Wish you were here . . .

Taking a few days off to be with family. I'll be back July 1st.

Sea and Ski

San Elijo was one of our favorite places we camped when we were still living in So. California. The camp sites are at the top of those stairs. I remember sitting with Sara on the cliff, early in the morning watching the surfers way out there.

The smell of sunscreen always makes me think of San Elijo.

Happy Birthday Gab!

More Netflix

Speed Racer~ I wanted the kids to see the original so they would get it when they saw the movie. The cartoons we watched growing up were so different than what my kids watch. On one hand this is very violent, people are dying left and right in terrible car accidents, on the other hand there is an innocence here that the burping, farting, sarcastic cartoon characters of today don't have.

I love how someone's car goes off a cliff and blows up and they all keep racing. Nice.



The Great Debaters~ A true story. I really liked this but then I love almost everything that Denzel Washington does.

Hairspray~ We actually own this one but it has become one of our favorites. Great cast, wonderful music and fantastic choreography. Our favorite line, "So this is love? Well love is a gift, some people don't remember that. So you better get ready for a whole lot of ugly comin' at you from a never ending parade of stupid." "So, you've met my mom?" Queen Latifa and John Travolta are the best!




Alvin and the Chipmunks~ The kids liked this. I didn't get to see it, however I'm not very disappointed.

Remember the Titans~ This is on T.V. all the time but since we don't have T.V. (sniff sniff) I haven't see this in over a year. It is one of my favorite movies. A true story and a really good one. I LOVE a story when someone makes the hard choice or stands up for what's right.

Moonlighting Season 3 Disc 2~ This disc has the "Atomic Shakespeare" episode. They did a version of The Taming of the Shrew (which is the first play I ever saw at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City) and it is excellent and funny. The best line, "We hate iambic pentameter!"

Core Score

An enlightening article found in this month's issue of Surfing Magazine has been at the heart of some recent family discussion and debate.

"Do you kill your own food? Or does your mom make you finish your vegetables? That's all we're asking. A Core Score is like a tattoo on your soul- you wear it for life. But unlike tattoos (which generally boost one's Core Score), your Core Score is adjusted with every decision you make. So, next time your girlfriend asks you to walk her poodle . . . well, we're not saying you can't but you're definitely gonna need to go surfing without a leash if you wanna stay level. Here are a few pointers to get you oriented."

Increase Your Core Score

beards

flannels

not having a cell phone

budweiser cans

no-look paddle outs

stitches

surfing alone

sleeping in your car

black coffee

sneaking in (anywhere)

Decrease Your Core Score

walking your girlfriend's dog

faux-hawks

changing in a towel robe

salads

fur-lined boots

slacks

blogging

tanning

puka shell necklaces

valentine's day

Little Paul wouldn't type this up for me because that fell under both "walking your girlfriend's dog" and "blogging".

Note to Jared and Ben

Dear Ben and Jared,

It was so much fun to have you at our house last week. The house seems much less busy without the blur of you running from here to there Ben. Is your sunburn better yet? We loved watching you wrestle on the trampoline and run and throw. You are a very good runner and thrower. We especially loved it when you would jump from one place to the next or catch a ball and would whisper "Yes!" to yourself. That made us happy.

"Mom! look it's my person!!"

Jared, you were soooooo good and smiley and happy. We really liked having a baby in the house again, we loved feeding you and bringing you toys and trying to make you laugh.

I hope you are having fun at your Aunt Jenny's house. Tell your mom how much we love her and that we can't wait to see you guys with your mom and dad in 2 weeks.

Love,

The Rodgers Cousins

My 1st 5K

It was so much fun!

Bat Bummer

What we saw.

What we were hoping to see.

Monday night we went to see the bats. We set ourselves up on a bridge about 100 yards away from the bat bridge. We hung out there for about an hour until it was dusk and we really started watching. Finally Dan said excitedly, "There they are! I can see them!" There were clouds of bats rising out from under the bridge and flying away from us!! We could sort of see them.

I'm so disappointed. Now we have to go back.

Sisters and Running

So I wrote about running here. Although I really do love to run, I've started to get a little bored with my exercise routine. Awhile back I was making some goals and after talking some things through with Paul I decided to train and run the Tyler 1/2 marathon in October.

I haven't ever run in a race before, well not since I was 8 years old, and I was a little nervous to even make this goal until I talked to Megan on the phone.

Her, "You can totally do this Rachel, let me make up a training schedule for you."
Me, "Really, you know how to do that?"
Her, "That's what my degree is in! I would love to do that."

A couple of days later she sent me an email with the greatest training schedule. The schedule has me increasing by degrees each week until October, running a couple of races ahead of time to help me get familiar with how races work and how I react in a race and it also mixes things up so I'm not just running everyday, I'm cross training twice a week and weight lifting too.

This week looks like this:
Sun: rest
Mon: 4 mile run
Tues: cross train / 2 mile run
Wed: 3.5 mile run and strength train
Thur: easy run
Fri: rest
Sat: 5K run

Megan is so awesome! The schedule is tough but I love that she took into consideration my time line and life as well as the knee that I broke a few years ago. It has been great to call her and talk to her about different things. She has such good advice and she is so encouraging.

While she's here I get to workout with her and then on Saturday we are going to run in a my first 5K together. I'm so excited!

Little Boys, Bats and a Hurricane

Paul and Robin and Pauly headed to Galveston last night (sans the wetsuits).

Come on Alma give 'em some surf!

For the rest of us, the Stanley Family (sans Salem) are arriving today in Austin. The 3 medium kids and I are meeting them at the airport and then staying the night in Austin before heading back to our place on Tuesday.

I wanted to stay so we could see the bats fly out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge. I've been wanting to go since the first time we lived at Hood but never did make there while we were living just an hour away. They are the largest colony in North America, 1.5 million bats come out every night to feed. I can't wait to see it!