New Library

Matthew has the entire week off from school so today we went to the brand new library in a nearby town. Most of the county libraries around here are old and very small and while they are perfectly functional, they lack the modern features of the state of the art libraries we went to in Schaumburg and Fresno. The library we went to today was, quite simply, amazing. Here are a few of its features, as described on its website:

...technology lab, separate teen area, homework room, community meeting room, art and science discovery center, group study rooms, storytelling area, indoor and outdoor reading space, wireless Internet access...

The boys, of course, wanted to head straight to the children's books and I didn't get explore as much as I would have liked but they were impressed by the state of the art book drop that scans the books individually and the new self-check machines. I was impressed by the Friends of the Library book sale, the best I've ever seen. It's actually a small used bookstore with its own entrance and hours.

Our city's own new library is still under construction but until its built we'll be visiting this new library more frequently. It will be a wonderful asset to our community.

Jonathan's Preschool Picture

Weekend Visitors

We spent most of the weekend hosting out of town visitors. On Friday afternoon my sister's mother-in-law--who had been watching Oliver for most of the week since my mother is on a cruise--dropped Oliver off at our house for the night. We played with him and fed him dinner (he loved carrots so much that Jonathan tried to give him his) and put him to bed. The boys were great with him and enjoyed having him here. Bridget arrived at around 9:00 to pick him up and they spent the night with us. They left late on Saturday morning, but not before we got some pictures of the boys outside.

(Yes, Jonathan and Oliver are wearing the same shirt--when it comes to dressing our boys, my sister and I apparently share the same taste.)

After Bridget and Oliver left we met up with Eric's dad, brother and sister-in-law. Brian and Nicole were here in the Bay Area for a short weekend visit. We went to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose and then spent some time at the tidepools. The boys thought the Mystery House was cool and did much better at the tidepools than the last time we took them. Jonathan walked around with us for quite awhile.

Tiffany stained glass at the Mystery House:

Still a little apprehensive, but much more confident on the rocks than last time:

Matthew preferred sitting on the beach and looking at rocks:

Busy Weekend

We have entered the season of weekend trips to Fresno. We spent the weekend there because we had a family event on Saturday and I ran the Two Cities (Fresno and Clovis) Half Marathon on Sunday. It was a fun, busy weekend.

Matthew had a half day of school on Friday so we left as soon as I picked him up and--after an unplanned stop at the house to find Jonathan's bunny and go potty--we were on the road by 12:30. Got into Fresno around 4:00 (drive time included a stop to get gas and a stop to get coffee on the way out of town and another bathroom stop in Los Banos) and hung out at my parents' house for the rest of the evening. My dad watched the boys while I went to the marathon expo to pick up my number and goodie bag. Got a very cool participant shirt--a long sleeved women's fit tech shirt. The goodie bag was great too, with a few different kinds of energy/nutrition bars, mini bottles of olive oil and vinegar, gluten-free corn cakes and a couple of different energy drinks. We fed the boys at home and Eric and I went out with Bridget, Joey and Oliver once Eric arrived. He had been working out of town so he just met us there.

On Saturday morning we did a bit of shopping and had lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I love that they have a gluten-free menu. Afterward we met up with my college roommate, Janina, and her baby daughter Brie. We took the kids to the park and enjoyed catching up and watching the kids play. I think Matthew may have a new, much younger girlfriend. Brie did her best to keep up with the big boys on the playground.

On Saturday evening we went to a birthday party for Rex, the husband of Eric's Grandma Geri. It was nice to catch up with Eric's aunts and uncles and his cousin Kara. We hadn't seen them since last winter.

Sunday morning was the day of the race. We arrived about 45 minutes before the start. It was a great experience. After the Nike Women's Half a few weeks ago, which I ran with a bad cold in a personal worst time of 2 hours and 17 minutes, I was simply hoping to finish in about 2 hours. The course was fast and flat (almost too flat, with the exception of one gradual hill around the ninth mile) and I found that I was almost definitely on pace for a sub-2 hour finish. I loved the course. Part of it ran through a rural area near Friant and it was really cool to see cows and sheep grazing with both mountains and palm trees in the distance. At the last corner before we headed into Woodward Park I saw our friends Mike and Janice cheering for me. Then, the entry into the park where I knew I could pick up the pace because I have run so many races there and the finish chute is always in the same place. It was nice to know exactly how far I had to go. I finished in 1:53:39. That is 25 seconds off of my PR from the Disneyland Half in 2006. Honestly, if I'd thought I even had a shot at going so far under 2 hours I would have picked up the pace.

The post-race spread was pretty nice. They had a full breakfast that included pancakes and eggs, bagels, fruit and ice cream sundaes. As well as a beer garden and free massages. I took only a fruit cup and water because eggs and ice cream just don't sound good immediately after a run. We were given our medals and zippered finisher's hoodies. I met my dad outside of the finisher's area and then we met up with Mike and Janice and Eric and the boys.

I'm very impressed with the race Fresno put on. Overall I am becoming a fan of the smaller races. The organizers of this race really seemed to have a great deal of respect for the runners and sponsors and the supporters and volunteers on the course were happy and enthusiastic. While many may not consider Fresno and Clovis to be scenic, the course really highlighted the best of the area. It was very refreshing experience after the very corporate Nike Women's Marathon. Definitely putting it on next year's to-do list.

All in all, a good weekend in Fresno. Now a few days of "rest" at home before we have weekend visitors here.

Halloween 2009

This weekend I discovered that when Halloween falls on a weekend and you have school-aged kids the holiday gets streeetched out over two or three days. Matthew's Halloween parade and class party were on Friday morning. Eric took Jonathan to school so I could take Matthew and take pictures for the yearbook and help with his room party.

In the afternoon we joined Jonathan's best friend Harris and his mom and little brother for trick or treating at the downtown merchants. This was a separate event from the downtown mall trick or treating, which was on Saturday. The boys had fun getting candy from all the downtown stores and they got a lot of compliments on their costumes. Matthew was especially happy when the guy at Tiffany's recognized he was Dash as opposed to Mr. Incredible.

Matthew enjoying the hot chocolate he received at a gourmet chocolate shop:

My sister and her family were in town for the weekend so they joined us for trick or treating at the mall on Saturday evening. We did that last year and it was a nice, low key event. I had thought it would be less overwhelming for Oliver than going into the neighborhoods. That was a mistake. The mall was insane and stores were running out of treats by the time we got there a half hour into the event. Still, the boys enjoyed it and got just enough candy. People don't trick or treat in our neighborhood (the hill, no street lights, few families with kids); from what I have heard the other families in the neighborhood go into the neighborhood closer to Matthew's school on Halloween. I think we'll do that next year. We did really enjoy trick or treating with Oliver and Allison (Bridget's sister-in-law) though.

After dinner we went to my sister's in-laws' house to roast marshmallows. The boys had a blast making s'mores and playing with Allison, who had glow sticks and coloring sheets for them. They played hide and go seek with the glow sticks (hide and glow seek?) and threw them in the air like confetti. I think the boys enjoyed that portion of the night more than trick or treating. We didn't get home until after 11:00 and they showed no signs of slowing down.

Maybe they should hire a 4 year old for their PR...

Jonathan's explanation for why the Bay Bridge broke: "Maybe a giant alien robot broke it off with his claw."

I believe this is part of the plot of Monsters vs. Aliens. But, you have to admit it is really a more acceptable explanation for the failure than, "The fix didn't work."

Well Child Visits

Both boys had their well child visits with the pediatrician today. Usually I schedule Matthew's appointment near his birthday but I figured we're now at a point where it doesn't matter so much if I do it right away. Better to get it all over with at once.

I will not dwell on how long we had to wait, even though we arrived 20 minutes early. I will say that even after arriving 20 minutes early we didn't get checked in until 10 minutes after our appointments were to have begun. Matthew was not the only kid in the waiting room doing homework.

I had a list of questions to ask the doctor and I was grateful that we weren't rushed in and out despite the crowd in the waiting room. I left armed with referrals to specialists for each kid. (Eye doctor, orthopedist, speech therapist...) They also got their H1N1 vaccines--we were lucky to have our appointments before the office has their vaccination clinic. Jonathan, in addition to the swine flu vax, got three other vaccines. Poor guy wasn't too happy. I have a feeling he's going to be sore tomorrow.

Matthew's Stats:

Height: 45 inches
Weight: 45 pounds

Jonathan's Stats:

Height: 39 inches
Weight: 36 pounds