Seattle!!!

We recently travelled to Seattle to visit Son and Daughter-in-Law ~

It's always a pleasure to visit family and the beautifully green State of Washington!!! 

This trip was made more special by it being our granddaughters first airplane ride. 

Baby girl slept most of the flight and arrived with smiles!!

We all enjoyed having everyone together, it had been 6 months

since Uncle Bubba had seen his niece and Aunt Little Feet

hadn't seen her since she was two weeks old!!

Baby girl immediately took to her Uncle, who had her laughing all week ♥

For the last three years part of the family has participated in a

half marathon/marathon in the Seattle area. 

This was my 5th half marathon this year and

brings my lifetime total of half marathons to 12!!!

We were fortunate enough to catch the Dale Chihuly display ~ 

Trust me when I say if this display comes to a city near you GO.SEE.IT!!!

Absolutely fabulous display of glass blowing genius...

After 31 years and 4 trips to Seattle, SIL (PC) finally visited the Space Needle!!

Our visit came to a close following a backyard BBQ

with several of our Seattle 'family' in attendance. 

As you can see the Sun made an appearance!!

Uncle Bubba feeding Baby Girl fresh fruit...

Until next time... Goodbye Seattle and all of your lovely greenery ♥ ♥

MY 1/2 marathon... Part 1

I did it...

I set a goal, followed the plan and completed it!!!

Goal; to run a half marathon before my 50th birthday ~ CHECK!
The plan; Runner's World SmartCoach ~ CHECK!!!

Complete it; I finished in 2:23:48 CHECK!!!!

I had set a personal goal of finishing in 2 1/2 hours and made it.

Here I am out on the course;

Words really cannot

described how beautiful Seattle is!!

The course had us running along Lake Washington,

we ran by both Qwest & Safeco fields.

The crowds lined the course the majority of the way!!

There were bands playing every mile ~

Steve, Erin & Tommy were at mile 6 with

handmade signs by Erin and cowbells cheering us on!!

Steve met me at the final corner with a bouquet of flowers,

kissed me and said "See you at the finish"!!!

I carried those flowers proudly

across the finish line
as I bawled like a baby...

Seriously, it was such an emotional experience for me!!

TaDa!!! I made it!!

Here I am with my future daughter-in-law

who ran her 1st full marathon in RECORD TIME

and my son-in-law

who completed his 2nd full marathon and NAILED it!!!

The 'OHANA'...

♥ ♥ ♥ these guys!!! and STILL smiling...

Next up, begin training for my next 1/2 marathon in October...

I think I want to get a few more 1/2's

under my belt before thinking about a full... Yes, I said it!

Boston wrap-up!!

What a great time we had in Boston!!!

In addition to the excitement of having our daughter qualify/run/finish one of the most prestigious marathons, it was another wonderful family vacation.

We arrived to cloudy skies and rain, but the weather Gods saw to it that the days we needed great weather we had it!!

We took a water taxi from Boston's Logan airport across the Boston Harbor to our amazing hotel. It is the building in the middle; we had rooms on the 7th & 9th floors with views of the Fort Point channel. The hotel was close to the subway station (first time we had rode!!) and within walking distance of wonderful eatery called Flour Bakery & cafe.

Seriously a MUST go!!

We took in a Red Sox game!

It was rainy, wet and cold but we were bundled up and had come prepared.

We enjoyed seeing The Green Monstah and our local boy Dustin "The Destroyah" Pedroia.

Everyone but our daughter had the opportunity to run a 5k sponsored by

the Boston Athletic Association. We ran through the streets of downtown Boston and were treated to cross the same finish line that the marathoners would cross the very next day!! Our race had about 5,000 runners and the streets were lined with supporters along the route.

TEAM HOYT
What an inspirational story this is of a father, Dick Hoyt, and his son, Rick, who compete together in marathons and triathlons across the country.

Do yourself a favor and visit their website,

listen to/read their story!!!

Here is our favorite marathon finisher!!!

We were able to take the subway to catch her at Mile 17 and cheer her towards the finish line.

Once she passed we hopped the subway again and headed

back downtown to catch her as she passed Mile 25.

There were quite possibly 10-15 people deep lining the streets at this point.

SO very difficult to get to the finish line and we hoped

to give her encouragement to make it the last mile,

but my future daughter-in-law was the only one to see her.

Boston puts on such a well organized, swiftly run event -

but then this IS the 114th running!!

Honestly, it was so amazing to see all of the hard work

that goes in to an event of this size;

there were 25,000+ runners!!!

Bravo!!! Boston Athletic Association and the Bostonian folks were very cordial too...

Here is our crew at the Boston Public Gardens...

Thank you Mr. Adams for the lovely tour and tasting!!!

Good bye Boston - Who knows when we will return...

New England Bloggers!!! I need your help!!!

Hello dear New England bloggers !!!

I know you are out there and Alicia over at New England Girl gave me great hopes that you could help me out...

My daughter will be running in her first Boston Marathon in April!!!

We are making it a family vacation (4 will be arriving from CA and 2 from WA state) and we will be in Boston for 5 days! Aside from the marathon on Monday we have all registered to run this 5k...

we'll also be taking in a Red Sox game!!!

I am looking for touristy sights to see ~

Great places to eat ~ Any comments on these two restaurants??

Cantina Italiana

Gennnaro's 5 North Square

We will be staying at the InterContinental hotel on Atlantic in Boston. We understand that the hotel is in the financial district and close to public transit. Hopefully there will be plenty to see close by.

Looking for a little guidance, I sure would appreciate the assistance!! Thanksomuch...

Maui Update v1

A.loooo.HA!!!

We made it!!! We are all here and well... Quick update - We are still adjusting to the time change, insert we are awake at 4AM!! Makes for great quiet time on the lanai drinking coffee and checking out the view!! Pretty sweet, right??

We spent our first day acquainting ourselves to our temporary home, shopped for food and drink and walked the beach. We visited Old Lahaina Town which is along the waterfront that has several little shops and restaurants. We popped into Bubba Gump's for a bite of nourishment and to rest our feeties...

Pool and swim time followed by naps in the sun completed our afternoon. Tommy & Lindsey met up with two old teammates of Tommy's at a location that they jump 25 feet from a rock into the ocean. Props to both of them for this YIKES!!!

Here we are waiting for the sunset (minus Lindz the photographer) ~

While we were waiting on the sunset we were treated to this amazing rainbow too! Never a dull moment here folks...

And finally... the moment we had all been waiting for...

That wrapped up yesterday... A day of life, laughter and love!!!

Check back in as I'm sure I will photos from our men folks fishing trip today!

Mahalo for reading...

Goooood morning Maui!!!

We are all here safely and settling in fine!

Maui...Here I come!!!!!

I am simply beside myself... The day has finally come; a day that has been in the works for 1 1/2 - 2 years! Our dream family vacation is here!!!


By the time of this post, we should be winging our way to Oahu/Maui... Tommy & Linds are flying direct from WA to Maui while Erin, Chris, Steve & I will stop on Oahu and then meet them on Maui!!!

Keep checking in as I plan to post occasional updates or follow me on Twitter: BEAUTEA97


We have a couple of special things planned, which I cannot reveal just yet but I will be in touch!

Mahalo - Maui No Ka Oi ~