This weekend Maile and I traveled to Boston so she could visit Grandma and Papa and I could ride in my 4th Pan-Mass Challenge.
The ride this year was pretty incredible. Saturday was some of the worst weather they have ever seen on the ride. Cold, hard rain for most of it. A decent number of crashes and 30+ people treated for hypothermia! Luckily, myself and the rest of my friends I ride with made it through just fine.
On the flip side, Sunday was a tremendous day of riding. Temperature was perfect and we easily had our best second day finishing in record time. As always, lots of good memories were made and it was honor to ride along side Ryan, Rob, Teddy, Adam, Tony and Drew.
The PMC Crew - Rob, Adam, Tony, Teddy, me, Drew and Ryan
Meanwhile, on the homefront I had my biggest fan!
On Sunday, we took a ferry back from Provincetown to Boston and Grandma, Papa and Maile came into the city to meet me.
Hey, dude, do you know where I can find my daddy's bike?
Maile Girl and her sign she made for me 🙂
Anxiously awaiting the arrival of Daddy
The. Absolute. Best.
Two good dudes have become two very lucky dads...
You know that old Warrant song – “I don’t need to be the kind of the world / As long as I’m the hero to this little girl”?
Exactly.
Today Daddy and I went to meet a new friend, Eamon. Daddy said this was a special day because Eamon and I will be friends for a long time. He’s even smaller than Lauren, but I love him already. His hair is really soft.
Meeting Eamon
I was a little nervous to hold him, but then I didn't want to put him down!
I already can’t wait to see him again AND for him to meet Lauren!
We did a team building exercise at work the other day and one of the funny prizes they gave out were fake teeth. I brought them home and boy did we have fun with the girls trying them on!
What beautiful smiles 🙂
This picture absolutely cracks me up. I love it.
Family shot - what great teeth!
My favorite part was that Lauren actually got that the teeth were funny some how. (Perhaps because Christine and I were dying laughing every time she put them in her mouth). She would put the teeth in and then just start giggling.
Good times – definitely 10 minutes that added time to my life due to the laughter. Hopefully, you enjoyed the pictures as well 🙂
Some of you might recall that Christine ran a half-marathon about 5 years ago when Maile was just a few months old.
Here’s a shot of Maile and the sign we made for Mommy…
I roll everywhere, so clearly I'm impressed by anyone that can run 13.1 miles!
On Sunday, Mommy hit the road again, this time running the San Francisco Half-Marathon. Our cheering party has, of course, increased my one as well 🙂
Maile and Lauren anxiously await Mommy at the finish line...
Maile was on the look out for Mommy as soon as we approached the race route. She thought she saw her about a dozen times before the real deal crossed the finish line and we showered her with hugs and kisses.
Mommy and her girls - I couldn't ask for a better role model for my two girls!
Family shot, another half marathon in the books!
Of course, my favorite part was Mommy going through the food line after the race. She picked up a banana and a muffin. Lauren demanded the banana and Maile asked for the muffin. (They had only had 2 breakfasts already that morning.) That’s a mommy runner 🙂
It’s been awhile since we’ve done a full family picture. We snapped this one this weekend down at the Aquatic Park – we went down to watch our friend, Nate, do the Escape from Alcatraz swim!
Maile at 5, Lauren at 1.5
We taught the girls limbo last night – good times ensued 🙂
(And yes, Lauren is wearing Maile’s underwear over her diaper. We are in the full-fledged “copy-everything-my-big-sister-does” phase!)
(Click here for the video.)
It’s not Thursday, but it is Grandma Jill’s birthday today and I couldn’t resist rolling back one of my all-time favorite Maile videos.
I’m happy to report that the birthday wishes went MUCH better this year 🙂
Happy Birthday, Grandma Jill – we love you!
(Click here for the video.)
For her birthday, we gave Maile a pair of skates that have “training wheels” on them (so they start with two wheels in the back and then they can convert to more of an inline roller blade). Maile likes them and has been having fun learning to skate.
But Lauren LOVES them. Every day she goes over to them and whines until we put them on her. Then she gets annoyed with us if we try to hold her – she wants to stand on them all by herself!
Lil' Lauren isn't going to let her big sister learn to skate before her!
(Click here for the video.)
In case you missed it, we have a 5 year old now. An adorable, goofy 5 year old.
1
2
3
4
5
Per Maile’s request, we had her birthday party at Pump It Up – the mecca of bouncy houses. The party was a great success with the kids (and some of the parents) all running themselves ragged followed by pizza and birthday cake. Some highlights below…
Hannah was the first to arrive!
Listening intently to the rules of the road
Reaching for the top ribbon...
Lauren dragged Mommy, Daddy and Aunty Jen all over the bouncy houses...
After all the bouncing Lauren was happy to be on the ground...
Judging by the sweat, I think it's fair to say Maile had a good time!
What in the world?
I make this magic ball float! Me!
Taking a break and soaking in the fun
Maile Girl in her chair of honor!
And here’s Maile Girl blowing out her birthday candles…
Birthday #5 was definitely a big success. Very thankful for all the friends that came to help us celebrate!
(Click here for the video.)
