In Other October News...

We managed to squeeze in a few other events in this awesomely full month:

I took a five day trip ALL BY MYSELF! No kids! Christopher, in full hero-dad mode, took two days off of work, and my sister rolled up her sleeves and gave up lots of her free time to help take care of Si and Mils. I got to fly back to Richmond to meet Claire, Whitney and Andrew's new daughter. Whit and I went to college together and our friendship is layered with stories from all the subsequent stages of life. I could not have been more thankful to be able to spend those days with my friend and her new family. Claire, by the way, is just a gorgeous baby.

Whitney with baby Claire; Sandy with big boy Gavin. Wait, weren't we just 18 and living in the dorms together?

Claire all snuggled up for an outing. Our friend Jean loaned this to me when I had Millie and I passed it on to Sandy. Does she realize that now four of us have snuggled our babies in this cozy cover?

Julie sent this pic to me on my phone halfway thru my trip. Somehow, I wasn't surprised that this is what was going on. Love it!

A few months ago Christopher set out to covert a couple more of his buddies to triathloning. Lots of training swims & rides later, the guys completed their first race. Just as impressive as the guys' awesome finish times were their wives, my friends Chrissy and Betsy, who woke/dressed/fed their SEVEN kids and made it to the race before 7:00 am. Yes, between them they have SEVEN GIRLS! It was such a fun morning for all of us.

Dads and daughters and Simon, pre-race.

Triathletes.

And there were first haircuts for all! Si really needed a professional touch on the mess I had made of his hair a few weeks ago, so we joined forces with pal Brynn (and mom Jill) to get all the kids a trim. Millie, of course, was a dream. She sat patiently, played with toys, felt proud to be a big-girl. Si squirmed for his life, trying to escape my grip with some kind of death roll/kick combo. Hence, no photos for him.

Proud AND crazy.

Lastly, we are headed to Nevada this weekend for Christopher's big Half Ironman triathlon. This is a huge deal. He's been training for months. So if you happen to think of it on Sunday morning, he might really appreciate a prayer on his behalf.