13.1

I ran 13.1 miles in the half marathon on saturday. Why? you ask. I have no idea. A friend of mine talked me into it and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I actually had a lot of fun and had a lot more energy than I thought I would. The competitiveness came out in me and I felt like I just had to keep running because everyone else was. And there were all the people on the course cheering you on so you just have to keep running for them. I do believe now though, if I can be a runner, anyone can. I don't think anyone hates running as much as I. Don't get me wrong, I still hate running, I just hate it less. I am going to do another half at the end of the summer and I hope to beat my time. Special shout out to Alicia for talking me into doing this(and no I'm not doing the marathon with you), my awesome hubby who is my own personal cheerleader, my parents and Lisa for coming to support me. You all rock! And Lisa, your in for the next half!

The home stretch, I had a little spurt of energy when I saw the finish line

Andrew gave us oranges and they were amazing

Before I knew what I was getting into

Happy birthday

It's Henry's 1st birthday and Andrew got him a big cupcake to celebrate. We are so glad we got him! We love him and he is soooo entertaining! He got a chuck it(ball thrower) for his birthday and he couldn't be happier. Happy Birthday Henry!

Peru

10 days of pure fun! That is what Peru is. It is the most beautiful country and one of my favorites. We spent ten days there and didn't even touch the surface of things to do. In fact, we only stayed in the southern end of the country. We started in Cusco and then went into the sacred valley which is beautiful countryside. In the sacred valley, we visited Chincenero, Ollyantatambo, Urambamba and Pisac. Ollyantatambo is fortress in which we had to climb up 220 stairs to get to the top, at elevation it was not the easiest task. I whined but somehow the incas got 3 ton stones up the mountains. We then went back to Cusco were we visited sachsawoman(sexywoman) which is this fortress of huge stones. We explored here and found hidden tunnels and cave dwellings. We then went to Moray, which is the circle terraces which they do/did agricultural experiments because each level is at a different temp. This is were Andrew found some guys wallet, who later bought our whole group Inca colas. We then went to Salineras, which are salt mines on the side of a mountain. A salt river flows into the ponds, overflows an into the next. It was amazing the extent of these. Then we went down to lake Titicaca.....yes just like its spelled. Here we visited the floating islands that are made out of reed and the people live on these islands. We went to another island were we stayed with a host family for the night. We got all dressed up in there clothes and had a party. We didn't even have electricity on this island. We got back and went to colca canyon which is one of the deepest canyons and saw the condors fly. The condors only have one mate for life and if there mate dies, they fly up to extreme elevations to kill themselves. I am not sure how we fit all this into 10 days but we did. We took night buses to get places which was slightly miserable but well worth it. We saw some amazing landscapes and ruins and will someday go back to explore more. Her are pictures....

Grateful

I really loved Peru and all that it had to offer. I, however, am glad to be an American and live in such a great country. And in honor of that here is my list of things I am grateful for:

Toilet seats
being able to flush toilet paper
toilet paper
toilets inside the house
being able to drink from the faucet
hot water showers
traffic laws
guard rails
knowledge of the defrost setting in cars
sunscreen that actually works(apparently, sunscreen doesn't work over 3000 meters)

This is all I can think of right now. I'm sure there are more. We had a blast in Peru and I am working on posting pictures but there are 1500 of them soooo I'm trying.