Virginia Beach!

After the race (see below) we took Claire down to the beach. Last year she wanted nothing to do with this place - the whole thing pretty much freaked her out. What a difference a year makes! She fell asleep on the way down there and was out cold when Ray carried her down to the sand. We laid out the sheet and put her on it, thinking if nothing else we'd just hang out and she'd get some much-needed sleep. Nope.

The moment Ray laid her down she woke up, fussing. Then sat up, looked around, saw the water and went, "Oh, wow!!" (or the 18-month-non-verbal equivalent thereof). Then she got mad at us because we had to hold her back to put her bathing suit on. She had a blast. She started off splashing, then ran in with Ray. Then ran back out.....but promptly turned around and headed back in....for about 45 minutes. Then we built a pretty sad excuse for a sand castle, but took no pictures because we were all too dirty by then to touch the camera. She loved it, though. And then slept very soundly that night. (sorry for the small pictures, you should be able to click on them to super-size).

Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon - 2008

The main reason we go down to Va. Beach each Labor Day is so Ray can see his college friends and run the RNR 1/2 Marathon. Claire and I are the Springsteen Support Crew. This year they changed up the course a little bit, so its actually easier to see him several times. We managed to find a good corner to see him go by at 1.5 miles, then again at 11 miles. Then we crossed over a block and saw him just past the 12 and then we made it over to boardwalk and saw him right before 13-mile marker!

And of course there was some downtime in between. We found a restaurant (at 6:30 a.m.) to give me coffee and let us sit inside to have Claire's breakfast...she actually was happier then this picture shows, for being grabbed out of bed at 4:30 a.m. Then she ran a few laps up/down the block while we were waiting for Ray to come by, and tried to climb the light pole to see better. She did see him and wave when he went by at the 1.5 mile, but then cried because he didn't stop and stay with us! She saw him barely at 11, and then the last two times was so tired she was just too cross-eyed to care. She was a trooper, though.

The End of an Era :-(

Most of you have heard about the most wonderful sitter/nanny in the entire world: Suzy.
She started with us in January when I was studying for the bar, and then when Claire's daycare couldn't take her until September, she stayed on with us full-time. We were sooooo lucky to have her! Claire loves her and we never doubted for an instant that Suzy wasn't taking good care of her.
But, all good things come to an end, and Claire starts daycare September 3 - which is really good timing because she seems really ready to do this. Even though the first couple of weeks will be tough, I think she'll have a blast.
Oh, did I mention Suzy's really (really) tall? Yup, as in 6' 10".