Random Picture #5

Lovely bird the Useless-Member-of-the-McGregor-Family amazingly enough captured and brought onto our porch for me... Well, "for me" might be a HUGE over statement, as Cassidy was horribly upset with me when I made him DROP it, and got Ryan to help me assist it to fly away, you know, OUT the door of our screened-in porch!

It all started when our Indoor Cat forgot he lives Inside and escaped to the Outside... Continued with Me thinking said Indoor Cat would get cold (it's a freezing 50 degrees here today!!) so I left the porch door open for him to Seek Shelter... and Ended with Carly's charming statement of: "Ummmm, Mom?  Cassidy's eating a bird for dinner.  It's not chicken."

ANYWAYS, the bird flew off the porch (yup, there are feathers EVERYWHERE, including stuck to Cassidy's mouth... ewwwwwww), and settled on the ground beside the house, where Carly and I checked on her, and of course, photographed her.  You are welcome.  There's a good chance She'll be just fine.  At least, that is the story I'm sticking to with Carlita.

Ohio State House

On our way to Michigan right after Christmas, we stopped in Columbus, Ohio to visit the State House... You know, on our Quest to take our little Pumpkins to EVERY State Capitol before Ben heads off to college.  I would like to remind everyone that I agreed because of 2 reasons:  Alaska and Hawaii.  Hopefully you didn't think I agreed to ensure my children get a great American History Education.  That's what Florida Public Schools are for.  I digress... so, COLUMBUS!  As you can see, chilly outside.  Our time on the Grounds was somewhat limited due to the Freezing Cold Wind Chill Factor.  But we did enjoy a very fun tour INSIDE...

The have a replica of one of the stage coaches that were used when the building was originally built...

Beautiful arches and tile floor make up the Rotunda...

The House of Representatives... everything has been restored to it's original colors and moldings, etc... Our guide informed us that the original walls were painted PINK, as ANY form of RED was considered a MASCULINE color "back then".  See what you can learn by visiting our Nations Capitols??

The House is actually decorated with much more detail as the Architect ran out of money after starting here, and had to cut a few corners when he got to the Senate.

Looking up into the Cuppula... beautiful stained glass.

More pink, and some really pretty flowers...

Beautiful tile floor in the Rotunda...

The "Plain" Senate Chambers

Still love all the lights and artwork displayed in these State Houses...

There is an Atrium that was constructed a few decades ago between the State House and the Judiciary Annex, where this Christmas Tree is on display.  It is decorated in the 1870's style, complete with lighted candles (although, for OBVIOUS reasons, these are battery operated!) which we all thought was pretty cool... the Atrium itself is kind of fun, since it was built to "Get Rid" of the excessive pigeon population that had taken over the area between the buildings... The area where the Atrium is, was originally called "Pigeon Run" and there is a small statue of a pigeon over the door way of the Judiciary Annex as a reminder of the Pigeon Issue.  Yes, we found this QUITE entertaining.

Stained glass in the ceiling of the Judiciary Annex.

The Annex has several original light fixtures, complete with gas light bulbs.

The Map Room... the floor is tiled with the Counties of the State of Ohio.

Shout Out to Chris.

Appreciated the Underground Parking... our car stayed nice and warm during our visit!

A war memorial, which we found very moving...

Half Full

We just celebrated an amazing weekend at Disney, competing in the Half and Full Marathons!  I know it might not SOUND fun to most people, but it REALLY was a great time... there is nothing like seeing all that hard work and dedication paying off as you round the corner to the finish line!  What a rush!  I LOVE doing this with Ryan, and have completely jumped on his Running Band Wagon, even though I am no runner!  Who wouldn't want to be completely encouraged by their husband?!?!  He's so amazing.

Here we are, waiting in our corral Saturday morning, before the Half Marathon.  13.1 miles of fun!  There were 27,000 people also running, including my sister Laurie, and her daughter Amanda!

Hands down, the best part of the race:  The Magic Kingdom!!!  It is just the coolest thing to be running into that park, and hearing the workers say, "Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!".  Nothing like running down Main Street and seeing the castle, and seeing all the Characters out.  Nothing like the music playing, people cheering. 

I carried along Ben's little camera in my back pocket (Thanks, BEN!) to snap these pictures!  LOVE running through the back of the castle!

And this lady.  I have to say, pretty inspiring.  She kept passing me.  And yes, I had to run to catch up to snap this picture!  She was running with her Granddaughter, Alice, (You are welcome, Tracy... I was listening in on their conversation.... but mostly because my iPod lost it's charge by mile 2.  That's right, folks.  No music the whole way.  Grrrrrrr) whom she had to keep telling to "Hurry Up!!"  hahahaha.  Not sure if her name really was Alice, but I kind of like to think she was just calling her that.  It's way funnier that way!

And the Finish Line.  Loved seeing Ryan (he was certainly already finished by the time I made it there!) and the Family in the stands!  And The Mouse, of course!  My favorite part of this race was the fact that I never once felt discouraged or overwhelmed, and just really enjoyed myself.  Didn't get the time I was hoping for, but that was ok too!  I was so happy to finish in a good mood:)  3 hours, 22 minutes, and 37 seconds of good fun!  Ryan finished in 2 hours, 35 minutes, and 14 seconds... a record for him!  Yes, we could walk just fine afterwards, in fact, he took Ben and Carly to Hollywood Studios, and I went shopping with my Mom and Dad, brother and sister!

Shout out to my pal Betsy, who also completed her first Half Marathon!!!  So proud of her, since I know exactly how nerve wrenching the first one can be... I believe I have a new Half Marathon Pal!

NEXT morning... The Full Marathon!  For the 3rd year in a row, Ryan was taking on Goofy's Challenge, which is the Half on Saturday, and the Full Marathon on Sunday, for a total of 39.3 miles!  I was feeling REALLY bad for him as he walked out of our hotel room Sunday at 3:30am.  I knew I certainly couldn't have been going for a run!  But he continued to amaze me as I got text updates as he crossed over various mile markers and his time was EVEN BETTER than the day before!  In fact, he bested his Half time by 6 minutes and his Full time by 19 minutes over last year!  So proud of you, Ryan!  He finished in 5 hours, 23 minutes, and 32 seconds! 

For added fun this year, Ryan's younger brother, Rick, came down from Michigan with his whole family to run the Marathon.  He said he had an injured foot, but when I saw him at mile 18, he was a complete blur, so nice try, Rick!  He did so good, and of course, I'm proud of you, too, RICKY!  (That's for old times sake).  We had a completely AWESOME day with his family at the Magic Kingdom the next day, so that post will be coming soon. 

THANK YOU to my parents, and brother for driving over on Saturday to see us run, for braving the crowd and enduring hours of waiting, and for being around us all sweaty!  Ewww.  And for entertaining me with shopping in the afternoon! 

THANK YOU to Rochel and Edgar for spending the weekend with us, cheering for all of us and hanging out... no easy task with 2 small children!  And THANKS for the coffee on Sunday! 

THANK YOU to my sister, Laurie, and Amanda for spending ANOTHER Marathon weekend with us! And for running, too!  I loved our time at the Start, and getting to see your excitement!  And of course, Epcot on Sunday.

THANK YOU to Rodney... I so appreciated your help with the kids, getting them to the Finish Line for us, and helping me so completely on Sunday during the Marathon!  You are there for us.  As always. 

THANK YOU to Rick and Kristi for coming, too!  LOVED spending time with you guys and your very funny little kids!  Isaiah and Carly were so ready to swap spots, forever!  And I am still considering snitching Julean. 

THANK YOU to my amazing husband for encouraging all of us to better ourselves!  I can hardly express to you the joy I felt when you got your Half time under 2:30 during the Marathon!  Seconded only by your time at the Finish.  You are everything.

... and not so lastly

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15

Generations

A new year.  A new header for the blog...

We've had a lot of extra discussion in our house in the past few months about Ryan's grandfather, Grandpa Tuinstra.  I guess mostly fueled by the fact that our newest nephew, Parker, was born on Grandpa's birthday and even got his middle name from him... and the fact that Parker looks remarkably like Grandpa, which reminded us that RYAN looks EXACTLY like Grandpa's wedding picture... you get the idea.  And over our annual Christmas trip to Michigan, we got to see Grandpa.  And the discussions continued, especially after our visit, as we were Even-More-Than-Usual impressed with the fact that so much of Ryan's Christian Heritage came directly through this man.  Which really gets to you soul-searching when you wonder if YOUR own grandkids will be able to say the same about you???  See what I mean?  Discussions. 

I was looking up verses this morning for "Endure".  I guess I felt like I needed some encouragement along those lines, but I thought it was more like "don't give up... stay strong... keep going..." kind of encouragement I needed.  Funny how God has other ideas for what I REALLY need.  But when I got to this verse, my mind went to the above picture, and got me thinking about Grandpa again...

Your faithfulness continues through all generations,

you established the earth, and it endures.

Psalm 119:90

So of course, I started looking THAT up... and came across this:

Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, my God,

till I declare your power to the next generation,

your mighty acts to all who are to come.

Psalm 71:18

And apparently THAT was the encouragement I really needed for today. 

This picture is from our visit with Grandpa a few weeks ago... we were all around the room at the nursing home, singing him Christmas songs... I was snapping pictures and glanced down to see Carly singing her heart out, which wasn't so surprising... but what REALLY made me catch my breath was seeing her Great Grandpa watching her.  It's a sweet memory for me, and a very poignant reminder to follow his example to our kids, and THEIR kids.  What a Gift he has shared with his family, right?!

Michigan Christmas

Click here to view this photo book larger

Here are some quick pictures of our trip to Michigan for Christmas...