Grand Rapids Marathon 2009

Cheri & I after the race

The morning of the marathon, I woke early.  I drank some coffee and continued deliberating in my mind what pace team I was going to try to stick with.  The pace teams are separated by celebrities marathon race times.  If you’re only doing the half marathon, you can divide it in half to see your ending time.  I was stuck between Will Ferrel’s time and P. Diddy. 

Cottage pro

I believe I was born to cottage.  I really do.

I’m sure most people think that they were too.  I’m also sure that most would never recognize the degree of skill and fortitude it takes to cottage like a pro.  They might think that they could handle the intense level of vacationing.  They probably believe that they have the stamina to maintain that perfect balance of fun & relaxation mixed with a tinge of work.  But I believe it takes an extraordinary amount of  focus and desire to achieve a perfect harmony in what I have deemed ’cottaging’.  It’s not camping, it’s not being on a cruise… it’s cottaging.

I believe I have achieved a near perfect recipe for doing so.  It will be my life’s work to

Diva what, diva who, diva where? It’s B!

This past Saturday was the regional competition for Emma’s competitive cheer.  Her team had taken first at regional & state in the fall but the spring team had a lot of new girls.  Plus, their routine seemed incredibly complicated this time.  With both of those things factored in, we wondered if we stood a chance of making it to the state competition.  Dan & I were a little torn if we even wanted her to make it because it would mean leaving a day early from our B family vacation in June. 

Emma is the first one in the fourth line from the left.

The song that they danced to is ‘It’s All About Me’which was too cute.  They certainly were little divas out there with their tiaras and glitter.  They did a pretty good job and

Bliss

 

Perfect sunset watching music

Last week, my friend Cheri, invited us to stay at their cottage on Gun Lake  for the entire week.  It is a hugely popular lake around here because the fishing is great, it’s big enough to do water sports without overcrowding issues and it’s close.  When she initially asked me, I figured she must be needing a kidney or bone marrow transplant but the truth of the matter is that Cheri is just an amazingly generous and lovely person.  I packed up our gear and we took the 40min drive there.

The kids and I had so much fun and I’ll load up those pictures and videos later.  First, I wanted to let you see the amazing view we had from our deck overlooking Gun Lake.  The sunsets were spectacular and my camera phone tried it’s darnedest to capture the essence.  Of course, it was futile but here are some of my views.

 Day 1, 9:15 pm

Yo mama-ween

This commercial made me giggle.  Trash talking and Yo Mama jokes?  Doesn’t get any better baby

Pork & Beans

 

As always, Weezer’s new song Pork & Beans is awesome.  I just watched the video and it is a great blend of all those YouTube videos that get watched a million times.  See how many you can spot.

And just for old times sake, my absolute favorite Weezer song… Buddy Holly.  I crank it everytime I’m in the car.  Hopefully, Emma will learn all the words.  Video is great too

 

Just in case

Just in case my husband has forgotten what I look like, I took this picture.  Miss you lots

Push the little daisies & watch ‘em come up

This is for my girl, Traci!  I know you are crackin up and remembering 1300 Underground radio.  For those of you who never got to experience this song, please listen.  It’s even safe for children ears.