Both grandpa and Dylan celebrated their birthday today. The family went to Lawry’s in Beverly Hills for some delicious prime rib. Of course we had a specially prepared vegan meal for our resident vegan

Katie’s 11th Birthday Party, originally uploaded by tigerpaw511.

Forty (and then some) of Katie’s closest friends showed up to help her celebrate turning 11. The living room was turned into a club for a night of dancing. A great time was had by all.

You can see all the photos from the party here.

We took the boys to the Pumpkin City pumpkin patch. First year we have been there and I have to say that we were impressed with the setup. Sure it was a bit expensive, but the kids had a great time. Plenty of pumpkins, carnival rides, and other distractions for the little ones.

Well the day finally arrived. Parker was up at 6 putting on his uniform for the game. He was very excited and proud to finally go to “his” game as opposed to an event his older brother was participating in.

At this age, the kids spend about half an hour running through drills before actually playing a game. The games consist of 3-on3 for 5 minute intervals. Parker did fantastic. He was certainly one of (if not the) fastest on the field. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

The other night Parker turned to Lena and I, red faced and clutching his throat. I don’t think I need to go into the details as to how that made us feel. But we “freaked”. The good news was he was able to cry and sort of talk so I knew his airway was not completely obstructed. After a moment he seemed fine and we asked him what had happened. We got his confession that he swallowed “some coins”. Fortunately it was a single penny and he added that “it hurt a little after I swallowed it”. That must have been during the whole throat clutching episode.

We took him to the local ER where they took the X-ray. The penny had already moved to his lower intestine so nothing more to worry about really. The tongue…that’s classic Parker.

Jon was all smiles this morning knowing it was his party day. We had a small family only gathering to celebrate Jon turning two. We love you Jon, happy birthday.

“Well, for example, the other day your mother and I went into town and went into a shop.
We were only in there for about 5 minutes. When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.

We went up to him and I said, ‘Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?’

He ignored us and continued writing the ticket. I called him a Dumb *ss. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires.

So your mother called him a sh*t head. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket.

This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Just then our bus arrived and we got on it and went home.”

Glad to see my folks enjoying their retirement.

The article goes on to talk about how hilly the course is and how it lacks big sponsorship like the Chicago and New York marathons have. It also talks about how some runners tend to shy away from it because they cannot get a PR (personal record/personal best) time on this course. I say “don’t be such a wuss”. I’m the first to admit that I love using technology with regards to running. GPS watch, special hydration formulas, and easily absorbed nutrition have all played a part in my training for the upcoming race. But when I am out there running 15, 18, or 20+ miles at a time, I simply enjoy the run. My pace per mile is more of a “sanity check” for me. If my legs start feeling like they weigh 20 pounds heavier than when I started, it’s usually because I have increased my pace-per-mile. As I mentioned above, this is my first marathon attempt. I’m not really concerned about how long it takes me to cross the finish line..but that I do.

For all those runners out there obsessed with their finish time, don’t you think you can still feel you had an accomplished run by merely completing one of the toughest (and arguably most scenic) urban marathons in North America?