It's a race!

This weekend I ran in a triathlon in beautiful Luray, VA with my friends, Lauren and Kara.  In celebration of current world events, my friends and I did the Olympic-distance tri.  And, in celebration of not having enough time or motivation on our hands, we did a relay, each of us contributing just one leg of the journey.  That actually ended up being very cool because I got to watch and enjoy the rest of the race.  I did the run, and I'm pretty sure it was the fastest time I've ever gotten in a 10-K.  Yay, me!  (My motivation: I had to finish before a girl whose teammate had been trash-talking one of my teammates during the bike leg.  Not cool, biker dude!)

I think we finished in about 3 hours.  Action shots will be posted once they become available.  The whole race was very scenic and beautiful, and only a little bit hot for my leg.  (But not humid, which was a dream come true!)  Humor me, while I share just a few examples of the scenic beauty.  It makes my mountain/lake-loving heart smile.

This little boy was cheering for his daddy.  He was definitely the biggest fan in attendance.

(I had to sneak in just one cool DC shot that I got when I went to see Superman at Screen on the Green for FHE. :o)

Finally I see the Baltimore aquarium

That's right, and it only took me 3 years to do it.  I went up with a couple friends, Jen and Nick, and we had ourselves a grand ol' time.  I must say, it really is pretty awesome.  Worth the hype - but I'm not sure if it's worth the $29 entry fee.  Good thing Nick hooked us all up with his military discount.

They've got a three-legged sea turtle,

(I hear they're making a prosthetic leg for the little guy. So nice of them.)

more different turtles with really long necks,

 anemones,


frogs, birds, and lots and lots of beautiful fish.  And some that aren't so beautiful.  

My personal favorite was probably the Marbled prehensile-tailed lizard, for obvious reasons.

The stars at night!!! Are big and bright!!!

Huzzah for getting together with the Croshaw ladies last weekend!  (Plus Jason and Colby.  Thanks for putting up with us, boys! To the rest of you sisters: you were definitely missed.)  Location of choice: Dana's new digs in San Antonio.  Our time together was most enjoyable - although I must admit, it really doesn't matter where we met up, it was just really really fun to be together. Lots of laughing. I just love that we all have more or less the exact same sense of humor.  We even went out and got pedicures...and for whatever reason, three of us independently chose to paint our tootsies the same shade of hot pink.  Here is a sample of the fun.

"Wow," Dana reflects on the icon of her new home. "It's so tiny."

And it really is.  Everyone says the size of 

the Alamo is underwhelming.  It is true.

Stopping for an ice cream break as we strolled along the 

Riverwalk.  I guess DC is doing me some good - I wasn't 

as miserable in the humidity as everyone else.

The billboard: "EVERYTHING'S BIGGER IN TEXAS."  Just a 

block away from the itsy bitsy Alamo.  Other than that, 

and the women's bathroom in the airport, yes.  Tis true.

And of course, the darling children.  Little Lilia 

has such a sweet personality already.

Note: Colby's waffle is in the shape of Texas.  If there 

was any doubt, once again, Texas pride is very real.