In The Band

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and aunt, Michael has started learning how to play the clarinet this year.  Michael is a pretty musical kid so we are excited for him to have this opportunity.  His brothers are a little less excited when he practices, but it's all for a good cause.  Last Thursday night was his first concert.  It's a busy time of year, so I couldn't make it, but Jason went and took a couple of pictures to share.  

Salish Stormers

First things first: I totally filched these pictures of the middle school facebook page.  Credit where credit is due.

Second, Josh's robotics team competed this weekend in a Lego FIRST robotics competition and did pretty well.  They actually earned their middle school it's very first trophy!  The competition has three parts: Core Values, Innovative Solutions, and Robotics.  The kids worked hard all year and won the Innovative Solutions trophy.  We're super proud of these boys and so grateful for the teacher/coaches who put so much time and effort into the Robotics Club.

Blue Belt

He's worked long and hard and now he has his BLUE BELT.  Way to go, Michael!

Halloween

It was a Happy Halloween for the younger Miller boys.  We visited Jason at work and there were goodies and candy in pretty much every department.  The boys got quite a good amount of loot.  Josh was not with us since he doesn't get home from school until it would be too late to head into Olympia.  But, we filled his bucket from our stash of candy from past holidays, so he still ended up with enough sugar.  We stayed home for the evening and watched Goonies and had ice cream sundaes/root beer floats.  That was the deal I made with the boys so that I wouldn't have to go chasing Isaac around the streets in the dark.  Because that could only end poorly.

It turns out Isaac is a sneaky hoarder.  He had a death grip on his pumpkin and we kept finding him hiding in different parts of the house with either a lollipop in his mouth or surrounded with candy wrappers.  He was bouncing and spinning and jumping by the time all the sugar hit his system.  Today he's pretty grumpy.  Sugar hangover?

It's done and now we go into full-on holiday mode.

Last of the Leaves

Schilter Fun

We spent Monday afternoon soaking in the sun.  The beautiful, beautiful sun.  

I am definitely becoming a sun worshiper as the days get shorter and wetter.  

Monday's excursion was to Schilter Farm.  It's no Cox Farms (a point the boys bring up frequently), but still fun.  We started off taking pictures of Isaac and the pumpkins.  I thought that I would be able to get some adorable shots.

And then he found a bug and the opportunity was lost.

So we moved on to the hale bale maze.

And jumping in the hay!

I promise that this jump ended better than it looks like it should.

Wheeeee!

After the boys got their hair and clothes full of straw, we found the sand table.  We didn't stay there for long, because right next door were some animals.

Most importantly, there were itty, bitty kittens.

So very adorable.  Though, they did come with some itty, bitty and sharp claws.

We left the barn and headed over to the slide area where Isaac discovered that he may have a talent for the trapeze.

Next up was the water area.  But that didn't last for long because...

...they filled up the jumping pillow!  Isaac quickly discovered that this was not for him (probably because his gimpy mother couldn't go on with him).

But the other two boys had a blast!

And Isaac played in the rocks.

And his brothers continued to jump...and jump...and jump.

Isaac headed back to the water and hung out for a little bit with his hair twin.

And that was where Isaac found the kitties.  A little bit older than the ones in the barn, these were some of the most mellow and lethargic animals that I have ever seen.  They didn't appear to mind anything, even the petting and frequent greetings (HI MEOW MEOW!!!  HI!!!) of a toddler.

Eventually the older kids got bored of the pillow and we did the hayride before wrapping up the trip.  All this fun happened during what would normally be Isaac's naptime.  Hence the "Whaddya lookin' at?" face here.

In case you haven't noticed by now, Josh was not with us.  He opted to stay after school to work on his robotics team project instead of going to the farm with the little people.  I think everyone ended up happy with how their afternoon went, just some of us were a little more worn out than others.

13.1

I did it, folks.  13.1 miles.  It was definitely an adventure.  And, of course, like all adventures, had a great plot twist.  Get it?  TWIST?  That's only funny because between mile 4 and 5 I twisted my ankle and hobbled the remaining 9 miles.

Rachel thinks I have grit.

Jason thinks I am little bit crazy.

The doctor will get to weigh-in later today.

I am definitely getting ahead of myself.

Many, many moons ago, Rachel and I were sitting on the comfortable couch in the warm house and decided to do a half-marathon.  Naturally, one only makes that decision when one is comfortable and warm.  Otherwise, who would do that to themselves?  In any case, the Portland Half in October became our goal.

It went downhill from there.  Rachel developed plantar fasciitis and I developed tendonitis in my hip.  That definitely put a damper on our respective training schedules.  So Rachel moved over to swimming and I spent the summer in physical therapy.  The upshot was we decided to walk instead of run.

Sounds good, right?

Saturday we drove down to Portland, got our packets, and walked around the city a little bit.  We walked down to Voodoo Doughnuts and made plans to pick up some after the race for the boys.  We had Chipotle for dinner where I managed to have $40 drop out of my pocket and I didn't notice until later.  Ugh.  But overall, the weather was beautiful and Portland is a very nice city, so we had a good time.

Fast forward to 5 am the next morning.  Here are our grumpy faces.  We had a hotel in Hillsboro and rode the train into to Portland, so we got up pretty early.  I want to say about 4:30ish.

But, really, we were excited to be there! Cold, but excited!

Hanging out in corral C before the sun came up.

And we were off!  I don't remember where we were when we took this picture, but we look happy.

Shortly thereafter, tragedy fell.  A bit before mile 4, I really had to pee.  But there was only ONE LONELY portapotty and a line of 10 people (probably about a 20 minute wait).  The volunteers told me there was another potty stop at mile 6, so I decided to keep on trucking.  Imagine my delight when we found a group of 8 portapotties shortly after mile 4!  I was so excited to pee!  Afterwards, I came out of the portapotty and did a little happy dance.

Very little because when I came down on my right foot it completely gave out and I heard popping noises.

Nothing good can come from popping noises where there is supposed to be no popping noises.

And, seriously, who dances because of a portapotty???

Luckily, there was a medic station not too much further where they wrapped up my ankle and asked me if I wanted a ride back.  Of course not!  I wanted my SHIRT!!!

So on we went.

Rachel was an amazingly good sport about this all and stayed with me the whole time.  The sprain slowed us down significantly and we got passed up by about everyone.  When you see the stats at the end, you'll see I am not exaggerating.

We did eventually make it past the halfway point.

And on and on and on.  By about mile 11, I wasn't sure if I was gong to make it.  I swear the miles got longer and longer.  And my foot got more and more unhappy.  At one point, I made it a goal to come in last, just so I'd have a goal I could easily meet.

At last the end was in sight and we crossed the finish line and got our medals!  It felt good to finish, but I still really just wanted my shirt.  Whoever designed the finish area was a sadist because we had to walk practically another mile to finally collect all of our stuff, get some food, and finally FINALLY get our shirts.

Then we scrapped the rest of our plans for the day and just headed back home.  Here we are with our medals after I had 4 ibuprofen and an ice pack.

The best part of all is that my PR is now so low, that if I do another half marathon, I am pretty much guaranteed to beat it.  All I have to do is not dance next time.  Overall, I am glad that I did it and had a great weekend with my sister.

Stats:
Overall: 1492 out of 1495
Women: 945 out of 948
F 35-39: 123 out of 123
Finish: 4:36:32
Pace: 21:06