I Love Grammy and Chachi

Looking forward to Thanksgiving

Raleigh Marathon

Hooray, Scott ran the Raleigh 1/2 marathon with me on Sunday and he finished and wears his medal proudly. It was very difficult for him during the last 2 miles and very emotional when he completed the marathon. It was a hilly course but pretty scenic. The weather was perfect for running. It was pretty cool running down Hillsborough Street with absolutely no traffic. He was a little sore for 2 days, but now he is actually talking about doing another 1/2 marathon next year. YEAH!!!! I'm so proud of him. We had a great weekend together! Musette is staying at the School of the arts until Thanksgiving. We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving and seeing all of the family again. Well thats the big news for now. Look for pics to follow shortly.

Chicago marathon

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Chicago marathon

Well as most of you have already heard, the Chicago Marathon was extremely interesting. My running girlfriends and myself all met in Chicago last Friday (Oct. 5th) to run the Chicago Marathon. We were very excited as none of us had ever been to Chicago before. The expo was great, the pasta dinner was fantastic, but the weather was HOT! In fact, the hottest weather that Chicago had ever seem for that time of year. Marathon morning went well, with a pretty late start for a marathon (8:00am). We stayed in a hotel right across the street from the race start so we only stood in the long potty line once before the race start. Jo Dee Messina(?) sang the National Anthem and the gun sounded. With 30,000 people running it took us about 20 minutes to cross the start line. I was already sweating from just walking. When we got to mile 4 there was suppose to be water and Gatorade but they had run out. That made all of us feel kind of confused about the organization of the marathon. We continued to run and finally got some fuel aid around mile 6, but we began to hear complaints of lack of fuel ahead of us. We were doing alright, but it was very hot and humid. When we got to mile 14 we began to hear from the side of the road (which was packed with crowd support) that the race had been halted due to heat-related emergencies. We had been hearing ambulance sirens since almost the beginning of the race. We were detoured back to the race finish which was another 5 miles or so very confused, angry, frustrated. We received our medal and then we started hearing reports of 1 man dying and over 300 people being taken to the hospital for heat related emergencies. We were shocked, but also determined to earn our medal. We were right across the street from Lake Michigan which has a nice greenway to run so we headed over to complete our 26.2 miles. The rest of the day was filled with listening to different runners' experiences and venting some of our own frustration (since we had trained all summer in 100 degree weather). We topped the weekend off by enjoying some Chicago styled deep dish pizza. I loved Chicago and would love to go back just to do some sight seeing. Maybe we'll try this marathon again next year but only if the weather is cooler!
On another note...Harmony has informed Scott and I that she is expecting grand baby number 3. Very exciting. I'm on my way to spend the day with Melody. She is having a dye test done today. Fortunatly, I am on fall break and have the day off to be with her. Chicago pictures will be forthcoming.

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September

Well it's been 1 month since school begin and the calendar says that it's fall. The temp. has yet to recongnize that fact however. In the past month, Scott and I have visited Boone and Blowing Rock (over labor day weekend) and flown to Philadelphia for me to run the 1/2 marathon there. We always enjoy going to the mountains and it was refreshingly cool. Andrew (Musette's beau)showed us his dorm room and around Appalachian's campus a bit. The marathon in Philly is probably my favorite marathon to date. Scott and I enjoyed walking the historic district on Sat. and then I ran the marathon on Sunday in what I consider to be perfect climate. The course was gorgeous and the temps were around 50 degrees for the race start and around 68 by noon. My only complant about the trip is that it happened too fast. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Hotel right downtown where everything was in walking distance. Sooooo much to see and do. We will definately go back.
Scott made his grand run of 10 miles on Sunday. YEAH!!!!!! He survived and I told him that there was no turning back now! I will fly to Chicago next weekend with my running gang to run the Chicago marathon and then Scott and I together will conquer the Raleigh half marathon in Nov. What fun?!?!?!?!? Musette is doing great at the school of the arts and that makes us very happy. Well that is all for now.

Wonderful You- Audra McDonald

For my Musette
Whatever happens this year remember this song

EMPTY NESTERS!!!!!!!!

Well, Scott and I are enjoying our first day of "empty nest." We moved Musette into the North Carolina School of Arts on Friday and Saturday in Winston Salem. I have a feeling that we will get very familiar with the hi-way between Raleigh and Winston-Salem. Her room looks like a typical dorm room which we spent all weekend trying to customize to Musette's style,(see pics below). Then she went her way with scheduled activities and the parents went another, only to re-connect at meal times. Scott and I were very impressed with the school as a whole and the administration made us feel very secure in leaving our daughter in their hands. The administration also stressed that if we were parents of a dancer (because the school caters to all of the arts) then we should be very proud as only 19 new dancers (that includes ballet and contemporary) were selected this year. The total enrollment for dancers is 134. Musette's room mate is a violin student and she will arrive on Monday from Iowa because she is a returning student.
I will start my full schedule this week at Meredith and St. Augustines and Scott will return to NRCA and his home students. The new school year has begun. I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Musette moving into NCSA

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Son In Law and grandsons having fun

Two Weeks Notice Trailer

I love this movie!

last of the lazy days of summer

Well it's been a great and hectic summer. Scott and I are enjoying 1 last lazy Sunday before the official school year begins. Scot has already been through one week of marching band camp (in over 100 degree weather) and now he has one more week of band camp and two open houses to enlist promising piano students. We both did a long run yesterday in training for upcoming marathons. Scott put in 8 miles (his 2nd week in a row) and I did 20 miles to help train toward the Chicago marathon in October. We both pretty much layed around the rest of the day. Musette has two weeks left before venturing off to the North Carolina School of the Arts. It's very exciting to see her have this opportunity. We pray that it is a great experience for her. Well that's about all for now.

Summer 2007

Well it's been a while since I posted and it has been a very full summer. Scott, Musette, Andrew, (Musette's boyfriend) and I went to Daytona Beach for our usual week of fun in the sun, then spent a couple of days with Scott's mom in Ocala, Fl. before heading to Montgomery to see the Vuycankiats. After catching up with the grandsons and seeing Harmony's new house, we said our good-byes. We left Musette with Harmony for about a week, while the rest of us proceeded to Concord for an overnighter with Melody and her husband Chris, (Oops I almost forgot my grand puppy Autumn).
After about a week of alone time, Harmony, Musette , Donovan (grandson no.1) and Seth (grandson no.2) descended upon us for a 3 week stay. Needless to say, it was total Mayhem, but I wouldn't trade one moment of it. We spent lots of time in the pool,went to the park and of course, Chucky Cheese. Eric (Harmony's husband) flew in for the last weekend and we had the whole family under one roof for one crazy night, (and I do mean the whole family, Melody, Chris, Autumn, Harmony, Eric, Donovan, Seth, Scott, Musette, myself and our two dogs Maggie, and Bosco). We have many, many, many, pictures that I'm sure will be added to our blog eventually.
Everybody leaves tomorrow and Scott and I have decided to bring in the wrecking crew on Tuesday to clean up the house. The next three weeks will be a blurr and we all ready ourselves for the next school year and prepare Musette for her first year at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Well that's the highlights of the summer! Hope you enjoyed the read.

San Diego marathon

This past weekend I flew to San Diego with some of my running buddies to run my first full marathon. We took in some of the sites while we were there. Check out the pics. Scott just bought a new digital video camera so I'm sure before the weekend is over we will have figured out how to include videos on the blog.