Rachel the Half Marathoner

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This weekend was spent in San Antonio.  Rachel signed up to run the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon.  I guess it's called Rock 'n Roll because they have bands playing along the way.  I don't really associate San Antonio with a Rock 'n Roll city.

We left yesterday morning - about an hour after we planned.  Both boys independently and consecutively threw massive fits.  That, unfortunately, was a sign of things to come.  We stopped in north San Antonio at a restaurant called Momak's which has a big soccer field and soccer balls, volleyballs and footballs to play with, as well as a play scape.  It was super crowded and it took forever to order and get food.  The boys did not eat as well as we had hoped considering it was a place that tailored to kids.

Then we drove the rest of the way down where I dropped Rachel off at the Alamodome to get her runners stuff.

From there we went to the hotel and checked in.  Both boys were cranky and caused issues while we were trying to get them to rest.

We stayed at this hotel last year.  At 5pm, they have snacks out including hot dogs and popcorn.  Last year we have a video of Evan eating carrots in the hot dog bun.  Well, Evan again ate that.  Noah just played with his hot dog.

We had hoped they would eat well there so we didn't have to pay for dinner for them.  We went to a restaurant called Zocca's which I made reservations for.  It is an Italian restaurant.  The boys shared a kid's bowl of spaghetti which was a tiny, tiny portion.  They ate that up, which was good.  We basically accomplished our mission of reducing the amount we spent on them.  The food was good for us, but again, small portions.  And the service was very slow.

When we went back to the hotel, the boys spent most of the night before falling asleep arguing with each other or us about stupid things

This morning, Rachel left around 7pm to go the start line.  She signed up for a service from RunKeeper Pro that allowed me to track her movements.  That way I knew when to leave to meet her at the finish line.  The hotel included breakfast with the room, so the boys and I got breakfast and then came up to the room for awhile before leaving to meet Rachel. We saw Rachel finish - with an even better time than last year.  She did great.

We stopped at the hotel for Rachel to shower and to pack, then met Uncle Jay, Aunt Diane, Susie, Ryan, Tegan, Anika, Jonah, Chrissy, Valencia and Aisha at a place called Chacho's for lunch.  It was good seeing everyone.  They have a play area where all the kids played together.  They seemed to have a good time.  The food was not very good, but we got to spend time with everyone and the kids had fun and really, that's why we were meeting so it was a nice time.

We came home through terrible traffic.  The boys played upstairs until dinner time.  Then we had pasta for dinner.  The lunch seemed to make Rachel sick so she only had soup.

After dinner, the boys and I watched the first half of the Steelers game which I recorded.  At half time we put them to bed.  They went to sleep fairly quickly.

The Steelers won, by the way.

Until next time...

Movies

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today is Veteran's Day so Evan did not have to go to school.  That allowed me to sleep in until I got up for my "commute" to work.  It was nice.

The boys still got up before 7 though.  I heard them talking and playing.

I got up and did some work and Rachel and Evan took Noah to school.  From there, Rachel and Evan went bowling followed by picking up smoothies at Smoothie King.

When they got home, Evan went around on his scooter outside for a bit.

We all had lunch outside together and then I did some more work.

But I had promised the boys that I wouldn't work this afternoon and Evan and I would pick Noah up from school and go to see Puss in Boots.  We drove over to Noah's school.  The teacher and another mom told me that Noah had been talking about Puss in Boots, San Antonio and popcorn.  They assumed that we'd be driving to San Antonio to go see Puss in Boots.  I had to explain they were separate things.  We were about to go to see Puss in Boots, but that we were heading to San Antonio for the marathon and staying at a hotel where they have a popcorn machine.  Everyone got a good laugh at that.

The boys and I enjoyed our time at the movies.

When we got home, Rachel suggested that we go out together and drop the boys off at Clubhouse for Kids.  We bought a couple certificates for pre-paid hours from one of those group deal sites.  So we dropped the kids off and went to see Tower Heist.  It was only the second time in my life that I went to the movies twice in one day.  The movie was very good.  It was definitely entertaining.

For dinner, Rachel and I went to the Texas Chili Parlor.  Rachel had their chili, of course.  They had a special for a NY Strip so that's what I had.  The food was good.

We picked the boys up and now they are in bed.

Until next time...

Soupy

This morning I had an MRI done. It was a routine scan done ordered by my oncologist. I don't know the results yet. Before my appointment I dropped Noah off at Clubhouse for Kids.

When I was done (it took about an hour), I picked Noah up and we went to lunch at Panera. I packed a lunch for Noah and I ordered soup for me and cookie for him. Morry met us there and then we went to Noah's sports class.

In Noah's sports class they are still working on football. He had a good time.

We walked to pick up Evan today. Noah did very well on the way there, but was very cranky on the way home. We walked home with another mom and kids who live near us. Noah was throwing a fit almost the whole way home. He wouldn't come inside when we got home. I finally got him to come in the garage and was able to close the garage door. Noah remained in the garage throwing a fit. He wore himself out and fell asleep on the floor in the garage. He slept there for about an hour.

For dinner I made soup and Morry made some fried matzoh.

We got our cookie dough from a neighbor's school fundraiser tonight so Morry is baking a few cookies right now. We had clean up night tonight while waiting for the cookies.

After eating a cookie (or two) we'll put the kids to bed.

Chilly

Noah woke up early again and went with Morry to drop off Evan.

After I took Noah to school I got some stuff done around the house.

When I picked up Noah at school we headed over to Sam's Club. He was very good there.

We came home to put the groceries away and then started walking to get Evan. We had only walked about a block and it started to get windy and pretty chilly. Noah was cold so we went back to get his sweatshirt. Then, I was worried we wouldn't have enough time to walk to school. We ended up driving to the path like we normally do.

Gabby came over and I tutored.

For dinner we had leftover tacos/tostadas from last night.

We just got the boys ready for bed.

Grocery Shopping and Haircuts

Noah woke up early this morning so he walked to school with Morry and Evan. Noah actually walked the whole way there and back.

Noah and I went to Sunflower today (used to be called Newflower). Noah was very good there. There were a few samples for us to try. Noah liked the fizzy juice drink. They had samples of almonds flavored with salt and olive oil. Noah loved them and convinced me to buy some. They were pretty good.

We drove to pick up Evan today since I was worried the path would be muddy. We actually got some rain today. We parked in the front of the school and still had to walk a little bit.

After school I took the boys to get haircuts at Great Clips. They both wanted me to explain that they only wanted a trim. They wanted to keep their hair long.

I dropped the boys off at home and then tutored.

Our usual babysitter, Kim could not come today. She had a class tonight that was just added to her scheduled. Morry had the boys watch TV while he finished working.

For dinner we had tostadas.

We just gave the boys baths. Morry read to them and is getting their milk now.

Bye Aunt Fran

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, as usual, I woke Evan up and got breakfast ready for him.  While we were eating breakfast, Aunt Fran came down to say goodbye to Evan.

Evan actually ate quickly today.  He seemed more awake - I think because of the time change.  Since he finished early, we were able to walk to school.  On the way home, it started to rain some.  Of all the days for it to rain.

When I got home, I did some work while Rachel and Aunt Fran took Noah to school.  Aunt Fran said goodbye to Noah there.  Noah kept hugging her.

After they got back, I took Fran to the airport.  It was a very nice visit.

At the normal time that we'd pick Noah up, we had a parent-teacher conference with Noah's teacher.  We stopped in his room to make sure it was OK to leave Noah in extended care.  He liked seeing us but through a fit when we left and he had to stay some more.

The teacher was very behind and we waited more than 30 minutes to talk to her.  We didn't find out a whole lot about how Noah was doing.

It took so long that I went with Rachel and Noah to pick Evan up from school.

Later in the afternoon, Rachel tutored while Blanca came to watch the boys.

When I finished working, the boys and I made popcorn and watched Despicable Me.  I then made dinner and cleaned up.

Rachel got home around 7:15 and she and I ate dinner.

The boys are in bed now but not sleeping.

Until next time...