Sleeping With the Fishes

It's not often that I get to spend quality time alone with just one of the kids.  I guess that's the way it is when you have three children.  This weekend was one of those rare times when I was able to spend a day with just Alex.  We went down to Wilmington with his cub scout den to spend the night at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher as part of their "Sleeping with the Fishes" program.

We had to be at the aquarium by 6 pm so I took a half day at work, picked Alex up at school early and hit the road.  According to Google Maps the trip was going to take about 3 hours.  We stopped on the way out to grab lunch, in the middle to stretch and get a drink and then again in Wilmington to eat dinner.  I let Alex pick where we would stop to eat so he was in heaven.  He picked Chick-fil-A for lunch and Moe's for dinner.

Once we arrived at the aquarium there were only 2-3 cars in the parking lot.  My first thought was that I mixed up the days, times or possibly both.  Eventually everyone showed up and my initial fears were relieved.  We were led into the staff parking lot to park for the night.  After we parked our cars everyone brought their bags and sleeping gear into the aquarium.  The kids were so excited when they were told we would be sleeping in front of the main aquarium.

Setting up camp in front of the big aquarium.

Each family picked a spot and set up their gear.  Initially the boys tried to all wedge into the limited space just in front of the main aquarium windows however parents soon intervened and spread them out.  After everyone was situated the staff went over the rules of the evening and then started the program.

First up was a reptile demonstration.  The boys learned what makes a reptile a reptile and then were allowed to touch different ones.

Touch a turtle

Touching a corn snake

Touch a baby alligator

Next up on the program was snack #1 (pizza and soda), a movie (Gus the Alligator) and the shark demonstration.   In the shark demonstration they learned about different types of sharks and specifically the purpose of the various types of shark teeth.

One of the cool exhibits at the aquarium was a display containing megalodon jaws.

Posing in front of the megalodon jaws.

The megalodon tooth is almost as big as Alex's head.

Following the shark presentation the boys painted t-shirts.  They each selected a rubber fish or starfish, painted one side of it and then pressed it up against a blank t-shirt to transfer the paint.  The shirts were set out to dry for the night.

Painting fish for t-shirts

After finishing up with the t-shirts the boys ate snack 2 (goldfish and popcorn).  By this time it was almost 10 pm which meant bedtime.   We all went back to the sleeping area in front of the main aquarium, prepared for bed and then settled in for sleep.  The staff turned on a movie (Cara the Sea Turtle) that everyone could fall asleep to.

The next morning we woke up at 7 am, got dressed, packed up our gear and met for a quick breakfast.  After breakfast the staff led us on a tour of the aquarium before turning us loose to explore on our own.

Luna the albino alligator

Around 10 am Alex and I left the aquarium and set out to visit Fort Fisher.  Before going there we stopped at the visitor center and discovered that there was an old World War II bunker about a mile away.  He was up for it so we hiked to the bunker.  This bunker is famous locally for housing the Fort Fisher Hermit, Robert Harrill, for 17 years. Mr. Harrill died in 1972 and the bunker has been vacant since then.

WWII bunker and home of the "Fort Fisher Hermit"

A little ways past the bunker on the tip of the island was an observation deck.  This part of the island was mostly salt marsh so we had to cross a number of wooden bridges to get there.

On the trail leading from the parking lot to the bunker and observation deck Alex noticed a small skull in a tree and insisted on taking a picture of it.  By this time the battery had died on both my camera and my phone so we had to go to the car for a while to charge up the phone.  He really wanted a picture of it so here it is:

Before leaving the island we stopped to visit Fort Fisher, a confederate fort from the civil war.

It was now past lunch time and we were both hungry so we drove off the island and back into Wilmington to find lunch.  Just like the drive in I let Alex pick the restaurant and he picked another favorite, Buffalo Wild Wings.  The timing was perfect when we arrived at the restaurant because the Carolina game was just starting.  We watched the first half while having lunch.  After lunch we made a detour to Leland to visit relatives (thanks Uncle David and Aunt Beckie!) for a little while before heading home.  We ended up getting home around 7 pm after a short but fun trip.

Alex and I had a terrific time alone.  Aimee mentioned she had a similar experience with Andrew and Olivia while Alex and I were gone which goes to show we should plan events like this more often.

Here are some additional pictures from our trip:

Krispy Kreme Challenge

It's early February and that only means one thing...it's time for the Krispy Kreme Challenge!   If you are not familiar with the race the rules are simple:  run 2.5 miles from the NC State bell tower to Krispy Kreme, eat a dozen glazed donuts and then run back in under 1 hour.  Simple right?

This was my fourth year in a row running in the race but what made it special was a large number of family members that also ran the race.  My brother Damian, his wife Holly, my wife Aimee and my son Andrew all ran the race too.  While most weren't expecting to meet the challenge Damian and I were and we did.

Posing in Cameron Village before the Krispy Kreme Challenge

The weather couldn't have been better.  It was chilly and sunny unlike last year when it was near freezing and raining (probably the worse weather conditions I have ever run in).  There were over 7000 runners this year which made it a bit crowded on Hillsborough Street for the start.  I wasn't sure how I would do or if even I would finish since I hadn't run at all in over 2 months due to a foot injury.  Fortunately my foot didn't hurt much and I finished the race.

This year I was determined to beat my donut eating time which has never been under 10 minutes.  I said the same thing last year and failed.  This year was going to be different.  I ended up finishing the donuts and making it to the checkpoint (where you have to show an empty box to leave) in 7 minutes and 30 seconds.  A new record for me!  So enough bragging about me and my speedy donut eating, here are some pictures from the race:

Eating a dozen glazed donuts.

Can I really eat 12 donuts if I want to?  Really?

Aimee, Andrew and Holly running to the finish.

Post-race and still smiling.

T-shirt design.

Backyard Patio - Done!

The title says it all.   It's been a while since the first patio post and it's been a while since the patio was finished as well.  Lazy me just hasn't posted about it.  My goal was to finish the project in 13 days as a play on the first post's title.  We didn't make it in 13 consecutive days but I think it took about 13 different days to finish.  I'm not sure because I took pictures throughout to detail the progress but for some reason forgot to take pictures during the final days.

Previously I said that we rented a plate compactor and had some ABC stone delivered.  We shoveled and wheeled  all of it from the driveway to the patio site.  It was heavy and tiring but we finished it...only to find out that we didn't have enough!  By this time it was Sunday and the place that we bought the stone from is closed on Sundays so we took a chance and called them only to get their answering machine.  Fortunately they are a family run business and they returned our call several hours later.  I drove over and picked up some more stone, we moved it to the back yard and finished this job.

After getting the base finished we brought in the sand, screeded it using PVC pipe and laid the pavers.  This was probably the fastest and visually the most rewarding part of the process.  Only one side was curved so we started opposite of that side and worked that way.  In order to save some cutting we moved the wall on the short edge in about 1" when we discovered there was a gap.

We borrowed a wet saw and an angle grinder from a friend to cut the pavers to fill in the gaps at the curved edge.  Once that was done we filled in the gaps between the pavers about half way up with some extra sand and then filled in the rest with polymeric sand.  We wet it a few times to set the sand and the surface was done!

The last part to do was to fill in behind the small retaining wall.  We bought several bags of drainage rock and filled in several inches deep behind the wall.  We used fill dirt left over from the initial excavation to fill in the rest.  After filling in behind the wall we ordered 10 yards of cypress chips to spread over the play area.

After moving the furniture onto the patio it was done!  Final cost was under $2500.

There is still more work to do such as getting grass to grow where we killed it while building the patio and possibly adding some benches however those will have to just get added to ever growing list of things to do.  For now we'll enjoy the patio.

Blue Ridge Relay 2011

Being new to blogging I haven't quiet figured out how to keep up the speed.  I have several other entries I've been putting off and will hopefully get to soon however I want to get this one down before I forget the details.

This past weekend I participated in the Blue Ridge Relay which is a 208 mile race that starts at Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia and ends in Asheville, North Carolina .  A little over a year ago I would not have dreamed of doing something like this but here I am having run in my second race in as many years.

For this year's race I had 4 goals:

• Don't walk on any leg
• Beat my projections*
• Win the bet with the other team**
• Have fun

*A guy on our team (who bailed on us to go to Vegas -- to be in a wedding) is a numbers guy and projects the pace and finish time of each runner.

**We had 2 teams and some of us tried to bet the other team that the team who missed their projection by the most would have to buy the first round of beer at Mellow Mushroom

I accomplished 2 of my goals.  I didn't walk and I had fun.  This race is more than fun though, it's a blast (you should see the email from our team captain -- many exclamation points!!!!).  I beat some of my projections but not all of them.  We didn't just lose to the other team...we were destroyed by them.  They beat us by almost an hour and were projected to beat us by only 7 minutes.  Next year there will be payback!

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 1 (blue) & 2 (gray)

Our teams were called RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 1 and 2 .  We do run as fast as we can (some probably while singing the Tiffany song), however we don't compete to win the race.  There are many other teams that are much too fast for us to worry about that.

Like everyone else on our teams I had 4 legs, however, since I am training for the Marine Corps Marathon (I'm running as part of Team Fisher House. Please donate if you can!) I was assigned the legs that totaled the most distance (30 miles).  I was the 5th runner so my legs were 5, 14, 23 and 32.

First Leg (#5)

I ran this same leg last year and was determined to run better this year which I did.  I ran almost 2 minutes faster.  This leg started with a downhill that flattened out and then finished with a short but steep uphill.  It went through the towns of Jefferson and West Jefferson.  At one point on this run I saw a dump truck coming at me and heard a car coming from behind me so I felt it was safer to run in the ditch.  Just as I hopped in the ditch I realized there was some kind of decomposing animal just ahead of me.  I immediately hopped over it but couldn't avoid the smell.  It was not pleasant.

The leg was listed at 5.2 miles but for the second year in a row my Garmin measured it at 4.8 miles.  I finished the leg in 36:26 for a 7:39 pace.   My projected pace was 7:45 so I was just under it.

Second Leg (#14)

My next leg was also the scariest for me.  I don't like running up hills much less mountains.  This leg was 10 miles up Grandfather Mountain.  While the leg was very hard it was somewhat enjoyable for me.  I didn't like the climbing but for just about every climb there was a small downhill that allowed me to recover before the next climb.  It was already dark when this run started so I had to wear all the proper gear (headlamp, reflective vest and 3 blinky lights).  What I liked most about this run was the cool breeze, the occasional sound of streams flowing and the peacefulness of nighttime.  What I didn't like about this run was that I was passed by 5 runners who blew by me with what appeared little effort.  I also didn't like that I missed my projected time.  I finished the leg in 1:27:21 for an 8:48 pace well above my projected pace of 8:00.

Third Leg (#23)

Like my second leg, my third leg was also at night.  It started at 3am.  I was warned about this leg by my teammates who had previously run it.  It was nicknamed the "Deliverance" leg.  The run started on a paved road from a small school but quickly turned onto a narrow wooden bridge that looked like a private driveway and from there onto a very small and winding dirt road.  In the past at this point it would be very foggy making it hard to see.  Even more is that vans travelling the road would kick up a lot of dust.  As recommended I brought an extra flashlight.  It turns out I didn't need it because it was a clear night and there was virtually no dust due to recent rains that had hit the area.

I really enjoyed this run.  Like the Grandfather Mountain leg it breezy and I could hear the stream flowing.  For about 20 minutes of the run I could also hear a train moving in the valley.  At one point as I rounded a curve I could see the mountains in the distance blanketed with a sheet of fog in the moonlight.  I saw no runners on this run.  I was running all alone and it was very enjoyable.

The run started with a big downhill for about 2 miles and finished with a steady uphill for the final 3 miles.  The run by itself wasn't too bad but after climbing for 10 miles on the previous leg the 3 mile climb at the end was tough.  After these 2 legs I'd done a half marathon of climbing.

My time for the leg was 49:02 for an 8:37 pace.  My projected pace was 7:45 so I was way over it.

Fourth Leg (#32)

My fourth and final leg was supposed to be a very hard leg (at least that was what it was rated).  I found it to be my "easiest" of the race.  It was a 9 mile downhill bomb that descended over 2000 feet.  Since I wear my Garmin I know where I am at and how much farther I have to go...when I know how far I am supposed to go.  For this run I thought it was 9 miles even.  It turns out that it was 9.4 miles.  When I was around 8.5 miles I was trying to pick it up to finish strong.  I reached mile 9 and saw no signs indicating the exchange zone was coming.  Then I started to worry that I missed a turn.  I kept going and eventually saw the signs and the finish.

My time for the leg was 1:07:11 for a 7:10 pace.  My projected pace was 7:45 which I beat.  Of my 4 legs I beat the projection twice and missed it twice.  Not too shabby.

I was passed by 5 people on the Grandfather Mountain leg however I passed 6 people to make up for it on this leg.

My total distance for the race was 29.76 miles.   There was no mention of sleep above because I didn't get any.  I may have dozed for 20 minutes at some point but that was about it.

Like last year I met a lot of great people during this race and enjoyed participating with all of my teammates. In general running is an individual activity but for this race it is a team event.  You are all packed in a van, moving from exchange to exchange and cheering each other (and other teams) on for the race.  It is hard but having a team makes it much easier.  It's definitely a rewarding experience for me.  I look forward to doing it again (except for running up Grandfather Mountain).

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the race:

Loading the van on Thursday for the drive to Boone

Breakfast at the hotel before heading to the starting line

Meghan and Carrie decorating the van

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 2's van

Mark hands off to Tristan on an early stage

Finishing my first leg (#5)

Both teams waiting for our runners to come by to cheer them on

Angie on team 1 gets to run through a tunnel

Hanging out at an exchange zone
 (Doug, Melissa, Angie, Meghan, Kelli and Kelsey)

Kelli in her pre-run warm-ups

Waiting at the Tanger Outlet exchange zone in Blowing Rock
(Melissa, Matt, Driver Matt, Tristan, Devin and Ben)

Tristan waiting to start his leg with Matt

Driver Matt didn't do a lot of driving so we made him run...1 mile at 11% grade.

Waiting at exchange zone 35
(Karen, Mark, Matt, Ryan, Driver Matt, Mike, Brian and Tristan)

Finished!
(Mark, Tristan, Ben, Ryan, Devin, Matt, Karen, Brian and Mike)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Tristan, Kelsey, Doug, Kelli, Jeff and Matt)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Driver Matt, Devin, Patience?, Ben)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Brian, Mark, Karen, Mike)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Ryan's empty seat, Carrie, Angie, Meghan, Dan, Melissa)

Mike crossing of his final leg

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 1 - All legs complete

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 2 - All legs complete

Post-race at the hotel
(Matt, Driver Matt, Devin, Melissa, Dan, Jeff, Mark, Tristan, Angie and Meghan)

Morning after breakfast at Cracker Barrel
(Carrie, Kelsey, Kelli, Meghan, Dan, Melissa, Ryan, Angie,
Mark, Tristan, Driver Matt, Matt, Jeff, Brian and Doug)