Wow – that was one hectic month. I was curious on my redeye back from LA last night about how much time I was actually in Atlanta during the last 30 days so I decided to tally it up. Since November 4th I have a spent a total of 6 days in Atlanta (as defined by being in Atlanta from midnight to midnight). That is a lot of travel even for me, and I’ve got one more week out in LA to go. After that I will have a chance to relax for at least 3 weeks in Atlanta, which will be a much needed reprieve. Needless to say, that hectic schedule has accounted for the sporadic updates that we’ve been able to put up on Charles and Jes, but I hope to make up for that today.
Last weekend we were in Virginia to celebrate Thanksgiving with Jes’ sister Kelly and her family. We were able to go up on Tuesday night and spend the holiday with the Powells and their growing band of rug rats. It is incredible to see how much the kids change in 6 months, especially the littlest one. Unfortunately while Madison was powering through all of the developmental years I was a poor college student and couldn’t afford to come home very often, so this is really the first time I’ve gotten to experience just how quickly they can turn into little people. I know – I’m almost 30, I should know this by now, but none of my friends have had kids either. So getting to spend time with Kelly’s kids as they are still rapidly growing and changing is a wonderful treat. Other than spending time with the kiddos, we also had a great time with Kelly and Matt and both of their respective presents, so it was definitely a full house. Thanksgiving dinner was a wonderful assortment of turkey, casseroles, world famous stuffing and pies that I’m pretty sure I’m still digesting. Between Jes’ Mom and Kelly they took care of all of the cooking and it could not have been better, as I think we both left about 5 pounds heavier than we came to Virginia.
While it didn’t look like we were going to be able to make the journey over to Virginia Beach, my parents were gracious enough to come pick us up on Friday for a couple of hours. Much like the time spent with Kelly’s family, the time spent with mine was wonderful. As noted above, Madison seems to have left the “rapidly changing” formative years and is rounding into a everything you might expect out of an 11-year old girl. Since I am older and wiser now, looking back on it I regret not being around very much when she was very young, but I am excited to see how she progresses into her teens and beyond. My parents cooked a great day after Thanksgiving dinner, complete with Lisa’s famous broccoli and cauliflower casserole, and even though it only lasted for a few hours, it was nice to make the journey.
Speaking of being around when a child is going through their younger years, we are finally able to publicly announce that Ron and Kate are expecting their first child in late May. We took them out to dinner to celebrate the weekend before Thanksgiving and we could not be happier for them. This will be the first baby we will be able to be around a good deal of the time, so we are both looking forward to hopefully taking a somewhat active role in helping them out. Neither Ron or Kate have family in Atlanta, so Jes and I are volunteering for the job. Just so long as we can hand him or her back at the end of the day 🙂 Personally I’m gunning for a May 24th delivery to help make remembering the birthday that much easier, but Ron’s birthday is June 8th, so either way the new baby will make for a very interesting 30th birthday present for him.
And finally, while we were in Virginia we made sure to keep to our 10K training schedule. What that called for was a 5 mile run through the streets of Larchmont on Wednesday and then a 3 mile run on Friday. Well the weather on Wednesday was down right miserable, so we pushed the run to Thursday, but I am happy to report that we actually went 5.5 miles for what was by far the longest run we’ve ever done. We could have easily done the full 10K that day so I think we are both ecstatic with the progress that we’ve made so far. With 5.5 miles under our belt the day before, the 3 mile run on Friday was a piece of cake. With our new found ability to run farther, we came back to Atlanta and once again tried to tackle the 5K loop at Chastain Park. Keep in mind that we’ve never completed the loop before without walking, so when we were able to get through the entire thing at our desired 10K pace we were very pleasantly surprised. That’s not to say we weren’t gasping for air at the end, but it is a difficult loop and to be able to finish it was definitely an accomplishment for us.