A Breath of Fresh AIR

Don't you love people in life who are like a breath of fresh air? Brother Kevin is one of those for me, and graced me with a visit two weekends ago. Kevin arrived Friday night, and stayed up with me to go pick up Andrew-Thames-Kontak late Friday night, who crashed our house only to fly out at 7 am for Dallas the next morning. Despite only spending two car rides and change with him, Thames managed several good laughs with us. Always good to see him.

Kevin, Rachael and I headed up to Breckenridge early Saturday morning, and speaking of AIR, Kevin got enough to learn and perfect his new 360 move - see picture below. More incredible than watching Kevin actually do the 360 was watching him learn how to do it. You know those cartoons where the character runs off a cliff and his legs keep moving until he realizes he's off the cliff and he drops like a rock? That's what Kevin looked like on his first few jumps. He'd be spinning, when suddenly he'd get scared and come out of it, quickly crashing into the ground, landing on his head, ski tip, or side. Not to be deterred, Kevin overcame his mind telling him to stop spinning, and completed an entire 360, and stuck the landing. Incredible. Rachael, Kevin and I had good talks on the ski lifts, and just enjoyed each other's company.

Sunday, Kevin and I played in a pick-up football game, except that it was more of an invitation-only game. I had to talk the organizer into letting Kevin play, but it only took Kevin aboot one catch to establish himself as the best player on the field, including a diving catch that nobody knows how he caught the ball. Talk about air.

In addition to all that, Kevin was gracious with his time and energy with the kids, and just fun to be around. Thanks for the visit Kev, and congrats on the 360. What's your next trick?

The Many Austins

Ok, so talking about running went nowhere, because it turns out, I think about everything while run, and nothing at the same time. My brain jumps from topic to topic, none of them usually in depth enough that it would be interesting to write about. But I did finish the 30 runs in 30 days! I ran at all hours of the day, but usually in the dark, either at 5:15 am, and sometimes after putting the kids to bed. The runs were only 1/2 hour long, but life nearly got the better of me and my goal on many days. One thing I thought about while running is The Many Versions of Austin. Austin's imagination is so strong that he not only pretends to be something, he acts as if he really is the something he's imagining. If you tell him "You really look like a policeman," he'll immediately respond, with some level of frustration in his voice, "I am a policeman." Gayle and I take great joy watching him change chameleon-like from one persona to another. Below are pictures of him dressed as a pirate, a firefighter, an umpire, and his latest favorite, Spiderman (first picture above - shooting his web out at you. Notice the care he pays to his costume, down to the red socks). He's also been a doctor for awhile, but I didn't get a picture. In all of these pictures, Austin dressed himself, the best part of it. Keep imagining buddy. We love it. We love you.

Pirate, Version 1. He saw the belt/strap on the pirate in Puff the Magic Dragon.

Pirate, Version 2. Getting better.

Pirate, Version 3. He built the pirate ship, and begged Gayle to make him an eye patch, which he wore around ALL day, including to the grocery store. He had an indententation around his eye from the patch after the day was over.

Policeman. The best part about this costume is the ski pants he dug out of the closet, to match the navy blue of the pants that policemen wear.

On many winter nights, Austin and I play catch inside after dinner. Lately, though, his need to actually BE an umpire, or a catcher, or a pitcher, has impeded the actual time we spend playing catch. Here's Austin dressed as the catcher.