St. Patty's Day

Apparently Blogger has updated and you can now upload pictures really quickly.  This is awesome for me.  Usually, I have to upload 4, wait for them to load and then add 4 more.  For big posts, this takes me hours.  I have to wait until all my church work is done as I can't get away from the link or my pictures don't load.  During nap, I will fold clothes, clip coupons, plan Sunday school lessons, etc, while I wait.  Otherwise, I have to do it at night.  Either way, it is time consuming.  I am very excited about this update!  However, I have loaded all my pictures incorrectly this time.  Usually I start with the final pictures of my post and go backwards.  This new way is reversed so my story will be in rewind today:)

I am more than a month late for this post, but it is better than nothing!

We love St. Patty's day around here!  We ran in the St. Leo's race this year.  Andy decided he was going to do his first 10K.  He was in a lot of pain from a soccer injury in the Fall, but he was doing well.  He says I was pushing him.  I say I was encouraging him.  Either way, he was hurting by the end.  He did great, but he was not feeling it! 
Here he is about to cross the finish line.

 Looking a little pained

Getting started (remember, we are in rewind)

The girls ran the fun run.  They both did great.  They are getting re hydrated here!  I was supposed to run the 10K as well, but Bennett had an ear infection.  Gigi was here to help us both run and hang out with the kids, but she stayed home to let him rest as he was sick.  So I took one for the team and stayed on the sidelines.  I felt like a louse just sitting there!  If I had known how much Andy would complain afterward, I would have made him sit and taken off:)

Carly, red-faced, but happy.  I ran with her as her personal running coach.  She didn't need as much encouragement as the last race.  We had a nice time.

Joiner at her finish!

Look behind the kid in the green hat and you will see Carly coming in next to the guy in green.

Joiner is a blur as she comes through!

Here is Joiner sprinting into the finish.  This kid is a machine!  She was one of the first finishers again.  She has so much internal motivation to be 6.  She was even encouraging her friends as she would pass them.  Before she was too far ahead of Carly and I, I saw her stop and get a basketball friend and hold her hand while running!  Now, I did pass this girl later, so I guess when she became dead weight, Joiner dropped her, but it was still a sweet gesture!

Carly before the race

Joiner at the start

Joiner waiting for the gun to go off.

For St. Patrick's Day at school, Joiner was assigned the task of making a Leprechaun trap.  We thought about what to do and she decided to spray paint a milk jug gold.  She originally wanted to label it Leprechaun trap, but we talked about what a trap meant.  So she came up with Leprechaun Dance Party to allure he/ she inside.  She even put a large jewel like a disco ball suspended at the top.  And it was completed with "gold"fish crackers to get the Leprechaun to stay!

For our St Patty's dinner we brined a brisket and made the most amazing corned beef I have ever had.  It was truly delicious.  Lissa, Tina, Gigi, and Grumpa joined us the for feast!

The House is Pointing Skyward!

I am behind in posting our house progress. Over the past month or so they have laid the footings, the foundation, and framed most of the house.

Here is the foundation of the house and the basement walls

Bennett navigating the landscape

The cement is poured in the basement

Looking down on the basement. The black is the final water-proofing layer on the basement walls.

Meeting our new neighbors.

The first level of the house is up

Most of my pictures are on my phone. I probably have 100 pictures of the rooms and such, but I haven't taken them off. Today when I went by, the roof was up and they are getting ready to put the shingles on! Yeah! Once they are sure the house is dried out, they will put in the windows and the fun can begin:)

The side view. You can see the screen porch on the back right.

New York: Part 3

We spent our final day in New York visiting Central Park and the Battery Park area. Carly had been sick the night before and was just not feeling like herself that morning. Candy stayed with her for the first part of the day and let her nap. Joiner, Margaret, Bruce, and I headed to Central Park. Their friend Moria, who had been our guide other days, was running in a race and we were hoping to see her at some point.

The apartment where John Lennon lived when he was killed.

The Imagine plaque in his honor at Strawberry field.

Some skyline. Almost all of the pictures have runners in them as they were circling us at each point. It was a great day for a run. I was sad that I wasn't running!

The old Tavern on the Green. It is now a visitors center for the park.

Joiner and Bruce

The girls

Someone offered to take a group shot

More pretty pavement work. I wonder if I can add this to the new house:)

Beautiful gardens

Joiner. She was sad that Carly was sick, but she was glad for the solo time. I think all of us with siblings can understand:)

Beautiful tile work

Horse drawn carriages

Only in New York would they be interrupted by a fire truck.

Amazingly, Joiner found Moria while she was running and we were at the finish when she came in. She was nice enough to walk around the park with us!

Joiner about to fall in the fountain to look at all the coins!

Bruce and Joiner

The boathouse. We were there April 1st and they had just started letting the rowboats out again! We decided it was too cool.

Joiner took the camera and got a group shot

Joiner and Moria with Margaret behind
The sailboats and ducks on the pond

These next shots are of the large Alice in Wonderland sculpture. I am posting them all because it is so funny to see Joiner posing on literally the entire thing!

This is Margaret, and I wanted to get a shot of the whole thing. You can see behind Margaret that Joiner is still posing.

On our way out of the park we spotted this "gold man." Joiner was very interested in him!

An interesting sculpture made of tire tubes at the entrance

The Plaza hotel! We didn't go in, but still pretty cool

Andy thought Carly might be up to lunch, so we planned to meet them at Grand Central Station. Bloomingdales on the walk to Grand Central. Again, we didn't go in. Margaret and I are already planning a return trip to go shopping!

One of Joiner's independent food goals was a real New York hot dog. She said it was good!

We gave her the camera to walk around the station with Andy and Bruce. Here they are waiting for coffee.

Bruce checking for the best way to Battery Park.

Carly came to lunch, but that was about it. She laid in my lap for most of it. When I went to the bathroom, Joiner took over.

The beautiful lights in GCS.

The ceiling with the stars and such

Carly had a fever by the time lunch was over. She and I stayed at the hotel to let her sleep some more. Andy, Bruce, Margaret, and Joiner headed to the Battery Park area.

Here is the new Freedom Tower. They had just windowed the 100th floor when we were there

Joiner eating a hot pretzel with the Statue of Liberty in the background

The Statue of Liberty. This is close as they got, but it is still pretty cool!

Ellis Island

Joiner in front of another sculpture

Andy is not quite the picture-taker that I am, so that is all we have from the afternoon. Thankfully, Carly took another great nap, and that combined with the Ibuprofen, helped her wake with a smile and a new vim and vigor. She wasn't quite herself, but she was up for a final birthday dinner for Margaret and Bruce, who's birthday is just the day before.

We got up bright and early to take a car to the airport.

Ww paid an unreasonably high amount for these cups of Apple Jack, but the girls thought it was a great breakfast treat!

The gang before take-off.

We had a great flight and we were back in NC to see our sweet boy by 11am. Poor Margaret had to go into work, but the rest of us crashed after a fantastic trip! Can't wait to do it again!