10-years wedded bliss

Posted 5/6 - back dated to event

Blink and suddenly you go from "newly weds" to 10-years and 2 kids!
I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Two other couples we are close friends with also celebrate their 10th anniversaries this year - Holly and Michael the same weekend as ours and Derek and Michelle later in the summer.

Thanks to Derek and Michelle's great idea, we got together and went to the Spring Barrel Tasting event in Yakima. While Yakima itself didn't impress me (did you know there's nothing to do there in the evenings? Not that we found anyway), we had a blast and I came home feeling like the inside of an old oak barrel.

I owe a more detailed entry of what we liked, what we didn't - we were surprised to find that many of the small boutique wineries with wines in the $25-$35 range weren't necessarily the most enjoyable. One of group's favorites stops was the massive Terra Blanca - with wines that were in the $10 range, a wide variety and an awesome destination.

Wineries we visited (in order):

• The Tasting Room (NHV, Wildrige, Harlequin)
• Donitelia
• Upland Estates
• Tapteil
• Hightower Cellars
• Terra Blanca
• Airfield Estates
• Thurston Wolfe Winery
• Agate Field Winery
• Two Mountain Winery
• Wineglass Cellars
• Sagelands

I owe a much longer post and need to upload pictures. Suffice it to say, we tasted too much, ate too much and bought too much. But, good times, good friends, good wine. Great weekend.

First 5k

Posted 5/6 - late, as usual, back dated to event date.

Saturday, 4/18 - Megan and I ran in the Northshore YMCA 5k as a part of their Healthy Kids Day event. We arrived about 10 minutes early and I had the tiniest feeling of "I don't belong here" as I looked at a medium sized group of what appeared to be serious runners. In my moment of self-doubt, I thought to myself, how many people casually say, 'hey, let's go run a 5k today!" After all, Megan's never expressed an interest in running before and I certainly don't love it. As more and more people arrived, I realized I was being silly - the thing I'm learning to love about running is that it's an activity open to everyone - all body shapes, sizes, kids, grown ups. Feeling confident again, we finished stretching and got ready for the race.

We were a few minutes (10?) late starting and I didn't look at my watch - but we were done by 9:50 - so certainly couldn't have been more than 40-45 minutes on the course. We jogged virtually the whole way and I found it's actually good for me to jog with Megan - it forces me to keep a slow, steady pace. I tend to want to run in bursts (like she does).

Favorite memories of the event:

• "My little legs are tired," said Megan about 3/4 of the way through


• Watching her respond with a new burst of energy whenever there were volunteers cheering us on


• Watching her confidence level raise through the day as she started telling people that she ran the 5k


• Watching grown-ups reactions when Megan told them she'd ran a 5k


• Megan asking if we can do it again the next day.

I think her favorite part was the Jamba Juice at the end - she was about to bonk and the fruit smoothy totally re-energized her.

Mother's Day 5k in Kirkland is next. By the end of the day, I had myself comitted to the Cougar Mountain 5 mile run too - May 16.