Today I'm wrapping up a busy and epic week. I mean, any week that involves a visit to the White House has to be epic, right? Not only did I get to hear the First Lady Speak, I got to talk with Dominique Dawes! I also got a selfie with a favorite RBF who I don't see often enough. After my day of White House visiting, I had to immediately start getting ready for a weekend away. With everything that I'd been up to (RNR DC expo, Capitol tour, RNR DC, soccer tournament, White House, etc.), we were completely out of clean clothes and we were leaving town on Friday! So, Wednesday became a whirlwind of laundry and trying to get in some work hours. Thankfully the day ended with a run and a beer. Thursday was more of the same … [Read more...]
CyberMonday Deals + Planning my 2016 calendar: Serial Racing Review
You all know I love to race. I had no idea just how crazy my race schedule would be when I started this blog. After all, I just wanted to train for and run the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon. But somewhere along the way, I got bitten by the race bug and started setting all sorts of weird goals for myself: racing in all 50 states (now changed to a half marathon in all 50 states), 13 half marathons in 2013, reaching Venus with Half Fanatics (done by running 13 half marathons in 79 days), 14 half marathons in 2014 (oops, did 17!), 5 half marathons in five days, 6 half marathons in 6 days... Yeah, I'm a little bit race crazy. Luckily I have a husband who loves to travel, I've gotten a few free races thanks to this blog, and I have learned a … [Read more...]
DC to Cape Cod or Bust
Happy Monday! I'm sitting in an inn on Nantucket Island this morning. It feels like way more than a few days since I left home! I'm doing my usual Monday linkup with Tara and Erin today to tell you about the fun I'm having. Wednesday morning, after we got the kids off to school, Beer Geek and I headed to the airport for a quick flight to Boston. Everything went smoothly (how often does THAT happen?) and we were heading to Hull by early afternoon. We checked into the Nantasket Beach Resort, which I highly recommend if you are ever in that area, as it was lovely. It's also a short walk from the start line of Ragnar Cape Cod. This was the view from our room: … [Read more...]
Five awesome things to do in DC in the winter
I love living in the DC area in the winter. Generally, the weather is cold, but bearable, so it's a great time to get downtown without the huge numbers of tourists that we see during the summer. We tend to hit a lot of the museums during this time period, but it's also a great time to visit some outdoor attractions that only come around once a year. [Tweet "Looking for fun things to do in #WashingtonDC in December? Here are 5 kid friendly things! #kidfun #lifewithkids #fitfam"] … [Read more...]
There’s no place like home
We just got back from a week long vacation in Kentucky. I've never been so happy to roll up to our front door! Of course, that probably has something to do with the fact that we put more miles on my Pilot last week than we usually put on in a year. I'll do a post about everything we did, but I'm sure you are wondering "Why Kentucky?" Well, why not? Growing up as a military brat, I saw a lot of the U.S., most of it from the back of our station wagon or van. My dad was stationed in California, North Dakota, Alabama, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Virginia while I was growing up. I didn't go on my first plane trip until high school. So, guess how we got everywhere? Yep, driving. I have been to every state at least once and most of … [Read more...]
Tourists in our own town: National Aquarium
This past weekend, I mostly unplugged. Admittedly, I deleted all the unimportant emails I got (probably 90% of those I received, sigh) and spent a few minutes on Facebook after my kids went to bed, but I was barely on electronics and most of the time I was, I was reading the second two books from "The Evil Trilogy". Surprisingly, I didn't miss my usual time on the computer. Maybe I need to do that more often... Anyways, week before last, the boys and I went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It's only an hour away if you leave after rush hour and return by 3:00. It seems so much further away, but really it's pretty close. (The problem with DC is that a small accident or poorly timed departure can turn an hour drive into multiple … [Read more...]
Tourists in our own town: National Museum of Natural History
The Natural History Museum has always been one of Jones' favorite museums. It was his favorite even when we had to sneak past the elephant. Yeah, this elephant. It used to scare the crap out of him. Luckily, now he finds that amusing, so he's more than happy to walk past the elephant in pursuit of his favorite display: the dinosaurs. He's been begging to go this summer, so we finally did it today. We parked at the Pentagon City Mall because the weather was iffy and I didn't feel like walking in a rain storm. We hopped the metro and quickly got to the Smithsonian stop and it was a short walk from there. Our first stop was to pick up tickets to the Butterfly exhibit. (Tip: it's free on Tuesdays, but get there early and … [Read more...]
Tourists in our own town: Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum
This summer has been... different. Not only have the boys chosen not to go to camp, but it has rained nearly every single day. And it's not a refreshing rain - it just makes everything feel humid and oppressive. We are feeling a little stir crazy because of it. After a nice 3 mile tempo run (went surprisingly well considering the humidity), I decided we needed to get out of the house. We headed over to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. We've probably been there at least once a year (or more) since it opened, but it never gets boring. Like most of the Smithsonian museums, Udvar-Hazy has free admission. Unfortunately, they charge $15 to park. Since it would cost me close to that to use the metro and it's way cheaper than the … [Read more...]
Escape to Chincoteague
No, that's not the last book in the Misty series. It's what we did for the last four days. And it's the real reason I didn't run the Army 10 miler. Our county schools always have two days off in October for elementary school conferences. Normally this coincides with Columbus Day, but this year it was later. I didn't even realize it until well past the Army transfer date. (And, for the record, I was not the only parent in our county who was caught completely off guard by the change.) Anyways, we rented a small cabin (at Dove Winds, if you are curious), packed my Pilot full of kids, clothes, and food, and headed to Chincoteague Island. And it's been pretty much nothing short of amazing. Seriously. The weather was nearly … [Read more...]
Wordless Wednesday
State 19: Oregon AKA the accidental trail race
Some day I'm going to choose a race that's "flat and fast". But, that would require actually reading the race course description before I sign up. I recently completed Oregon by running the Deschutes Dash 10k in Bend, OR. I thought I was running a flat race on a paved path by a river. I was right about being by the Deschutes River. In fact, at one point, I was mere inches from said river. The race was a very low key part of a multi-sport event. There were also an Olympic distance triathlon, an Aquabike, and a duathlon going on at the same time. The race start was in a parking lot near the transition area - very few signs for it and no one quite knew where to go. Once we found the start, we were informed that there were no … [Read more...]
Useful things I learned in St. Martin
We spent our entire vacation on the French side in a lovely little hotel (Bleu Emeraude) in Grand Case. Best.decision.ever. Some useful things to know if you choose to do the same: Paying $1 to pee in a *clean* men's room at the mall in Marigot = best money ever spent. Orient Beach is lovely and a great place to spend a day at the beach. Get there early. Park at the Club Orient end near Pedros. Be prepared to see a lot of old willies as apparently the demographic most likely to take advantage of the "clothing optional" end of the beach is 60+ year old men. Don't forget your bikini. "Mom Suits" stick out like a sore thumb. Vibrams make decent beach shoes. You will get even more weird looks than you do in the U.S. Always … [Read more...]
