The Bix

James ran in his first 10K on Saturday, the Bix. It's a pretty big race- the biggest non-marathon race in the US, actually. Even though most people have never heard of it. :) There were around 13,000 people running this year. This pic is of the start- you can't even see the end of the runners. Pretty cool. We tried to find James in the crowd, but there were just too many people.







Here we are with my mom-in-law (dad-in-law is taking the pic) bright and early to cheer James on. We brought breakfast and the kids were more interested in that. :)













After the race-

This was the 35th year of the Bix so everyone that finished got a medal. The girls thought that was pretty cool. :) Brighton kept saying, "I knew you could do it daddy, I knew you could get a medal!" Any subsequent races that don't involve a medal will be a let-down.

I was very proud of James. He had only run a distance of 3.5 miles, and it took him about 45 min. I was expecting him to finish in an hour and a half, maybe two hours- but his time was just over 60 min! Way to go James/Daddy!! We're hoping to race together next year, provided we're still close and I'm not pregnant. :)

Life doesn't get better than a cardboard box

Except for two cardboard boxes!! Our dishwasher broke and was out of order for a week. I know I don't get any sympathy from some of my readers... :) It wouldn't have been that big of a hardship if I had a drying rack and if the water hose from the dishwasher didn't keep falling on the ground and spilling sewer-smelling water all over the floor. Anyway.

Our new dishwasher arrived- in a great sturdy box! The girls quickly latched onto it and made it into a playhouse. Our maintenance man- Russ- saw how much fun the kids were having and later dropped off another box from another replacement dishwasher. (He's a sweet guy, and likes my kids. Probably because they always watch him, fascinated by whatever he's doing, and Brooklyn always tells him that he's a good worker. :))

During the two weeks these boxes lived at our house, they were a playhouse with attached garage, a rocket ship, a kitten's box, a mermaid's grotto, a camping tent, and I'm sure a few others that I didn't catch. After they started to sag, I harvested some of the thick cardboard to cover with felt and make into a felt board for the Sunday Box. I saved a bit more in case I thought of more uses. Any ideas?