Thanksgiving in Dallas

My brother planted the seed this summer for us to come to Dallas for Thanksgiving. He threw out the idea of watching the Cowboys play the Redskins on Thanksgiving afternoon in Cowboys stadium. With RGIII (my fantasty QB) and former Baylor player and Heisman trophy winner at the helm for the Redskins, it became very tempting!! We took the plunge and headed to Thanksgiving. I have only missed 3 years of Thanksgiving in Memphis with my parents. While I really did miss being with them, it is always fun to mix is up and do something spontaneous and different.

We drove down mid-day on Wednesdsay. The kids were so anxious to see their cousins and enjoy the long visit we would have. My sister-in-law Lydia had her parents in town overlapping our visit for a few days. When we arrived Lydia and her mom were putting the final touches on the beautiful turkey they had been cooking. I got to work and made my southern cornbread dressing so it would be ready to cook the next morning. The kids picked up like they see their cousins every day!!

We had a great meal and headed out to the Cowboys game for the afternoon. It was unseasonably warm that day, reaching almost 80 degrees which made the walk in from the car a little sticky!! The kids were amazed at how big Cowboys stadium is and the huge screen that is 60 yards long!! The Redskins had a great game, with my QB throwing 4 touchdowns but the Cowboys tried to make it interesting with a 4th quarter comeback, but fell a bit short. We were all tired and headed home for the night.

On Friday, we skipped all the shopping and let the kids have fun. We took everyone to the Dallas Arboretum for the afternoon. A great place to let the kids play and run around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. They were having the Chiluli blown glass exhibit which was absolutely beautiful. The kids even commented how cool some of the sculptures were to see. Nice weather made for a fun afternoon followed up by some great Tex-Mex for dinner.

Saturday was lazy for most of us. Gary and my brother went to the Baylor/Texas Tech game back at Cowboys stadium where they were in my brother's company suite. Very nice!! Lydia and I took the kids to Jump Street which is like SkyZone in Memphis, a trampoline place. The kids got their jump on and then we headed for Slurpees (my brother won a year of free slurpees at an auction!) and then home to play outside some more.

We headed home on Sunday. The drive home was not too bad, especially because Caroline slept for 2 hours! Always love the quiet from being asked "Are we there yet?" every 20 seconds!! Nice Thanksgiving with some of my family and really enjoyed the time together.

The kids love to keep it real with Gary and asked on the way home if he would put up the Christmas lights that night! He of course politely declined. : )

the zyrieks, the perrys and the newfields before our awesome lunch

gary and i before lunch

the kids are ready for the cowboys game!

the zyrieks in their cowboys gear

crazy stadium and screen!

having fun at the game

one of the glass exhibits at the arboretum

the cousins at the arboretum

sunny day for the zyrieks at the arboretum

sleepy caroline gave us some peace on the way home!

Lunch with Princess Laughing Brook

Caroline's class had their Thanksgiving "feast" on Tuesday. Of course for senior kindergarteners this means Chick Fil A party trays and lots of chips/dip and cookies. It was definitely their kind of feast. The kids all made their own shirts to wear which were so cute and selected their own native names. Caroline was Princess Laughing Brook which is pretty well suited for her. She had a good time and they were all ready for the long Thanksgiving break.

Princess Laughing Brook with her parents before lunch.

Caroline and me. Yes, I am wearing a Dallas Cowboys shirt! It was NFL day at St. Jude because the Play 60 bus was coming on campus with pro players and cheerleaders and we all were to wear NFL gear that day. It was so fun!
 

Waiting patiently for her turn to get some food!

Sophie, Caroline, Nina and Brooke. We definitely missed Ava that day...home sick!

Gary and Cam reunion

For Father's Day I gave Gary a trip to see the Carolina Panthers play the Denver Broncos. Gary has been wanting to see Cam play professional football ever since he got drafted. Gary was reminicisng about the national championship game from January 2011 and was so excited about the game, even though Cam is not having the greatest of seasons. We flew to Charlotte on Friday and enjoyed a nice and relaxing weekend with nothing, absolutely nothing, on the agenda other than the game. We slept late, ate some good food, went to see a movie at a posh movie theater (where you can pick your seat and order gourmet food delivered to your seat), got in two great runs, met a friend for dinner at a yummy mexican place, enjoyed the game and just relaxed.  It was such a great weekend. I cannot say that we toured all over Charlotte, but we learned that it is a big NASCAR town (the Hall of Fame and National Headquarters for NASCAR were across the street from our hotel), they have sold out 100 straight Panthers games, Uptown is a great and nice part of town and the sports fans are fun. The Panthers did not play that well and Peyton Manning led his team to victory, but we still enjoyed the game. We had never seen Peyton play either in the pros, so that was pretty cool as well. Overall, great weekend. A getaway we really needed and a fun time.

after our saturday 10k off-road run...beautiful day and scenery!

gary trying on a jersey for kicks....he loved it!!

in our gear and ready for the game

4th row seats....great weather and a fun game!

 

Wrap up of the Road Race Series

The final two races from the Memphis Runners Road Race Series were the 10 mile race at Shelby Forrest and the Half Marathon along Singleton Parkway.  I had heard lots of folks say the 10 miler were tough due to the hills but that it was their favorite race. I was a little worried but was trying to stay confident. The hills were brutal and it had turned a bit cooler which helped, but I did it and was felt great about it. I tried to stay under 1:40 as that would be 10:00/mile pace and figured that was decent based on the terrain. I finished less than a minute from my goal, so I was thrilled. It was definitely a workout!!  The half marathon was flat and and out and back course. I was ready and hoping for a good showing. I was shooting for under 2:10 and finished slightly over 2:06!! I was super excited. My fastest ever half marathon is 2:05:27 with Gary at St. Jude so really thrilled. My work with my coach is paying off and I am hoping I can shave a minute off that time and beat my personal best at St. Jude on December 1st. Such a great running series and glad that I did it. I ended up doing 7 of the 10 races and did one of each distance.  Bring on the St. Jude half marathon!

Rachel and I at 6:30am before the race started!

At the finish line for the 10 miler!!

There I am finishing up the half marathon!!

Trunk or Treat and Halloween

We joined our friends at Highland Church of Christ for their annual Trunk or Treat on Sunday night. The girls were excited to see their friends from school and of course get lots of candy. Such a nice community event the church puts on every year. They serve hot dogs for dinner and then the kids go from car to car and trick or treat. The cars often have themed decorations and everyone gets very into their costumes.  Anna thankfully took my suggestion for costume idea #2 (no more trying to dress up like Justin Beiber!!) and dressed like a marathon runner. Caroline changed from Pochahantas that she wore at the Fall Fun Fest at Hope and wore her cowgirl costume that she wore to school for Western Day. Love that we did not spend a single dollar on Halloween costumes other than sweat bands for Anna to wear with her running gear. It was a little chilly so they started the trick or treating early and Anna quickly put on her long pants and jacket. Fun night and the girls have plenty of candy!!

On Halloween night, the girls trick or treated at Mom's house first and then we drove out to Collierville to trick or treat at Dad's house and the girls decided to walk around their neighborhood a bit. Blair and Kim were there as well with their 3 kids. It was pretty chilly. We had to go and visit the house of the "candy man" that lives in Dad's neighborhood. He works for a candy company and gives the kids "1 of each" that he has out. It is a huge haul and the girls have enjoyed it in years past as well. Fun night. Hard that it is a school night, but still a good time and way too much candy.

We usually just leave our candy out while we trick or treat. We have wanted to set up a camera to see how many people actually just take a few pieces and who actually pours our basket of candy into their bag. We always come home to no candy. We got home around 8:30 this year and had the girls take a shower before bed. We turned off our lights and were getting things ready for the next school day when we started hearing banging on the front door. There was a group of 16 kids/adults all wanting candy. Hello, did they not understand the rule about not going to a house that has its lights off? Ridiculous. A good way to get rid of some of the stuff the girls did not like from their own baskets since we were out of what we had bought. Kind of crazy!!



anna the marathon runner and caroline the cowgirl (with 4 less inches of hair!!) at highland's trunk or treat

the gang at trunk or treat....katie, sophie, lainie, anna, caroline and sophie



showing off their stuff on halloween night

the girls with mimi and papa on halloween night