December 2010 at Home

Ross's Tonsillectomy

We had Ross's tonsils removed due to repeated cases of strep throat. None of our kids seem to snore but I've heard that the surgery would also help that and sleeping or behavioral problems.

Pre-Op Ross played on his 1st electronic gadget- an Ipod he saved up and bought from Noah L. Mom and Dad (behind the camera) waited somewhat nervously.

Post-Op visit with the Bishops. Thank you for the ice cream!

Ross and Dr. Kraus (above). Ross stayed in the Day Surgery Center overnight with J.T. They watched sports on TV.

Dr. Kraus gave ear tubes to Lydia when she was 2 so this is our second procedure with him. He reported after the surgery that Ross's adenoids had been blocking 90% of his airway. Writing this 5 months later, Ross has remarked to me that it is now easier for him to breathe while swimming.

Scotty Humphries kindly delivered a milkshake for Ross.

Ross's pitiful look here was typical of his recovery period. He returned to school 11 days post-surgery.

Brownies Fall 2010

Lydia is enjoying her Brownies Troop. Above, they had an American Girl Doll event at a house on Fleming Rd. in Greensboro.


One day, Lydia studied my wedding ring and asked if it is a crystal. I said that it's a diamond. She asked me how much it cost. I asked what her guess might be. She said $5. When I looked surprised, she raised her estimate to $10. When I said that most diamonds cost more than $100, she clapped both hands over her mouth in surprise.

Go Far 5K Race

This was our 2nd year competing in this local 5K race.
This year, it moved to downtown High Point. Above: our school's team. My kids are both near the center of the 2nd row. Ross is wearing a hat and Lydia is sporting a black headband.

While I ran beside Lydia and pushed him in his jogging stroller, Russell exclaimed:
"I'm not even sweating!"

Lydia Fall 2010

Lydia has exchanged only a few emails in her 8 years. Her first email was sent to her friend Caroline T. Today, she asked if she may send a message to her teacher who had gone home sick. I agreed and the message she wrote touched me:

Subject: love you
Message: I really missed you today.I hope you can come back tomarow.I LOVE YOU and i hope you feel better.
Lydia

I'll summarize her teacher's reply here:

Lydia,

I am feeling better and I should be at school tomorrow. I missed you too!

Thanks for your note.

Mrs. L.

That is sweet. Honestly, we've had one great teacher after another in our public school system.

Photo of Lydia with her buddy from school, gymnastics, and Brownies at their school's 50th Anniversary celebration.

Evening Near the Temple of Poseidon

Temple of Poseidon

Marathon Day: 26.2 Miles and Emails

The race had a relatively late starting time (9 AM) which actually felt like 10 AM because they had a time change the night before the race! Incidentally, the US changes time one week later. We were home by then so we "fell forward" two weekends in a row.

Debbie, Julie, Robin and I (Jen) toured more of Athens while waiting like women in labor for our guys to finish their big race. This photo shows a rare area of graffiti. Generally, I found Athens to be clean.

The Parthenon towers over the city.

Gelato. Yeah, baby.



Way to go, J.T.!

Great job, guys! Along the route, the crowd shouted "Bravo!" to all of the runners. This marathon is unusual in that the course has no loops: It is 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens. There is an impressive, 14-mile long mountain along the course. Steve (far left) amused people by asking spectators, "Is Athens in this direction?" The crowd happily agreed that he was running the right way and they cheered him on!

Steve (right) made friends with "Ma" (left), a friendly Chinese many who lives in Canada. They inspired and encouraged each other along the route and finished their first marathon (for each of them) together. Well done!

We celebrated by having a dinner by the beach. We were looking for fish dishes but they only had pork left. We were flexible. The staff was very friendly there.

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On Saturday, October 30, 2010, Jim T. wrote this to us about their time keeping our 3 kids:
Hi J&J -

Just returned from the soccer match. Ross scored the first goal and barely missed another good shot. His team won 8-0.

The McCains arrived in time to accompany Beth and Lydia and Russell to the game. So we're off in just a few minutes.

We're pulling for you in the big race tomorrow and will be anxious to hear how it goes.

On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 4:33 PM, John and Jen wrote:
Have had a good couple of days sightseeing in Athens yesterday and
Delphi today. Really fun group. Long day today, so time to get some
good rest tonight / tomorrow. The course is a killer, but I'm excited
to see what Sunday brings. Low expectations but high hopes.

Sounds like you all are doing great activities with the kids. I hope
they and you are holding up OK. Tried to Skype tonight, left message
from Bobby's computer. Will plan to try between 8-9 am there. Hope
soccer goes well. When are the McCains joining in?

Thinking about you all all the time ... Hugs all around!

JT and Jen

JT sent this brief race report home late in the evening on 10/31/2010
Horrendously tough course, fairly hot, remarkable setting, very
satisfactory results.
I managed 3:20:54 on my watch, unfortunately I don't think official
results will give me the fractional Boston qualifier.
Bobby from Hungary was 3:18:45, Mr. Gaw ran a splendid 3:39:20,
closely pursued by Roger Church in 3:47:59, both PR's by a heap, and
our 54 year old marathon virgin in a (surprisingly) strong 4:47.

It's late here, headed to bed.

Love you all, Happy Halloween!
JT


And finally, Roger sent this more detailed report home to friends:

Dear friends & family,
In case you get bored by these types of emails, I can give you the short version. Four of my friends ran here with me today 10/31. For me it was my fastest marathon time by almost 5 minutes.
Here is the long version: I felt good about posting a PR at the ripe old age of 43 on a challenging course. Two other guys in our group (JT & Bobby) posted Boston qualifying times , Mike from Atlanta smashed his best time and Steve K’s inaugural marathons was a huge success. Here is a quick recap of what has happened since we departed GSO on 10/26
We left Charlotte very early and flew to Philly where we had a 6+ hour layover. We ventured into the city by train. We ate a Philly cheese steak, saw the liberty bell and visited independence hall and the original congress hall. In Philly Julie, me, JT and Jennifer were joined by Robin and Steve K. We flew to Zurich and on to Athens. It took three runs to the airport to get all of us and our luggage there including a late nite run by Bobby to pick up Mike. On the way back they were stopped by the police, but let off without any citation. Thursday was spent in Athens visiting the Acropolis and its museum. Friday we ventured up to Delphi (a 2:40 minute drive). It was a very interesting place and a beautiful drive. I’ll put some links here for our first couple of days in Greece. The third day most of the runners stayed close to home and the ladies ventured down to the beach. Today was marathon day. We had an early morning scare when one guy could not find his timing chip that was later found beside our van. Here is how that went down: The property manager of the house we rented has a taxi service. We followed him to the start and JULIE drove and followed him to the metro stop. The marathon (2,500 anniversary) is a point to point race. The start is in Marathon (only about a 10 minute drive from our house) and finishes in the Panathinaikon stadium. That stadium was rebuilt in 1896 on the site of the original Olympic stadium. It was an epic place to finish a race. The challenging thing about the course was that there are some significant hills not too long after the start and they continue to about mile 20 where is is downhill most of the way to the finish. Running downhill sounds easy, but it is hard after you have run 20 miles and your quads are burning.
The best part about this trip has been spending quality time with very close friends that are even closer now. It has been a grand adventure and we still have one more day left in country. Tomorrow we are headed to the temple of Poseidon where we plan on dining at sunset.
Here are the photo links and I have attached the finishing picture.
Cheers,
-Roger

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Mid-Week at our Rental House

We cooked a pre-race pasta dinner. The store did not carry ground beef so we had ground turkey in the sauce. Great food and fellowship.

The Five Guys' Run and Our Walk to the Beach in Marathon, Athens

Look out for the stray dogs, guys!

Robin and Jen enjoying the view from the deck of our rental house.

This "guard house" in our community appeared to be hand-made.

Marble is common all over Athens- chunks of marble even show up in the sand.

Dinner After Day Trip to Delphi

Delphi, Greece