My Running Partner

My running partner gets so excited when I say we're going to go for a run, which helps to get me motivated. She doesn't care what the weather's like because she knows that she gets to bring Donkey and a blanket to stay warm. She points things out along the way that I might have missed like pumpkins, birds, cars or buses. She tells me "Go!" when she thinks I'm slowing down and she says "No!" when I say we're heading home. I never thought I'd enjoy jogging as much as I do, and currently I credit my running partner for keeping me motivated to get out there and get moving.

On Thursday we bundled up like this because it was about 40 degrees out at 11:30 am. I decided that that's the lower limit of temperature for Norah. It was cold! But she stayed toasty warm. Today (when we took these pictures) it was so much warmer--almost 45! And so sunny! I still bundled her up because I wasn't sure about how windy it was going to be on the Point (I ran down to Jupiter Point and then along Eastern Point Beach--both get pretty breezy). Maybe by next summer Toby will be good enough on his bike to be able to go with us.

My Night Job

One of the few ways I can support BJ in his school work is by proof reading his papers. I've read papers so far on human rights, political philosophy, metaphysics, and many other related topics. When I say "read" I really meant that I've tried to decipher words that I've never heard of and mostly looked for commas that are out of place or sentences missing capitals. :)

As I finished reading this most recent paper (completed three days early--yay you!) I reflected yet again how happy I am to not have any paper-writing in my future. My days of attending class and doing homework are long gone. I am perfectly content being the "master editor," as BJ calls me. (See me smile and happily turn computer over to husband to fix edits while I revel in the Bronco's win against the Patriots.....No other win of the season tastes so sweet!)

On an update/note: Our desktop computer has gone completely mad (since it has a personality of its own) and will not turn on. All our pictures were backed up the day this started happening, but I have no way of showing you all the cute pictures I took last month. So stay tuned for more pictures, but you'll just have to wait a little while until we get a computer up and running again (the laptop is no place to store our pictures, so they're sitting on our camera). But here's a cute picture off the camera just to show you that our kids still exist (and are also enjoying the Bronco's victory in their sleep).

P.S. No offense to the person pictured here, but I hate clowns. About as much as I hate monkeys. (Two things Toby will not ever be for Halloween if I can help it.)

My Weekend with Marj!

Our wonderful friend Marj came out for a quick visit this weekend. We had so much fun that I'm wondering: why haven't more of you come to visit us yet??? Is it the spiders? The rain? Well, we tried to clear out all the spiders for Marj's visit, but we couldn't do much about the rain, although it only rained once while she was here.

We bought the kids new shoes on Thursday before picking Marj up in Hartford, then came home to a wonderful dinner made by BJ. Friday we explored around Mystic and the area here, going for a "hike" at a state park a few minutes away from where we live. Considering you can see the top of the hill from the car and that we had Toby with us, the hike was more like a stroll in the woods, with a little bit of beach on the side. We also went apple-picking at the orchard I went to with the kids last year. We made a gluten-free apple cobbler with the apples we picked!

On Saturday (rain, rain go away) we got a sitter so Marj and I could get coffee and go to a movie ("Whip It"). Then we had another lovely (gluten-free) meal. BJ was away all day working a photo booth at a wedding, so we just kept it low-key with the kids.

Sunday we spent the day in Boston. We walked all over Boston Common, along the Freedom Trail (including how many Starbucks? Four?), and into Quincy Market. We ate lunch at a pub and walked through the Holocaust Memorial nearby. In Quincy square the kids got balloon hats from this crazy clown. The hats entertained them

--and us-- back to the car where we drove over to see the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"). That is really cool. We had never been there before. Toby liked the cannons, and Norah just wanted to pick up the cannon balls.

We ate dinner at a pizza place in Providence and called it a night early since Marj had to leave early in the morning to head to her family's house in Branford. We couldn't leave out a trip to Kitchen Little, so BJ took her there on Monday morning before they left.

We want more visits like this, although it really made us miss all of our friends and family that aren't nearby. Come see us soon!