Reunited in 2014

Ahh, the reunion weekend was a wonderful whirlwind and I'm exhausted; but so relieved everything went well. Went REALLY well.

Joaquin ended up being a rockstar. There were a few hiccups but nothing major, and the end of the night after we exited our plane was a bit hairy, but overall, it was great. I was really proud of how great he was with my parents, sister and nieces who basically helped me watch him all weekend.

By sheer luck, one of Aaron's mom's good friends was on our flight to MSP and she ended up taking the window seat next to us so that we didn't have to sit with a stranger (SO LUCKY!!) She is a super chatty Cathy and Joaquin was enamoured with her, so the flight went quickly and it went well. We purposely tried to keep JRB awake the whole flight (because we are crazy people) so that he would go to sleep at a "reasonable" hour. It was a bit exhausting, but totally worth it.

We arrived around 8:30p Thursday night and my sister picked us up and brought us to my parents' house. Since it was technically only 6:30p Cali time, we kept JRB up until probably 10:30ish. After that, we stayed up WAY too late chatting with my parents and having a few drinks. I think we finally went to bed around 1a.

Around some ungodly hour (6:30a maybe?) construction workers showed up to work on breaking down my parent's chimney and it was f*cking loud and jarring as hell. But, somehow, it didn't wake up the sleeping dude. We woke up, but then fell back asleep once they stopped. Thankfully, JRB slept util 8:30a, so we weren't completely worthless the next day.

I did a relaxing session of yoga and got some work done while my mom and Aaron took JRB to the gym (daycare). When they got home, Aaron and I headed down the street to pick up our race gear packets. After that, I took an uberx to meet four of my girlfriends for a leisurely lunch and chat about life in general, and importantly! our expectations for the reunion. It was such a nice day and we had such a good time. Then I headed home, grabbed Joaquin and went to have a 'playdate' and meet my friend Kelly's little 6-month old princess. She wasn't in town the last time I went to 'home' so it was nice to spend some one-on-one time with her and meet her little sweetie.

Then, JRB and I headed out to a restaurant called Crave to meet Aaron, his brother, his bro's girlfriend and her 10-year old daughter, Ella. We haven't been out to eat with Joaq for awhile, so we didn't know what to expect, but he was pretty fun and Ella is 'training' to be a babysitter so she really enjoyed entertaining and taking care of him. We spent a chunk of time at Creative Kidstuff when dinner was over and that was also super cute and fun (but leaving was a bit of a challenge..)

We headed back home, relaxed and hung out before JRB took his bath. After bath time, we chatted with my parents a bit and then went to bed to prepare for an EARLY morning race.

The alarm went off at 5:45a, and after a few snoozes, we got up shortly after 6a. We went through our race day rituals, made sure our bibs and timing chips were secure and walked 4 blocks to the start line. We bumped into people we knew, chatted, took pics and suddenly it was time to go!

The race course was awesome- it was a loop through my hometown, but it was a loop through lots of memorable places from my high school (and younger) years. It was shady and had a lot of dirt trails, which was nice for my knee issues. I finished under 2 hours, which was my goal, and I also finished pain-free, which has never happened for me in a half marathon. Super awesome. We saw a bunch of people we knew at the finish line and had a nice time catching up and chugging lots of refreshing beverages. Around 9:45a, we checked in to see how JRB was doing and let my parents know we were heading home. As it turned out, he had JUST WOKE UP about 20 minutes before we called. THE HECK? Why can't he do that the days we don't have to get up at 5:45a??! Ha. Anyway, we headed home to rinse off and Aaron left for his guy trip shortly after that.

My mom and my nieces and I took JRB to the children's museum so I could do something fun for him, but relaxing for me. It was pretty good, but he was a bit clingy so I had to carry him a bit while walking between exhibits and my legs were DYING at this point. I was also EXHAUSTED from the early start, so I quickly located caffeine and slammed that shit.

Once everyone had had enough fun, we went home so I could get everything set up for my mom for the night ahead. We fed JRB a late lunch and I set up his nighttime routine items for my mom and made sure everyone was cool with me leaving for the night. Around 3:30p-ish my girlfriends Teresa and Kim scooped me up and we headed to the hotel where everyone was staying to get ready for the big night!

It was Kelly, Teresa, Tracy and Kim+ their sig others. We set up the boys in another room and we set up ourselves in Tracy's room to do our hair and make-up, sip wine, laugh (so much) and just have a good old time. We were supposed to meet a larger group at 6p, but kinda sorta rolled in late so we had to quickly eat and catch up before heading to the actual reunion.

We finally got to the reunion a little after 7:30p and it felt super overwhleming at first. SO MANY PEOPLE showed up (well, many more than actually had pre-registered). It was impossible to have conversations with everyone I wanted to, plus my legs/feet were kind of dead from the race, so I had to keep finding places to sit for a bit, but I still ended up having so much fun and connecting with some really cool people I hadn't seen in a LONG TIME. The reunion ended around midnight so we took the party to a nearby bar where I was able to chat with a few more people. Suddenly, I hit my wall and decided it was time to go. By the time I actually said my goodbyes and convinced Tracy to leave so I could get my stuff out of her hotel room, it was probably 1:45a or so. I ended up getting home just before 2:30a…

Joaquin slept until 8:15a, so I did get a bit of sleep. I also paced myself really well, so there wasn't a hangover the next day. So grateful for that!!

On Sunday Joaquin, my nieces and my stepdad headed to the local public pool and hung out in the wading area so Joaquin could enjoy some pool time. My brother and his fiance met us back at my parents' house around 1p, and shortly after that Aaron returned from his northern MN excursion. We were able to catch up with them for a bit while my stepdad threw some chicken wings on the grill (so yummy). Then my sister-in-law and niece swung by for a bit and before we knew it, it was time to get packed to go!

We arrived at the airport at 6ish, and Joaquin had fallen asleep in the car on the way there, so we let him sleep while we got to security, and then we gently got him to wake up so we could keep him awake as long as possible.

The flight home was mostly good. Joaquin was tired and we actually did try to get him to sleep a few times, but he was too stubborn. We had to use a variety of tricks to entertain him, and we were both completely exhausted at this point, but we luckily had a two-seat row so at least we didn't have to included anyone in our efforts. Ha. We landed around 9:40p and he was kind of turning into an over-tired shithead by that time, so we brought him out to the car and changed him into his PJs while Aaron grabbed our luggage. A few minutes after we left the airport, he was fast asleep.

We came home, put him in his bed, chugged water and headed straight up to our room to lay down and fall asleep.

Ahhhhh.

The end.