Saying good bye, but having fun doing it!

This weekend was bitter sweet.  It was our family’s last weekend staying at Grandpa Gene and Grandma Janis’ Bakersfield house.  Erin put together a wonderful going away party for them full of church friends and great memories.  We spent as much time as possible in the pool and tried to hit up as many Bakersfield haunts as we could, places like Hodel’s for Sunday buffet brunch and Smiths Bakery for donuts.  Sadly our family missed out on one last trip to Rosemary’s where they make the best home made ice cream and yummies, but perhaps that is a good thing seeing as how all we did was eat all weekend!!  I have complete confidence in the fact that Gene made up for our missing out by having his usual enormous banana split.  Before I post the pics from the weekend I wanted to share a couple stories.  I will start by saying that even though I have only enjoyed Bakersfield for the last 10 years, from the first time I stepped foot in their home, their church, their lives, I felt right at home.  They have been blessed by their time there and have wonderful memories to show for it.  Now it is time to move on to new and better things, more great memories in new places.  My last story happened as we were leaving on Monday night.  The boys had been swimming all day and were sad to have to leave, but Anthony took it the hardest.  He just cried and cried and kept saying how much he loved this place and how he didn’t want to leave.  As if it wasn’t hard enough on everyone!  Poor guy.  So, we soothed him as best we could, packed the car, and headed out the door.  I was driving and pulled away slowly to wave to grandma and grandpa and I looked over at Joe and saw he had tears in his eyes.  Then of course I had tears in my eyes!  He blamed Anthony for making him sad, but I know it was finally hitting him that this was it, the last time we could drive to this house or leave this house.  Enjoy the pics.

one of the last breakfasts at this counter

playing in the pool

 

who knows what they are plotting

 
the amazing cake Erin had made for the party

it was tough keeping these little fingers away

Benjy drew a picture of the house and they had people sign the matte

I made a photo book of pics from the house

connecting with friends

Joe is and forever will be, a ladies man

 
 
some people shared their favorite memories of the Spinozzis, including Tiffany Manning, a lifelong friend of Erin’s

more chatting and reminiscing

these two cuties (the babies) are just a month apart

this was right before he wet his pants and then asked if he could poop in the dirt

 
ain’t that the truth

me and all the cousins eating the last batch of Smiths donuts

(I didn’t eat them all, I just ended up being the only adult in the photo)

one last look as we drive away

one of the few things we WON’T miss about Bakersfield

It was such a great weekend and we are so glad we were able to go.  There was a brief moment when we weren’t sure we could.  It would have been sad to not get to say goodbye and see old friends and enjoy the house one last time.  Thank you, Spinozzis, for your generosity and hospitality that follows you wherever you go!   We have loved 7016 Eilas, but that is only because you made it such a great place to be.  Wherever you end up will be just as great or BETTER!

One resolution down…

aaand, so far it is the only one I have been able to keep.  I believe one of my others was blogging weekly, well, we all know how that is going.  So, on to the one I actually kept, running some sort of race.  Sunday was the Rock & Roll Half Marathon here in San Diego.  It was so much fun!  I was really nervous the days leading up to the race, as my mom and husband and kids can attest to, but now having done it I know what to expect next time, yes, next time!  I want to do this again and again.  There is such an energy when you run with a group of people, I just can’t explain it.  It pushed me to run further than I thought I could and do do so much better than I ever dreamed.  Just to break it down, when I signed up for this race in Feb. I figured I would walk most of it, I knew I could do that.   I had to put a finish time when I signed up, so I put 3.5 hours.  I figured that would give me plenty of time.  Well, as I trained more and more and started enjoying running I realized that I could probably run almost half, which was about 6 miles in my mind, walk a bit, then run the last mile or so.  Well, yesterday rolls around and I get going and there is this great energy going around me and before I know it I have run 9 miles!!!!  At that point my body was feeling it, mostly my right pinky toe and the horrible blister that was developing.  Ouch!  So, I walked for a bit, got hydrated, and ran the last two miles and crossed the finish line in less than 3 hours!!  I believe my time was 2.40.52.  So, well below my estimated goal and well beyond what I would have imagined myself accomplishing!  The most important part is that I had a good time, met some new friends, and truly enjoyed myself. 

It was a great day, I am very proud, but today it was back to reality.  There was laundry, bathrooms to clean, rugs to vacuum, and kids to take to and pick up from school, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  I am so thankful to my amazing family who put up with my running and crazy ideas like meeting them at the soccer fields on Saturday mornings and to my mom for coming out to not only help and spend time with the kids but to support me and cheer me on.  I know I was a bit of a pain this past week as I worked through my nerves.  Luckily I got a great night’s sleep on Saturday and was ready to go on Sunday morning at 6:15 (that is when the race officially started even though my group didn’t actually start until 7). 

Now we are in the home stretch for school to end and summer to begin. The boys will be doing a few day camps, we will spend some time in MN with my family, and this coming weekend we will be saying goodbye to Joe’s parent’s home in Bakersfield.  They are moving down this way to enjoy their retirement. 

Below are a few pics from the race.  Miraculously at about mile 9 Joe and I spotted each other and he got some great pics.  It didn’t work out for them to meet me at the finish, just too crazy, but we met up at the mall, had lunch, and all came home and took a nap!  Not a bad day if you ask me.  Enjoy!