I'm backkk!

Not that I was really anywhere, but I'm finally feeling caught up enough to go back to blogging.  I've been thinking about it for awhile and will try to get caught up on here about all the fun we've had this summer and fall!  Thanksgiving is around the corner too and it will be our first Thanksgiving holiday we do with just the 3 of us, well 4 of us, if you include Maddy.  And Maddy will want to be included in the Thanksgiving festivities especially in the licking up of anything that falls to the floor.

I gave into my urge to get my hair cut into an a-line bob that I've wanted for awhile.  Not sure about the timing as it's winter but maybe it's actually good time because I want have to worry about my hair stuck down in my coat when I lean back against a seat or under my shoulder when I try to turn while sleeping.  :-)

I completed 2 half-marathons a couple weeks apart, we went to the Adirondacks and out to Utah for some fun-filled family action, I completed my summer job, we went down to Asheville and saw family and friends plus Mat's grandma who we celebrated her 93rd birthday and Brie's 3rd birthday.  Woot, woot!  In between all that we've been out hiking/walking in the woods and along the beaches around here.  More on all of this later but I just wanted to step back into this cyber world!

And now she's 3!!!

At her 3 year appointment she measured:

38 inches tall - 73rd percentile
32 pounds - 64th percentile

Gabriella is quite a talker, loves to read stories to her dolls and stuffed animals.  She is quite adept at helping me with laundry and grocery shopping.  She even helps to remember items that mom has forgotten.  Gabriella loves to "write" letters while sitting in the grocery cart.  She loves to give her dad a family hug in the morning before he goes to work.  After dinner, she often thanks me for making such a delicious meal.  (Not certain it's delicious, but I appreciate that she's thanking me.)  She has an adorable laugh and Maddy, the dog, is still the one who makes her laugh the most!  We sure love her tons!

"I didn't do it"

On our way back to the car after a lovely walk at Wehle State Park, Brie was pushing her stroller down the the path and having a delightful time.  She'd push it, the stroller would roll ahead, she'd push it again.

At one point there was a tiny bit of a curve in the road/path and she pushed the stroller off again.  We watched it roll ahead, go off the side and down a tiny bit of a hill and fall over sideways.

As soon as the stroller stopped moving and it was on it's side, Brie said, "I didn't do it!"

It completely cracked us up as that was the first time we ever heard her try to deny something.  Probably won't be the last time.

Impromptu Picnic

Fun times at southwick beach after enjoying a dinner of hamburgers and salad.

My first 10k

Finished my first 10k.  It felt good and I was happy to have the experience in it.  My training program recommended that I do it and I'm glad I did because it made me realize that while I do want to finish the half marathon I might change up my training strategy a bit.  Now not only do I want to finish it but maybe I want to do a little better on my time.  We'll see because a half marathon is quite a bit longer than the 10k!

I am using as inspiration a 75 year old who finished about 15 minutes faster than I did in the 10k.  I think it's awesome that a 75 year old is still out running and there were a few of them!  I hope I'm stilling moving at that age!

I kept a pretty steady pace of about 30 seconds faster per minute than my normal training pace, but it was remarkable to see as I headed out the mile or so of runners ahead of me.  (I started at the very back of the mass of people because I don't really enjoy being in the midst of it all.)   Then when I got to about mile 2.5 the lead runners were sprinter back.  (It was an out and back.)  They were really giving it their all and it was pretty cool to see them still going strong about their mile 4.  :-)

Almost 2 1/2 years old!

We love our Gabriella!  She is full of smiles and energy and is such a happy little girl!  I can't believe that she is 5 days away from being 2 1/2 years old.  That means we've lived up here just a few weeks shy of 2 years.  Time flies.  On our walk this evening as Gabriella was running ahead of us down the road it is hard to imagine going back to when she was an immobile little lump of a baby on the couch or floor!  Watching her grow and see her curiosity and development has been so much fun.

Running and such

So my first 10k is this next week.  Mat keeps asking if I'm amped.  Not sure about that, maybe apprehensive and concerned.  But not amped.  I'm slow like a turtle.  I will finish the 10k, but it is probably going to be a bit painful as they don't allow for headphones.  :-(  It will definitely be a run where I will have to zone out and meditate while running.  Today was a great training day.  I ran my long run, this week was 8 miles, and I had a nice steady headwind/sidewind 3/4 of the time.  I think it was blowing 32 mph if the weather website is to be believed.  Anyway, I finished and wasn't completely dead afterwards.  Which makes me happy.  Even though I'm slow I am doing better than when I first started running in February of 2012.  I can consistently run for miles at a time without having to walk.  (disclaimer: people may think it looks like I'm walking when I'm running but I am running.)

NYC visit with friends

Our friends took a 6 hour detour last week on their way to NYC to visit us for a few days.  It was awesome to get to visit with them and watch their daughter and Gabriella play together.  We also had fun seeing New York City with them.  It was wonderful to be along with people who had spent some time there all ready.  Brie loved riding the train.  We enjoyed the Museum of Natural History even though we only made it through one floor.  There is so much to see.  Then we ate lunch with our friend's uncle and walked around Times Square.  You can see a few pictures from the trip using the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amie/sets/72157633110643154/

Quick Catch Up

We've been busy playing and getting ready for spring around here.  Then on the first day of spring the weather decided it wanted to be winter for a bit longer around here and snowed.  Here at our house it snowed just a couple inches but up in Tug Hill it snowed 31 inches!  Geez!  And the ice was thawing in the harbor now it's just sticking around.  But we are seeing ducks and geese starting to come back so spring is on it's way even though it does feel like winter again.

We went on a Maple Syrup excursion last weekend which was pretty fun and informative.  The weekend before that we went to the Wild Center in Tupper Lake which was awesome.  So much information and so many great displays.  Especially the otters swimming around.  Brie is still talking about them.  Here's a quick clip of them swimming around.

a winter day at Southwick Beach State Park

We enjoyed a lovely day walking through the woods and then popped out at the beach for a nice beach walk.

Awesome Snowy and Icy Walk at Southwick Beach

Although it was a dark and overcast day at the beach, it was amazing to go out and walk along a beach we've been to dozens and dozens of times over the last year and a half and see something so remarkably different.  Nature is pretty spectacular and ever changing.  Love it!

This video showing the waves and the ice chunks flowing is just not really something I expected here.  I don't know why not as we are only an hour south of the Canadian border, but this was just unexpected and cool to see.

Ice Fishing

Fishing tent and ice skating

Play time!

Brie's examining the bubbles in the ice.

Over the long weekend, Stevie and fam came up to visit us.  Her husband has an ice fishing tent so we were able to experience an ice fishing weekend.  Mat and Neil had a great time out there even though they didn't catch anything.  They did have a nibble, but nothing latched on.

Another weekend and thankfully, more xc skiing

The weather is crazy this winter, but at least it's snowing some this year.  Last year I don't know if we got out skiing 5 times.  This year we've been able to xc ski most weekends and it's been delightful.

Mat had his work cut out for him weaving the chariot through the trees.  It was a fun ski and we went as far as we could until we hit this river that didn't have a bridge to cross over.  It looked like some snowshoe adventurers used a down tree to get across.  I wasn't game with attempting to take Brie, peacefully napping in the chariot, across the tree.

Where we ate our picnic lunch.  Just a few feet of snow that needed to be cleared off.  Yay!  What an enjoyable day.  

This morning Brie said to me "last morning, we ate pizza picnic table in snow".  She is working on her yesterday, this morning, last nights and mixes them up.  But I am amazed at how much she remembers.  She "read" to me her book "Am I an Insect" and as she was reading she said "read G.G. phone am I insect last morning ".  It took me a second and then I confirmed that yes, she did read to G.G. over the telephone "Am I an Insect" on Friday.  

smooth ice

A couple weekends ago, the ice had frozen smoothly enough that our neighbors were out there skating on it.  Their daughter is really great with Brie and was pulling her around in the sled.  :-)

daddy's bike..

We set it up on the trainer and Brie loves climbing onto it.  She also likes to have us assist her into the seat so she can pretend ride the bike.  :-)

icy walk on the harbor

A beautiful 20 degree sunny day on the harbor.  It's crazy to walk out there and hear the water underneath and look back at our houses.  :-)

XC Ski at Wehle

Thankfully, it's snowing around these parts!  We went for a lovely ski on Sunday with some friends, Ella and Leah.  Ella is 5 and did a fantastic job of guiding us through the woods on her skis.  It was a beautiful day and we went to a part of Wehle that we hadn't been to before.  It's always lovely to see new spots in a place that we go to quite often.  Maddy, of course, loved it and ran about 10 times the distance we skied.  Gabriella slept most of the ski all bundled up in the chariot.  A good day indeed.  Then we went home and watched the superbowl and ate chili and buffalo wings.