Announcing: Palmetto Hearts 5K Run & Walk

As some of you know, I am chairing a committee to plan a 5K walk and run to benefit Palmetto Hearts, SC's congenital Heart Disease organization.

The committee meets about once a month and, as promised, I will post an update from each meeting on my blog.

I am very excited to announce that the date and location for the event are final! Mark your calendars:

Palmetto Hearts 5K Walk & Run presented by the Spartanburg Running Club

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

9:00 AM

Duncan Park, Spartanburg

This will be a family-friendly event. Both runners and walkers are encouraged to participate and the course is stroller-friendly.

After the race, there will be a celebration area with inflatables for the children and awards.

All proceeds from the event will go to Palmetto Hearts.

Go ahead and mark your calendars and come on out to support heart babies. It will be a fun-filled family day!

Turtles & Pirates!

We started Friday by visiting the sick sea turtles at the Sea Turtle Hospital.
Erica and I identified this guy as dead, but it turns out that he is actually still alive. He isn't doing too well...
This one has a cast on his shell.
Afterwards, we took the boat to Inlet Harbor for a relaxing dinner by the sea. Our pirate captain was pretty scary...
Gray found the boat ride very relaxing.
Caleb and Auntie enjoying calamari.
Mommy and her baby.

Pool & Baseball

The theme of today was "Relaxation and Baseball."

Erica and I started the morning with a Hatha yoga class at a studio on Beach St. Here we are ready to go to class. I am in "Tree" pose and Erica is in what she calls "Ice Cream Sandwich" pose.
The afternoon was spent hanging at the pool.
"Drink Turtle, Drink." -- Graysen
This evening we went to the Daytona Cubs' baseball game. Uncle Cory came up for the game and the boys were thrilled to see him.

Our family. Just the "5" of us have not had an outing (without husbands) in almost 10 years! My parents were in heaven, and I swear felt younger, just taking out their "kids."

Why did I buy the boys bats?!? I will seriously regret this as Graysen smashes walls and tables in my house.

Beach Day

We spent most of yesterday at the beach. It was great to relax and enjoy the sun, sand, and salty air.

When we arrived, Caleb decided that only one type of sand (soft loose sand) was acceptable. He refused to follow us across the road to the packed sand by the ocean, which is where we set up "camp." In order to coax Caleb over to the "bad" sand, Auntie began the process of importing "good" sand to cover "bad" sand.

Caleb is unhappily scoping out the "bad" sand as Auntie packs up a bucket of "good" sand.

Gray loves his big shovel and continuously yelled, "I NEED TO DIG" for the first hour we were there.
Caleb happily playing with imported sand, barely away from the safety of the towel.
Best Friends!
Good beach reads... Sisters think alike.
Nobody is safe from Graysen.
The boys are obsessed with building sand castles. Their first "castle" turned out to be a bunch of beach toys with lots of dirt dumped on top. The boys were very happy once I showed them how to make a better sand castle and worked on it for hours.
After the beach, we headed to Crabby Joe's for dinner. This is one of our favorite places as it sits on top of a pier and you can see the ocean water and surf under your table.
Graysen enjoying his Pina Colada.
Little did we know that Caleb LOVES "squid." He told us, "I love to eat both the body and the tentacles."
He ate over half a plate of calamari (after a hot dog and two piece of chocolate cake). He thoroughly enjoyed each bite.

Daytona Beach!

My sis and I are spending this week in Daytona with my parents and the boys. It is the first time since we have been married that we have been on vacation together without husbands.

I plan to blog each evening so Lee can see his boys and keep up with our activities each day.

So far the trip has been quite the adventure...

Erica insisted that we drive her Yaris to Florida instead of taking my car. She plans to bring home her bikes and knew that I wouldn't let her put them on my new leather seats... Let's hope that we all fit on the way home with bikes!
We made it to Daytona in RECORD time--7 hours which included a 30 minute lunch stop. Her car has been officially renamed the "Black Bullet."
Thanks to Auntie, we arrived with plenty of time to hang in the pool before dinner.
Apparently the 86F water was just too cold for Auntie so she posed for pictures on the side of the pool instead of swimming. The pool felt like bath water to me.

5K-ing

This week I ran two 5K's with just one rest day between the two. I had a great time running with my friend Tina on Thursday although I wasn't so happy about my time.

However, I was very pleased with my time Saturday morning and am now ready for a week of R&R at the beach!

Uncle Kracker & Kenny Chesnee

Lisa and I went to the Uncle Kracker & Kenny Chesnee concert in Charlotte for her birthday. It turns out that I am not a big Kenny Chesnee fan (unlike Lisa), but I think that I am now an Uncle Kracker fan, as much as I am embarrassed to admit that. I really enjoyed every song that he sang at the concert.

We had a blast being silly, kid-free, and young for a night! Happy Birthday Lisa!

VIP Blood Donors!!!

I think Todd and Lisa deserve "Blood Donor of the Year" awards. Last year, I asked for blood donations in lieu of presents for Graysen's birthday.

"Blood Post"

Todd and Lisa answered the call and went above and beyond! They have donated blood every-other month since that post and will continue to do so!!! Todd was honored as a VIP blood donor by the American Red Cross. I am not sure if Lisa wasn't honored or if she just didn't want to model the t shirt for me. I am pretty sure it was the latter...

Thank you guys and to the six other people that donated in honor of Graysen last year!

Summertime!

The boys and I just finished our first full week of summer and we are loving life! This summer is jam-packed full of playdates, swimming, vacations, VBS, camping, art camp, ... I love having both boys home with me and enjoying fun activities everyday.

Here are a few pictures from one of our first playdates of the summer, picnic and play at Barnett Park.

Tennessee

We spent Memorial Day weekend at Papa's house in Tennessee. I didn't get any pictures, but Erik and Amanda got some great ones and put them on their blog.

Erik & Amanda's Blog

Caleb and Graysen love spending time with their cousins Sarah Grace and Peyton.