Day 3: San Simeon to Lake Tahoe, NV

Another gorgeous drive with a lunch stop at Pebble Beach at a restaurant recommended by a friend-I’m sure Dave was wishing he could hit some balls at this iconic golf club! Then they had dinner with brother, Troy, who lives out in Modesto (I don’t even know where they met) before driving to Lake Tahoe to sleep. Missing pics of Pebble but I’m sure there is GoPro video footage 

Lunch at “The Bench”

Dinner at Mimi’s with Troy

More gorgeous views on the drive to Tahoe

Day 2: Santa Monica to San Simeon, CA

Left Sam’s house in Santa Monica, stopped in Malibu for a little surfing, one of Nate’s requests. Had a beautiful drive up the coast with breathtaking views, and made it to Morro Bay just in time for a sunset dinner! 

Day 1: Vista to Santa Monica, CA

The adventure begins! 

Rented scooters in Santa Monica and looks like they had fun, although the only thing I could think to ask was “where are your helmets??”

After Santa Monica Pier they made their way to Sam and Celeste Liversidge’s house. Dave went to both high school and college with Sam who is now a high-powered lawyer in LA. Corey Knowlton and Randy passenger both drove in for the evening and they had dinner at the house. Dave and Nate shacked up at the “Guest House”…fine living! Dave took some video of the house which will have to show you another time, absolutely gorgeous! They were up until midnight telling stories and reminiscing about the good old days!

Sunday, June 20

This morning at 4:00 a.m., we left home for BWI where I dropped Dave and Nate off as they began their EPIC FATHER'S DAY grand adventure. They flew to San Diego where the Mustang was shipped and are picking it up to start their GREAT AMERICAN ROAD TRIP tomorrow. Although I'm MORE than a little bummed to be missing out on the fun, I am absolutely THRILLED for what they are about to experience. I'm going to try to post pics and commentary here as I receive things from Dave, though I don't know how complete it will be. He's actually focusing on primarily using the GoPro to use for a video compilation after the trip. Stay tuned! In the meantime, here is how we spent the 2 days before the trip, so glad Sabrina came home to see all the boys before they left.

Picked up Baja Fresh for dinner and met up at our sunset spot for dinner out the back of Claudeny’s pickup! 

Nate’s last day of school was Thursday, officially a high school senior! Can’t believe it. Too fast. 

Saturday, Sabrina and Claudeny wanted to take a float down Linganore Creek. We did this with the Monassé family when they first came to the U.S. in 2013 and it was a memorable experience for all of us!  As was this trip!

The dog was a basket case, (hopping and swimming between kayaks) until we figured out if he was leading his pack from the front and couldn’t see the rest of us, he stopped crying…

This big boy spent more time out of the kayak than in, thanks for low water levels and his girth which didn’t make his vessel very floaty lol 

The kids gave Dave these metal signs for the garage to commemorate their trip-just perfect!! Even the BAG!! 

Nate was out all day at a state track meet (he did not run) so that's why he's not in all the pictures until we met up later for ice cream before Sabrina headed back to the beach. 

Saturday night at “The Jimmie Cone”-Frederick’s finest providing us a cultural experience! 

BWI was HOPPIN’ at 4:45 this morning! Crazy busy!

Off in LaLa Land?

Apparently, I don't blog anymore. Although I am still taking pictures and living life, I just can't seem to keep up with documenting it anymore! See facebook for the latest, though I'm not even current on there right now!  I keep expecting life to slow down, and it never does...seems only to accelerate! My apologies to the hundreds of followers that I'm certain have been just waiting for my entries with baited breath....haha!

Happy 2011! Spent the evening with the Jacobs and then made it home just in time to see the ball drop. As the clock struck midnight, Nate got sad and with a quivering voice, said "I'll miss my friends from school, I'm sad I won't see them anymore". We had to explain that though 2010 is over,the school year is not over and he is still in 1st grade until the summer time!

Our little girl turns 10!

Hard to believe it's been 10 years since our little girl arrived...

December 2000

Our little baby has turned into a little lady, evidenced by her request for a spa party. No more bumble bee or Tinkerbell parties, I guess. I have a feeling this year is going to be a real turning point as she enters the "double digits". Sigh.

On the upside, she had a great birthday, wrote me a thank you note and couldn't stop talking about it (after she got done crying that it was all over). I was happy to make her happy!

How sweet it is to be loved by you...

Marine Corp Marathon

A major item on the BUCKET LIST was checked off as Dave completed the 26.2 mile marathon (which was actually 26.6) in D.C. last weekend. With a twisted ankle this summer and 2 injured knees, he was thrilled to have finished in 5 hours at 27 minutes and is actually considering doing it again next year as some of his buddies were inspired to possibly train for the next one. Something like 32,000 people registered for the race, and about 21,000 actually finished it.

It was fun to see some of the wild costumes since the race was on Halloween, and also inspiring to see injured service men and women participating by biking and even a double-amputee running. Other Marines were out in full-force encouraging the runners at every turn. It was a high day!

Our good friend, Tonya Turner ran the race as well (at an astonishing 4:33, the girl is a weapon) so we spent the pre-race hours in their home and Chad & I brought the kids in by Metro later in the morning to the race. We're so proud of them both and were thrilled to witness their incredible journey and final victory together.

5 something a.m. as the runners get ready to head downtown.

At this point, Chad & I pondered who was having the more difficult day - the runners, or the two of us with the kids and stroller fighting the crowds on the Metro to get to the race!

My first sighting of our boy...

Dave gave up a minute of his run time to greet his family and supporters.

Here he was confirming that he was ok - though his knees were killing him.

TEAM WOOSTER!

Race Fans

Here he comes....almost to the end!

That's my hand waiving to Dave as he approached the finish line.

The kids with their signs

Congratulations from his Daddy

The sweet kiss of VICTORY!

The real heroes

Monty, a veteran MCM runner himself, helped train Dave for this race, accompanying him on his long runs and supporting him the way only another runner could.