Greg and I planned to run the
Great Columbia Crossing 10k as our first quick trip away from both kiddos!
The longest I have been away from Grace is about 6 hours back in August. Jeffrey and I have been separated for only a couple sleepovers with Grandma and Grandpa, and while I was in the hospital delivering Grace he spent those 2 days and nights with Aunt Serena and Uncle Aaron and family.
We left on Saturday around 2:30 during naptime, after our Traditional
Pumpkin Patch visit with Greg's Parents and Brother's Family. Happily we left the kids with Aunt Annette, who has truly been a blessing in our house!
We arrived in Astoria at a B&B at 475 Harrison St. Having never stayed at a B&B, I was pleasantly surprised as how homey and comfortable everything was. The hosts Judy and Bob were wonderful and very knowledgeable about Astoria's history and local events.
Our packets for the race included little wooden tokens that were accepted at local restaurants for the race weekend. We decided to celebrate my birthday a week early and have a semi-fancy dinner at The Silver Salmon, a quaint yet superb restaurant in downtown Astoria. Greg enjoyed the 'special' a flame broiled Coho salmon topped with fresh crab. I had the Smoked Salmon Spinach Salad, which was fabulous. Of course we shared and both dishes were delectable!!
After dinner we proceeded on a tour of downtown Astoria visiting local Art Galleries on their "Second Saturday Art Walk". It was definitely great to remember the 'good old days' when we spent a lot of our pre-parent vacations touring galleries for fun.
We were tuckered out and in bed by 9pm. I didn't rest as peacefully as I hoped, I think my body is used to waking up all night now but I didn't have to get up once to make a bottle or comfort anyone which was in its' own way a special treat.
The race went great! The weather was COLD and 'a little breezy' as the locals say which means 'windy' in my book. We met at the Red Lion and we shuttled to the rest stop on the WA side of the Astoria-Megler Bridge and joined about 3000 people waiting for the start. The race went off without a hitch and the incline or GIANT HILL was more of a killer than I thought it would be but I finished with Greg cheering me on. Greg finished in a little under an hour and my time was 1:25:31, which is about 8 mins faster than my last 10k.
We made our way back to the B&B where we showered and scarfed fresh homemade cinnamon rolls, eggs, toast, cantaloupe, coffee, OJ and water...yep we ate whatever we wanted cause we could!
A Great Weekend!!
We have had a great time this year growing a patch full of pumpkins. Greg enjoyed a competition at work betting on who could grow the heaviest and nicest looking pumpkin. Out of the entries he did win the 'heaviest' with his pumpkin weighing in at a whopping 98.5 pounds!!! It had a unattractive features so he didn't win that entry.
Every (well the past 2) year we go to the pumpkin patch with Aaron & Serena and family. Grandma and Grandpa have been joining us on the excursion too. This year all of the little kids were able to tour the corn maze. Last year Gracelyn was still waiting to make her entrance into the world. It was a prime opportunity for some great photo ops, although your could pay Jeffrey enough to actually "smile" at the camera or even really look at it these days. After the corn maze we enjoyed a great hayride to the Pumpkin Patch. Thankfully this year it was a gorgeous day and there wasn't any rain. We were able to pick out a very nicely shaped pumpkin for carving. After the pumpkin patch we enjoyed some special treats at their food vendors and purchased some produce from the little general store. As we were leaving both of our little monkeys sacked out from all the running around and excitement. We love Halloween and especially the chance to spend great traditions with family. 
