Spring has Sprung

I know that the calendar says that Spring doesn't begin until Wednesday, but around here, the weather has been saying something different.  This weekend was beautiful with clear skies and warm temperatures---the mercury actually reached over 80 yesterday (which was quite warm when you are involved in a 5K)!



Yesterday afternoon, was the first annual Sham Rock 5K Color Run in Shreveport.  I've wanted to do a color run for quite sometime, especially since Jana did the one in Charlotte back in November.  So when it was announced that we were finally getting one of our own, I jumped at the chance and registered both Ron and me.  We joined some of our friends from our running group before the race.



Among the 1,000+ people who attended the event, there were lots of tutus, knee socks and even green kilts (Tommy and Matt especially rocked theirs!).



Ron and I ended up walking most of this 5K since my shin splint is till giving me lots of trouble, but it was still lots of fun.





Here are couple of before/after pictures for your comparison:


And my personal favorite before/after:



While many people stayed for the beer party afterwards, Ron and I headed home to get cleaned up and run a few errands.  That night, we finally got a chance to enjoy the fire pit that he'd given me for Christmas.  It was great!

After church today, we made a trip to Lowe's and came back with a few plants and a new project I've been dreaming about!  It didn't take too long to get everything put together





and then we enjoyed an hour or so out in the sunshine on our new double- hammock! (I know--running does awful things to your feet).



To complete the weekend, we headed out to Academy and purchased a pair of kayaks that we'd been watching for a while.  After trying them out last summer, we've wanted a pair of our own and we finally found the type we'd been looking for.  We even had just enough time to stop by Bickham-Dickson Park and try one of them out!!! Ron went first





and then I had a turn!!!



We're going to have so much fun this spring and summer!!

Angel

You may remember my post back in June that featured the sweetest little face from China.  Caleb was in desperate need of surgery to repair his cleft palate and I was able to help with the expenses of that.  Caleb came through the surgery wonderfully and was thriving in the care of a foster family who loved and adored him.    Unfortunately, I was notified this afternoon that little Caleb took a nap and never woke up.  He has gone to be with God and is now Heaven's newest little angel.

Fun-Filled Day

After getting back home and having a busy week at work, Ron and I have just about recovered from the fun-filled trip to Texas we spent with the grandkids (and their parents) last weekend. Friday, after work, we drove over to Stephenville so that we could celebrate "A" and "M"'s birthdays with them.  The celebration began with a trip to Glen Rose to visit the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.  Carmelle and I packed sack lunches with plenty of extra junk food thrown in by their Papaw.  ;-)   Once we arrived there, we all piled into Carmelle and Chad's car and ate our lunch before beginning our drive through the park.



















This guy chased after our car for quite a while, hoping to gobble up some feed from our hands:



We had so much fun, seeing all of the wild animals and feeding them along the way.  These guys fought over every piece of food we threw to them.



We all loved the giraffes---so pretty---but, they were leary of coming close enough for us to feed them.
Look at those eyes!!












Not so with some of the deer, however!   They would have gladly joined us in the car if their antlers would have fit.







Same for the ostriches!



One of my favorite parts was when we saw a flock of wild turkeys in the brush.  "A", who was sitting in my lap, began calling them in an especially high-pitched voice. 

The kids enjoyed the petting zoo portion, too.  ("M" was moving so fast it was hard to catch a photo of him in there.)  ;-)





I'll leave you with M's very favorite photo of the day.



THE END!

First Parade of the Season

This weekend offered the first big Mardi Gras parade of the season, the Krewe of Centaur.  For the past couple of years, with no kids to entertain, I've chosen to to stay in and watch the festivities on my TV, despite the fact that it all happens within walking distance of my house.  But, this year, we invited Carmelle and her family to join us for the weekend, knowing the kids would enjoy it.

None of them knew anything at all about Mardi Gras, and had certainly never attended one of the parades.  In fact, Ron had never even been to one of the parades!  

But, first, came one of the winter "Fun Runs" with the Red River Road Runners. I know that running may not exactly sound fun to some people, and if you'd told me a year ago that I'd enjoy it, I would have called you crazy.  But, with my a half-marathon looming over me in a couple of weeks, knew I needed to kick it into high gear this weekend.  Chad joined us for the run, although he doesn't run regularly.  He and Ron ran the 20K (12.45 miles) while I opted for the 15K (9.32 miles).  Of course, I had to do some walking, and that awful blood blister on my foot gave me a little grief, but I finished it---in under 2 hours (yes, I know that is slow, but who cares)!! Woo-hoo!!   Ron was hurting when he crossed the finish line, but was glad to be done.  Chad should have come in ahead of him, but we waited and waited for him to show up, but,  no Chad.  Ron finally called him and he answered, letting us know he was completely lost.  It took us a while to figure out where he was, but finally figured it out and drove to pick him up---about a mile past the finish area.  Needless to say, he took a few wrong turns and made it a 20+K.

By the time we got home, we were pretty pooped, so we relaxed all afternoon, until the roads closed and the parade had begun downtown.  We nibbled on a king cake, gave the kids masks and bags to collect beads and loaded up the stroller to walk to the duck pond.


Callie and Jordan met us down on the parade route and we waited for a while until the floats finally reached us.



While we waited we kept the kids busy




with confetti guns from Papaw ( "A" never really got the hang of shooting hers)



sidewalk chalk



and light wands from a sidewalk vendor.  (you can tell by the expressions on her parents' faces that "A" never really got the hang that toy either)



Naturally, there was the weird,



and unusual



and even weirder (well, it WAS the Centaur parade, after all).



And then the floats rolled along










                              (that's my friend Jayne and her husband, Steve on the Oktoberfest float)



and we loaded up on beads, cups and even a ball or two.




By the time the last few floats reached us, the kids were pretty tuckered out



and we were glad that Carmelle and I had parked the truck nearby, even though the walk wasn't that long.  We piled in the back for the short ride home---a good time was had by all!!