The Cromwell Family: March 2012

Nana and Papa made the long drive AGAIN to visit Gavin (and us of course :). God blessed us with great weather and we took advantage of it.

We had a minor accident. Tobiah was so excited to see the new guest that he started jumping all around and tagged Gavin. His first and I'm sure not his last, bloody nose!

After just a minute of chaos, it was off to playing again...

Mimicking Papa and then spotting an airplane. This is his typical reaction to planes. He is going to lose it when he sees his daddy fly one :).

Giving his friend, Cale, a hug...

And a pat :)...

Swinging is one his favorite things to do at the park. He loves under-dogs!

Small trip...

Climbing a hill...with Mommy close, but not too close, behind.

It was great to see Nana and Papa and a nice break from all the hustle and bustle we've been doing lately.

GO TEAM SHAMWELL!

Adam and I have the bright idea of running another marathon but this time running one together! It was shortly after we decided to sign up that we convinced Shaheed to do the same. He had not run one before so what better time to run than with the crazy Cromwell's. I have always said that the hardest part about running a marathon, is the months of training that is required. That has never been more true than this one. Our training started in October but was halted in December due to sickness, traveling, and more sickness.

After starting back in January, I started having some foot issues. Adam and my mom noticed that my toes were beginning to separate and a popping started in my foot...not good! I saw a specialist who ran a bunch of tests on my foot and determined that I had a "mass" in between my toes that HAD TO be removed. So now surgery was scheduled for the middle of January, with a recovery time of a month, at least! The night before the surgery, the WHOLE FAMILY (Gavin included) came down with a fierce stomach bug. We were up all night and day! Needless to say, the surgery did not happen and was rescheduled for mid-Feb.

With 6 weeks to go before the big race, I had foot surgery :). After the craziness of the foot situation, Adam and I quickly changed our goal from breaking the 4 hour mark, to just finishing the race. In the meantime, Shaheed was experiencing some knee pain but was pushing through it.

Finally the weekend had arrived! Shaheed flew in on Wednesday night and my mom arrived on Wednesday afternoon. Before heading out to Virginia Beach on Saturday, we enjoyed some sweet family time!

Running to greet his "Biggie"

Of course, we played some soccer

The guys chopped some wood for the fire pit

Someone got a little too close to the chopping for Biggie's peace of mind

Examining the wood for termites

Enjoying the fruit of Adam and Shaheed's labor

A teaching moment...while throwing wood into the fire with Daddy

Gavin loves to show off his red-neck side. He was scratched, bruised, dirty, and snotty. Just the way we like it and I think he does too.

Elena came over to "help" Gavin pick up the wood and make a pile. She then showed him how to climb on top :).

Elena brought over some hot dogs and marshmallows for Smores. Gotta love a fire!

"E" ate TWO whole hot dogs, with buns. I think she enjoyed herself :).

Thank goodness Elena let Adam borrow her umbrella. He stayed dry!

Now it was time to get busy on Biggie and Gavin's shirts for the race. Biggie had the great idea to make "support" shirts for Team Shamwell! Thank goodness the artist was here to facilitate the ideas. They turned out great!

After all the play time, it was time to get serious and head down to Virginia Beach. The boys left early Saturday morning and Biggie, Gavin, Tobiah, and I headed out mid-afternoon. We met up at the Expo where they sell race shirts and apparel at a fraction of the retail price.