1/2 Marathon

 As I mentioned last week, my parents ran a 1/2 marathon on Saturday.  It was my dad's 2nd and my mom's first.  It was a lovely day to stand around outside and watch people run by in their 13th mile while sipping on soda and coffee!  Andrea and I arrived at the finish area and met my aunt and uncle there.  We waited around for a little over an hour until the runners started trailing in.  (The regular runners...the people who won finished about 20 minutes ahead of the masses!) 

Strangely, it was hot outside!  It is almost the middle of October and it was in the 80s.  Kind of strange for this time of year, but nice.  It might not have been so nice for the runners but it was nice for the spectators. 

Apparently, they ran together for most of the 13 miles and my mom went ahead toward the end.  There she is, finishing in 2 hours and 18 minutes.  

 There comes Tim, finishing in 2 hours and 23 minutes.  Nice work both of them!  I really can't imagine running 13 miles...yikes.  The farthest I ever ran was probably 4 miles during track practice in middle school and I didn't like it very much!   

Here they are at the finish.  Last time they wanted to drink coffee afterwards so Andrea and I surprised them by having one waiting.  Apparently, my aunt and uncle saw Ty Pennington from the Extreme Makeover build in that coffee shop earlier that morning!  His hotel was nearby.

This is my aunt and uncle's 4 month old puppy Rosie.  I couldn't resist stopping to pet this gigantic dog after the race was over (alot of people had their dogs out to watch with them).  She rolled over so I could pet her and Barb brought Rosie over to meet a new friend!  That dog's head is as big as Rosie!  She was a gentle giant and Rosie is a friendly little girl so they got along fine. 

That afternoon, I met Justin in GF for our nephew, Dylan's 6th birthday party.  It was at a bowling alley.  In the past, his parties have been low key events with lots of cute little kids.  Now, his parties have become a chaotic, loud affair similar to how I remember my brother's birthday parties being when he was in elementary school.  Oh well, it's fun for the kids! 

There he is with his cake.  If you think it looks like a sugary disaster, you are right.  That frosting was nice and thick and the food coloring was unnaturally vivid! 

After the party I went to my parents' house.  The hot weather has been good for combining and yesterday they finished the beans!  They are more than one month ahead of schedule compared to last year so that is great I guess!  The weather has been nice of course, and I would love for winter to hold off as long as possible but it really needs to freeze around here.  The grass is continuing to grow out of control and the insects need to die!  They are taking over the whole farm!  YUCK!  I mowed the lawn yesterday (with a new mower that is amazing and can mow around posts and trees which eliminates the need for push mowing and weed wacking!) and felt like I was being crawled on by lady bugs and spiders the whole time.  And the mosquitos are vicious!  It's as though they know they don't have much time left and are trying to suck as much blood as possible!