Young Party of Four

It's official. We've gone off the deep end. We ran our first 5 mile race. That wasn't what makes us crazy (though it starts inching us towards the cliff). It was that when we finished, we sort of wanted to do it again. Okay, after a short break, maybe. Not immediately. We had a great time though. A few months ago we randomly stumbled upon the U Can Finish 5 Mile and decided we really wanted to do it. There was actually a 2 mile as well but we found ourselves saying things like, "It's only 2 miles." Not that 2 miles isn't a respectable distance... it's just less than what we normally run and we like to push our limits and try new things. Also, sometimes it's all about the bling. The race medals. The 2 mile didn't have one. 5 miles did. You could also run both back-to-back and earn the Distance Dare medal but that was outside our training realm at this point. The 5 mile race course took you through the campus of UCF. For anyone that (so...

Dear William, Happy 2nd birthday to our Little Man! You are two. Two!!! I just can't believe it. You have grown into an adorable, friendly, polite, and personable little guy in these last two years and we are so proud to call you our son. You are a big guy at two. We just had your two year appointment. Your official weight and height actually surprised me. Well, your height did. You are 27 pounds (38th percentile) and 35.25 inches (76th percentile). Doc was super happy with your stats. She said you are thin and tall (just like your sister). Actually, that's why I was surprised. I didn't think you would be that tall. That is actually the exact same height Kenzie was at this age (though her percentile was higher because she is a girl) and we thought you were a little below that. You definitely hit a growth spurt in the last few weeks though and I was thinking you shot up about an inch or more but wasn't sure... until today. As far as the rest of your appointme...

It's no secret. I'm not a native. Those rare breeds surround me in my everyday life though. Not only are our kiddos both born and bred Floridians, but Steven is, as well. That being said, around here in Florida, hurricanes are basically a way of life. We don't get them too often, but we typically aren't too alarmed when one appears and the idea is that we prepare for the worst but hope for the best. My family didn't move to Florida until 8 years post Andrew. I lucked out and was in South Florida when Charley hit and in Central Florida when Wilma made her way through so I tended to miss some of the larger ones our state has seen (at least in my own neck of the woods) over the years. Some are worse than others and our children got their first real taste of a true hurricane this week. Honestly, I sort of did too since I missed all those big ones mentioned before. I remember spending one hurricane at my college roommate's family's house near Tampa. We went to...