Race photos and Arkansas fun

Making friends while waiting for Daddy at mile 31

Running into the aid station with Daddy

Ryan looking good as he heads out

Me with my friend Huguette, whose husband is also running

Ryan's mom and grandmother at the aid station

Ryan and me right before I headed out with him at mile 63

G and Ryan heading in for the finish

G out-running his dad for the first time in his life

The finish

Both of us after the race

Enjoying a pancake breakfast after the race

Scout getting some pancakes, too

Pop snuggling with the kids

Ryan receiving his buckle

Garrett wanting to get in on the action

Check out that bling!

Viewer discretion advised: The following picture may contain graphic content - like a BOUS (blister of unusual size). Seriously, it's gross, so don't look if you think you might not be able to handle it. Before Ryan took off his shoes to reveal this lovely thing, I asked if he thought he'd gotten any blisters. His response was, "I think I might have one." Ya think?!

So gross!

The rest of our Arkansas vacation was great. We left the little cabin in Perryville for a much larger cabin in Mountain View. On the way, we stopped at a little cafe in Heber Springs and surprised Ryan's parents by meeting some of Ryan's childhood friends and their families from Fort Collins for dinner. They are two brothers, who now live in Searcy. The older of the two attended every grade of school with Ryan from kindergarten through college. He and his wife also lived in the same apartment complex that we did when we were at Harding. It was great catching up and seeing how much their kids have grown.

The cabin in Mountain View was beautiful, and the kids loved it, minus the mounted elk head in the master bedroom that terrified Scout. She even made Ryan's uncle carry her in there one afternoon to protect her while she retrieved some toys. The cabin backed to the river, which was very swift. Unfortunately, with all the rain that area had received prior to our arrival, the fishing was not what it usually is. The guys still had a good time, though, and Garrett got to catch some fish with his new Spiderman fishing pole. I took the kids antiquing with Ryan's mom and grandmother one afternoon. Mountain View is a quaint little town, and the town square is really cute. Ryan's mom bought the kids some whistles (Scout's was carved from wood, and G's was made from an antler), and I bought Scout a pinto bean bracelet. It's a bracelet strung with plastic beads and pinto beans. How Arkansas is that? We were there about a week before the town's Bean Fest, which was the reason for our lucky find of such rare jewelry. Too bad we missed the Outhouse Races.

We ended the trip with a family lunch at a little pharmacy and soda fountain called Woods Pharmacy. When Ryan and I were first married, we used to drive to Mountain View to hike, fish and then eat here. We loved their fresh-squeezed lemonade. The kids liked the food and loved sitting at the soda fountain to share a banana split.

We were also really fortunate to be able to stop on the way up to Arkansas and back at our friends' house in Fort Worth. Thanks, Ridgells!