O-HI-O!!!

Last week we headed back to Ohio for the Air Force Marathon festivities. I ran the 5K and P ran the 1/2. Ironically, while we lived there we never participated. We discussed doing it our last fall there but nothing really ever materialized especially after P ended up being in Albuquerque that last fall instead.

Of course I had to insert a picture where the camera case makes its appearance...besides, its been a while.

Talk about a trip that brought back a lot of memories! Not only that, but it forced me see the importance of enjoying what you have when you have it, or in this case, enjoying where you live while you live there. I soooo didn't appreciate living there while we did and considered it a small piddly little city while we were there. Now I feel absolutely foolish.

P and I have this theory we refer to as "First base-itis". Basically it boils down to not enjoying or liking your first base you're stationed at probably because its just not like home. If I knew then of where all I'd live after leaving there I wonder how different I would have approached our time in Dayton.

Waiting for our flight.

Little Miss is getting closer and closer to standing. Here, while waiting at the airport, she climbed up my leg and did a semi-stand.

Cute expression on the Munchkin as she eats her Cheerios on the plane.

Anyway, on to lighter things. :) We really enjoyed ourselves. We totally lucked out in getting a 2 room suite on base at the last minute despite it being such a busy sold-out weekend of all the nearby hotels. This gave us more room to spread out meaning it wasn't lights out for us at the kiddo's bed time and a super super cheap lodging rate compared to our original hotel reservation. It was nice too!

An update on the munchkin's crawling to include a short munchkin guided tour of our hotel room. ;o)

We enjoyed eating at some of our old favorite places. Of course we had to take in the familiar places we don't have at home but are just about everywhere else like Starbucks and Panera. But we really loved going back to Donatos Pizza and had our favorite Mariachi Chicken Pizza. Yes, I said favorite and pizza in the same sentence that included myself. That's how good this pizza is.

We reminisced as we drove by our old house, were amazed at some of the changes in the neighborhood (mostly all good), saw some old friends, explored our old base that was my first real experience and now know that this base is unlike any other, visited P's old workplace and enjoyed some lunch at El Rancho Grande with his old co-workers.

Our old house.

Friday evening we headed off to Wright State University so I could participate in the 5K. (As a side note, I attended school there for two quarters while finishing up my degree by distance which made it yet another trip down memory lane as I ran around the campus.) I squashed my goal time and now have an even faster goal for my next 5K. I was super stoked about that. I'm definitely hoping to do and looking for another 5K to participate in soon.

The kiddo sticking her tongue out while waiting for the race to start.

If you look hard enough, you can see me nearing the finish line! P.S. The time posted at the finish line is not my accurate time...I had a time chip and started at the back of the pack...so I was faster than this! :)

A post-race family pic taken by some friends of ours from our current home town who also just happened to be there for the races too.

The munchkin likes Mommy's medal. Perhaps she'll be inspired?

Unfortunately, an ugly friend called the migraine, decided to make an unannounced visit shortly after the race. It completely caught me off guard but thankfully, due to P's quick action in getting me what I needed and some prayer, we nipped it in the bud before it got me. The only really close call we had with it was when we walked into our hotel hall from the parking lot and the flourescent lighting messed with my head a bit. I ended up walking with my eyes closed under P's guidance. I have never lucked out this way before and I am so incredibly thankful. I haven't had one of these since 2006 whereas before I used to get them about every other month.

On Saturday we woke up early and drove over to the site of the 1/2 marathon. It was quite packed and we were thankful to have lived there previously since it helped us figure out where to go with all the normal routes being blocked off. The way this race was set up made it pretty difficult to cheer on the participants as spectators which was a bit of a surprise after last year's experience of P running the Marine Corp Marathon. I did manage to make it over to the University for mile 9 thinking the kiddo and I had plenty of time to spare before P passed. Needless to say, he was doing extremely well on his time and I was only there for 5 minutes before we got back into the car to head over to the finish. Of course we got stuck in snarled traffic and missed P's finish. P also squashed his goal time too!

Playing with her Daddy's medal.

Can you believe she put this over her head?!?

Checking out P's thermal blanket.

This is the munchkin around 11 after a long walk back to the car. She was passed out.

After all of our running festivities, we enjoyed a yummy lunch at a new Thai restaurant that was quite tasty and then all three of us crashed for a 2+ hour nap. Later, we headed out for some dinner and then we just HAD to take the kiddo to this fun little place called Young's Dairy that we knew about. Of course I just HAD to have my favorite ice cream from them since it was in season...Pumpkin! Oh, so so so good--especially when you have a scoop of vanilla right beside it. The kiddo had her first taste of ice cream too (she had vanilla) and I must admit that I was surprised of her reaction. It was more along the lines of, "yeah...so what's the big deal about ice cream?" She ate it just didn't seem excited about it like she gets when it comes to veggies. Do I have a strange child, or what? ;o)

Anyway, at Young's Dairy we got to show her goats, cows, pigs, ducks, chickens, and other things. It was a lot of fun and we're so looking forward to taking her to other fun places like that in the future.

Definitely showing some curiosity of the goat.

Lots of goats!

The "Great Pumpkin" of 2009 at Young's Dairy.

The munchkin has a little pumpkin! (Sorry for chopping the top of your head off babe.)

On Sunday we went back to our old church that we attended while living there. It was good to see some familiar faces and fun to meet some new ones. Our old pastors are for the most part no longer there. One moved away shortly after we did and the other is about to work on something new. We met up with this pastor and had a good time visiting with her, her husband, and her 10 day old baby! It was so good to catch up with them. I only wish we'd gotten a picture. The kiddo had a good time too and was very intrigued by their cats.

So like I said, we had an amazing time while there. As much as we enjoyed it though, it was nice to get back to our own home. Now we're working on getting back into a real "normal" routine since P headed back to work this week since coming home from deployment.