Working Backwards

I am trying to catch up on things, so I am going to work backwards on what has been happening.  This is a shot of the sunset yesterday, Saturday 2/23/08.  I was scheduled to run 9 miles and I wasn't sure if I could do, but I did!  The surprising part was I felt really good afterwards, not too exhausted.  As I was finishing up my run, I got a visual treat, the sun was setting, so I had to stop and get a picture.  

Lil E being silly with a pretend mustache.  

The trees at work are being fooled by the weather, and the blossoms are blooming early.  
This was an interesting site last Monday.  We were heading back from Irvine and were at a stop light parallel to I-5 and saw this egret right next to us.  It was looking for something to eat.  

Something yummy after lunch.  We had this then saw a gelato store and got some gelato too.   Good thing we are running otherwise we would be waddling around.  

Lil E went with Greg and got his hair cut last Sunday.  It is kind of short for me, but he looks cute.  Simon was giving him a kiss on the forehead.  They are good buddies.  Simon likes to race everyone up and down the stairs.  

Some football was happening last Sunday too, down at Moonlight Beach.  The weather was great last weekend.  Today is all rainy, but it gives one time to catch up on things.  

We stopped here to pick up a donut for Lil E.  It was gone in no time. 
Last Saturday Greg and I went for a run at a park close by.  We took Lil E in the jogger and afterwards he got to feed the ducks.  He is jumping out of excitement in this picture, because the goose got his bread. 
One of the ducks came up and ate right out of Lil E's hand.  He thought it was so cool.

Catching up.  Busy week for family and all.  Just wanted to share this book with everyone.  It is a book that my school librarian had displayed in her window.  It is for kids, reading level 9 years old and up, but I plan on reading it to Lil E.  Adults would love it too.  It is a very quick read because there are a lot of great illustrations that carry the story along.  I highly recommend that you check it out.  

Family had an emergency on Wed. eve.  Mom got taken to the hospital because of severe pain in her back.  It turned out that she had a very large kidney stone that was causing the intense pain.  She was admitted early Thurs. morning after I left.  I was able to see her on Thursday and she finally was out of pain, because they had her on some strong meds.  She didn't go into surgery until after 7:00pm.  Thank goodness they took care of it surgically verses seeing if it would pass on its own.  That would have been too painful.  Stopped by Starbucks to pick up a coffee and saw this nice mirror arrangement there.  It looked so cozy especially since it was rainy and cold.
View from hospital.  Weather turned really bad on Valentine's Day.  A lot of snow up in the mountains.  

Lil E had a fun day with his friends at school. He made this really cute Valentine card too.

Greg is sleeping still.  He is trying to catch up on all his lost sleep.  Here is a shot of the roses he sent for V-Day.  

Buddies taking a sun nap together.  What a funny pair.  

Danielle's birthday was on Friday the 8th.  Hard to believe that she is now 22 years young.  She was saying "Cheese"  with her eyes shut???  

Lil E helping out in my classroom on Saturday.  Caught him busy dancing up on my counters.  Crazy  kid.  
Did my first 5k for the new year on Sunday, the 10th.  I did okay.  I know I can do better, but at least I finished it.  
Lil E and I went to the park after the race and he made Sand Slurpees.  He got a real one at 7-11 afterwards.  
This is our new nightly reading with Lil E.  We started to get the little books in the Cheerio boxes, but finished a couple of those, so I found the real book at Target.  We read 4 chapters tonight and I will probably order the set off of Amazon since we are almost done with Book 1.  

Long Day today.  Poor LilE was pushed down at school today, not sure if accident because they boys were all playing tag-but the little one who pushed him is know for inappropriate behavior.  So, I got a call at work and left as soon as I could.  Got to his school just as he was waking up from a good nap.  Don't know if he will get a shiner out of the scrap on the cement.  Ouch! He is a trooper though. Ran today 3 miles.  Haven't run in the past 2 days.  I did cross-train on Sunday and Monday was a rest day, but boy my knees are hurting especially my right.  I haven't even really run that hard.  It might be the combination of cool weather and probably not enough stretching?  Any ideas?  The muscle is pulling on the inside, probably my hamstring, so I am stretching and doing Yoga moves as much as possible.  

Just wanted to share a few more pictures from yesterday.  This is a tree in bloom (in the middle of winter?) that is at a park close by our home.  Weather was great yesterday.  Today we woke up to rain.  We are finally getting the much needed rain.  

I saw this weather vane on top of an old yellow Victorian style home down town Hillcrest.  Seemed so out of place, but I wanted to see what it looked like, so this is what I saw.  

This image catch my eye as we were walking by the mirror.  I asked Greg to go backwards briefly so I could capture the hot. 

Lil E enjoying an Italian orange drink at Extraordinary dessert.  He met a little boy there named Marcello, they were the same age, so they had fun talking to each other.  

Heading home, I just had to grab a shot of the Hillcrest sign.  Yes, I had one hand on the wheel.

Well, another busy week, like everyone else it goes by in a blur.  It is hard to believe that it is already February.  Anyway on Thursday I got out of a meeting late, so my 3 mile run was pretty late, but I still stopped and picked up Lil E.  We walked home together, looking at all the shadows that the street lights were casting in the dark. We had fun talking and walking.  I have really enjoyed walking home with him even though it is late, verses zipping and zooming home in the car.  On Thursday night I did it!  I signed up for the Rock-n-Roll Marathon in San Diego. Call me crazy!  It will be one of those life challenges that will be another journey for me.  Below is a picture of Lil E drawing an Emperor Penguin.  We read a book about them and then he drew a really cool picture of one holding an egg on its feet.

Friday was my off training day, so I didn't run.  When I picked up Lil E he wanted to show me his really cool art project that he had done.  The red mark on his left cheek is where he ran into someone tooth.  Ouch!
Since Thursday eve when I committed to running the BIG race, I have been questioning if I could actually even run the 6 miles I was supposed to run on Saturday.  Well I did it!  I surprised myself.  I did walk up a steep hill, which I thought was logical for a beginner, but this was my longest run yet.  Time was 1hour 12 mins. and I went 6.01 miles according to Greg's Garmin.  
We headed down to the Hillcrest area after running.  I wanted to pick up a cake for a coworker who is having a birthday next week.  Here Lil E is playing "King of the Rock."
We stopped here to have Brunch.  Very small place, but really unique inside.  Food was great, very big portions.  

Ahh! Here is one of my favorite places on Earth; Extraordinary desserts.  This place has the best sweets around and a great atmosphere to boot.  Here is just a peek at some of their cakes.  

We stopped by a running store on the way home.  The store had these running shoes outside on display along with information about people and hardships around the world.  Pretty cool

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl.  I do have to go into work to catch up, so I will take Lil E with me while Greg gets his run in.  I plan on doing something with the kids for Chinese New Year, this Thursday. It is the year of the Rat.  Of course Valentines day is also around the corner, so I have to prep stuff for that as well, and our testing window starts Monday too.