Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

I have been wanting to do a whole series of posts on this book so here's the first...

Although my family had this book while I was growing up, I rarely remember reading it. I'm not sure if it was too long for me to listen to, too long for my mom to read to me, or too many big words for my sister, Sara, to pronounce. Either which way, it's now one of Andrew's favorite books and I love it. I appreciate for so many reasons so I wanted to tell all of you why... Also some random things about it.

Reason #1: There is an advertisement on the last page in the book. Below is a picture of the page before the advertisement... We'll call this exhibit A.

Did you notice what it says? It reads, "Please turn the page." How polite! (Warning: I got out my soapbox and am currently climbing up...) In today's advertising, they try to "trick" us into wanting their product. "Sure," they say, "they may not be hungry... But what if we show them our big cheesy burrito at 10pm during their favorite TV show and remind them that we're open late? Then they'll be hungry!" My response: "Thank you for fattening us up! Heaven forbid I forget my 4th meal!" From my sales days, I know that you're supposed to fill the customer's need with your product... and if they don't have that need, you create one. Welcome to America, land of consummerism!Reason #2: First of all, I'm not entirely sure what's up with the scary little black (sorry, african-american) blob. Is he a monster? A strange sea creature? A mix between a bear and a hippo? More importantly, I think it's so cute that they put an expiration date- which is a good thing, being the date is 5 days before my 27-year-old sister's birthdate! I just think that advertising was so cute and innocent back in the day. Wasn't life so much simpler then???

Happy Father's Day, Gabey!!!

Happy Father's Day, Gabe!!!

You are such an amazing Dad. I am so blessed that you are my son's father.

Andrew loves you and so do I!

Happy Father's Day also to all 3 grandpas!

(Sorry I couldn't rotate this. It was read-only.)

Happy Father's Day!

Proof!

This is proof for all (ahem) of my readers who don't believe their daughter-in-laws that their grandson can say their names when he sees them...

For my Chinese readers, listen carefully to how Andrew says, "Papa". Doesn't he sound like he's saying "Daddy" in Mandarin???

Dizzy Boyz

Andrew and Joshua had such a fun time playing together today. It's so cute how they are starting to play together now. They even hug each other good-bye!

The boys got a little wound up... sorry for the pun. I just rode the Jungle Cruise yesterday and enjoyed their punny humor to no end!




I thought this snake was real at first. Allie had no idea where this fake snake came from in their back yard. Ay Chiuaua!

This is Andrew's hammy smile these days. He got hold of the camera the other day and instead of pretending to take pictures with it, he held it out in front of him and kept giving this cheesy smile.

Twinkle Twinkle

Andrew is learning things so quickly right now. Here's him doing the hand motions for (the first part of) Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... Enjoy!

Has This Ever Happened to You???

How many times in your life have you been able to see 300 men go to the side of the road to pee simultaneously, hordes of people dressed in ridiculous costumes (Elvis, Wonder Woman, the Flash, a slighly effiminate Pooh bear), an innumerable number of scantily clad people strewn along the sides of the roads seeking medical attention, as well as do all that you can to drown out 20 awful bands with your mp3 player, receive accolades from tens of thousands of adoring fans, toss water cups at any minion who gets in your way, and run 26.2 miles - and all before 10:30am???

Let me tell you about my day...

I did it! Whoo-hoo! Gabe was my biggest (and sexiest) supporter for this accomplishment. He's a stud!!! I love him! Thank you, Gabey!

The Shultzi were also a HUGE (but not necessarily sexy) support for me... They gave me Gatorade on my long runs during my training and came all the way down for this weekend. I am so thankful for them as friends! Now if I can just get JS to run with me next time...
Now... On to the race. I got to the starting line in just enough time to get things situated and me warmed up a little, but not too much time for me to get nervous... At least, not REALLY nervous. I have to say that I felt pretty hard core getting to start in the 4th corral. The gun shot and within a couple of minutes, I had started the race!!!

Everyone was totally excited and full of energy. Runners were yelling and cheering just from their exitement to start the race... Yes, I joined in. (Like you even have to wonder.)

Gabe and Andrew met me at mile 6.5 on the course to cheer me on. I can't tell you what a difference it makes to have people there to cheer you on. It's a looooooooooooooooong race. It was so nice to see them!

The Kenyans were in the lead. They basically sprinted for 26.2 miles... Literally, they were running under 5-minute miles.
See me behind the orange guy? I was loving life here. My splits were about 8:40, which was right where I wanted to be.

(Husband Note: Right where you wanted to be? Really? Wouldn't you rather be in Hawaii? Or getting a massage? Or maybe even walking over hot coals? That all sounds a lot more pleasant than running 8:40 miles over and over again).
And there I go!

Here is my cheering squad at the finish line, although I still had a ways to go when this pic was taken. JS and Amy met me at mile 12 and cheered me on.

It was after that point that things started to get a little difficult. I was expecting to see Mission Bay at mile 13.5, but I didn't see it until mile 15. It really messed me up mentally. Anyway, when I finally got to the bay, I began to get tired. Others around me had already been stopping to massage out knots in their calves, stretch, and walk for a while. I kept running, though. At the half marathon, I was on track for a 3:49 marathon. So I was still pretty happy.

It was between miles15 and 20 that things started to go downhill. I'm not sure what caused it, but my legs REALLY began to hurt. (Gabe says it has something to do with the 20 miles I had just run...) Anyway, at mile 20, I hit "the wall", but I didn't stop. I slowed down TONS, though. I really did well staying mentally strong and I gave every mile everything I had. Each mile, I tried to remind myself that this was it... the big race... keep going!

It was a really long final 6.2 miles... I saw tons of people laying on the ground with medics tending to them. Needless to say, that made me continuously evaluate how I was feeling. But I decided I could keep going. At mile 25, I got freaked out when I had trouble breathing for like two breaths - but I think I was just getting excited about approaching the finish line.

I entered the marine base for the last quarter mile, and just started to run as fast as I could. I used every last bit of energy I could find...which wasn't much. As you can see from these pics, I had a bit less energy than back at mile 6.5. Until I saw these pics, I thought my running form was still good. But now I realize just how tired I actually was.Here I am with about 50 yards to go. When I crossed the finish line, I had several medics approach me and ask if I was okay. I kept on telling them that I thought I was. But then I realized that they weren't approaching everyone - just me! That's when I realized that I was weaving and barely able to walk. I've never been in so much pain in my life. I didn't accomplish my goal time, but I know that I gave this marathon everything that I had to give, and that made me very happy - even though I didn't break 4 hours. I weaved my way over to a medic station, stretched for 20 minutes or so, just in case I collapsed and needed attention. :)

I hobbled from there to the family reunion area, where Gabe was walking towards me and I started to cry. He asked me why and I'm still not sure if it was because of the pain or because of how well I had done. (Husband note: Women!)

Here are some of the results that I thought you might be interested in seeing:
Time: 4:03:43
Rank: 3119 out of 21800 runners
847 out of 8400 women
247 out of 2500 in my age/gender

Final Husband note: Well guys, I did it. I successfully watched Andrew for the entire race. I even timed it right so I had the minimum number of diapers to change. It was a lot of hard work, but I have to say I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment. Congratulations gifts and monies can be sent to my home address...thank you for the support and encouragement! I couldn't have done it without you (or Andrew).

Final Wife note: Which just goes to show that what I do on a daily basis is even more difficult than running a marathon! Thanks for proving my point, Gabey...

Watch Me Run!!!

Look what I found out!!!

Live Results
Your friends and family can follow your progress along the marathon route through LiveResults at this site. Every runner's time will be recorded at the 10k, half marathon, 21 mile mark and at the finish line. Friends and family can click on the LiveResults bug on the homepage during the race to track your 26.2 miles.

Click here to "watch" me run!!!
My registered name is: Cheri Barber
My bib #/race # is: 23004

The race starts at 6:30am, but there will be approximately 3000-4000 runners ahead of me. I'm in corral #4 (out of 23 corrals and 23,000 runners!!!) It's a HUGE race and my adrenaline is already pumping.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all of your support, guys!

May

Andrew is cuter than ever at this age. I honestly didn't know it was possible to be this adorable! You all know Daisy by now. Well, I think Andrew is starting to think that he is Daisy's caregiver... which, I guess, he is... anyway, here he's reading "Go, Dog! Go!" to her in the same chair that I read to him in before he goes to bed.

He's also been changing her diaper for her. (No, she typically does not wear a diaper, but I guess she's not potty trained yet.)

Andrew is turning into his daddy! (Although, Gabe doesn't usually wear a diaper.)

The first Saturday in May we had our annual Mother's Day church picnic.

The next weekend, my mom was SO surprised to not only get to celebrate her birthday and Mother's Day with Gabe, Andrew, and I, but also with my sister, Debbie (from WI), and my other two sisters, Sara and Joleen, from Fresno. She had no idea they were coming. It was awesome!!! This is Debbie with Brayden.

Andrew and Brayden

It's not very often that all 4 of us sisters are together so when we are we take "sister pictures".

Brayden with his daddy.
The following weekend, Gabe's parents came into town.
This was about how our weekend went: lots of food and lots of laughter.