I've actually been keeping notes of things that I wanted to write about today; thoughts that keep running around in my head. So here goes.

Faramir, like Brilly pant's hubba, ran the St. George Marathon last weekend. (Also, like Brilly, there is a lot of sickness in our house this week. I'm blaming it on the park where the runners ended the race at, but I digress.)

I'm so very proud of Faramir. This was hard for him. He wasn't as trained as he thought he'd be because (we think) he got a stress fracture 6 weeks out and pretty much couldn't train from then until the race. But he ran and his leg was fine.

My big regret for the weekend? I didn't see him cross the finish line. It too me so long to find a parking spot and walk to the park that he was done and cooled off by the time I found him--45 minutes after he ended. I feel like it's a little dramatic to say it like this, but my soul is very sad I missed it. I feel so bad. This was his first marathon ever and it's an accomplishment that is amazing, and I missed it. We did order a couple of pictures though, one of which is going in my picture frame. For some reason I looooove it!

One rather interesting side note to all of this is that before the actual race day Faramir kept telling me (and everyone else) that he would never run another one. Yeah. That didn't last. He's already planning which one he's going to run next year. I can't decide whether I'm happy or sad about that.

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Along with traipsing off to St. George for a marathon, we also spend most of the previous week in Las Vegas. There was an optometry conference there so Faramir went for a couple of days and we played some. It was a good trip, except apparently I was a cranky-pot the whole time. In my defense I did have a rather nasty head cold and never got enough sleep the whole weekend. I didn't think I was that bad until Faramir said something. Oops.

We took the kids downtown for the first time. I was a little nervous about the whole thing. Downtown anymore is not entirely a kid friendly place. There are a lot of cool things, and we talked about those and tried to make sure that's where the kid's focus was.

At the same time, I remember being little and going down the strip for the first time. To this day I'm surprised my parents ever took us down there. It seems very unlike the parents that I know. But I remember being awed by the lights and the glitz and all of it. My dad did take us through a casino (again, another surprise). I actually remember not liking that part at all. Too many crazy smells and too much noise. I do not like casinos at all.

We actually didn't go through a casino portion of a hotel. If you enter the Venetian from the parking garage, you miss the casino. You go straight to the shops. (Ooooo! There was a shop that had all sorts of Mardi Gras masks and outfits and whatnot. We all walked through and I was loving it!!!!!! [and yes, to me it deserves every one of those exclamation points!]) The kids were amazed by the shops and the gondolas and everything. Then we drove down the strip and looked at all the cool things like the volcano and the golden lion at the MGM Grand--which was every one's favorite thing to see. We had to tell them to close their eyes on occasion, but they had a great time.

We did go through a casino in Mesquite Friday night. We decided to do the buffet so Faramir could carb-load. Unfortunately, it wasn't cheap night. Ah well. My boys kept telling me that they wanted to play all the games, because that's all it looked like to them. I finally had to tell them that kids weren't allowed to play the games and that if they tried, some people would come and make them stop because they were adult games. That seemed to scare them sufficiently.

My boys seemed to have very small bladders in both of these instances. It was kind-of annoying actually. But while yet another boy was taking another bathroom break in Vegas I sat and watched people gamble. It was interesting, in a sad sort of way. I mean, the slightly vacant stares. The wandering from machine to machine to see if the next one would give the biggest payout. And the money lost. And how much good, how many problems could be eradicated if the money that was poured in to those slot machines and crap tables would be put toward hunger or cancer research or some other such thing.

I shall stop thinking about that now.

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So I've realized that I really like writing Haiku. I like the mental effort of distilling a thing or event or feeling in to a mere 17 syllables. You'll probably see them pop up over and over.

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Kendra doesn't have strep. Phew!! But she has another bad head cold. Please pray I don't get it. I'm leaving for Philadelphia next week (possibly Saturday in NYC) and I really do not want to be sick for my first ever trip to the East Coast.

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I finished the dishes to completion again last night, cleaning up canning leftovers from peaches. It's pretty sad that that's such an event that I announce it every time it happens. I'm pretty pathetic at times.

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The Dr.'s office was kind-of fun this morning. I sat on the floor of the office (will somebody please tell me why there is only one chair in each room?) and played with Tyrone. Kendra and I laughed and laughed. We even sang songs. I mean, we had to do something to keep Tyrone from reigning destruction upon the office. The best part was playing "This little piggy". Tyrone is still young enough that he puts his hands up for more. It makes me happy to do that over and over.

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I think I shall stop now. This has gotten to be a doozy of a post. I'll skip the one about counting Pablo's toes to wake him up and Tyrone skipping down the hall and missing the bathroom and the cute oops he gave when he realized he had skipped right past. Kids make me happy.

Have a happy day to you!