Amalia's dance

DC

We all went up to DC a few weeks ago. Lisa gave a talk on her research at the Smithsonian and the rest of us went along just for fun. We stayed in an apartment for the weekend that was literally right next to the zoo. So we spent a lot of time there. Also, Lisa's host got us special backstage passes at the zoo so we got to see how the zoo works and get a personal tour of many of the exhibits.We also visited the Natural History museum. The weather wasn't great but we had a lot of fun.

Amalia and Camilo at the statue for the panda bear exhibit. It was raining but that kept the crowds away, which was nice.

An eagle sculpture from some building in Philly was next to the bird exhibit.
The kids and back end of an emu.
Yup, we visited the zoo!
Very cool Lion sculpture at the entrance.
Panda bears were a hit.
Amalia got the distinct opportunity to feed them a treat! Literally no one gets to do this. Inside the bag was a 'popsicle' of apple juice with apple chunks. Amalia got to throw it over the fence and into the cage.
Don't open this door!
Lions are always popular.
Monkeys are too!
although someone doesn't seem too interested.
Washington monument wasn't nearly as much fun as the zoo.
Camilo though he saw the president.
Dinosaurs are always a hit at the natural history museum.
They also had a display set up to let kids handle bugs. The kids loved it but lots of parents were scared.

Amalia's birthday

Amalia's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. 5 years old! Here are some highlights.

Her main gift was a new bike. This is a mountain bike with gears and real brakes. It was hidden in the van so this pic shows her discovering it.

A few adjustments.
Learning how to use the hand brakes.
And she is off! It took a couple of tries to learn the gears and the brakes but now she is going great. She can ride faster and further than ever before and most importantly she loves it.
And then we had a party for her. Amalia wanted to have a costume party so all her friends dressed up. She wore her bumble bee outfit.

Lisa made cupcakes, two kinds and different kinds of frosting. They were delicious and almost healthy.
and the kids loved them too.
The party was at the park with a giant playground. Camilo loved the playground, especially having us chase him around.
and the kids had a great time too!

my birthday

I just turned 40. Seems old. Here are some pics from my birthday.

The kids are obviously excited!

Now Camilo is happy.
Because he gets to play with a bucket.
Amalia and Lisa made me a birthday cake. Chocolate with mint frosting!
Wrestling.
and still smiling... no one was hurt yet.

Asheville zoo

So as part of our trip to NC, we stopped at the Asheville wildlife area. Its a small zoo that is focused on local wildlife. Its a nice little zoo and the kids enjoyed it a lot.

They had an indoor part with lots of herps. Here is Amalia checking out the hellbender salamander, you can see it in the upper right side of the aquarium.

She also like the snakes. Camilo was scared of the snakes, so no pics of him.

The outdoor section had lots of cool animals. Here are the otters. Unfortunately the bears were still hibernating.

Amalia loved the otters.

She also wanted to drive the old tractor.

Camilo finally found an animal that liked him as much as he liked them. The willy coyote went crazy for the kids and wanted to nip at the boy's shoes. Camilo thought it was hilarious.

He just couldn't get enough.

The coyote would also jump up when Lisa lifted the kids up.

Eventually Lisa got tired...

These grey wolves weren't nearly as exciting...

downhill urban riding

This is just a cool video.

Untitled from changoman on Vimeo.

Mt. Mitchell Marathon

This past weekend was the Mt. Mitchell Marathon down in NC. This is not a 'normal' marathon and instead runs up the highest mountain east of the Mississippi. I did it last year but fell apart like a cheap watch so was looking for some redemption. I trained harder this year. Overall I was real happy with my result, 8th place out of 183 finishers. Of course this is the JV race as the real guys do the 40 mile version. In any case, it was a good time. Here are some pics.

You can see my race profile, splits, etc. here.

Just before the early morning start. It was cold out so someone wasn't too thrilled to be outside.

But we finally got her to smile.
The start is at 7am and the cops lead us out of town.
You can see me here. I started slow.
While I was away running, the kids decided to play with an elephant in front of a Thai restaurant.
Then they went back to the house that Lisa rented. It was right near the finish so super convenient. Camilo decided to do some carbo loading.
Then they went to the park to see the finish. While waiting, Amalia decided to feed the ducks.
Here I am, finally, coming around the lake for the finish.
Just ready for it to be over.
There was another runner chasing me the last couple of miles so I finished much faster than I wanted to.
ughhh...
and collapse after the finish. The kids don't seem to know what to do with me.
All Camilo knows is that he needs a drink to go with his carbs.
Energy drink is good!
And thats that. Great day!