Not to 50!!

March starts off fast and furious with Ben competing in his final Pinewood Derby. We didn't get Papa's help this summer while we were in Swansboro, so this year we had to go old school with a design that needed minimal cutting.  He chose the classic wedge.  I particularly was happy because that means less cutting so therefore more wood and hopefully less add on weight.  We still had to add quite  a bit of weight, so that really didn't work out too well for him.  I am convinced if we had made a cut out on the bottom and placed the weight there we might have won.  Ben was on board for putting the weight underneath anyway, but there was track clearance to be concerned about so we stuck it on top and tried to make it look like a windshield.  Second place though is still pretty sweet.  Can't complain about losing by -0.044 seconds.

To continue in the Scouting theme for the first weekend of the month, Ben had his Arrow of Light Crossover the following afternoon.  Unfortunately, Jim was out of town and missed both Scouting events.  Lucy begrudgingly agreed to come with me with the promise of a piece of cake to be our photographer.  We are super proud of Ben and he is really looking forward to getting into "real Scouting".  

The following weekend we decided last minute to drive up to Annapolis for the afternoon and meet up with one of Jim's old roommates and family to have dinner.  The last time the kids were here was 6 years ago when we were in Newport and we came down for one of Jim's reunions.  Ben has fuzzy at best memories and the girls really just remember the stories Jim has told them.  I hate that we weren't able to come up for a football game this past fall, Annapolis is a gorgeous town and the Academy is impressive.  

The Becks came up for a night during their spring break and Jim took them on a "quick" bike ride down to the National Mall which ended up lasting several hours.  They probably won't do that again.  

Afterward we all went to a different kind of mall for dinner.  Even Aunt Kaki was able to join us!  After dinner, we didn't have room in the car to drive everyone home so Jim and Coby decided to rent "scooters," the latest craze in Arlington, for the ride home.  Jim (and Ben) are now obsessed with scooters and they rent them at every opportunity.  It was such a fun night!

March is really flying by!  Hard to believe it is already St. Patrick's day!  This is the first year the leprechaun didn't destroy the house.  Instead he just left some treats.  I must say, I really do appreciate it.  

When we left Yuma we were hopeful that we might have left the world of mandatory Science Fair behind.  Sigh, that was not the case.  On the upside, it was only required by 8th graders and so only Lilly participated.  She was able to buddy up with her friend for the project, so that made it more palatable.  Lilly has had success with Water Quality projects in the past so they decided to do another one in this category.  Earlier this year the school held their Science Fair and the girls came away with a slot for the County Science Fair.  They attended the one-day event and came away with First Place within the Environmental Science field!  The project will progress to the Regional Science Fair that takes place in April.  GREAT job Girls!!  

Lilly and Ben aren't the only ones who have things going on.  Lucy is on the middle school Swim team.  We are very proud of her!  The swim meet season is only 4 weeks long and she missed one whole week with a sinus infection but we are hoping she will be able to qualify for the championship meet in April.  Her assistant coach is very impressed with her skills in the pool.  She is soo fast!  I have enjoyed watching her in the pool.  I really have missed watching all the kids swim.  It is such a great sport!

So Spring has definitely sprung here in Arlington!  One afternoon towards the end of the month we got a surprise that gave the impression of Winter.  It was a pop up storm that ended up giving us quite a bit of HAIL!  I mean we went from a sunny afternoon to dime size hail covering the back deck in about 5 minutes! It was really coming down!

In February Jim asked me if I wanted to run the USMC 17.75Km race.  Of course I said yes!  I haven't run a race in a while and this distance is kind of different. The main thing that interested me was the fact that usually when I run a 1/2 marathon I really want the race to end around the 11 mile mark and this race is just a tad longer then 11 miles.  I started my training plan with my running partner - Wesley (our dog).  He is always up for whatever the distance.  I had a bit of a mishap with him on a run about 10 days before the race.  It of course involved a squirrel.  Basically the squirrel was frozen as we approached it and as I was fervently hoping it wouldn't move to draw Wesley's attention it darted away and Wesley ended up pulling me down hard on the sidewalk.  OUCH!!!!  My knee instantly started to hurt.  UGH!!!  I was very unhappy.  I had just spent two months training for a race and now a week out I may not be able to run it!  I was able to get seen by the doctor and get an x-ray.  All good!  The doctor advised me to not run IF the knee was at all sore on the day of the race.  Thank goodness I was pain free and able to run the race.  It was a really nice event.  The race is 1/2 trail, 1/2 road in Prince William Forest. Not to worry, I ran it slow!  I finished in 2:02:42 and came in 63rd for my age group.  I only wish it had been the following weekend because then I would have been in a different age group and hopefully higher up in the age group finishers!  

You read that right, I had a birthday the last week of March.  It was a big one!!  I must say, I don't feel 50.  But I didn't feel 40 or 30 either, so that isn't much of a surprise.  I got some really great presents this year!  Lucy bought me a new pair of Vans. Ben gave me a new workout bag.  Lilly bought me a pair of whale earrings.  Jim is taking me to see David Sedaris next week!  To round out the other gifts would be a memory book the whole family put together, a beautiful dress, a kick ass umbrella, purse catcher, a delicate necklace and a 4Ocean Ocra bracelet just to name a few!

I almost forgot!  Oscar and Wesley gave me a present too!  30 whole seconds without someone hissing or attempting to sniff the hissing one's butt!  It only took 4 years!

One last FFF for the month of March!  We joined several thousands of our closest friends and made the trek down to check out the cherry blossoms.  It was beautiful but I will admit, the next time I do something that routinely attracts millions of people a year I am going have a better transportation back up plan.  We did NOT think this one through all the way, and our return trip was painful.  All the scooters had dead batteries, not good and not enough rental bikes for everyone.  Ahh, live and learn.