Easter 2019

We had our first Easter in the combo back yards of my mom and Colton & Adrienne.  We had an excellent turnout for family as well; Richard & Nancy, Matilde, Josh, George & Cindy, and George & Angela.  We also had a long-time friend Chihiro from the Bethesda Ward and also my friend Khush with her son from Owen's school.  Having all the kids running around was a blast.  Owen was totally on board with finding all the eggs.  Milton kept trying to put them all back in the yard.  Some of the eggs had Hershey's kisses, but most of them had coins.  After all the eggs were collected we held an auction that the kids could buy bigger gifts.

Boston Marathon 2019

On 15APR2019 I ran the 123rd running of the Boston Marathon. The Boston Marathon has been run since 1897 and is the world’s oldest current marathon. This was my second attempt at Boston and my time was much better than last year at 2:48:49. This is my best marathon time to date and is a 6:27 minute per mile pace. I was bib 2826 and ran with wave 1 corral 3. I knew Boston required qualification so all the runners in my wave were likely the same. I started a corral back and ran with the group for the first five miles. I then was in good shape to start passing people for the next 21 miles. I did this last Marine Corps and it works well. I feel the motivation to run is much better on the attack then on the defense.

This was my second time to see the lovely city of Boston. I rented a city bike in front of our apartment and rode to Union Station. I did not know how to switch gears so I rode the 15 miles at 3:00 AM in 3rd gear! Amtrak from Union Station to Boston South Station is 8 hours. Perfect time to nap and read. I walked from Boston South Station to pick up my packet and made it by the 1800 closure time. I stayed in the cheapest hotel I could find but it was still over $300 per night. Boston is expensive on Marathon weekend! I had to rent two days because checkout is at 11:00 and I wanted to shower before my train ride home. The evening before the Marathon I saw Captain Marvel. It was an okay movie. Fun to see a movie, as this isn’t possible with the young kids often. The Amtrak ride home left Boston at 21:45 and made it to Union Station by 0700 on Tuesday. I rode the metro home as the metro was running by this time and made it to my EMBA class by 10:00. The weekend was fun.

967/26,632 Overall 

905/14,662 Male runners 

758/5,089 Division age 18-39

Belle Grove Plantation, Virginia

This house was built by Isaac Hite Jr. between 1794 and 1797.  It is built of stone as Isaac Hite Jr. owned limestone quarries. The house has many Jeffersonian design features typical of his pavilion-style architecture.  The small details such as adjustable bookshelves and slanted hinges for self-closing doors are all over the house. Isaac Hite Jr. received 483 acres as a gift from his father in 1783 when he got married.  Isaac's grandfather first got 100,000 acres as a conditional land grant from the Colonial Council of Williamsburg.  He was an immigrant from Germany who had passage to the colony of New York paid by the British crown in 1709.

Calvert Cliffs State Park, Maryland

Calvert Cliffs State Park is a 24 mile long state park in Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It was about a 2 mile walk along some very pretty trails to get from the parking lot to the beach. We got to see lots of turtles and beaver dams along the way. The park is known for finding fossils and shark teeth from the middle Miocene which was from 15 million years ago until 50,000 thousand years ago. Mostly tiny teeth, the giants such as Carcharocles and the famous Megalodon also have teeth in the area. The park was first noted by Europeans by Captain John Smith in 1612. Visible from the beach is the Dominion Cove Point liquid natural gas receiving station. We were able to see a huge tanker ship come into dock at the receiving station.

April 2019

Grandpa visited at the beginning of the month which was a huge success.  We also had Damon's birthday.  The kids are so thrilled to be with Grandpa.  Milton called him Ba-Ba so we will see if that sticks.  Owen loves riding his bike and building space ships or garages or other buildings with his magnetic tiles.  Owen has also started in a soccer team with all the kids in his class.  Since everybody was interested in an extra 45 minutes after class they were able to get a coach for our group.  Owen has really been loving his games.  It is pretty cute to see all the 4-5 year old kids chasing around the ball. Milton is speaking more and more and is also so much happier than in months prior.  He is such a peaceful little guy.  He does have a difficulty with wandering off so I spend much of our time at the playground keeping him out of the woods or away from the parking lot.  The woods have been restricted as of late because of all the poison ivy.  Milton does get to go on long wanders with Damon during his lunch break on Tuesdays.