A little fun with a new computer program, with a photo from lunch at Millersylvania Park today.

Another Saturday @ Rainier

Melis & I have had the pleasure of being able to take care of Michael, an Army Officer, after a recent extensive surgery. He's doing great, but to give him some peace & quiet from the normally krazy Koning house, we decided to take advantage of the nice day & head up to Rainier.

First stop: the new visitor's center. 'Hmmmm, what mischief can I get into?' Abee was pretty happy with herself that she could climb all the way up to this telescope. . .

. . .but she had a hard time figuring out exactly what to do with it.

OK, I admit it. I cheated on this photo. I know it's not hard to tell ;-) But I still like it!
We didn't spend a whole lot of time outside. It was pretty warm (a sunny 35-40 degrees), but she wasn't too wild about walking on the slippery hard-pack snow.

' Mommy & Daddy, can we go home to see Matty Sioux now?'

Dancing Abee

Melis & Abigail have a morning ritual - movin' & groovin' to Ellen at 10:00am. To you sign language novices, the sign she does once the music stops is 'more'. We think she gets her dance moves from her puppy ;-)

ok. . .I after realizing that I'm not very good at videos, I think I finally have this figured out ;-)

The following event takes place from 10:00-10:10 am.

Hi! I'm Abigail Joy!

It's for me again? I guess I have time to take it!

Oh, yes! Hi Grandpa and Grandma!

Well, I have been very busy singing songs about fishies,

practicing my dance moves, and reading about brown bears.

Can you guys tell me what the snake says?
No, no! That's what the monkey says! You guys need more practice!
Ok. Here's a joke for you. What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?

Ha! Ha! A Flat Minor!! Ha! Ha! I'm so funny!

Oh no! We lost our connection! This must not be Verizon!
I didn't get a chance to say good-bye!

Can we call them back? ...Please!

Ohh! That's a neat camera!

Ok. It's a good thing that I'm easily distracted!

1/2 Marathon in 2:01

I couldn't have been more proud of my wife today (this one's for you, babe!). She's been faithfully training with Traci & Jocelyn (& the kiddos!) for 3 months now to run these 13.1 miles. The total mileage for the last three months has been almost exactly 150 miles (and she's been keeping pretty good track!).
When we got to the race this morning, the temp was 32 degrees. Chilly. . .but not much risk of heat stroke ;-)

Melis might add more details about how the race went tomorrow. . .but I'll just give the Cliff Notes version: it went awesome. After running with Melis in training runs, I thought that a best-case scenario might put us at about 2:05. . .but that'd be pushing it. We got to the 1/2 way mark at exactly 59:57. . .and we finished in 2:01 exactly. A pretty amazing race for the three 'cheatah's' first 1/2.
The significance of that crazy yellow bandanna? That's a part of the shirt they cut off me that I was wearing during the last 1/2M that I ran and got heat stroke. One part spite, one part redemption, and one part thankfulness for another shot at it.

The official name of this was the Valentine Marathon & Half. Hence the cheesy shirt.

A big thanks goes out to the ladies for keeping me entertained the whole race. At different points we all told stories (the childbirth comparisons lasted a little long for my liking), but the ABC song game was a little more enjoyable. Melis gives a big shout out to Abigail Joy, who put her 'stroller face' on for roughly 80 miles (including one 9 mile run), helping the Mom train.

Not a bad 31st bday.

Fireproof & Kennedy Creek

Melis & I rented Fireproof from Redbox last night. Once you get past the slightly cheesy acting, we highly recommend it. Cleared out our lacrimal systems quite nicely. My favorite quote (roughly): 'Tomato juice!?!? Man, you gotta know there are some serious repercussions to that!'

After doing our taxes this morning (yeah for refunds!), to stretch our legs, we went to Kennedy Creek. A few months ago we went there to see all the salmon coming back upstream. We saw a few very decomposed carcasses today, but otherwise enjoyed the whole area to ourselves. Abee has been enjoying 'scaring us' by poking her head around a corner and saying 'BOO'.

Matty enjoyed the stream while Abee enjoyed trying to throw rocks. She still throws like a very little girl. . .but I'm working on that ;-)
Gotta love those shaggy trees.

We were woken up at exactly midnight last night to the noise of music. It took us a minute to figure out where it was coming from, but upon closer inspection, it ended up being from Abigail's room - she must have flipped a switch on her alarm clock/radio sometime yesterday. As I opened the door to her room, I realised the music was actually a lot louder than what it sounded like from our bedroom. I was prepared to find her crying and needing a big daddy-hug. Turning off the music, I found her very much awake, but with a grin on her face & clapping her hands to the rhythm! I re-wrapped her, and she fell right back asleep. That little girl does love her music.

Lookin' Back @ '08

Here are some of our favorite nature-only pics of '08.