Cheering for our Marathon Man

Jason has been interested in doing a trail marathon for some time. So in March when I saw an advertisement for one here in the Black Hills I encouraged him to sign up if he was interested. The timing wasn't great for marathon training given the l-o-n-g winter, moving into our latest project house, our 10-day trip West and also hosting visitors ... but, it was the right run for Jason so he signed up.

Last Sunday he got to run through 26.2 miles of Black Hills beauty while the kids & I had a lot of fun stopping every few miles to cheer for him along the way! Definitely a different experience than the last marathon he ran (in China!)

So proud of this guy for even considering a marathon and for doing it!

Finding Springtime Fun in the Black Hills

After my parents returned to California last week the house felt very quiet (& a bit lonely). Not to mention, the dishes are not getting done nearly as quickly :)

We had a really fun visit with them and were overwhelmed by their gererousity in working on house projects with us as well as taking our family out to eat a number of times, purchasing some needed home improvement items and buying groceries for us. They also babysat so Jason & I could go on our first kid-free date in over a year (we got to celebrate our 11 year anniversary on the actual day!)

My parents perfectly timed their visit for the start of Springtime here in Rapid City (in the middle of MAY!) and we all got to enjoy the beauty of the season.

Even with my Mom's walking boot we did quite a bit of exploring in the region: visiting the DC Booth Fish Hatchery in Spearfish on opening day, stopping at the geographic 'Center of the Nation', wandering the beautiful grounds at the 'Chapel in the Hills', checking out some awesome aircraft at the Air & Space Museum and picnicing at the beautiful Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park.