I had to take a break, which totally broke my heart because I really wanted to run with Carter.  So a few weeks before Santa Barbara we decided Chris would run the half instead of the full so he could be with Carter. 

We arrived in Santa Barbara the day before so they could pick up their bib numbers.  We met the other Red Bull employees in downtown Santa Barbara at a nice Italian Restaurant so they could load up on carbs before the big race. 

Here is Carter and Chris all ready for the big race at the start line.  13.1 miles here they come!

The kids and I met them at the 7 mile mark to cheer them on, which was really fun.  I think it helped them keep on going!  Then we raced back to the car and drove to the finish line. 



Here they come…  There they go!!!

Carter and Chris finished in 2 hours and 10 minutes!  (10:01 pace)  I was so proud of him.  Chris loved running with him because he got so much attention.  Carter soaked up every ounce of it!  He was the youngest runner at age 8! 

I was surprised at how well he recovered after.  He even wanted to run up to the top of the bleachers to see the ocean view.  We all went up there and took our Christmas card picture. 

As we walked back to the car Maddie offered to carry him on her back.  What a proud sister she was!

On our way home we stopped for a recovery milkshake for Carter.  It was the best tasting milkshake ever!


Disneyland with the Jones Cousins
This year Jeff and Janelle’s Family came to visit from Texas for Thanksgiving!  We all went to Disneyland the day after they arrived to spend the day together.  It was a perfect day and we had so much fun.





Maddie’s Birthday
Maddie got to celebrate her 11th birthday while her cousins were here.  We all went to Wreck it Ralph that morning and then went to Tio’s for lunch after. 


We had Maddie’s favorite Cheesecake for dessert.  It was a fun day and she was lucky to be able to spend it with her cousins. Later that night she had the Lily and Brooklyn over for a girls sleepover and they played Just Dance all night!


Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a full house!  We all ate at Grammy and Grampy’s and it was delicious. 

Grampy settled in for a little nap after dinner!

Decking the Halls

We always trim the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I am always so anxious to get the tree up but once Christmas is over I can’t wait to get it down.  We had fun trimming the tree to our favorite carols.  The kids are getting better at putting the ornaments on now, so I don’t have to rearrange them when we are done!

I put Christmas lights on the boys bunk bed this year which they enjoyed.