We picked up his packet first thing on Friday afternoon (we checked Thad out from school and he was very excited about that) and then headed to the finish line to check things out so I would know where to go with the kids the next day.
Dinner at Grimaldi's down on their patio was a lot of fun and Brian filled up on salad and a margarita pizza for his pre-race dinner. After dinner it was finally time to head to the hotel that was about 25 minutes away. We thought we might be able to swim, but it was way too chilly by the time we got there, so we just headed to the room and made our own fun!
Thad did pretty awesome with this llama shadow puppet! The only legit one we really knew how to do was a dog, but the boys had fun trying to make up their own!
And then there was Eve-
Just trying to be like her mama...I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing! ;-)
We told Thad we would watch Star Wars Episode One, so that was our evening activity.
The boys probably struggled the most following along with this one, but as you can see they still loved it and are excited to see Episodes two and three at some point.
And isn't Thad darling in the hat Brian got with his race stuff?
We all got to bed around 9:30 and Brian woke up bright and early and was out the door around 5am to catch an Uber to the starting line. He didn't tell me until later, but he had a terrifying experience with his driver that admitted to being awake for 36 hours, was swerving all over the road, sticking his head out the window and trying to converse to stay awake! Brian said a little prayer and thankfully it got him there safe and sound. Brian complained and the guy was suspended from driving for a bit. Freaks me out!
The rest of us got up a little before 7am, watched some Full House and got ready to get to the finish line around 9am. We found a great parking spot at the mall for free, so I was pretty proud of myself! Brian is usually our guide through everything, so I give myself nice pats on the back when I figure stuff out on my own. As we were were walking up, we got a glimpse of the first place marathoner passing a bunch of half marathoners!
We got to the finish line quite a bit early and I knew this was going to be the hardest part with the kiddos, keeping them entertained until it was time to go cheer.
Luckily Thad is easy peasy and kept an eye on Eve for me while I tried to keep Wes in my sight...no easy task if you know our Wes boy!
When it was about 30 minutes from Brian's estimated finish time, we headed up to the gates and settled in to wait for our daddy-
Luckily we found some shade and a spot for the stroller so that Eve wouldn't be right in the way. That paci has since gone it the trash, but it came in very handy that day!
We were so excited when we finally saw him about 10 minutes before the time we were expecting! The moment passes so quickly, but it was worth all that waiting to see that guy crushing it!
We hustled down to meet up with him and congratulate him on his awesomeness!
His final time was 3:13:54
He was hoping to finish around a 3:20:00, so this was an exciting finish for him! He knows how to set goals, work for them and achieve them. He is such a great example to our boys and for that I will be forever grateful!
We hung around the finish line/after party for a while so he could stretch and get some calories in him and luckily found an empty EZ-Up that some business didn't show up to so that we didn't have to sit in the sun! We got lucky a lot this trip. The boys got a lot of SWAG and were seriously in heaven.
We didn't stick around for awards because the timing was messed up and Brian wasn't able to figure out where/if he placed, but we found out the next day that he took third in his age group! He is our rock star!
We headed back to the hotel to pack up-
Eve was a little tired at this point so she found herself a quiet little spot while dad showered and we pulled everything together. Haha!
We had decided that we wanted to visit the Houston Temple grounds because our hotel was only about 15 minutes away and we have a family goal to attend three or four different temples this year. We pulled up and the parking lot was blocked with workers paving the parking lot and working on the landscape, but we snuck by them and had a good twenty minutes exploring the grounds of this incredibly gorgeous temple! It is for sure one of my new favorites.
I love that my children love to see the temple and it was a great reminder to make the effort to get a glimpse of these very special buildings whenever we can.
How grateful I am for my forever family!
We wanted to stop at the Blue Bell factory on our way home in Brenham, TX but it was closed on Saturday. :( We found a little ice cream shop that served Blue Bell and it was an excellent Plan B. I don't drive much when we travel as a family, but I did drive the entire way home and was pretty proud of myself for staying awake! Seriously, just little things like that, we just don't know what we would do without our daddy!
What a fun weekend we had supporting and cheering him on in this sport that he is not only passionate about but very good at. Happy Houston times for us! We can't wait to do it again next year!
P.S. When I was cleaning out the van I found these adorable "journal entries" Thad had made with a free pen and sticky pad from a podiatrist and it made me so happy
These little notes were a great reminder of how little things make kids happy. We don't have to go all out to make our kids appreciate the time we spend together. I love that hand writing and just all the awesomeness of it. He is one of my favorites!
