Chicago Marathon 2009

Shaun ran his 1st marathon this weekend in Chicago. It was an awesome experience and he ran an awesome race. He ran it in 4 hrs 50 min. Not to shabby for his first time. He had quite the cheering crowd too - Me, Owen, Andrea (Shauns mom), Jenny (my stepmom), Rachel (my sister), & Lisa (my aunt). Here are some pics:

Shaun right before the race began:

Some runners before we saw Shaun - they were running really fast.

Shaun after we saw him between mile 2 & 3

The cheering crowd minus me. It was cold so we had our cheer shirts on over our several layers.

Owen got a little bored waiting for daddy.

Mile 12 - looking good

The Finish line - that's about as much of it as we could see.

Aaarrrggghhh Matey!

Two weekends ago we went and saw the Pinta and Nina replica ships in Grafton, IL. They were a lot smaller than I thought but they were pretty cool. It was raining that day but there were still a ton of people who came out to see them.

The Pinta

The Nina

My little pirate . . . he was not really welcomed on the ships. The crew let us know that - with a smile. They had fun with it.

My little pirate and his aunty Angel

Random pics

Owens a Kickaroo

So Owens had 2 soccer practices so far and 2 more to go. He's a Kickaroo and in the Boomers division (3 yr olds). There just lessons to help them get started in the soccer process. He followed directions for the most part. Sometimes he would wonder down the field with his ball but he always came back. Here are some pics:

Here one of the coaches was playing keep away.

A 45 minute session will wear a kid out. He was so tired the first practice he came off the field 5 min. early.

Family Pics 2009

In June we got family pictures taken in downtown El Paso by a GREAT photographer, Jessica Sandberg. Here are a few of them:

She definitely captured Owen's personality in this one - my nice, sweet, little boy:

Unfortunately, she's decided to close her business so no more family pictures by her.

COLDPLAY!!!

Coldplay - Friday, July 24th - AWESOME. It was their Viva La Vida tour. I'm not sure I've been to a better concert. They were all about the audience. Twice they went into the crowd - once in the upper seating area and once onto the lawn. We were 3 rows back - I've never been that close - except for maybe at Candlebox. There was a group of people standing right at the stage so I guess technically we were more like 5 or 6 rows back but it was still cool. I only got a few pictures that turned out b/c some girls hand kept getting in my way and the camera kept focusing on her. I told Shaun to push her out of the way but I guess he didn't hear me b/c there was no pushing. Anyway, they gave a free CD out as everyone left. Who does that? Coldplay.

The guy who took our picture had his finger over the flash but better than nothing

Thousands of paper butterfly cutouts were prayed all over the audience. You couldn't see anything but butterflies. Awesome.

Vaca 2009

Vacation was awesome. We went to Gulf Shores, AL and it was Owens first time seeing the beach. He was a little intimidated at first but he loved the worlds biggest sandbox. He's not much for making sandcastles though. He builds them but only to destroy them. The ride down was long (~ 11 and 1/2 hours) but not as long as the ride from El Paso to St. Louis. Owen was such a trooper being stuck in his carseat the whole time except when we stopped for gas or dinner. The dolphin cruise was "totally wicked" (Incredibles) as I'm sure Owen would say. Here are some pics:


Owens first time seeing the Ocean

My little spiderman's ready to go


His first sparklers for 4th of July

First time eating shrimp. I don't think he was too fond of it.

Racing his Grandma Wild down the beach

Petting a baby shark that our neighbors caught down at the beach.

The kids on vaca (Nicole & Phil, Shaun & I, Erica & Brian).


Well I can't download anymore pics at the moment so I'll have to add more later.

Rain, rain, please don't go away.

It rained in El Paso, Hallelujah! And it was an all day event. Owen got a kick out of the windshield wipers. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. That's sad when your child is 3 and has never really seen the windshield wipers. He had a blast playing in it. Yes, in the first photo he has no pants or underwear so we put some on so I could get some none X rated shots.