Roach Jockey M

The Bug Bowl was going on at Purdue this weekend so we packed it up and made the trip to Lafayette. M has been studying insects in school so the timing was perfect and we never want to pass up a chance to visit Gabe, Bobbie, and the boys. We invited our cousins from Indianapolis to come join us on Saturday. 

We couldn't help but go back on Sunday with another set of cousins. M rode a (too big) bike to lift some ping pong balls...

...while daddy and Gabe rode these bikes to be nothing but fun.

The weather wasn't as nice as we would have liked so we ventured into one of the buildings to discover we were just in time for some roach racing. M wanted to put his name in the hat to be a Roach Jockey so while we waited for bets to be placed and more people to arrive, the kids "practiced college".

Then M's name was called to be the green Roach Jockey! I think he was a little stunned to up there in front of everyone, but he got a cool green hat and he was holding some bugs...so he was alright.

And they're off! They told the kids they had to eat their roach if it lost, and I'm pretty sure M believed him for a second. He looked over at me with some really wide eyes...

His roach came in 3rd...and he didn't have to eat him. He did get to keep the hat though and he got a fun certificate.

...of which he did NOT want me to take a picture.

snow storm in...March??

The date on this post IS correct. It snowed upwards of 10 inches on the 24th of March! We were on our way to Anderson for Spring Break...again, that IS correct...so we stopped off in Lafayette for some fun with Gabe, Bobbie and the boys. The hills and mass amounts of heavy, wet snow did not disappoint.

The snow was so wet, that it rolled up like a carpet. Huge, huge snowballs!

E made his own little snowballs while the big boys made the huge ones.

But everyone got to play when it got so heavy they couldn't roll it any further.

a bushel of crab

Tonight's dinner was a delicious (and messy) crab fest!

clams for good measure

despite the look on his face, M loved it.

beach...pool...repeat

Necessities for a vacation at the Outer Banks

a bottle of sunblock per day

lunch, poolside

lots of laughs

the "hot bath tub"

hang ten!

Race for Hope 2012

It was year 4 for us in Washington, DC. No kids this time, so we were able to casually walk the city. We made the usual stops...

Race day started out kind of dreary and disappointing, but by the time it began, it was perfect. We were able to follow M's direct orders to "run fast!" and Andrew and I both got personal 5K records. A great race for sure.

The best part was, of course, bringing some light to a dark situation. Brain cancer took Grace from us, but we were a part of something big this weekend...$2.5 million dollars raised...and that felt good.