Brixton Can Ski

This winter Brixton learned to ski.  Although Brixton's desire was definitely there, we were nervous if he'd catch on as easily as Damon did.  Even though he didn't excel as quickly as Damon did, he still exceeded our expectations.   I know his dad was incredibly proud...even on the cold, frustrating days.  

He was such a good sport, tried so hard, and even with some minor crashes, falls, bumps, and one bloody nose, he did really well for his first year. 

 serious ski bum brothers

He skied at Killington, the Dartmouth Skiway, and Jay Peak.  Jay Peak had the best size of hill with the best amount of slope...unfortunately, it was the furthest away. 

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving 2013 had it's up and downs...but overall, it ended up being a fantastic day with our New Hampshire family.  I have more pics somewhere but I haven't been able to locate them..so this is what I have for now.  

my annual apple pie.  yummers. 

my second attempt at homemade rolls.  They were edible.  

gotta love the community center.  :)

30-something people, TONS of food, lots of kids, and lots of chaos.  Sounds about right for this group of friends.  

Dartmouth Sports!

November was a month full of Dartmouth sports.  We went to a bunch of Dartmouth hockey and football games, and had a blast at both.   

 yes, the student section might be empty.  sad, I know.  

the last game of the year. 

A Hard Worker

A good friend of mine mentioned in a conversation that she would never be able to get all of their leaves in their backyard raked before they were going out of town for Thanksgiving.  Well, what do you know, I've got a 7 year old who loves raking leaves.  Damon was THRILLED at the idea of having a yard to rake, and I was thrilled at the idea of Damon doing something physical, something outside, and something nice for someone else.  He had a day off of school so we headed over.  

I was such a proud mom standing beside him, helping him rake and bag leaves.  On the first day we bagged 13 bags...that's right.  13.  We came back after school a few days later and probably did at least another 4 bags.  My friend was so cute and paid him $10.  He would have done it for free, but it was great for him to work really hard, and earn some money for it.   I love this kid. 

Halloween 2012

This year my Halloween picture taking was at an all time low...so this is all we've got.  

 part of Brixton's pre-school class....

 story time with his teacher 

 the neighborhood Halloween parade / party ended up being fantastic! 

and there's Damon.  :).  Brixton is also the spiderman holding the green bucket.  

Cape Cod

Like I said in the previous post....it was such a better idea for all of us to rent a house together and make a whole weekend out of it.....

Once all of the runners were feeling better, we made the two minute walk down to the beach. 

 Mike and Damon are out there looking for crabs

 a relaxing night of guys watching football, and girls just hanging out.  

 the girls.....Sunday morning

 the amazing house 

 the whole group.  

this was a perfect weekend

Cape Cod Half Marathon. #2

Last year this Cape Cod half marathon was my first half marathon ever.  This year it was my third.  I was really excited about running it again, being familiar with the course, and knowing that my time would improve drastically from the first time I ran it.  I trained much more this time around and was so excited to have this amazing group of friends to run with.   We all trained together, and I loved every minute of it.  

Andrea also had the genius idea of instead of everyone paying for hotel rooms....we should rent a big old house on the Cape, and stay the whole weekend.  It was PERFECT.  

It was a good 10 degrees warmer this year than it was last year....so I was actually a little too warm this time. 

 Bryan, Beau, Andrea, Catherine, Maren, Tiff, me, and Kristen.  (this was Kristen's first half and she KILLED it).  not pictured, Brent.  Where is he? 

 a view along the race. 

 um, why the crap does Maren still look so pretty after running 13.1 miles? 

 those are some hot thighs .

all of us at the finish line. 

let me just say, this friend of mine, Kristen, is a ROCK STAR.  We ran together for the entire race, and I knew she wouldn't stop and walk...so she literally kept me going.  I was so numb at mile 11 I wanted to die, but she just kept running.  I was soooo proud of her and I love that we did this together. 

just ignore how awful I look in these pictures.  :)

p.s.  Mike was going to run the race with us, but ended up having a job interview in Seattle the day before, he took the red eye back the night before to Boston and got to Cape Cod when we were about half way through the race.  He and the boys were there to cheer me on at mile 12.  Loved it.