Weekend away

Last Sunday Sara and I ran the Nike Women's half marathon in San Francisco.  I headed out in the wee hours of Thursday morning to catch an early flight (hubby was able to drop me off on the way into work...so I had about 3 hours of down time in the airport to sit a latte and peruse the Border's selection).   Lola had been in town to renovate the bathroom in the DC condo (amazingly done in less than 4 days, start to finish) so was able to take the kids into day-care that morning.  The flight was a dream, napping and reading totally uninterrupted (what a concept!). 

It was so fantastic to see Sara and the kiddos who I haven't seen in two years...which is just insane.  I know they say that the first few years with kids are the hardest and travel can be rough, but we definitely need to get these kids together.  It's shocking how alike they are! Maya and Caleb have such similar personalities, and Anya and Zoe have the same hair, just blond for one and dark brown for the other.  They'd have so much fun together!  We all had a blast running all over the place, eating pastry and drinking milkshakes and overall being irresponsible. 

Rather than Tita Pia, the kids call me Pia Pia...not that I'm complaining.  :) 

A&M&K were so excited for their mommy's great job at the Crossfit fundraiser!! This was the evening of the day I came in, and it was so amazing to go to her gym and see what a community it is, with so many people there to raise money for breast cancer research.  They had a full paleo spread to include hard (pink) apple cider....nummmy.   

#1!  Kai is almost as big as his sisters.  What a sweetie! I slept on an air mattress in his room (which used to be the guest room/office) my first night at their house, and Kai got confused that I was his mommy at one point.  It reminded me of being "fake mommy" when we were out visiting when our twins were 4.5 months and Sara's were 6 months, and the others' kids would look at their aunties inquisitively when we'd pick them up.  Like, they knew we were familiar but not quite right... 

Kid Wrangler, waiting for mommy's heat. Kai is a shocking mini-me of his daddy, just with flaming red hair -- it's adorable!  

The best part of a minivan is that the older two were way on the back row...and tossing snacks back from the front seat was fun for everyone, and even more fun for Tita Sara when she gets to find those nasty French fries that went under the seats...

On our way to swimming.  The girls are so tall -- check out those long legs! 

A&M were awesome at swimming.  They followed the teacher's directions well, and weren't at all afraid to put their heads under the water.  Not bad for 3 and a half year olds! 

The first part of the girl weekend...girls trip into SF to the Nike Expo to get our race bibs.  Anya was less than impressed with having to get up early, but Maya was all smiles.  By the time we got into the city they were excited to run around. 

Treats at the expo...Kashi cereal and Silk Soy, high end chocolate, and crappy mango smoothies.  We sampled them all, and then walked around the Union Square area for a little while, including braving the crowds and madness of Niketown. 

Race morning.  We stay in a swanky hotel overnight, and had a high end French dinner the night before.  Sara's sisters-in-law do the race every year, and it was group of about 10 women that were friends and family.  What a great way to spend a weekend. 

Yes, we were in matching Lululemon outfits.  And I was so happy to have the long sleeves when it started pouring and the temperatures dropped to about 50 F...I had no idea it got London-in-autumn cold, windy and wet in SFO!  My eyes are still tired from sleep in this one (and hey, you can't have French food without French wine!)