Parks Half Marathon 2017

Damon ran the half-marathon that went from Rockville down to Bethesda.  The finish line was just around the corner from our house. He finished 50th overall out of 1,750 runners.

Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland

Antietam is the bloodiest one day battle in American history. On September 17, 1862, there was a mere 12 hours of combat leaving 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Each December the fields of Antietam are lined with small paper bags with one candle each. Come nightfall, the candles are lit with each representing one soldier killed. It is very stunning to see all the lights over the fields. I was able to attend many years ago with Colton's scout troop. Owen and Milton have family heritage with both the Union and Confederate Armies so there are times I am unsure who to root for. Owen's favorite part is all of the cannons or as he says "BOOM".

September 2017

September has come to a close with Milton turning 6 months old and Owen completing his first full month of school for this year. We celebrated Rory's 2nd birthday at the end of the month.

Owen is enjoying school and getting to be with his "friends" for the morning.  We have even developed a bit of a play group of the moms who pick up the kids at 12:30 for all of us to go to the park for the kids to run off a bit more steam.  The weather has been wonderful for playing outside.  Some of the days we have even stayed until 3:30! Owen went to bed very easily that night. He has befriended a couple of the older boys too and we found out that one of them lives right down the street off Pooks Hill Road. There was a day off school this month and we were able to meet up at our nearby Alta Vista park. The key for these playground meetings is that each of the boys needs to have one vehicle of some sort.  These little trucks are putting on some serious mileage.

Milton is growing wonderfully and hitting right in the middle of his growth charts.  He currently weighs 17 pounds. He was not a fan of his new set of immunizations but he didn't have any trouble with that evening. We made an attempt this month for Milton to try some rice cereal mixed with formula.  He was not a fan.  In talking with the pediatrician, she recommended that we just go to the baby foods such as the puree meats or vegetables or fruit. We got some this week to give a try. He can sit up a bit if I prop him up and when resting on his tummy will stay up for a little bit, but then tips over. He is intrigued to have a different view.