Daddy's 1st Race- with Aunt Mit

I am so proud of my sister Mitzi. Many of my family members have thrown out the idea of running a marathon together over the past few years. Well finally a few of them are really doing it! My sister Ashley and I are both bummed we have to sit out because of final month of pregnancy, but we have both ran races in the past so it almost makes me more proud that they are doing it without us.

I believe the plan is that Dad, Mitzi, and Hock will be running the 1/2 marathon and Char, Bill, and Mom are running the 10 K in October. I don't know how McBride fell through- what's his plan? As part of the training, Mitzi and Michael decided to run a 5K together on July 21st.

What are the chances that it would be the ONE Saturday that both kids were pooped and actually sleeping in!?!? But I figured I would just be bummed if they woke up 5 minutes later and we had missed our chance to see the racers. So I woke the kids up and we headed to the race (on our new toll road that runs close to our houses). We made it just in time to see the 1st racer hit the finish line. The kids were still kind of out of it when we got there, but definitely livened up when they saw daddy really was in this cool race. 


We greeted daddy and Aunt Mit with kisses and cheers. I'll be honest... me being the emotional prego I am... I got a little choked up seeing Mit cross the finish line. I know that this is so not her thing- but she has done so great at training for this 1/2 marathon- her dedication to something that she used to hate is inspiring.

Here are my favorite pictures from the race including Houston's pride in wearing his "I heart Daddy" shirt, Houst enjoying the post-race bounce houses, Houston apparently thinking that Daddy is not #1 but instead #4, and of course our cute racers in the middle. I am so lucky to have a husband that fits so well into my family. I  love that sometimes he goes running with his running buddy Mit just so he can "catch up with Mit" (I'm guessing that is social terms not running pace).

Good job Mit and Michael. We are so proud of you!

We had to cheer extra loud since the McBride fan club was cleaning the church that morning.

Charleston, Charleston... Made in Carolina!

Michael called me the week before the 4th and said, "plan us a vacation! We are going to Charleston!". It is a place we have both wanted to go for a long time. We have heard wonderful things about it and we love Southern residential architecture and we were told THIS was the place to explore!

We did a lot... a LOT ...of walking for our short time there and it was quite hot but the kids were wonderful troopers!

 

People were right- the homes did not disappoint. We loved walking through the streets of homes. I was surprised by how small the main historic Charleston was. We ended up leaving a day early because we felt like we had seen what we wanted to see (and there was the bigger thing that after them falling asleep for the last 15 minutes of the 5+ hour trip down- it was better to drive home during a more promising sleeping hour).

 Despite the MANY pictures of the kids strapped into strollers, we did let them loose every once in a while- and they loved it and felt free when we did. But the heat was so much that they were usually pretty easily convinced it was time to take another sitting break (Houston more than Hadley- apparently she doesn't mind the heat so much).

 It was funny to see Houst on the verge of exhaustion and then he would get one whiff of Air Conditioning and be ready to go for hours again. He was so tired but its like his body didn't know what to do it was so excited to have the energy of Air conditioning. Thank goodness for the wonderful corner hotel room (THANK YOU COURTNEY!) that was long and skinny and a great race track for Houston who ran back and forth back and forth hundreds of times.

In addition to walking the streets of homes, we went to Ft. Sumter,

(doesn't my boy look so big in that picture in front of the cannon!!!)

Middleton Place Plantation,

 and Michael was able to do a couple house tours while I took the kids for hotel Air Conditioning breaks. 

Although there were times that I thought, "goodness, I'm ready for a date night! Where is the local ward to find a babysitter?" or we even thought "should we have brought the kids?"... there were so many more times that made it totally worth it to have it as a family vacation.

 Maybe someday soon we will go on a romantic getaway- but then we would have missed out on having 2 entertainers at our dinner dates :)

At the very end of the trip we were talking about our favorite parts of the trip- we thought for sure Houston's was going to be the 45 minutes that daddy took him to the hotel swimming pool on the roof while mommy tried to get Hadley to nap... but no... instead "yeah... and remember that tiny Houston (sized) fridge!?!?!" oh I love that kid! I think he also liked playing in the fountains at waterfront park while daddy went to go tour one of the houses. (trying to get pictures sent from my phone).

We had a wonderful 3 days together. We had a blast. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the vacation...

(top left: My wonderful husband pushed our ghetto stroller almost the whole time. It did make us decide it was time to splurge for a new stroller before #3 comes in September.
top middle: Hadley assumed every time we got the camera out to take a picture of a house- it was actually to take a picture of her, 
top right- a perfect example of Houst being exhausted and Hadley ready to see the next site- I think she has a little Grammy Gates in her, 
middle: look at my two big kids! When we took it- for a second I felt like I could feel myself looking at it in 20 years and longing to be hot and sweaty just so I could be with my babies again for a flash of a camera second. 
Bottom left- I noticed this in a picture of me and the kids and beautiful scenery and couldn't help find it hilarious and crop it to make it its own picture! They really were such troopers for such a hot trip.)

Thank you to my sweet husband for insisting and declaring it was time for a family vacation. We had a wonderful weekend.

Suuuper HOUST!!! Happy Bday Caelan

Houst is starting to get really into super heroes- good guys, bad guys... especially "getting" the bad guys. He loves to wear his Super Man pajamas and pretend to fly or lift heavy things while he is "Super Houst". When he lifts things and I say "way to go Super Houst" when he is not wearing his cape, he says very seriously, "Mom, I'm not super Houst right now" as if he knows he has to protect his identity.

Well his best friend Caelan had a SUPER cute Superhero Birthday party. The invitation was so cute- a real comic changed to be about Houston's big day. At the party, they had to do challenges like a training camp, making a remote to help get the bad guys, freeing the other super heroes (little superhero erasers) from ice, and eating yummy pizza. What a fun party and look at the adorable satin capes and arm bands Tristina made with their initial in the shield! SO CUTE! Houston LOVES his! ... oh ... and loved an excuse to wear his Super Houst pajamas to a party! Thanks Tristina and Caelan- and Eric (Caelan's dad) for the proper superhero training.

A proper hot and sweaty 4th of July!

Going to bed on July 3rd I went through our schedule for the 4th with Michael and said, "It's like our first proper 4th of July together! Full of hot, sweaty, fun family activities... its going to be perfect!" Michael smiled and laughed as if to say "you know, you sound pretty twisted to most people- but it always amazes me how your mom and dad convinced you that these things were fun and awesome! And amazes me more that now I do too!"

We started the morning with the YW being in charge of the Ward Pancake Breakfast. It was a fun-filled morning of food, face painting, Kids Are Music performing, family water games, and a bike parade.  I was so grateful to have such an amazing board to help organize such a fun event.

Michael went to play basketball while I stayed with the kids to rest. Then at about 4 we headed to the biggest Fireworks show in the area. The kids did a few roaming performances then we cracked out our potluck dinner and snacks for the evening. They had the Cary Town band and NC symphony as opening acts which were absolutely perfect. They both played my favorite Sousa's Stars and Stripes forever. We were all sweaty and kids were hot but happy to all be together on a blanket with their parents' full attention I think.

The fireworks show was honestly one of the best I've seen. There were a couple of moments in that late dark night sitting next to Michael, each holding one of our sweet children and thinking of the beautiful meaning behind the 4th of July that I thought, "This really is perfect!"

Sure there was traffic when we left and kids were tired- but those moments of perfection made it all worth it. I'm so grateful for a wonderful supportive husband who has drunk the Gates water and now enjoys the things that others might think are silly. I'm grateful to live by family so that we could have a 4th with the Johnsons and McBrides. I'm grateful for the many men and women who serve our country. And I am so grateful to be an American and live with the many freedoms that we have.