Greece - Day 1!

It has been far too long since I last posted.  A lot has happened since then, but I thought I would post a brief update of our recent trip to Greece.  We were motivated to travel to Greece because it was on my bucket list, Abby teaches a mythology class to the fourth graders, and the price was right.

As with any trip, it started at an airport.  Below you can see how grown up the girls look.

Upon arrival in Athens, we hopped in a rental car and headed for the town of Delphi.  along the way, we saw some beautiful mountains.  Delphi itself, was quaint little town with great food.  After traveling for about 24 hours, we had our first Greek meal and then tucked in to sleep off the jet lag.






Fortunately, our hotel was bigger than I expected.

My Favorite Elephant from the Lion King!

2012 Karate Tournament

Abby had a great Karate Tournament. She won the Kata competition and grappling. She finished second in Kickboxing, and lost in sword fighting to the eventual winner.
Kata


Kickboxing (she almost got a TKO)


Grappling

The Richmond Marathon

On January 13, 2011 I weighed 225 pounds and decided to make a few changes in my life to regain control of my health before something bad occurred. I cut back on my calories by reducing portion size and began exercising regularly. As a result, I lost just over 50 pounds by November 12, 2011 and now weigh approximately 173 pounds. On November 12, 2011 I ran the Richmond Marathon. In preparation for the marathon, I ran 142 times, which took approximately 138 hours and burned about 120,000 calories, while completing 796 training miles. Here is what I looked like before I started training:


I finished the marathon in 4:11:27, which was good for 1654th place (out of 3787 runners). My splits were 10k - 58:22; Half Marathon - 2:04:35; and 20 Miles - 3:10:06. Here are the "after" photos and some additional details concerning my run:

How 'bout them Gators!

Driver Education

Its never too early to teach racing!

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - two views

During our trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC last month, the girls had the opportunity to hold a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. They had decidedly different opinions of the bug:

Abby:

Evie:

Abby's First Swim Meet

Abby's first swim meet was a success. Her team, the Friendly Frogs beat the Hamilton Lakes Hornets 752.5 to 516.5. It was the first of 5 dual meets scheduled for this summer. Abby won her heat in freestyle (finishing 8th overall) and she finished 10th in backstroke. You can watch the freestyle race below.

Evie provided the entertainment between races:

Abby's Gymnastics - Tumble Bee's Big Show

Abby did great at her end-of-year gymnastics show. I thought she did best on bars because the dismount was perfect, but she did great in her other events too. Unfortunately, Evie was not well-behaved.

Bars:

Balance Beam:

The Trampoline Routine:

The Floor Exercise:

Vault:

Ms. Brittany, the coach!

Abby's 2011 Karate Tournament

After having recently been promoted to orange belt, Abby participated in Mike Carr's 2011 Karate Tournament. The Tournament started with a specular demonstration of one of the instructors chopping two pieces of wood in half that were on fire!

She started a little slow with grappling - Julie says she does better against the boys than against the girls in grappling. As you can see, it was a close match, but she lost:

Next up was sword fighting. She was upset about her loss in grappling and took it out on the other girls. Here is her first round fight:

A victory in round one resulted in a second round fight:

A victory in the second fight resulted in a third:

A victory in her third fight resulted in a trip to the FINALS:

Abby finished in second. As you can see in this photo, the girl who beat Abby was older and bigger:

The tournament concluded with some Randori. Abby lost her first fight but, as you can see, it was close.

All in all, the tournament was a success and we had a great time. As you can see from her giant smile, Abby enjoyed herself. This is what she had to say when she was done: