Time for a Run...

Ellie and I went back on the road this weekend. Instead of just going to St. George we went all the way to Orem as I ran a marathon this past weekend. However, I am getting ahead of myself. So let's start back on Tuesday afternoon...

On Tuesday afternoon I picked up Ellie from school around 2:00, so we would be able to pick up my parents from the airport around 5:30. That left us with three hours to get to the airport. Granted traffic in L.A. is horrific, but I was pretty sure it wasn't going to take us 3 hours to drive 30 miles. That could have been the case, but thankfully it wasn't. On the drive towards the airport, Ellie asked me if we were going to go through a tunnel. For some reason she loves them, and since we were driving on the 110, I thought we were. However, I had forgotten that the 110 tunnel is only for northbound traffic. That was perfectly okay, since we had lots of time. So we got off the freeway, drove around for awhile trying to get on the northbound side of the freeway. We finally did, where we drove through the tunnels, got off the freeway, and headed towards the freeway.

Once our tunnel adventure was complete we drove to Santa Monica where we walked on the beach for awhile, before I decided I wanted some food before picking up Mom and Dad. I remembered there was a Trinidadian restaurant not too far from the airport, so we headed over there. Two notable things happened. First, Ellie ate her first chicken roti, and second, she fell off a barstool after I told her to stop climbing on them. Ellie loved the first thing, but she wasn't so happy after the second one.

After eating, we drove to the airport, picked up my parents and then went to the hotel, where we would be spending the night. Ellie and Mom spent most of the evening playing together. Most of this time was spent playing hide and go seek, while Dad and I watched the Lakers-Celtics game. We went to dinner at a great Jewish deli in Santa Monica, before going back to the hotel and going to bed.

The next morning we woke-up really early, and took Mom and Dad to the airport. Then Ellie and I went to the Fenns, where I went for a short run, before we headed on the road to Utah. We got to St. George around 4:00 and Ellie and I were starving. Ellie had fallen asleep right before we got to Nevada, and I let her sleep. She woke-up just as we were on the other side of Vegas. This meant there was nothing to eat until we got to St. George. When we got to Amy's house, we ate lunch, packed stuff for the rest of the trip, showed Ellie her room, and I made some dinner for the trip. Then we went and picked up Amy and Anna and got in the car and drove to Orem.

The weather in Orem wasn't the best this weekend, but at least it wasn't hot. Ellie spent most of the weekend playing with my mom and trying to help with Anna. She learned this song at school that she loves to sing to Anna when Anna cries. I am hoping to record it one of these days. On Saturday I ran my marathon, and Ellie did the 5K with Mom, Amy and Anna. This meant she and Anna sat in the stroller while Mom and Amy took turns pushing them. I finished about 15 minutes before they did, and it was fun to see Ellie's face light up when she saw me at the finish line. She loved the race, and even told Kim afterwards that she won the race.

After the race, we all took it easy, and eventually went up to the duck pond at BYU to get some pictures taken. Ellie choose out the shirt that she wore and the dress that Anna wore, so Amy and I decided we should wear yellow as well. They turned out really well, and I can't believe how grown up Ellie looks in some of these pictures. Where have the days gone?

Sunday was a very long day. We woke-up and drove down to St. George with Mom and Dad. Amy wasn't coming all of the way to SoCal with us, so we dropped her off at her parents house. Then the 4 of us got back on the road and drove the rest of the way to Tom and Lois's house. This wouldn't have been that bad, except we had to drive from Vegas to L.A. on a Sunday afternoon and that is never fun. This meant it took about an hour longer, but Ellie was content as my mom rode with us from St. George to Brea.

So there you have it. A week with a lot of driving, but a lot of fun. Ellie and I are very excited for the summer, because we will get to see a lot of my parents, and even Ben is coming down one time to visit. It should be fun...

Sunday

A Week with Ellie in SoCal...

So I get Ellie for a week this time!!! I picked her first thing Friday morning from Kim's. We then swung down to Buena Park, by way of Brea. We got some breakfast at Starbucks, before going over to Tom and Lois's. It was "payday" since my unemployment check was in the mail. Then we went to the Fenns and Ellie played with Stan and Debbie's granddaughter Brinley. They played for most of the morning, while waiting for the rest of the grandkids to show up so we could spend the afternoon at Knott's Berry Farm.

Knott's Berry Farm was a lot of fun. There were 6 kids and 5 adults. Despite the fact it was the Friday before Memorial Day, the lines weren't too bad, and more importantly the kids had a lot of fun. It didn't help that Debbie took us all out for ice cream afternoon. The only downside to the afternoon was that none of the kids took a nap, so by the time we got home they were all little cranky. This made the actual bedtime a little difficult, but we all survived.

Saturday morning was more of the same. Ellie and Brinley playing until Brinley's parents picked her and her little brother Dylan up. Most of the time was spent playing in the sprinklers outside. Since I didn't have a swimming suit for Ellie, this meant she got to run around outside in her underwear for awhile. She seemed to enjoy that, but I hope I haven't created a new habit for her.

Once Brinley and Dylan went home with their parents, I decided to torture Ellie and take her running with me...

I have done that before and haven't ever considered it torture per se, but today I took her on a 20-mile run. How smart is that? It actually worked out pretty well. We took a ton of snacks, I rented Aladdin off iTunes and put it on my phone and away we went. About 5 miles in, Ellie was out and taking her daily nap. We ran south from Sunrise Beach 10 miles down the Huntington Beach Bike Path. The first 10 were pretty easy. I don't think I was running particularly hard, and I was enjoying the nice ocean breeze. However, when I turned around for the return trip, I learned how strong the breeze was and that it was now a headwind. Ugh...  It was hard running in wind like that, especially while pushing a jogging stroller. If you don't count the several stops, it took about 20 minutes longer to run back, then it did to run down. However, we survived, I feel pretty good, and I got my last long run in before running the Utah Valley Marathon in 2 weeks. Surprisingly this picture is at the end of our run, and we both look pretty good. Once that adventure was over, we drove back to Stan and Debbie's, ate dinner, watched the Lakers finish off the Suns, and then it was time to get Ellie ready for bed.

On Sunday we woke-up early, went to church, and then drove back down to Buena Park, where we spent a relaxing afternoon together. In otherwords just a typical Sunday for us. Monday was Memorial Day and we spent the afternoon with the Fenns. They were gracious enough to invite us to their family get together for the day. This involved going to the swimming pool where Drew and Kara live. We had a blast, although Ellie wasn't in the mood for going swimming. Instead she ran around the pool playing with Brinley and Alyssa. We had to leave early, because my cousin Jessi was in town to leave for a trip to Engalnd from LAX. She and her roommate needed a ride to the airport. So we picked them up in Brea and drove them to the airport.

Tuesday was pretty easy going as well. Ellie and I woke-up and I had to have the DVD player babysit her for a little while as I finished the latest draft of my thesis proposal (I will be so glad when that thing is completed). After that we took a nap, and then we went miniature golfing and had dinner at CPK.

The last day of our latest time together was spent at the park. Ellie played on the playground and chasing the pigeons. I am not sure what she enjoyed more... the pigeons or the playground. Whatever it was, she had a lot of fun. After that we went back to the house, took a nap and went over to Knott's Berry Farm. The lines were pretty small, and so Ellie got to ride a bunch of rides without ever having to wait in line. The night was finished by dinner at Chipotle. It is say safe to say my daughter loves beans and rice.

I won't get Ellie again until Tuesday afternoon. However, I will have her for nearly a week. We are picking up my parents at LAX on Tuesday night, taking them to the airport to fly home Wednesday morning. Then we will jump in the car and drive up to Provo that day, stopping in St. George to pick-up Amy and Anna. We are spending a few days in Provo, since I am running the Utah Valley Marathon. So until then...