The Roblee Blog: February 2014

Hello there! We've got a fun show for you tonight...or today...or.....okay whatever.

We start you off with some random photos from the end of January. There are some great pics from our little fishing excursion in Lake Laguna Niguel. Brian and Erica were kind enough to snag a primo spot at the lake (they left at 4 am) and we enjoyed ourselves immensely that morning. Mike and the boys were out camping, so I just had Alana with me. We caught three trout and had a great time doing it! Alana was such a cutie and was so happy the whole time. I brought her pack and play so she could hang with us. Unfortunately, there was a tree (Brian's favorite tree) that hung over the area where we were sitting. The birds congregated there and proceeded to unleash a sequence of poops that forced us to move our location a bit. I don't think I've ever been pooped on so much! Well, at least by a bird...

In other news....KIMMY AND BART GOT ENGAGED ON JANUARY 28, 2014!!! YEAH BABY!

On February 1, Colleen treated us (and Katie, Dillon and Karston) to a tour up at Wild Wonders in Bonsall. It was such a great little place and the kids LOVED seeing all of the exotic animals. It was nice to be able to get up close and personal with the animals and to be able to touch some of them. Mike even got chastised for being too close to the fence once, hehe. Thank you Colleen and Bill for a wonderful "experience" Christmas present! We had a blast!

Snot bubble!

Playin' in the back yard.

Dane's Cub Scout troop got to go to the Carlsbad High School basketball game and talk to the players and cheerleaders. :)

First time angler!

This is Brian's special trick. He inserts a syringe into the worm and blows it up with air so it floats. Only Brian.

A couple of our beauties:)

Congratulations Bart and Kimmy! Can't wait for the big day!

Bart made a beautiful ring out of his mother's diamonds. WOW! Good man...

Ryan's creation. It's like Sputnik. Spherical but quite pointy at parts.

I think Alana seems more interested than Boehner at this point.

Ryan's preschool. They love Miss. Paige.

Dane does so well on his spelling tests!

The boys are ready for Wild Wonders!

And so is Alana:)

"Great. Another day with annoying kids."

Our first boo boo of the day and we hadn't even started yet!

Grandma Colleen holding baby Karston:)

Why?

They are so smelly!

"Git in mah belleh!"

Such a fat, cute little thing.

Tired little girl.

Ryan's new friend Em coming over to paint.

Em is 22 months old, 13 months older than Alana. They are the same size.

Ah. A broken monster truck. Shocking.

I could get used to this.

In this family, when we say "Half Marathon," we mean "PARTY TIME!" I truly feel like I've said this a thousand times, but my 34th birthday was the best birthday of my life. On Saturday, January 18th, my family came down to start prepping for what I thought was a little post-marathon hangout with the family. Turns out, they were prepping for my "best birthday ever" party! But let me not get ahead of myself...

Saturday night was nice and relaxed (for me at least). Mike and I played our usual ping pong tournament, Kimmy, Moggy and the rents played with the kids, and mom prepared a lovely Pasta Fagioli (or as Ryan calls it...Pasta "Pa soup") for us to enjoy before the race. It was such a great time of chit chat, movie watching and enjoying eachother's company. We headed to bed pretty early since we had a big day the next day. Little did I know just how big it was!

Sunday morning we woke up to the coffee brewing (among other things) and a runner's breakfast of bananas, oatmeal, almond butter and rice cakes. Breakfast of champions! We took some pics and Mike shuttled us over to the starting line. We met Katie and Colleen there, at which point Colleen asked for her bib. I had forgotten it at home! AAAAHHHH! Thank heaven Mike was there to race back to the house and grab it. Whew. Crisis averted.

The start of a race is always so emotional, but this one was especially...well...special. I had my dad, my sister, my cousin and my aunt all running with me, and the positivity surrounding us was infectious. Everyone was so encouraging and uplifting. As Annelle from Steel Magnolias says, "I still get real emotional sometimes." Okay okay, I'll move on, but you know I had to quote Steel Mags.

Dad was hilarious throughout the race. He was saying hi to everyone we passed, yelling at everyone "Hey! First timer here!" It was so DAD. We were cracking up! It was also awesome to see Kimmy and Katie running so well. They are strong women, that's for sure. And Katie just had a baby 4 months ago! WHAT?! Colleen and I got to run a lot of this together, which was so nice. Our last marathon we had to split up for reasons I won't mention here, so this was what I dubbed our "redemption run." Around mile 3-4, the family came out to give us hugs and high fives on the route! It was so great to see their faces and it definitely gave us a good boost.

The best part of this race (for me) was crossing the finish line all together and seeing our cheer leaders on the side lines cheering for us. That was a feeling that will permanently reside in my heart. Another feeling that resided in me was THANK GOODNESS THAT IS OVER. Now it's time to eat In N Out! Or so I thought...

After a little "Mexican border" maneuvering from Mike, we escaped the crowds and arrived at the house. Just as I was walking to the front door, I uttered the words, "I feel like I have to barf..." Then the door opens and....SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My family and friends are standing in the back yard ready to celebrate with me! It was hands down the coolest thing ever. And I didn't have to barf anymore! Not only have I never had anyone throw a surprise party for me, but I was truly surprised! I had not one inkling that anything was going on. Great job to all who threw it! A special shout out to Mike, mom, dad, Erica, Kim, and Mern for organizing this thing. I know how much work goes into this stuff and I so appreciate everything...more than you know.

Now, I'll stop yammering so you can see the pics. Thanks to dad for taking most of the pics again. I am still getting over the fact that this party is over, but if there's one thing I know about this clan...there's always another party in the works:)