Bring back the pretty weather!

Someone is teasing us... last weekend the weather was so beautiful but lately it's been downright chilly! I don't like it :(

Friday was spent in the usual pre-long run way-- picking up supplies, printing out water stop directions and then plopping on the couch for an evening of tv. Over Easter my mom had lent me Miss Potter, a movie starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor about the life of Beatrix Potter, author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other children's books. It was a very sweet movie, although with a very SAD part in the middle that I hadn't expected. :(

Saturday the team ran in Alameda at the Ferry Terminal. I didn't really know how far I was going to run until I started running with Sue, a participant that I knew from a previous season. She was only doing 8 miles and that sounded good to me. Training for a half marathon that is 2 full months away is a little weird... the climb into the higher mileages is a very slow one. I think the people training for the RNR Half were only supposed to do about 4-6 but with the Relay 3 weeks away, I figured I should do a little more. 8 turned out to be perfect... we slowed down the last couple of miles but I still felt very good at the end. Good but freezing... it was super windy out there!

Me, Co-Cappy Jeanette and Mentor Teri after the run

Saturday evening, after a nice shower and nap, I went to dinner and a movie with my friend Lael. We saw 21, which I was a little iffy about but which turned out to be very interesting. I noticed that when we were walking through Walnut Creek back to the car, the bars/clubs seemed to be super crowded with young folks... oh yeah, Spring Break is here! I'm glad we decided to be boring and just go to a movie... I don't think I could have hung with those young kids!

On Sunday it was nice to sleep in and take it easy... I hung out with Claudia and Rocky in the city. We we walked around, we ate, we drank, and even saw a Flamenco show at the Thirsty Bear! Other than the wind, it was a gorgeous day to be out and about!

Pictures from Emerald Nuts... I swear I'm actually running, even though it looks like I'm walking :(

A trip to the chiropractor

For the past couple of weeks or so I've been having an "issue" with my knee. Anyone who runs is used to putting up with certain aches and pains... most of us know the difference between an ache that feels "wrong" and an ache that is "normal". At first this pain under my kneecap didn't bother me too much... I figured it was something that would go away soon and since it didn't bother me while I was running I wasn't worried. But now 2 weeks later, that "ache" is more of a pain. I'm still okay while running but anytime my knee is bent for any amount of time, and then straightened, it hurts-- sitting at work, sitting on the potty, sitting in the car, sitting in the couch and even sleeping. Time to see the doctor-- I don't mess around with my sleep!

I made an appointment to see Dr. Morganstein, who was at Marathon University at the beginning of the season. I had heard wonderful things about him and he seems to really be in tune to what runners put their bodies through (plus, he gives a discount to TNT people :D). I went in to see him yesterday after work and of course it was one of those times when my knee wasn't really bothering me too much :( I told him what the problem was, he asked me some questions and then had me walk back and forth to check out my gait. Unlike what I've heard from other people Dr. Morganstein says that I supinate (which means my arch is rigid and my feet roll out when I walk). Hmmm, I always though I over-pronated. He says this is why I've never really needed to get special inserts and after thinking about it, I'm thinking that's probably why I can wear flip flops so much without being bothered by the lack of arch support. The problem is that not very many people supinate, so it's not something he's used to dealing with.

He also manipulated my knee and leg a little bit to see if there were any areas of tenderness. My knee was fine since the pain is more UNDER my kneecap, not around it, but I did have tenderness along the outside of my quads where my IT band is. He also discovered that one of my legs is shorter-- not like the bone is shorter, but some muscle higher up in the glute area is tight, pulling my left leg up and making it a little shorter than the right. Dr. Morganstein says that while my knee seems to be fine, there is probably a problem somewhere else that's just showing up in my knee. I'm happy about that I guess... I don't have to stop running, and it seems my knee is not deteriorating in some way, but this also makes it harder to figure out HOW to make the pain go away :( Next week, after Dr. Morganstein does a little research, I should be able to start some treatments so we can deal with whatever is going on. I'll probably end up needing to improve my stretching and strengthen my legs up a little. He says that while I've been really lucky so far not having any problems but that all this running may just be catching up with me. I hate getting older :(

Easter pics

Here are some pictures from the weekend that I uploaded off my camera...

These are from Saturday evening:

My classy brother :D

Max waiting for us to drop something he could eat. This dog refuses to look at me when I'm trying to take his picture... stinker!

And from our Sunday BBQ:

Yummy lunch...

... and yummy dessert!

And this is a picture from last night... I met up with my coworker Ann and a few other girls for dinner. We had initially planned on drinks at Tiki Tom's but since Ann had her son Sean with her we opted for a more kid friendly location, Skipolini's!

Ann and Sean doing the alphabet... how cute is he!

Rites of passage

Last night I joined some fellow TNTers and attended a memorial service for Sarah's dad, who passed away last week. Sarah's dad was born on Feb. 29, so this year instead of celebrating his 72nd birthday like everyone else born the same year he was, he celebrated his 18th birthday-- typically a year when we celebrate the rite of passage into adulthood. During the memorial service, the minister who gave the eulogy said that what we were celebrating last night was a different rite of passage that we all go through. (She said it a little more eloquently than that but you get the point :D) I never thought of it that way, but it really makes sense, and makes it seem less sad somehow. Celebrating this "rite of passage" seemed to be the theme for the weekend...

Friday night I spent the evening with my friends Bryan and Jen who had just put their sweet dog Callie down. She was old, and not doing well, but it was still very hard for them both to do. To help take their mind off their empty house, they threw a little memorial Margarita party! There were tears, laughter and of course some shots of tequila in Callie's memory!

Callie, Bryan and Jen's Great Dane

Saturday I made the drive home to Yuba City to spend Easter (another celebration of this rite of passage) with my parents, and brother who was down from Portland for a few days. We spent Saturday enjoying the beautiful, sunny weather (I spent a little TOO much time enjoying it and ended up with my first sunburn of the year :() and getting some food ready for the next day. Sunday we all went to church together and then enjoyed a yummy BBQ with my great aunt at our house. I came back to Walnut Creek with clean laundry, leftover potato salad, deviled eggs (my favorite!!) and BBQ'd chicken, and a bag full of easter candy from my basket-- YES, my brother and I still get Easter baskets :D

(Stay tuned for pictures... I'll post some once I get them off my camera :D)

Screw cancer

Yesterday I got an email from Sarah, one of our Spring mentors, with some sad news. Her dad, also her personal honoree, passed away Wednesday morning :( He battled lymphoma over 13 years ago and after all that time, the cancer recently came back. Cancer sucks. Big time. This just reminds me why I come back season after season to Team In Training. Yes I love the people, and the feeling of crossing that finish line after months of training, but really, it's all about raising money so we can help those smart doctors kick cancer's ass.

This also happened to be the week that Team In Training put on the Cause for Celebration. All the different East Bay teams got together to celebrate what TNT does to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They talked about where the money that we raise goes, how it's used and also about how important it is to sign up for the National Marrow Donor Program. All it takes is a quick swab of your cheek (when I did it you had to give blood :() and some paperwork and you're all set. If you have a chance to sign up, do it... you may have a chance to save someone's life!

Fellow teammates at Cause for Celebration (Wingate is excited that they actually had wine there!)

On a running note, things have been going well. I ran with Pam Monday night and last night-- Monday we were a little on the speedy side (even though I told her I would probably have to take it slow after Sunday's race-- that didn't happen!) but last night I felt super sluggish. I was also STARVING the whole time we were running... maybe that's why I felt a little dead. :( I missed the Buddy Run on Tuesday because I was stuck late at work. By the time I got home, I was pooped and glad in a way that I had a free night and could just veg on the couch all evening and catch up on some tv. Even though I wasn't running on Wed. I knew that I would probably get home pretty late from Cause for Celebration.

Tonight I'm going to my friends Bryan and Jen's house. They had to put their sweet doggie down today and wanted to have a little memorial celebration to keep their mind off the empty house. :( Tomorrow AM I'm off to Yuba City to celebrate Easter with my folks and brother!

Big SHOUT OUT to TNT alum Petra Johnson for her donation... THANK YOU!!

One more thing...

THANK YOU to Wendi Leyba, awesome neighbor, for your donation!!

Emerald Nuts Race Report

I'm sorry... I know I'm an irresponsible blogger... I said I'd post the race report yesterday and here it is a whole day later. After much anticipation I'm sure (said VERY sarcastically) here it is:

Phil and I being the chronic early birds that we are had planned to get to the city before 7:00 so we could catch one of the early buses over to Fort Baker. When we got there the lines were nonexistent and we hopped right on. 15 minutes later we were dropped off at the start line on the other side of the bay. And then we just waited. And waited some more. And pottied. And waited. The race didn't start until 8:30-- Speedy Phil was in the 2nd wave which went out at 8:45 and I was in the 3rd wave at 9:00. So we had some time to just chill. Slowly my TNT teammates started arriving and then Mama Lisa showed up to get us stretched and do our shout outs.

Once the race started everything went really well. I've run the course before a couple of years ago and knew there would be a nice little downhill before the monstrous uphill climb to the golden gate bridge. And the hill? Worse and longer than I had remembered it! I had started out running with Sarah but she sped ahead of me up the hill... I run the very first part, walked through the middle of it, and then as soon as I heard Mama Lisa's bell towards top of the hill I started running again!

Once we were out on the bridge the views were gorgeous. The skies were clear and blue and although it was windy, it was a tail wind so I wasn't complaining. Yet. At the other side of the bridge we got a nice downhill to Crissy Field where we felt the wind again, this time coming at us from the side. We ran out and back along the bay to Fort Point and it was super windy. :( At this point I was still feeling pretty good... I wasn't tired, or feeling like I needed to walk at all. Then we got out to Crissy Field-- last time I ran this race I remembered this section as warm and boring. This year it wasn't warm, but it was boring :( For some reason this stretch just seems to never end :( Thankfully I ran into Jeanette out there taking pictures. I stopped to chat with her a little bit-- it was a nice break but after a few minutes I could tell my muscles were tightening up.

After I left Jeanette I looked at my watch and saw that I had less than a mile left. I caught up with a couple of teammates, one who was having some shin problems. She was a trooper though and wanted to run into the finish line for her family who was out there cheering her. We ran out along the street, up one last hill (we walked it) and then had a nice downhill to the finish where a bunch of TNTers were cheering us in. Woo Hoo!! I don't remember my final time... and I don't think they've been officially posted yet, but I felt really good at the end so I'm happy :D

Jeanette, Phil and I walked around the post-race area for a little bit and then Phil and I went in search of some food. The diner we went to in Ghiradelli Square was understaffed and had a long wait so we ended up at an Irish Pub downstairs. A Guinness, a burger and some fries and we were happy :D

After I got home I did a little cleaning, took a much needed shower and a short nap. Later that evening Lael and I went over to Claudia and Rocky's for a yummy dinner and some catching up. Oh, and of course got to spend some time with my favorite, crazy, spoiled doggies :D

Do you have your green on??

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

I'm not doing any celebrating tonight since I did it all over the weekend :D Friday night I spent the evening with some TNT friends at Julie's house. We had a great time catching up, eating and enjoying some wine.

Julie, me, Jennifer, Bryan and Sarah... Claudia is behind the camera

Saturday I actually got to sleep in since we didn't have a Coached OR Mentor Led Run that morning. I had signed up though to help man the TNT booth at the Dublin St. Patrick's Day Festival in the afternoon. I had planned on going over a little early to walk around and get some of the yummy festival food and Claudia and Rocky decided to meet me there with the doggies. We knew that the "official" word was that doggies were not allowed but since we've heard that plenty before at other festivals and no one seems to enforce it, we thought it would be a big deal.


WRONG! I guess they were VERY serious about not letting the doggies in the main festival so we ended up hanging out near the entrance eating and chatting. Right before I needed to be at the booth they took off and I walked around a little. It looked like they had some cute stuff but it was a little chilly so I did just a quick walk through. The TNT booth was actually inside the library with the other non-profits booths which ended up being a good thing-- we didn't get to see as many of the festival-goers but we were nice and warm inside :D That night I just took it easy since I was doing the Emerald Nuts 12k race the next day. Jeanette was nice enough to let me use her bib since her knee was giving her some problems :( THANK YOU!!


Continued tomorrow...


In the mean time, THANK YOU to my latest fundraising supporters, Korina Riggin and Rocky Reyes. Thanks to you both (and everyone else who has donated to my fundraising campaign) I have raised almost $1,200!! Woo hoo!!

Who are you??

I'm always very curious about who reads my blog. I know that a few members of my family do(thanks mom and dad :D), and some friends as well, but I'm curious about those readers who don't know me, or don't know me well, that end up on my blog. Enter SiteMeter :D I love this site :D It tells me a bunch of fun details about everyone who lands on my site-- where they're located, how long they stayed, if they out clicked on any links, where they were referred to my site from, how old they are and what their favorite color is. Just kidding on the last two :D I can guess who some readers are based on the information it collects, but for the rest I'm clueless. Who is the reader from Maryland, who from Colorado? I have no idea! And the curiosity is driving me a little nuts!

Here's a breakdown of some of the more interesting statistics from SiteMeter for my last 100 visitors (which is just in the last three days):

Where are you from?
All over the bay area
Kansas
Colorado
Maryland
New York: Commack and Oneanta
Minnesota
France
Queensland

How did you find me?
Friend's blogs: Mostly Claudia and Phil
Facebook: I just added my website to my profile... I guess people really DO look at it!
Google Searches:
"Make running fun for kids"... My entry came up 3rd in the search results
"Nike pics"... Came up at the bottom of Page 2
"Ranger kiosk yosemite"... 2nd
"'Pulaski bridge' filpped"... 2nd
"How long to get an appointment at diving swallow in oakland"... 8th :(
"zipline kaanapali"... 3rd
"Fat kids always win at seesaw"... 5th
"New balance runs small"... 1st on the list!! Woo hoo!
"Running what to eat"... 8th :(

My question is, did these people actually find what they were searching for in my blog? Hmmm.

Warrior's Game

A few months ago Crazy B, a fellow TNTer and Cappy of the Diablo Valley Spring Team, sent an email out announcing that for his fundraiser he was selling tickets to a Warrior's game. I had decided not to go because honestly, the last time I went to a Warrior's game I was so uncomfortable in their seats-- they're NOT made for tall people with long legs :(... I think they have less leg/knee room than airplane seats. I didn't want to shell out money, even though it was for a good cause, to be uncomfortable for two hours.

All of that changed when Claudia busted her baby toe :( Claudia offered her ticket to me since traipsing around a huge arena was exactly what she should NOT be doing! I told her I'd go in her place so after work I did a couple of errands, went home to grab a bite to eat and then got on BART. I met Rocky at the entrance to the arena and we headed inside to meet up with Debbie, Claudia's friend, and all the other TNTers. It turned out that the seats up in the nose bleed section were much more comfortable so I was happy :D The game was a good one... the Warrior's were ahead pretty much the whole time, although at one point the Raptor's had scored enough to tie them, before the Warrior's took the lead again. One thing I don't get is that the cheerleaders went through FOUR outfit changes (one per quarter) and yet spent most of the time just sitting on the side of the court shaking their pom poms. I think they only got up to dance twice. What is the point in that?

I had a good time at the game... THANK YOU Claudia for the ticket... but by the time I got home it was after 11:00 :( Today I am sleepy. Pam told me last week when I canceled on her that she wasn't going to be able to run tonight so at least I can go home and have the night to just relax, and maybe even fit in a nap :D Ahhh, I love sleep!

Team bonding

Monday night I skipped my run with Pam so that I could go to a TNT social at Mentor Sarah's house in the beautiful Oakland hills. She and a couple of the other mentors had planned a little potluck night where we could socialize, eat some yummy food, do a taste test of various gels, and watch Runner's High starring our very own Coach Al! I saw the movie when it first came out at the SF film festival but many of the people at Sarah's hadn't seen it yet. It was really nice to see everyone in their normal people clothes, instead of all our running gear!

Last night I went out to the Buddy Run at Lake Merritt. With the time change, it was nice and bright the whole time we were running-- yea, no more headlamps (although I brought mine just in case)! I ended up running with Leslie, one of the participants. She's usually a little faster than I am so I either sped up, she slowed down, or we did a little of both. I was definitely pushing it the whole time and was exhausted by the time we finished 1 and a half loops, about 4.75 miles. And what a difference that sun makes... it was definitely warmer out than during our previous runs and we were both wishing that we had brought some water out there with us! A few people decided to go out for some burgers, but all I wanted to do was go home, take a shower, grab a quick bite and plop on the couch for American Idol!!

Pretty Schmitty, those hills are STILL awful!!

Friday night after work I rushed home to pack up for the run on Saturday and the weekend at Claudia and Rocky's. I got to their house around 6:30 and took the doggies out for a little walk. The rest of the night was pretty low key... I made some dinner (THANK YOU Claudia for the pasta :D) and then cut up some oranges and cooked potatoes for our Honoree Potluck the next day after the run.

The doggies were good, pretty much just followed me around all night and then tried to both fit on my lap whenever I sat down. Daisy cracked me up when she was eating her dinner... I think a lot of dogs do this, they take a little food in their mouth, carry it away from their bowl, drop it on the ground and THEN eat it. I've seen Patch do it a lot, and Daisy does it too. At first she just walked a foot or so away, then she walked across the room to eat her food, and they for some reason she decided to walk into the empty magazine rack to eat her food! All I could see was her little hiney sticking out one end, and her ears out of the other as she ate her food. Silly girl!!

After some tv watching it was off to bed and a restless night's sleep :( First I was hot so off came the covers. Then around midnight my cell phone started beeping... the battery was dying and of course I forgot my charger. I knew Claudia and Rocky had a spare one around so I decided to peek into the closet to see if I could see it laying around somewhere. Found it, and then had to go plug the phone in which got the doggies excited in their little doggie condo. Back to sleep I went only to wake up a few hours later to Daisy whining. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes so I went back to sleep and woke up next to my alarm at 6:00am. Sigh. Time to get up :(

I got myself ready, got the doggies pottied and walked, and was out the door at 6:30. The benefit to staying in Oakland was that my drive to Lake Chabot for the run was a short one! Jeanette and I got the water stop people off to their posts and then the team started to arrive. The mileage for the team was anywhere from 3-9 miles so there were a number of course options depending on how far you were going. First Coach sent everyone off to the left side of the lake (the blue line in the picture below) and then back to the starting area before heading off along the right side for a 6 mile loop (with a little out and back in the middle) (the red and green line). Jeanette and I didn't want to do the full 9 miles, and wanted to hang out at one of the forks in the course so we could give people directions so we skipped the first out and back, and just did the loop. This is the same course that I with the team when I was training for New York, and includes the dreaded 10 hills trail! Ugggh, I HATE hills! It was much easier with Jeanette by my side though. :D

After our run we had our honoree potluck, which gives the participants and chance to get to know and learn more about our honorees, and kind of thanks our honorees for letting us support them! Of course, there was much crying since their journeys have been very emotional ones. Some of them are in remission, some are still fighting, and some, like Brenda and Cole, lost the fight with cancer. We even got to hear from some of the participants who have a personal connection to the cause, and are running for someone close to them who has cancer. A definitely did a little crying, but it was still a very fun potluck, and the run wasn't bad either :D

Michael (an honoree), a participant whose mother is fighting cancer, and Matt (an honoree)

Louis (an honoree and fellow participant)

The rest of the day I spent lounging around with the doggies. I tried to take a nap on the couch but it's a little hard when two wiggly warm dogs are trying to find a comfy spot on YOU to take a nap too. I wound some of my yarn, watched some tv, took the dogs for a longer walk around the complex, wrote thank you cards and made some dinner. I talked to Claudia that night and she said that both Phil and Rocky had finished the century (WOO HOO!!!) and were feeling good, but tired. Check out their blogs to find out how the ride went! What I want to know is this: how is that they could spend 9.5-11 or so hours riding a bike, and climbing some nasty hills, and not feel as bad as when they run a marathon, which takes half that time. I don't get it. Even though you feel worse afterwards, I think I'll stick with running!

That night I slept much better! I started with the covers off so I wasn't too hot, the phone was charging and the doggies were quiet as mice the whole night. I still woke up though at 6:30 :( Why oh why can't I sleep in. I took Patch and Daisy out to go potty and walk around and the we all piled into bed to sleep/rest for awhile longer. Once I finally got up, packed my stuff, and had a little lunch I left the doggies :( and headed back home.

A weekend with the furry babies

I get to spend the weekend with these two:


Claudia and Rocky have headed down for the Solvang Century ride and asked me to watch the doggies for the weekend. I can't wait for my weekend with the furry babies! Patch used to drive me crazy sometimes when he lived with me and Claudia but now that I don't see him all the time, I miss him :( And Daisy is such a funny, sweet, yet slightly neurotic dog that I love seeing her too! I'll be able to spend plenty of quality time with them this weekend since I really only have our run and honoree potluck at Lake Chabot tomorrow.

Last night I ended up bailing on the run with Pam :( I was at work late, and then had some things I needed to do before I went to Claudia/Rocky's for the weekend, so I called Pam to tell her that I wasn't going to be able to make it. After doing my errands, and meeting Claudia to get the key, I didn't get home until after 6:30, which is when Pam and I usually run. Pam called me back later to tell me it was okay, she was tired anyway -- that made me feel a little less guilty for bailing at the last minute! Since I can't run on Monday, and she can't run on Thursday, I won't see her again until the next Monday-- St. Patrick's Day!

100 miles? No problem!

This weekend both Phil and Rocky are headed off to the Solvang Century ride! Phil has been training his booty off (seriously... and they even have something called "butt butter" to help with that :D) and I know he's going to have a fantastic time and just kill the course. Rocky's training has not been as intense but he's one of those darn athletic people that always do well, even if they haven't been training so I know he'll do well to! GOOD LUCK BOYS!!!! I won't be there in person to cheer you both on but me and the doggies will be cheering you on from afar!

Since Wednesday's are my only weeknight off from running (Friday evening doesn't count... once work is over the weekend has started!) I decided to take the opportunity to do a little shopping at Old Navy and then I stopped in at the hospital to spend some time with the Regans. Andrew seemed to be happy walking around with no sign of pain in his leg, but the scan he just had shows no improvement so the doctors are still trying to figure out what's going on. :( He seems to be doing fine being at the hospital, and from the fun Emma was having in the playroom last night she doesn't seem to mind being there too much either. I think Brandy and Keith have probably had more than enough of hospitals at this point though!

Goodbye Saucony, Hello New Balance!

It ended up being a good thing that I wasn't able to get my shoes on Monday night at the Danville store. I went over to the Walnut Creek Forward Motion last night to pick up the Sauconys that were waiting for me there. While I was trying them on I started chatting with the guy working there. I mentioned that I had some problems with blisters when I trained in my old shoes and he said that I might have the same problem with the new pair since it was the same shoe, just in different colors (white, red and black ... Amy, I thought of you when I saw them!!). Boo hoo... I don't want to have the same blister problem :( He thought the problem might be that the Sauconys were a little too tight around my arch, causing some friction that led to the blisters. He suggested that I try on some other shoe that might not be so narrow through the middle of my foot. Okay!

I tried on a pair of Brooks, New Balance and Mizunos and decided that I liked the New Balance pair the best. And guess what? Since their sizes run small, I'm now a size 11 in mens! How nice. I mentioned to the guy that I wished they'd make the women's shoes in larger sizes so I could wear the prettier ones-- I guess in some shoes they DO make larger sizes, but he said they would probably be too narrow and give me the same problem that my last shoes did. :( Oh well, I guess I'll stick with the mens. With my running shoes I'd definitely prefer comfort over style!!

I tried the new shoes out at the Buddy Run in Oakland. So far they feel really good... we'll see how they feel when we get into the longer mileages. The people at Forward Motion have always steered me the right way before so I trust their judgement and think that this was a good switch.

Big Foot

And by that I'm referring to myself :( Last night I headed out to Danville a little early so that I could pick up a new pair of shoes before I met Pam for our run. I popped in to Forward Motion and WOW, that place was packed! I walked up to the shoe area and found the shoes I needed... Saucony Omni Ultimate. Size 10.5. In mens :( I have such big feet, they don't carry my size in the pretty women's shoe. Because running shoes should be big, to give your feet room to stretch out, my shoe size in women's is a 12, which they don't make. That's sad :(

Sadly, they were out of stock in the men's shoe so I was stuck running in the old ones again. AND, I forgot my headlamp. I wasn't having much luck last night! Thankfully the run did go well, and since the nice boy at Forward Motion called the Walnut Creek store, I'll have a pair of shoes waiting for me when I go by there today! Yea!!

BIG THANKS to Deni and Stan Smart for their latest donation! Mahalo!!

A weird deja vu :(

Friday night Claudia and I met up for some Vietnamese food in Lafayette. While we were on our way to the restaurant, Claudia told me that our friend Brandy had sent out an email telling us that her youngest son, 16 month old Andrew, was being admitted to Kaiser in Walnut Creek that night :( Andrew was having some pain in his leg so after a bunch of tests and x-rays to see what the problem was, they decided that chances are the pain was caused by an infection in his bone :( Poor guy was being admitted so they could administer some heavy duty antibiotics through an IV over the next week.

After Claudia and I finished dinner we headed over to the hospital to bring some food and visit with Brandy and Keith, Andrew's dad. Their daughter Emma was there and she entertained us all while poor Andrews was getting stuck with needles :( For those of you who don't know Brandy's story, her oldest son Cole passed away from cancer a few years ago when he was just short of his 2nd birthday. Being in the hospital with Andrew (even though the situation isn't nearly as serious), brought back some sad memories from the months and months they spent in the hospital with Cole. While Claudia and I were walking down the hall to Andrew's room, we were talking about how weird it was being there again... it's was not a good kind of deja vu :(

Saturday morning I headed off to Yuba City to spend the weekend with my parents and to help my dad celebrate his birthday. We had a fun time and of course I managed to get a bunch of laundry done :D We went out to lunch at Red Robin and then dragged my dad off to a little craft store in Marysville that has some nice yarn. Thanks to my mom, I now have some more yarn to add to my stash :D After that we went out to my grandparent's old house to pick some oranges. My grandparent's oranges are so yummy and juicy... WAY better than the flavorless ones they have at the grocery store. I love them so much I brought home three bags :D If anyone wants some oranges, I have so many I'm giving them away!! After a nice nap on the couch with the doggies and then a movie, we went to a Chinese place down the street for dinner. Then it was back home for another movie :D

Sunday morning my parents went off to church, letting me sleep in a little bit :D I spent the morning finishing up my laundry and watching some movies with the doggies. My parents didn't end up getting home until the afternoon, so all we had time for was a quick goodbye before I needed to pack up and leave. :( It was SUPER windy in Yuba City and I worried that the whole drive home would be the same but once I got to Vacaville, the wind had pretty much died down. Once I got back to WC I unpacked, made some cookies for Brandy and the family, picked up some water and trashy mags and then went over to the hospital to drop the goodies off. Brandy said that Andrew is doing much better and seems to be responding well to the antibiotics. They still need to keep him in the hospital though for at least the rest of the week :(