Ev's race

We spent the morning yesterday out at the four bridges half marathon.  My husband, the stud, pulled off 13 miles after 7 weeks of training.  It was all a friends idea, but that friend got injured a week b4 the race so poor Ev had no running partner.  In my humble opinion he still rocked it.  I told him he'd get an A for effort just for trying.  But I knew full well that my stubborn, darling husband would power through and do it.

Apparently it was a pretty tough course with quite a few hills (my dear trash talking friend and you know who you are *smiley*, Ev says you couldn't have done it in less than 2).  Ev had a goal in mind and pretty dang near nailed it.  He averaged 11 minutes a mile which was a bit higher than his goal, but again, I think he's amazing.
While he ran, the kids did a 1 mile spooky scamper.  Isaiah my speed demon finished up 5th (out of a TON of kids) and Grumps ran with the girls.  I didn't get any shots of Isaiah at the finish because the finish wasn't where I thought it was and by the time I made it over there he was done.  I caught all the kids mid-course and then the girls at the end.

The kids before their race:


Then we waited around for Ev to finish.  The kids stood along the fence and high fived runners coming in to finish.  As he came around the last turn in the race, Grumps put the kids over the fence and they ran across the finish with him.  The announcer said everyone's names as they came across the line and when Ev came across they said "Evan Williams and his posse" (sp?)  My kids were the only kids to run across the finish (it happened so fast I only fit Alorah and half of Zai in the frame).  Pretty cool idea, Grumps!



Then, I'm assuming because they crossed with dad, they got medals. 

Here's a pic but for some reason I was distracted and didn't get the medals in the photo.



Lastly one of Ev's clients ran Four Bridges as well.  It was cool to meet one of his clients and put a face to the name as I rarely am involved with his day to day and the people he works with.  I am after all in my busy homeschooling, mommy world.  One that doesn't lend itself to a ton of freetime or workout time which is probably why I won't ever run a half marathon with or without Ev. 


I might start training for a sprint triathlon though?! He inspires me. I am up to a mile in the pool at a quite respectable time! Running just isn't my thang ,  I'm not too coordinated on land.  However, I think I might have gills :)  Enough about me, this post is about my hubby and how proud I am of him.  He's a stud!  Can you tell he floats my boat?

Blueberry Picking

Back in August, Ev took a day off work and we took off to Apple Hill for some blueberry picking.  It was exciting when we got there that we had the whole field to ourselves.  It was the tail end of the season and the owner let us know that this was probably the last week for picking and there probably weren't a ton of blueberries left.  We couldn't wait to get out there and see who would pick the most.  It was a bit discouraging because most of the bushes were bare and we only got a few berries off each bush.  But then we hit the bottom back corner of the field and it was full!  Whenever someone would find a full bush they would call out to the others "nothing to see here, no blueberries to be found" and we'd all laugh ~ it was after all a competition!  We filled the bottom of our buckets with Ev and Alorah tying for the most blueberries ~ I think Ev may have even edged her out a bit.  It was such a fun family day.  We came home and made blueberry cobbler ~ blueberry pancakes ~ and froze a bunch for later.  These are the memories I cherish.

Lake Tahoe trip

Gorgeous isn't it?  I sometimes forget how lucky I am to have such beautiful locals in my backyard ~ Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Napa . . . Lucky, lucky girl am I.
Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places ~ up there with Hawaii.  Every year we go up with Family to the snow for the week between Christmas and New Year.  Growing up my family had a cabin Tahoe and I have so many fond childhood memories, mostly of the snow.

Back in August, one of Ev's clients offered us his cabin in Tahoe for a few days . . . get this ~ for NOTHING, just offered to let us use it.  Months later I'm still astounded.  Even more astounding is that this cabin is ON THE LAKE!!!  His own private beach & pier on Lake Tahoe, seriously!  We were so excited.  He called on a Friday and we went up early Saturday morning.  Ev's partner, Mike & his wife Monica also have a condo in Tahoe ~ not too far from the cabin.  So they came over and we spent a lot of Saturday, late into the night with them and their two children (Nico & Sienna).
Here's the view from the pier:

Monica & Sienna:

Nico, Alaina & Sienna looking for crawdads:

At first the kids weren't quite brave enough to get in the water with crawdads (there were a gazillion of them) but Alorah & Sienna finally worked up the nerve to head in with a net.

I was NOT brave enough to touch the little buggers, so Monica took on the job of releasing the crawdads after capture and thorough inspection.

My Doodlebug is getting so big!!!



Ev & Mike enjoying life.  Doesn't get any better than this . . . Wait, where are the brews, boys?

The backside of the cabin (reminded me of Hansel & Gretel's story)

We also took out the little rowboat and kayak's.  It was Alorah's first time in a kayak but we just gave her an oar and sent her off.  She did AWESOME of course!




After a day on the lake, we built a fire on the beach & roasted marshmallows:









I don't know what was going on with Nico in this photo, but man it's funny!






The next morning we went fishing off the dock with super bait (didn't catch anything, but it was fun!)

A view of the beach & pier from the house:

A view of the beach & yard from the pier.