2009/12/19

November



Wow, so no Hardy blogging since October! Here's the Hardy November calendar for your update.

We kicked it off with a trip to Texas. We stayed in Angela and Jody's new house in West U and spent the majority of our days there eating, shopping, and playing trains with Hardy. I had fun seeing how much Hardy was using his trains to learn colors, numbers, and vocabulary. We went on for hours like this. Hardy: "What color is James?" Me: "Red." Hardy: "What color is Percy?" Me: "Um...(pause)..." Hardy: "Is he green?" Me: "...(pause)..." ...Is he? Is he green?" Me: "Is he green?" Hardy: "Yes, he is."

We also celebrated Maggie's first birthday. It was a princess party, with everything pink. Maggie wasn't so sure about being the center of attention, but the rest of the kids and I enjoyed the big event, complete with princess clown.

Midweek, we made a trip to Palestine and later shopped our way back to Houston...Thank you Cynthia! All my work friends are jealous of my mother-in-law.

Back in Boston, we celebrated Thanksgiving at dad's, with a table of 10 and a big bird. That Saturday we celebrated again with mom at Uncle Bob's house. Mom made a traditional roast beef and yorkshire pudding to celebrate our English roots.

I didn't take any pictures in November, so I stole this sweet one from Angela. It's a classic!

2009/10/11

CTK Getaway - Rest



It's Columbus Day weekend (aka leaf peeper's delight), and this was by far our best of 3 spent together here in New England - we nearly hit the foliage peak dead on.

Last Friday, we joined our friends from church and headed to Winnipesaukee for 2 days - away from work, chores, and other distractions. We filled up on friends, natural beauty, and reflected on 3 powerful sermons discussing rest by RUF minister Joey Pensak...a beautiful weekend.

2009/09/18

Growing Babes



The last and most exciting thing to share is the kids. We were so grateful for having the family travel with these two so that Ricky and I could see how their personalities are unfolding. Hardy is still a Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic (note the PJs). A few times I thought he might be striking up a conversation with me, but he was actually rehashing Thomas stories aloud. He's got those things memorized backwards and forwards. So while Hardy is impressively meticulous, Maggie is simply an animal; she'll crawl anywhere and eat anything. That's right, they're busting up gender stereotypes left and right. At one point I pretended to be attacking them both. Maggie looked up with a huge smile and started racing toward me. Hardy raised his eyebrows, stepped aside and pointed me toward Maggie! It was priceless. We miss them and can't wait to see them again soon.

Mmm...Food


No Hardy vacation is complete without a little overindulgence. Ricky & I took the family to some of our latest and/or greatest finds. This included Neptune Oyster bar, Hi Rise Bread Co, Beauty's Pizza, Basta Pasta, and all the way to Ipswich for some fried scallops (my favorite), haddock, clams, etc.

2009/09/14

Red Sox (14) - Yankees (1)



Ricky's dad treated us to Red Sox tickets. Better yet, they were Red Sox - Yankees tickets. Even better still, the Sox annihilated the Yankees. This was a total stroke of good fortune (attending a win), since the Sox lost both other games that weekend, and Red Sox fans are not nearly so much fun when they're losing.

2009/09/12

New Hampshire 2009

Excuse us for the HUGE gaps in posts. You must be getting dreadfully anxious to see how we've been doing. Wait no more; we've finally uploaded some of our photos, so prepare yourself for rapid-fire posting. The first is a tribute to our beautiful neighboring state of NH. We've made it up there 2 more times since the triathlon.


This trip was to Winnipesaukee, thanks to generous friends that played host at their incredible retreat. Thank you friends! Here is one of our feasts. Yum.

2009/06/21

Happy Father's Day

I think no one could question these two men are our biological fathers, but more than that, no one would question that they have fathered us in a way other children could only hope for. We love you dads. We are thankful for all you have given us in life and the example you provide for us to emulate. Love, Ricky and Lindsay

2009/06/10

Aperture

Ricky & I are on vacation this week in New Hampshire, and since his ileotibial band is irritated, we can't do much hiking. This has given me time to work on some hobbies, first of which is getting to know and love Aperture. I spent some time with Miles and Mor Mor. I hope you like it mom!

Ricky the Rhino

Ricky's first ever triathlon was completed on Saturday. He was awesome! After giving up on tennis and soccer for staying fit in New England, Ricky has turned himself into a triathlete. He jumped right into the Olympic distance, which was ~1mi swim, ~25mi bike, ~6mi run. Not only was it fun to see Ricky compete, but there were so many other people out there of all ages (one guy 69!), one paraplegic, and one visually impaired (rode tandem bike). I can't get over how impressive these people are, especially Ricky.

The Swim: This was Ricky's steepest learning curve, having never swam for sport, but we both had the most fun with it. After I smoked him in the pool, he started contemplating the bananahammock, but thankfully, we learned that the options are plentiful, and the best one for triathletes is a padded spandex (swim-bike-run) suit. We also learned that without a wetsuit, most people can't finish the race because they're so cold. I almost fell out of my chair the first time I saw him in it. By the way, he's definitely wearing it to the next batman movie.

The Bike: He trained mostly indoors and on an old clunker (so old they don't make that size wheel anymore), and at the last minute he decided to risk being a poser and rent one of the sleek triathlon bikes from a local shop. It was a sweet bike, one of the ones you can lift with 2 fingers. My favorite part was the big smile he had after completing the race.

The Run: Ricky irritated his ileotibial band about a month ago, and he hasn't been able to get it under control, so he had to walk most of the run, but he finished with a smile and a somersault for the crowd.

The Rhino: There is a special heavyweight group in triathlons, tactfully named "Athenas" for women >150lbs and "Clydesdales" for men >200lbs. Ricky's hoping to establish a new group, the Rhino.






Ian the Moose

This past weekend, Ricky competed in his first triathlon. Before I show you Ricky's photos (I know you're dying to see him in a wetsuit and bananahammock), I want to celebrate an awesome race run by this training sage, Ian. Ian gave Ricky some well-utilized, much appreciated advice, particularly on swimming in FRIGID water. Here is the man in action, taking a dip to start the race, erupting from the water, returning from the bike still looking fresh, and finishing strong.




2009/06/04

Miles & Mor Mor

Our newest nephew, baby Miles, was born one month ago on May 3. He is long (22") and lean, and cute as can be. By May 30, every sister and my mother had flocked to San Diego to see him, hold him, smell him, and sit in awe of every movement he made. This is the first grandbaby for my mom (Mor Mor in Swedish is "mother's mother"), and being a Mor Mor suits her so well. Here she is rocking away, and Miles is loving it.

2009/04/17

Spring!


Today was a BEAUTIFUL day in Boston! I have been convinced that it is definitely warming up, and there is hope for a beautiful spring. The trees are budding, the crocuses have pushed through the ground and bloomed. Springtime up here always fills me with a sense of hope, as the cold, dark, quiet winter gives way. Everything is put in motion. Especially obvious to me are the rowers and runners on the Charles River. Also in motion is frozen water starting to thaw. I'm taking this opportunity to post an old photo with a moving water theme (It's 5 years, if you can believe it, from our honeymoon in Maine, where this picture was taken.). I convinced Ricky to wear a helmet with me, having seen a others go overboard and suffer injuries. It wasn't until the slideshow at the end of the day that we realized that not only did we look like TOTAL dorks, but we were the ONLY ones on the entire trip to wear helmets.

2009/03/29

Guten Tag


My big blue-eyed husband has taken off on an excursion to Germany, a European country where he can actually blend in. The mission is to fix a work-related problem, so hopefully the fix will come sooner than later and he can enjoy the trip a little. It struck me that it has been quite some time since the old medical school days of living 200 miles apart. I'm a little spoiled now. Since HE's the one that took off and left me here all by my lonesome, I'm going to take this opportunity to be mischievous. As many of you know, Ricky has been training for a triathlon. I'm so impressed with all his hard work, particularly in the swimming pool, where he doesn't have a tremendous amount of experience. Lately he's been working on "equipment." You might ask, "Just how much equipment can you use in a pool?" Well, he has upgraded in several areas, such as cheap plastic lap-counters to a watch that counts for you. He has bought a swim cap, and he's been shopping for a wet-suit. He has come a long way. Just because I think you'll be wondering by now...he's still the only one in the pool with swim trunks. (Excluding the drag from his trunks) nothing slows him down, even if the only pair of goggles left in the store belongs on a 10 year old girl. You'll be thankful to know he's made an upgrade since then, but aren't these fabulous? If I had the time to get on the sewing machine, he'd also be wearing a pink satin cape in this picture.

2009/01/31

The New Hardy Bunch


It's a bit late, well more than a bit late, but here it is. I'm posting the Christmas update. This is our newly enlarged Hardy side of the family, with the addition of Maggie. In the background is the group effort at tree decoration in the Hardy living room, Palestine, TX.

It was a very special Christmas, being the first one spent with Hardy and being able to see Maggie for the very first time. Hardy just lights up the room like a Christmas tree when he gets excited about his Thomas & Friends gear. Although Maggie does little more than sleep, she does a super job of snuggling and melting your heart. Christmas is such fun with kids.

A Thomas Christmas




"Thomas & Friends" was the theme of this year's Christmas. I don't remember being into fads or toys of any one type, but I have always loved watching other people and kids find something they're passionate about. Hardy's passion is Thomas and more Thomas. He spends hours at a time with his trains, and boy did he get showered with Thomas paraphernalia this Christmas. I love the way he squints at the camera flash. He's such a sweet little guy. He's talking a lot, much more than even 3 months ago. He is a whiz at people names, and when it's time to say grace, he will often name everyone at the table, making sure they've all got their hands folded for the prayer, including aunt "illy" and uncle "kiki."

Snow & More Snow


The snow started Friday before Christmas and didn't stop until Sunday evening. This is the view from our perch. The blanket of snow turns everything pure white. People tend to snuggle up indoors, and the snow sops up the rest of the noise making it deafeningly quiet compared to the typical city hum. Our Sunday afternoon flight was cancelled, but we managed to make it out of town Monday and arrive in Texas just one day late.