Go Jackie!

My letter to Mother Nature last week may have paid off a little too well. Yesterday Brian and I got up early and headed to St. Paul to watch Jackie race in the Twin Cities 10-Mile. At 8 a.m. it was already 75 degrees with a dew point hovering around 70. It's October, people! Despite her tendency to get quickly overheated, Jackie did fantastic.

If you've never wandered over to St. Paul to watch the 10-mile or the marathon I highly recommend it even if you don't know anyone who is running in it. The energy and positive spirit are completely contagious. Everyone on the sidelines is cheering wildly for complete strangers. I would like to say that it feels like the essence of what it is to be a Minnesotan but I haven't been to other out-of-state marathons so I can't say for sure. All I know is that these types of events tend to bring out the best cheerleaders.

Brian and I parked near Summit Avenue and Dale Street and then walked along Summit Avenue until we reached The Cathedral where we waited for Jackie to run by. All along Summit people were out in full force. Some people brought out their stereo systems and were blaring pump-up songs. Some people had set up tents and were serving bloody marys and bites to eat. As we walked back to our car we even saw a full band setting up; drums, amplifiers, guitars and all.

Jackie passed us at The Cathedral when she had about a half a mile left. You can see her smiling in the first picture below. I put in a red arrow to point her out. In the second picture she is the first person in the turquoise shorts.

We then walked down to the finish line which was right in front of The State Capitol. There were thousands of people and the first marathoner hadn't even finished yet. It was a lot of fun to be around all that excitement. William, of course, wore a special t-shirt just for Aunt Jackie. Below are a few more pictures from the race yesterday. Once again, great job to Jackie and maybe we'll see her AND Brian running next year?

Nostalgia

A great idea for anyone who is starting to think of birthday gifts for William. I'm pretty sure his parents would enjoy it too.

The One That Got Away

Last night we let William stay in his bath for longer than usual which meant he was having a great time splashing about, crawling around and trying his best to stand up without slipping. When we got him out to dry him off and get his jammies on, it was clear he knew he was getting away with more than we normally allow because as soon as I laid him down on the towel he flipped over and took off crawling as fast as he could...naked. And he was laughing the whole time. Brian and I couldn't help but laugh until tears were rolling down our cheeks. We took a bunch of pictures but this is the only one that I can really post on the Internet!

Happy October!

Brian's Movie

Every Tuesday night Brian teaches RCIA at our church from 7-9 p.m. William is sleeping by this time and if you haven't noticed there are not any good shows on on Tuesdays. So I decided to dabble in our Movie Maker program on our computer.

As William's first birthday is quickly approaching I thought it would be cool to pick out a few songs and partner them with our favorite pictures of William's past year. By the time Brian got home I had made two movies but had only gotten though the first two month of his life. It's so hard to narrow down the pictures!

Upon seeing my two movies Brian decided he wanted to give it a try. So he picked out the song he wanted to use and I showed him how the basics of the program worked like how to upload music, photos and how to transition between photos. I told him with that bit of knowledge it should only take him about 15 minutes to put something together. After all, it's only a 3-minute song. TWO HOURS LATER he said he was finished.

Now if you know Brian, you know that he has a creative mind just from his musical talents, his endless supply of spot-on celebrity impersonations and the plethora of cartoon drawings that can be found in his childhood bedroom. But I had no idea he would get so intense with this movie. He has it all down. Even the length the photo is shown changes as the beat of the music becomes faster or slower. Truly not what I expected out of him.

This morning he gave me permission to share it here. Make sure you turn up your sound because the lyrics and pictures are in sync. Enjoy!

A Small Request

Dear Mother Nature,

If you could provide just a few days this fall that are not too windy, rainy and/or cold I would thank you kindly. You see, I have this little boy who likes to get into everything and we live in a part of the world that can sometimes get confused with the Arctic Circle. That means, I don't have very many days in the year when I can bring him outside to let him roam free without worrying about pinched fingers, broken vases or falling down the stairs. And the countdown has begun toward those bitter cold mercury-plunging days so I don't have much time left. Please help save my patience and sanity.

Kind Regards,

Mama Nash

Question of the Day

Is there anything that makes you feel more self-accomplished than looking at your super-sparkly kitchen floors after getting on your hands and knees and scrubbing them yourself?