Marine Corps Marathon 2016

October 30, 2016

This was Damon's third time running the Marine Corps Marathon.  He first ran in 2009, then again in 2010 and this year.  His time on this race was 2:59:19 which was fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  That fast of a time was a surprise for him. We are going to try to get him in that lottery next year. Since he is active duty we were able to get his registration for this marathon early so that his bib number was 1874.  The marathon has 30,000 people total.  Damon hopes to run the MCM each year we are here and hopefully past then as part of a trip to visit all the family in Bethesda.

Walkersville Southern Railroad, Maryland

The original railway line was built between 1869 and 1872 that went between Walkersville and Frederick.  As this was built just after the Civil War, it was used heavily during the rebuilding process of our country. The entire line ran from Columbia, Pennsylvania, through York and Hanover, into Maryland, running through Taneytown, Keymar, Woodsboro, Walkersville, and finally into Frederick. In 1968 the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central creating the Penn Central Railroad.  Unfortunately within three years the new railroad filed for bankruptcy and then in 1972 Hurricane Agnes flooding destroyed the bridge over the Monocacy River.  The line was then purchased by the State of Maryland who only used the section north of Walkersville.  Beginning in 1991 a flock of volunteers began clearing the tracks and in general caring for the rail line.  In 1993, the Maryland Department of Transportation selected Walkersville Southern as the operator for the Walkersville-Frederick line. With the completion of the bridge restoration project in March 1996, the first trains in more than 20 years crossed the Monocacy River.

Later in the month we went back to Walkersville for the Santa Train ride so Owen could visit with Santa. He still loved seeing the tractors better than Santa.

Butlers Orchard, Maryland

Butlers Orchard is a family-owned farm in Germantown that is very popular for the pick-your-own crops and the fall festival. The farm was started in the 1950s and now covers around 300 acres of land. The fall festival has hay rides and an impressive pumpkin patch.  We went up on a Friday for a work function for Damon and there were hardly any people there so Owen had a run of the pumpkin patch for us to pick out our pumpkins. Owen loved the huge box of corn kernels with all the tractors and trucks.

September 2016

The highlight of September was our trip out to Wyoming.  Owen loves seeing all his family and really did get upset when he had to leave Rod and Ileene at the airport. His absolute favorite activity is anything to do with the tractor, or "tra tra".  Much like Grandpa Rod, Owen absolutely loves Oreos.  He is getting better with eating, but still not saying much.  He makes up for his lack of words with highly developed climbing and otherwise moving around quickly skills. His favorite shows are Peppa Pig and Sesame Street.  His favorite movies are Planes and Cars. He says "moo" to ask for milk.  He also loves to do anything associated with water.  Hoses and watering cans are fascinating. We moved into our new townhouse on the 1st of the month, but we didn't get our quick shipment until the 19th.  Thankfully in that inbetween time we got a fold out table and a couple of chairs from my parents along with some kitchen stuff and Colton and Adrienne gave us a queen and a double bed.  Owen would spend most nights in his car seat.  When we finally did get his crib he got his best nights sleep in 2 months.  And so did I! We didn't get all of our stuff until September 30, which was 2 weeks late.  We were also reunited with my car earlier in the month and shipped out the Focus from WY to have it with us in Bethesda as well.  It feels very nice to be back reunited with all our stuff.  My dad helped us mount all the bookshelves to the wall so that our little climber wouldn't hurt himself pulling the shelves over.