The Big 0-1

Happy Birthday Bruce! We had a party for him on Saturday complete with cake, enormous amounts of food, and a pinata. I know a party for a one-year-old is a little unnecessary, but we just love bragging about him. He's so cute!

He didn't really get into the cake as much as we thought he would. He stuck one finger in it and licked the frosting once (pictured on left), then was pretty much done with it. The kids enjoyed playing together and bashing the pinata and the adults loved playing bocce ball in the yard. Bruce just loved getting all the attention. He loved ripping up the tissue paper on his gifts too. He didn't really get into his gifts until the next morning, when he got up at 5 a.m. and Scott took him out to the living room to play. Bruce talked to a giant stuffed gorilla, pushed around a big car, and put things in his soft buckets (I put one on his head for a photo opp).

Bruce got some bath toys, but his favorite is still the classic rubber ducky (pictured, of course). He says, "Qua, qua, qua" when he sees a rubber duck. He can't quite enunciate the "ck" at the end yet.

Saturday morning before the party, we drove an hour north to Exeter, New Hampshire for a race. I've been searching the race calendars and laying out my summer racing season. I'm planning a bunch of races from 5k-10 miles all summer; I'm also toying with the idea of running the Hartford, Connecticut Marathon in October. Anyway, Saturday's 5k went well. I ran 18 minutes flat and won the women's race. The second and third women were on my heels though. The second woman was from Rhode Island and runs for B.A.A., the big rival of my track club. The third woman was Gwen Coogan, who ran the 10k in the 1992 Olympics and had a baby two or three years ago. She also happens to be 40 years old. I hope I can run 18-somethings when I'm forty.

All in all, we've been doing very well. The rain finally stopped here and our basement is drying out. Whew.