Training & Turkeys

As we entered November, Hanleigh and Trent attended her first Y Guides Longhouse at Camp Thunderbird and had an absolute blast! She was able to do archery, riflery, paddle a canoe, ride a horse, climb a wall, and play lots of games. Her tribe involves a lot of first-time Y Guides dads, which means they are all very eager to participate and get together. It sounds like they all had an excellent time! While the two of them were enjoying camping life, Brayden and I went to Raleigh by ourselves to the NCSU/FSU football game. We had lunch at Oak City Meatballs (delish!) before the game and rooted the Wolfpack on for the nighttime game!

Brayden and Hanleigh had their 10- and six-year old checkups, respectively. Brayden weighed 63 lbs. and was 4’6” tall while Hanleigh was 43 lbs. and 3’9” tall. I think by next summer, Hanleigh will be tall enough to ride some more rollercoasters at Carowinds. Trent and I continued to train for our half marathon in early December, so we took advantage of doing that on a Saturday morning, after my mom offered to watch the kids all weekend long! We went out on a date night with our neighbors the night before, and on Saturday went on a 10-mile training run which was followed by massages, lunch downtown, pedicures, and then we checked into the Westin downtown for a fun evening where we tried a new restaurant downtown, Stoke. We capped off the evening with a bottle of wine from my summer trip to Napa. It was a great weekend! Thanks for watching the girls, Nana!

I went out to dinner with some girlfriends from my hip hop class to celebrate one friend’s dinner, we wrapped up the football season with the NCSU/Miami game and Brayden went to her BFF’s birthday party at an ice skating rink. I also had dinner with my best friend, Kendall.

We traveled to DC for the Thanksgiving holiday to spend time with Trent’s parents. While we were there, we took the girls to the Museum of Natural History (a tradition for us), otherwise known to us as the “Dinosaur Museum”. There was the coolest photography exhibit there…absolutely incredible talent on display, mostly of animals in their habitats around the world. We went to the American History Museum as well, in search of Harry Potter’s cloak, which was no longer there. Total bust. The next day, we went on an 11-mile training run from Arlington to downtown DC. For the first part of the run, we stayed on some wooded trails that paralleled I-66, but around the 6.5-mile mark we crested a hill and could see downtown DC in the distance. The remainder of the run was much more enjoyable as we ran right past so many awesome landmarks: Potomac River, Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool, Smithsonian Museums, and ended up at the Capitol. I felt like Forrest Gump (“I was running”). We walked to Starbucks, got some coffee, and then took the Metro back home (no way were we running back!). After getting cleaned up, we took the girls back downtown to visit the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, and WWII memorial. I was very impressed as Brayden read all of the quotes inscribed on the limestone walls at the Lincoln Memorial and took it very seriously. She really enjoys history! That evening, Trent and I went to the infamous 9:30 Club to see Keller Williams & Love Canon play at the Thanksforgrassgiving for a talent-filled bluegrass concert. It was awesome!

I capped the month off with dinner with my mom and Trent spent a few days in Raleigh on a work trip.

Hanleigh-isms

• She did the most excellent job of saying our family prayers at Thanksgiving in DC. “Dear God, thank you for this food. Thank you for the Pilgrims and Indians and for them being friends so we can be here today. Thank you for the first Thanksgiving of the year.”
• Of course, about a week later, this same child runs and jumps on me while I’m on the couch and shouts out, “Holy crappers!” Lovely. Just lovely.
• We were talking about our elves on the way to school. She said, “How do Pickles & Cucumber know if we are good at school?” I said, “Because they are magic. Santa also knows how you are acting because they tell him.” She retorted with “No, God sees us at school, then tells Santa and he tells the elves. Because God is in the sky.” Well, there you have it.
• “Does God have cousins?”

View Photos | View Video