Friday October 30th. Another little one! This one not so photogenic but a healthy heartbeat and plump yolk sac. Benjamin is going to be a big brother! June 7th, 2010 is the due date.

Even though it is clearly obvious, the baby is the dark smudge in the white fuzzy area. The doctor didn’t get us a great pic this time.

They say the second is easier. Or is it harder? So far things haven’t been as emotional as with Benjamin, but there has been a decrease in energy level. Benjamin is such a great kid and we adore the little guy. We adore the time we have with him and the moments he makes us laugh. Like the times when we say, “where is Ben?” and he points to himself and he says, “me”. We fit well and enjoy our little family. But we know there is room for more and are excited for Benjamin to become an older brother. Great times and life are ahead!

- Doug and Em

I thought we had a bunch more pictures, but these are the only ones that turned out.

On Wednesday we went to the trunk-or-treat and then on Friday, Benjamin went to a Halloween/birthday party. We didn’t make it trick-or-treating due to the rain. But we have learned that Benjamin loves Tootsie Rolls.

- Doug and Em

I had to post this picture. Emily craftily put together an awesome costume for Benjamin this year. He is a knight of the crusades. More pictures to come!

- Doug

…over the past month.

I have recently been in the throes of thesis writing and have placed our blog on the back burner. Apologies to all those who actually follow this blog.  Usually, when I did have time for updates, the desire for writing was dead. So here is a quick rundown of our past month-ish. If it is of any interest, all that remains to my thesis is my conclusion.

200 miles in 24 hours

Sept. 20th-21st, I participated in the Reach the Beach relay. 12 of us ran through the state of New Hampshire from Franconia Notch to Hampton Beach. Unfortunately, a relay race like this isn’t great for spectators so I did no have my usual cheering crowd. But is was a great experience and we didn’t do too shabby. Our overall time was 28 hours and 47 minutes. We averaged 8:19 minute miles.

Here is the team at the beginning of the race. I actually started the first leg of the race.

And here I am, celebrating the finish at Hampton Beach with a Coke.

Giant Mountain

We climbed the 12th highest peak in the Adirondacks or more commonly called, Giant mountain, ascending to 4,626 feet. (Better known as a hilltop to Utahns) It was a beautiful day, but very cold when we finally reached the top. Benjamin enjoyed the trip though and the leaves and scenery were priceless.

When we reached the bottom, we hiked to the waterfall that Emily ice-climbed back in February.

That part of the hike Benjamin was able to do by himself, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Delaware

Matt and Rebecca have temporarily moved to Delaware. And Amber had some things to wrap up in D.C. So there was a rendezvous in Delaware. I did not attend, instead took the opportunity to spend long days and nights writing and then enjoying sleeping in without a little guy waking before 6 each morning. But, Emily and Benjamin had a great time visiting family and playing with cousins. Benjamin and Lillian were able to go to a farm on the last day of their visit and see the pumpkins.

From what I hear, he had a great time playing with his cousins and we look forward to seeing them again at Thanksgiving.

Random

Here are some other pics and some videos that I have been meaning to get up on the blog.

These are some shots of when Benjamin visited his pal Isaac in Cooperstown back in August.

And these are some shots from the last day of swimming in the outdoor pool.

Benjamin with his friends Katie and Rosie.

And finally, two great videos:

One night Benjamin was acting goofy and I was able to capture some of it on video:

 

Eating peas and carrots sure makes a little guy sleepy:

- Doug

This past weekend we chose to do a relatively easy hike up Black Mountain for our first backpacking trip with Benjamin. We stayed the night at the Lapland pond lean-to. It was a great spot. There were no mosquitoes or black flies and we had the lean-to to keep us dry through the rainy night.

Benjamin enjoyed exploring the great outdoors and playing with all the sticks, leafs, and dirt.

In the morning we packed up and headed to the peak of Black Mountain.

When we got to the top this was our view. The fog had settled in so there wasn’t much to see.

However, after grabbing a bite to eat, the fog lifted and we were able to get a great view of Lake George.

A great finish to Benjamin’s first!!

- Doug

 Oquaga Creek in New York was the setting for our Labor Day weekend camping trip. It was a great area with a beautiful lake and setting. The grassy areas helped as well as there wasn’t much dirt eating by one little guy in particular. 

The great food, family and relaxing time made for a near perfect Labor Day. All that was missing to make it perfect was Amber.

Lillian, Madeline and Benjamin had a great time together and were often inseparable.

They walked together…

biked together…

got together fist thing in the morning…

and played at the beach together.

Emily and Rebecca swam out to the dock and practiced a number of synchronized jumps into the water. (I was only allowed to post one picture)

An exciting addition to our excursion was the presence of a disc golf course in the state park.

Here Madeline is celebrating a par run on hole two.

Benjamin enjoyed it so much that he would not let go of the discs, even after he fell asleep on the car ride home.

- Doug

 A month ago I competed in the Utah Half Ironman:

1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 run.

Despite cold temperatures before the swim, choppy Utah Lake waters, an additional 5 miles on the bike course due to a closed gate and misplaced cones, treacherous winds that pushed you at an angle on the bike course, having to change a flat tire, pea-sized hail stones, and rain, I was able to make my goal, #11, of finishing under 5 hours and 10 minutes.

I finished 7th in my age group, 38th overall, with the time of 5 hours, 2 minutes and 52 seconds.

The morning was cold and windy, but my family braved the weather as well to cheer me on.

We had to exit the water using the boat ramp that was covered in moss. You could not stand and walk out because it was too slick. If you can’t tell by the pictures, this made for a very slippery slope and a hilarious scene. Crawling out of the water is not ideal, but it became a memorable event, one of the many for this half Ironman.

Luckily, maybe, I was in the first group of riders to head out on the bike course. Unfortunately the race crew had not yet opened a gate and had misplaced cones. Therefore many of us did an extra 5 miles and had to turn around.  

Here we are running with Utah Lake and West Mountain in the background.

This is my “never again” look.

Here Benjamin is sharing his watermelon with me after the race.

And here is Alex, a future triathlete, trying out my bike.

Overall, it was a good race and the weather was good, except for the wind.

At the end of the race, I was determined to be done with half Ironman races, but I think we will try again next year. Now, I have to break 5 hours!

- Doug

Eric Sanderson writes a tribute to honor the 8th year anniversary of Sept. 11th:

There is a process in ecology called succession — the orderly advance of ecosystems from one state to another. There are moments of terror and unfathomable destruction, and then stability returns and life takes hold again, often with a firmer grip. This applies, of course, both to nature and to human society. As Jane Jacobs wrote, “Lively, diverse, intense cities contain the seeds of their own regeneration.” Resilience is a hallmark of any successful system, whether for a forest, a wetland or a city.

Today, we honor the memory of all that was lost and sacrificed on 9/11. But in thinking back 400 years, in imagining the Lower Manhattan of the distant past, we can join that memory to another realization: that we, and the world we live in, have a remarkable capacity to recover and renew.

In a rational and civil society, I think most people would appreciate that the President of the United States is advocating and addressing school children on the subject of taking personal responsibility for their success in school.

Last time I checked, personal responsibility was an attribute you want kids to learn.

Last time I checked, personal responsibility is a concept that I have been taught not only in my home but in my church as well.

Last time I checked, personal responsibility and socialism were opposite concepts.

I expect demagogues like Glenn Beck, who chooses fear over faith and who is, ashamedly, a member of my church and who is lining his pocket on his audience’s ignorance — capitalism at its finest, to take up this propaganda of President Obama indoctrinating anti-Americanism in our children. Yet the GOP is steering this fear mongering as well. The party that Abraham Lincoln founded is continuing to spread fear and hatred. When will it end?

Florida GOP Chair Jim Greer:

I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology

It appears that many believe that somehow getting rid of Obama will save the country. From… from… from… what?

This knee-jerk name-calling and hyper-partisan hysteria is the latest sign that things have become completely unhinged inside the hotbox of the GOP. Accusing the president of having a “socialist ideology” and spreading “liberal lies” and “propaganda” don’t even raise common sense – or common decency – concerns.

Wingnuts live in a world without perspective, and those on the right are trying to turn the President of the United States into a fearful figure in order to score partisan points with their base. Only the far, far left fringe would have accused President Bush of having a ‘fascist ideology” – and they would have rightly been laughed off the stage. These statements are coming from GOP party officials – politicizing a talk to school kids by the President of the United States. Stay classy, GOP.

Members of this Grand Ole Party has even called for another attack.

Former CIA analyst and conspiracy theorist Michael Scheuer:

“The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States … Because it’s going to take a grassroots, bottom up pressure, because these politicians prize their office, prize the praise of the media and the Europeans. It’s an absurd situation, again. Only Osama can execute an attack that will force Americans to demand a government protect them effectively, consistently and with as much violence as necessary.”

I need to stop paying attention to politics.

- Doug