| May 13-22, 2005 |
| May 15 - San Antonio - We spent the weekend in this Texas town so that Leif and our friend Adam could run their first ultra-marathon on Saturday morning. An ultra-marathon is any run longer than a traditional marathon (which is 26.2 miles). This race, the Prickly Pear 50k was, well, 50 kilometers long. That's approximately 31 miles - a LONG way to run, if you ask me!! But the boys did well, each placing 2nd in their respective age groups and earning frosted beer mugs for their superior effort. Using the mugs immediately after the race was probably the highlight for the guys, as it was a HOT and soggy race! Because none of us had ever been to San Antonio before, we took advantage of our weekend there to explore the famous Riverwalk area of town and see the historic site of the Alamo. The Riverwalk was a fun and interesting area - a unique mix of the BBQ's of Texas and the canals of Venice, Italy. Hard to imagine, I know, but it really works. The Alamo was an incredibly neat place to see. We always try to learn as much as we can about all of the areas we've lived, and the Daughters of the Texas Revolution did a great job of informing us about this famous battle through all of the exhibits and talks we visited. |
| May 22 - Houston - One of the many nice things about Leif's job at BP is his schedule. He works 9 hour days, which affords him every other Friday off from work. His first Friday off happened to be my birthday, so we enjoyed a fun day around Houston. Leif (along with Roger and Carla) surprised me with money to go and purchase my very own mountain bike as my birthday present. After a little searching, I found the perfect one. We took it out for a spin that evening, and I am completely satisfied with my choice! Because I've been riding hand-me-down bikes for the last 15 years, I am taking "moutain biking lessons" from Leif. My first time out I learned to do a wheelie (pull the front tire off the ground) and an endo (pull the back tire off the ground), which is VERY brave for me. As most of you know, although I'm adventurous, I'm not very aggressive, so attempting these tricks is a huge leap! On Saturday we spent a fun day at our friends' (Adam and Carrie) house for their pre-summer BBQ. We became good friends with them during our time in Alaska, and they now live in Houston, so it's been fun to spend time with them again. The house they are residing in now is beautiful, and as you can see from the pictures, Peyton had a blast in their fun backyard. Although it was WARM, he found a number of water features to keep cool in! |
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| Leif finishes the 50k in a time of 6 hours, 20 minutes, 2 seconds |
| The boys - Leif, Eric, and Adam - all winners! |
| Someday we'll fill Peyton in on what he missed at the Alamo! |
| The five (and a half) of us! |
| San Antonio's Riverwalk Area. Although we didn't take a boat ride, we enjoyed all of the canal from the sidewalks and bridges |
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| Peyton and Mommy eating a delicious Mexican birthday feast! |
| Peyton and Daddy getting Mommy's new mountain bike ready to go. |
| Mommy on the new bike!!! |
| My beautiful birthday flowers from Adam & Carrie |
| Peyton taking a pre-BBQ nap. |
| One of the fun water features that Peyton kept cool with. This was a cute little elephant fountain that sprayed water out of his trunk. Peyton supplied the proper elephant noises. |
| The other fun thing Peyton found to play in was Adam & Carrie's koi pond. He loved splashing the fish, climbing on the rocks, and (as shown here) feeding the fish their food. No fish went hungry after he was done with them! |