Michael's First Birthday & 4th of July

Our usual 4th of July festivities kicked off with a delicious meal over at Patty and Danny's place.  We lucked out in that the weather was unusually "chilly" for the holiday.  Usually we are all sitting around sweating but this year we had many people scrambling for long sleeve shirts or pants.  It was actually a perfect temperature but after the heat and humidity in the days before it was a bit of a shock.  

 After lunch/dinner we usually have a poker game but this year we headed over to my parents place where Jen had set up an Ice Cream Shoppe for Michael's First Birthday.  She put a lot of the classic details into the decor and it was amazing.

 Of course the family loved it since we all have a bit of a large sweet tooth.  People sat around chatting and enjoying their sundaes and Root Beer floats.  She had so much leftover too that we invited the neighbors for ice cream and they were in heaven.

 Michael woke up from his nap and was not the happiest of campers.  Usually he is happy but he was just sort of crankity.  Here is Bob tossing him in the air trying to get him to smile before they did his smash cake.

 I might have been kind of unhappy too if all these people were staring at me and I'm not used to all the fuss from that many people.  I am sure that everyone got a great photo of him not smashing his cake while I took one of them all staring at the handsome little dude.

 He did smile for Great Gee-Gee though and had fun sitting in his lap.  Who wouldn't want to smile with Grandpa Zip singing songs and smiling.  He is such a happy guy that it is contagious.

 In the other part of the yard the kids were gathered on the hammock making kickball teams.  Kickball did happen but we were feeding the neighbors ice cream and didn't make it back to Patty and Danny's for that.

 I insisted on giving Michael his gift from Luke and I.  He was very happy and had a huge grin on his face.  It was just what Jen and Bob needed for him to have so he would have some smiling one year photos from the party.  It was a Monsters Inc. inspired coupe.

 Then they did a picture of all the Mikes...

 That night we went to the former Pier One for karioke and drinks.  Our family consisted of about 3/4 of the people there and they were supposed to stop the singing at 9:30 but kept it going until about 1:30.  Crazy.

It was a wonderful 4th of July celebrated with friends and family plus a birthday thrown in there.  A little crazy but that is how most family events are for us and I love it most of the time.

Memorial Day Lobster Fest 2014

My folks hosted a Memorial Day lobster picnic again this year.  The weather was a little bit chilly but not too bad.  Everyone was asked to bring a dish to pass and all the food was delicious.

 We set up all the tables for eating outside and the "buffet line" was inside.  We had pasta salad, fruit salad, salad, corn on the cob, cheese and crackers plus clam chowder and roseamarina salad.

 Of course the kids were entertained by the one and only babysitter called the sandbox.  Providing free hours of entertainment for over 28 years.

 Papa Bear was our chef for the evening steaming the lobsters and grilling chicken at the same time.

 Once we were adequately stuffed we enjoyed some cookie cake for dessert.  Two people said they would bring dessert and both showed up with cookie cake.  A crowd pleaser every time!

 That evening a large group stuck around to watch the Rochester Knighthawks lacrosse team play game one of the championship.  Unfortunately they lost the game.

 The next day Luke and I went for a row boat ride to check out the bay.  A few new stairs to the bay are being built, places are for sale and such but for the most part it was quite quiet.

 Of course a trip to Brooks for ice cream was necessary.  We all ordered a small and of course they were huge compared to a small anywhere else.

That evening, after several naps (cottage is for eating and sleeping and repeating), we headed over to Patty and Danny's for poker.  Luke won the first game of the season.  Aunt Patty thought that giving him a bunch of wine would provide her an edge over him.  It did not work this time.  We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.  Let summer begin!

Belated Mommy Day

I hope all the Momma's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I wanted to give some recognition to my Mommy since I am pretty sure she is the best.  She is always finding a way to make me smile, or at least make me think I might be smiling.

 Believe it or not she is one of my most favorite people to travel with or just do nothing at all with.  Time always seems to fly by with her by my side.  She is always there for me and doesn't complain about my crazy running life.  She is my biggest supporter and number one fan.  Whatever the race she will be there and always has been since I started running about 20 years ago.  I can count on one hand the number of races she was not able to attend and they were all for good reasons.  But she was always there with me since she gave me a charm to wear.  Any parent wondering if it really matters that you go watch all those soccer games and such--it does to your kid.  Coaching for 8 years there were the parents that were there and those that were sometimes--be the one that is there, it means more than the world and moon.

She still loves getting a homemade card and proudly wears a homemade sweatshirt--saving it to wear whenever the mood strikes.  She still wears the "Run Jen Run" one from Jen's first 5k.  A Mommy loves her kids no matter what and mine is no exception.  She will go the extra mile to make you feel loved and special with a secret surprise of a Perfectly Goofy visor at the end of your race, and taking off your shoes.  Little things always let you know she's thinking of you.  An e-mail with the contents of an article you might like, a cookie, a cold raspberry slurpee on a hot day after mowing your lawn... the list never ends.

And since I know that my mom loves my sister and me,  I know that my sister is going to be a great mom that loves her kid just as much!  She's going to be OK with having a water fight in the kitchen of the cottage, because our mom made it fun and acceptable.  Oh, and if you go out to a bar with your about 10 day old baby and have a margarita you are on the right track to be a fun and loving mom, just like ours.

I also know that you are teaching little Dude all kinds of great things and spending quality time with him.  Look at that face, he loves going running with you and someday he will ride a bike alongside while you run.  Happy Mother's Day to my Mommy as well as a first Happy Mother's Day to my sister.   Here is to many more wonderful Mom moments and memories.

EPCOT candlelight processional

I had heard that the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT was amazing so it ended up on my list of things to do while at Disney for the holidays.  After getting up early for a run I dragged Luke out of bed to make the most of our day at EPCOT.  They had this cute holiday display made of gingerbread and confections.

 We went on the Living with the Land boat ride that shows you innovative ways they are working on growing crops and such.  They had a few touches of holiday in the attraction with a sand-man.

 I loved the Santa Mickey hat with attached scarf/mittens but I didn't need it so it stayed in the store.  It is awfully cute though.

 Luke went on this attraction.  Basically you have a few minutes to build your own ride and then you scan your MagicBand and hop into a pod thing that flings you around with your ride on a screen in front of you.  He gave it a big thumbs up and would have probably done it again if it wasn't a half hour wait for 1 minute of ride (plus I sat there bored since it's not my thing).

 After his thrilling attraction we sat down to watch some holiday Gospel thing they had nearby.  Apparently the action of his thrill ride was too much for him and he fell asleep on my shoulder.  I showed him the picture when we a got home and he was in denial and does not recall the incident.

 To ensure that we were going to have seats for the Candlelight Processional we booked a dinner package at the Germany Biergarten.  Food was a buffet and was delicious.  We were even treated to some entertainment.  I highly recommend the Biergarten for anyone visiting EPCOT.  With our dinner we were guaranteed seats at the 6:45 show of the Processional and did not have to stand in the standby line for hours with no guarantee of getting into any of the 3 shows (people wait for 6 hours in that line and still don't get into a show sometimes).

 After our feast we walked to a few more countries before standing in line for 30 minutes to be let in to our Candlelight show.  It was a perfect evening with the temps cooling off into the low 70's.

 I highly suggest catching the Candlelight Processional.  The chorus is amazing and the 50 piece orchestra and celebrity guest narrator are the icing on the cake.  We had Sigourney Weaver as our narrator for the night.  Amy Grant and Neil Patrick Harris are among some of the other narrators during the holiday season.

 And a little video of the Candlelight Processional as the choir was leaving at the end of the show.  Amazing and I had such a great time at Disney for the Holidays.  Now to check it out for Halloween and...well, any time of the year.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

We decided not to get a park ticket to Magic Kingdom for the day since we would be allowed to enter the park at 4 pm for the Party and stay til midnight (plus I'd be back in January and Disney is more of my thing).

 They had a Mickey and Minnie snowman standing on top of the entrance gates on the road to the park.  Once we arrived by bus we went to the will call booth to get our tickets put on our bands.

 We were then given special wrist bands to wear in addition to our MagicBands so that we would be allowed to stay in the park when the closed it at 7 for the Party.  Love the outfits they were wearing.  Their giant candy cane striped bows were attached to a headband.

 First on the agenda was to hit up our fastpass attractions and check out the decorations during the day since they look different at night all lit up.  I was in love.  I had seen most of the decorations before but to have holiday music playing made the wow factor for me.

 They had filmed the Christmas day parade earlier in the day as well as the previous two days.  It was crowded but not as bad as I was expecting.  Of course our first fastpass was for Dumbo.  There wasn't really a line though.  I like the no line at Dumbo thing lately, it is really working out in my favor.

 Although everything was decorated and holiday music was playing I can say it just didn't "feel" like Christmas was only 17 days away since it was warm (hello 70's) and I am used to cold days and usually some snow.

 The castle looked absolutely stunning draped in icicle lights and the Christmas parade did not disappoint.  I think it might have been better during the day though.  I still enjoyed the music and the holiday magic that only Disney can bring.

 We had dancing candy makers and bakers and gingerbread men.

 

 We watched the parade from near the hub area (so we were kind of by the Castle) and if we had been on Main Street it would have been snowing on us.  Later that night we walked down the snowy Main Street and I soaked up every minute of it.  Snow is really beautiful when you aren't shivering from the cold.

 Our Party came with cookies (snicker doodles) and cocoa.  I ate a lot of cookies and drank a lot of cocoa.  Luke was tired and I know it wasn't really his cup of tea but he was a trooper and let me wander around all night and do whatever I wanted.  If I wanted to watch a show he just found somewhere to sit down and such until I was ready to move on.

 One of my favorite parts of the evening was the Jingle Cruise.  They decorated the line area and added in some new jokes with holiday references.  I loved it.  We probably would have gone for a second trip through the rivers of the world if it weren't for the fact that the line grew significantly and there was a lot more that I wanted to see and do.  The part of the cruise where they are chanting and dancing about were apparently carolers so our skipper told us to duck and pretend that no one was home and maybe they'd go away.  She was "milking" the jokes for all they were worth, especially the one about Ginger the croc that snaps.

 After I watched the Totally Tomorrowland Christmas we called it a night and headed for the bus.  It was about 11:30 and the park closed at midnight.  I figured we'd miss the rush of the party leaving.  I did walk extra slow through the snow on Main Street though as we left.  Just thinking of the music, lights and snow now puts a huge smile on my face.

 Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight!