Sunshine

This morning I had the most relaxing 15 minutes I've had in a long time. The fact that it wasn't even planned probably made them that much sweeter. After coming back from running 5 tough miles, I sat down on the deck at my sister's house to stretch my legs. The weather was beautiful, not hot, not cold, and no wind at all. It was also sunny, so after stretching I decided to just lie down and close my eyes. I stayed like that for a few minutes, tired and sweaty but not really caring about that at all. I was just there, enjoying the sunshine on my face. It was so peaceful, that the way I felt during those few minutes almost stayed with me the entire day.

Party in the park

Today was a beautiful afternoon, so we went to one of the local parks for a little while. It was so nice that I didn't want to leave Zoey behind. Since we had the girl's bikes in the back, Zoey had to sit in the back seat, in between the two girls. She enjoyed that.

Shipwrecked

Today I took Sofia to the theater to see a play called "Shipwrecked". It was in a smaller theatre, with 3 actors that played several roles each, but it was really good. The play was 1 hr and 45 minutes, with no breaks, but Sofia did very well. She was just really hungry by the time it ended, and of course also had to rush to the bathroom. But before we left she took a picture with the statue of a sea turtle, which had a meaningful role in the play.

Bella swims

In the last few weeks Bella has been doing really well in her swim lesson. She is not exactly swimming just yet, but she can definitely glide now in the water and make it safely from point A to point B. We are going to take a break from the lessons during the summer, because the teacher wants to take the summer off and we would have missed a bunch of classes anyway, so hopefully Bella won't digress.

Mia

Bella made a really good friend at Sands this year, a kindergartener named Mia.  Bella loves her, and judging by what the teacher told me before and the card Mia gave Bella on the last day of school, it goes both ways. Unfortunately Mia will not be in Bella's classroom next year, as she will be in 1st grade, but hopefully Bella can make another friend as good as hers.

Last day of preschool

This past Friday was Bella's last day of her first year of preschool. She got dressed in one too many flowers, but she still looked cute. Since I was working from home, I picked her up at noon from Sands instead of letting her go to the Goddard school. I got there on time to sit down with her while they sang their good bye song, and we also saw Sofia as she was leaving her Art class.

As we were leaving the school I asked Bella to sit down on the bench right outside the main entrance so I could take a picture of her, but in a typical Bella move she gave a pose inappropriate for a 4 year old. I eventually convinced her to give me a more decent one though.

Neighborhood Pool

Our neighborhood pool opened last weekend. It usually takes us a while to make it there, but this week I had to leave work early twice to take Sofia to the orthodontist, and both girls to the dentist. Since I was already at home, and the weather was nice, we actually made it to the pool not once, but a record breaking two times.

Winter boots

Earlier this week, like every morning, I was rushing the girls so we could get out the door. At some point they finally put their shoes on, but here is what Bella chose. Needless to say, I made her take off those winter boots as it was supposed to be 90 degrees that day.

Count your blessings!

Last night Bella woke me up - as usual - with another really lame excuse. She wanted me to walk to the bathroom with her, and then she told me that she got scared. I was exhausted, and not pleased at all about the fact that she woke me up yet again. So my initial impulse was to scold her and tell her to leave me alone and go back to bed ... but then I thought about those poor parents in Oklahoma that may never be able to hold their children again, and who would give anything to be in my place. So instead of yelling at her, I moved over and allowed her to jump on my side of the bed.

Perfect score!

This past Friday Sofia came home -  for the first time ever - with a perfect score in her weekly math test. She was very excited about it, and so were we!

The walk

Tonight, after dinner and getting my energy back, I took Zoey for a quick but peaceful walk. The sun was setting, and we had a beautiful view.

Tennis tournament

Lionel and I signed up for a charity tennis tournament this week. We played 3 mini-matches of 8 points each, and although we only won 6 out of 24 possible points, I was still glad that we went and gave it a try. It was my first tournament ever, and the first time of us playing as a team. Lionel, on the other hand, said he didn't have fun at all. He is too competitive, and he was mad that we lost - and lost so bad. He struggled with his serve, and kept yelling at himself. I didn't lose my cool, but I was very tired at the end. It was probably a combination of not eating very well at breakfast or at lunch, and the unexpected heat. I even sat on the couch for a few minutes doing nothing once we were back home.

Mothers Day 2013

This year, Mothers Day was pretty uneventful. Gabi, Bella and I had lunch with my mom on May 10th, which is the actual Mothers day in Mexico, and I got the gifts that the girls made for me at school. But we didn't do family lunch because Lionel and Sofia were supposed to go to the reds game - since my mom won some really good seats. At the end Lionel decided not to go to the game because it was cold that day, but unfortunately it was too late to make lunch plans. We tried couple places, but of course they were crazy packed from all the people who did plan ahead of time. I was disappointed, and decided to just skip lunch and go straight to grocery shopping .We then tried to go out for dinner with Gabi, Raj, and Diego, but every restaurant was still packed. So we ended up at a new "Mexican" restaurant that was pretty disappointing. There was truly nothing Mexican about it and nobody liked it, so we are certainly never going back. 

Ugh...

Today Sofia came back home with a craft she made in Spanish class. She thought it was funny, but I didn't like it at all. It exemplifies one of those stereotypes that I would just love to get rid of. The worst part to me is that her Spanish teachers are Hispanic themselves, and as such they should know better!

Bad outfit

Today the girls came back home with their school portraits. Bella is sporting a fake smile, but more importantly, I now realize she had a pretty bad outfit that day. The crocs, combined with the colorful socks, were just classic! 

Bad picture

Last week a bunch of people from work, including me, got their picture professionally taken for this one new company website. The pictures were ready today, and I did not like mine one bit because I thought it was a bad picture of me. But then, I got to thinking about how often we don't like pictures of ourselves and how silly that is. It may not be our best angle, but clearly that is how we look - at least sometimes.

Half Pig Marathon 2013

Today, after a full 3 months of intensive training, Gabi and I finally got to run our very first half marathon. I felt ready, nervous, and excited, and I did better than I thought I would. I finished at 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 12 seconds, a full 14 minutes faster than my goal. Gabi finished just 4 minutes after me. We were very lucky that it didn't start raining until literally 5 minutes after we finished, especially considering that it has been raining all day.  

Lionel, Raj and the kids came to see us at the half way point and at the end, and it was nice to see them there. Also, the people watching the race had funny signs, and from all the ones I saw my favorite ones were "Run, random stranger, run!" and "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon".  I think that trying to read as many of them really took my mind off the hills, and the couple blisters that - I realized at the end of the race - were forming on my feet. But blisters or not, I had fun and felt really strong.

In the afternoon, after I had taken a shower and somewhat recovered, I finally put in my car the sticker I was so looking forward to deserving.

Picking up my stuff up for the marathon

Bella didn't want to hold my hand, but somehow this was Ok for her

Yes, it is possible

We started the day while it was still dark outside

We started the race with the sunrise

At the finish line!

At the finish line!

Yes, it WAS possible

The Zoo

The zoo is my favorite place to go in the spring. During the entire month of April I kept trying to find the time to go to there to see the tulips, but it never worked out. Yesterday we finally made it, but only to find out that we officially missed out. There were a handful of purple tulips left here and there, but other than that they were all gone. At least the weather was nice...

Sweet ride

I saw this sweet bike and I wished I was little all over again just to take it for a ride.

Almost there...

This morning I completed my last training run. My next run is the half marathon. I am excited, and I feel ready!  ... Except for if it rains. If it rains, I will be in major trouble. But hopefully that does not happen.