We are Warriors!

Michol and I participated in the Warrior Dash up at Windham Mountain this past weekend. This was my second time participating and Michol's first. We raced on Sunday and apparently missed all the thunder/lightening that occured on the Saturday event. We had the first time slot of the day which helped us avoid the heavy crowds throughout the course. For those not familiar with the event, it is a 3.5 mile course up, over, and down the mountain with  14 grueling obstacles along the way. Over the course of 2 days, about 14,900 people participate. As you can see by the pictures below, there is absolutely no way you can stay clean! Michol and cousin Jeanette ran together and did really well, considering it was their first time participating. Both came in at about 1 hour and 18 minutes and finished with big smiles and a few scrapes. I just missed beating my time from last year, but given the course was more uphill (or up-mountain) and muddy, I was definitely happy with my time of 36:05 and 64th place over the two days.

Since Mallory was only a couple of months old last year, Michol was able to carry her in the Bjorn and pretty much slept the entire time I raced. This year we decided to leave her behind with the Merrimans. Unfortunately, she missed seeing us all muddy and wet, but had a great time hanging with the Grandparents.

Here's the link to the New York site: http://www.warriordash.com/register2012_new_york.php#

Here are more shots from the race:

Pre-race photo of the girls

Michol and Jeanette preparing for the mud pit

Michol and Jeanette just a little muddy

The girls!

Michol and Andrea

Me and the guys from work

First Steps...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...It's hard to believe we are already in August. Where does the time go? Well, since our last update, Mallory has been getting closer and closer to walking on her own. Right now she takes about 3-4 steps without assistance and then drops for the crawl. This "transition period" from crawling to walking is proving to be a challenge for us since she really does not want to be held for very long but at the same time she is not able to walk wherever she wants when we are outside of the house. The good side of this is that she does like to walk while you hold her hand and she is able to cover a lot more distance. Only a matter of time before she is off and running on her own!

In addition to the walking, Mallory is getting more and more teeth. She has the top and bottom front set and the back corners are already coming through. She certainly likes to test the teeth out on her Mom :) Luckily this emergence of teeth has not affected her sleeping patterns. She is still sleeping through the night and lately has not wanted to get up in the morning. We're so lucky...

Finally, with all this hot weather we've been having, Mallory had a chance to get her first experience in the "big" pool at the Astriabs. It was not for very long, but Michol took her in (with the assistance of cousin Jeannette) and she seemed to like bits and pieces of it. I think she prefers to play in her kiddy pool and water table for now.

A sign of things to come?

We hope this isn't how an older Mallory is going to act when she doesn't approve of something. She actually has been doing this for a while but we had to capture on camera. Not sure who she got this one from...hmmm. Turn up the volume on your speakers and enjoy!

Father's Day Fun!

The weather held up for Father's Day weekend so we were able to spend most of the time outside. We spent most of Saturday hanging out in the yard with the pups and Mallory's new water table. After firing up the grill and eating some lunch, we put together the table and let the cameras roll. As expected, pups thought the table was a large water dish for them, but Mallory made sure they knew it was all for her.

We went to the Merrimans for an afternoon cookout. We fired up some steaks and let Mallory roam around the backyard. We brought the water table (without water this time) and a rubber ball that she received for her birthday. It was hilarious to see Mallory chase after the ball and give it a big squeeze. After all the fun, she immediately gave us the "tired" signs, so we packed up the car and headed home.

More videos from the weekend on the YouTube Channel!

Mallory's 1st Birthday!

Mallory turned 1 on Saturday and we had the family over for a Kung Fu Panda themed party. In case you are unaware, Kung Fu Panda is Mallory's favorite cartoon. We're not sure what it is, but when the show comes on, she drops what she is playing with and cracks right up.

Since the weather was looking a little unpredictable, we decided to set everything up in the garage. Michol did a great job getting all the food, cake, and decorations set up before the guests arrived. We had our friend Andrea in attendance to graciously help out with the photography, so most of the pictures you see below are taken by her.

Once the guests arrived, we put Mallory in her high chair in the garage and she immediately fell asleep. As more guests arrived and the noise level getting louder and louder, Mallory continued sleeping for a good 20-25 minutes.

Overall, Mallory did great the entire day. She loved all the gifts from everyone and was especially drawn to the cards that accompanied each gift. We got her cake from the Saratoga Bread Basket Bakery and placed a "Po" figurine on the top. She didn't seem over-the-moon about the cake or the cake topper, but she did try some frosting. It was hard to tell if she actually liked the taste or not. Eventually the clouds disappeared and the sun came out which allowed us all to hang out in the yard. Laila and Oscar, the entertainment for the party, put on a "show" for everyone and even gave us an encore performance. I'll just leave it at that...

Big thanks to everyone for such a memorable 1st Birthday and 1st year with our sweet Mallory! Videos of the party will be posted to the Youtube channel soon!

Kung Fu Cake!

Trying to get Mallory to blow the candle out!

Mallory getting ready to eat the card

Toys!!!

Pretending to read!

Looking at a photo book created by Grandma/Grandpa Merriman

The Family!

Thanks Mommy and Daddy!

Post-party Mallory!

Anniversary Weekend!

Michol and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary this weekend! Most of the weekend seemed to be spent in Saratoga. We did a bunch of yard work on Saturday morning and then headed up to Saratoga to have lunch/dinner at one of our favorite spots, the Stadium Cafe. We were lucky enough to get a table outside on the patio and the weather was perfect. We did manage to stumble into Coldstone for a couple of harmless ice cream treats.

I had a 5k race at SPAC (3rd Annual SPAC Rock & Roll Run) on Sunday morning so we packed up the wagon and headed back up the Northway. The race went really well even though the weather was a lot warmer than expected. After I finished the race, we packed everything up and headed over to Congress Park for lunch. I ran over to another favorite eatery, The Bread Basket Bakery, and picked up some sandwiches. We sat out in the park for a while and then headed home to the pups.

The Perfect Weekend

Michol and I snuck away for Mother's Day weekend to Foxwoods for a Cranberries concert at the MGM Grand casino. We got up really early on Saturday, dropped off Mallory at the Merrimans, and hit the road. Since check-in wasn't until 4pm, we took our time driving down and decided to head to the Mystic Seaport. We walked around the shops and grabbed some lunch. The weather couldn't have been any better.

On our way back to Foxwoods, we made a quick stop at a winery called Jonathan Edwards (http://www.jedwardswinery.com/), for some wine tasting. Nothing really stood out for us but it was a nice place to check out.

Upon checking in to the Two Trees Hotel (one of the 5 hotels), we immediately realized why the rate was considerably cheaper than the other hotels. The location of our place was about a half mile from the actual MGM building. Not the end of the world, but definitely good to know for the next time.

The concert was at 8pm, so we decided to hustle over to the MGM for an early dinner. We ate at a semi-fancy restaurant called Alta Strada. After choking down a dish we think was an "Antipasti Platter" (still not sure), we ate as much as we could of the Chicken Parmigiana we ordered and then headed out to do some sight seeing.

The MGM and connecting casinos were incredible. There were so many people (of all walks of life) and places to check out. We covered just about every square inch as we could and stopped in front of this neat waterfall for a quick snapshot. 

We made our way to the concert and sat through an interesting opening band called Vintage Trouble. They were pretty good and definitely warmed the crowd up. Our seats were really close to the stage and the entire theater holds about 4,000 people, so it was a very intimate setting. The Cranberries sounded great and played a lot of the favorites. I captured a couple of songs on my phone, which I posted to YouTube (located under the "Favorite Links" section). The audio and video quality is not the greatest.

                                                     

The next morning, we woke up early, ate a nice big breakfast and headed home. It was no nice to get away, even for just part of the weekend, but we really missed Mallory and couldn't wait to pick her up. Mallory went to her first Tulip Festival in Albany on Saturday which tired her right out and helped her sleep through the night. The pups were also well taken care of while we were gone by a "team" consisting of our regular pet sitter, my Father, and Michol's cousin Jeanette and boyfriend Andy. Jeanette and Andy were able to stay the night so the pups were not by themselves through the night. When we got home, they couldn't get enough of us....perfect ending to a perfect weekend!