Date night!

Jim gave Colleen a second Valentine's present, a date night all planned out!  He arranged the sitter, dinner reservations, and tickets to the theater!  We ate at Point of View that overlooks the White House from a rooftop, and enjoyed a glass of champagne

We then saw American Idiot at the National Theater

It was a fun time!

Florida Trip

Jim surprised Colleen and Avery with a Valentine's Day present: A trip to Clearwater Beach Florida (near Tampa)!  He arranged the flights and ride to the airport for them to fly out Saturday from DC to Tampa, while Jim would fly from his marathon in Myrtle Beach to Tampa and arrive Saturday early afternoon.

After meeting up at the airport we went straight to our favorite place near the airport in Tampa, called Whiskey Joes which is right on the bay. They have outdoor seating under cabanas right on the sand.  Jim was eating a heart-shaped Rice Krispy Treat that Avery and Colleen made for him in DC and flew it down to Tampa.  (He was still wearing his race medal on him too!)

 

 We enjoyed a nice beer too

 

We stayed out the same place we've stayed before in Clearwater Beach, a place called the Beachview Inn, which is right on the beach as the name says! It's nothing fancy but it's about half the price of the chain hotels that surround it, so it's a great bargain, and it's really not bad.

One of the greatest parts about the beach there is that the sand is pure white fine sand, almost like sugar or flour!  It is the best sand of any beach we've been too.  Plus since it's on the Gulf, the waves are nearly minimal and the beach goes out very gradually so a kid can play around in the water with no worries of big waves or deep water.

They also have cabanas at that beach that you can rent for $20 for the day.  And they come with beach chair / recliners.  So you don't have to worry about bringing a beach umbrella and beach chairs!

 

 

While we were there we went on a dolphin watching tour and tour of the bay on a boat that is a shark!

Avery loved it!  We saw dolphins up close in the Gulf, and in the Bay they showed us all the celebrity houses that line the bay, which was actually pretty interesting too.

Avery and momma did some yoga poses one day

And Colleen did a 10-mile run down the beach and on the roads and bridges that cross the bay.

Colleen also did some exercises like walking lunges with Avery following along!

We ate dinner twice at a place called Jimmy's Fish House and Iguana Bar just 3 or 4 hotels down from ours.  They have beachfront dining with delicious food, a kid-friendly atmosphere, and a great countdown and celebration as the sun sets over the gulf each night!

They have a countdown clock on the wall:

And a live musician playing who then counts down like New Year the last 10 or 15 seconds and everybody cheers as the sun dips below the water!

 

 

 

 

They also have very good Pina Coladas!  They have a huge pineapple slice, plus they line the glass with shaved coconut stuck on with honey!  Yumm!

 

And remember our snowman pics from a few days ago?  Well we made a "sandman"! Look at the two next to each other, what a fun few days to do both!

Avery had a blast and made a great friend one day, a girl from Iowa named Nora!  They played all day together:

 

One day we went to Sand Key Park, about a mile away across a channel to another part of the Gulf. However the sand was really "shelly" there, as you can see in the photo:

(but oh isn't Avery cute??)  It wasn't easy to build sand castles and actually kind of hurt your feet to walk on.  We recommend not paying the day fee there and just go the good old free beach at Clearwater Beach!

Once we asked Avery what kind of sand castle to build and she said "Ummm, how about a ice hockey stadium??"  So, here you go!

We flew back late Tuesday night and had a great time!

Jim's marathon

Jim flew down to Myrtle Beach to run the marathon there to try and increase his chances of making the Boston Marathon (he qualified in October by running the Marine Corps Marathon in DC but qualification doesn't guarantee entry and they only take the fastest runners if the number of people who registers exceeds the race capacity).  He finished in a 3:02:13!  That is almost 8 minutes faster than his qualification time and should nearly guarantee his chance to get accepted into the race.  He started the race at 630am, finished at 932am, and was showered and at the gate by 1045am for a flight to Florida to meet Colleen and Avery!

Big snow storm!

After forecasting a big snowstorm, we got an even bigger snowstorm!  It snowed 13.5" at our house!  Take a look at Jim's car buried in the snow:

Avery liked walking around in it with her momma:

 

 

 

 

We made a whole family of snowmen/women/kid--notice the mom had running gear like a running hat, water bottle, and energy gel? :)

 

 

 

 

Luckily it was warm enough to start melting and Jim could catch his flight to Myrtle Beach the next day to run his marathon! 

And Colleen showed off her great wife skills by shoveling the driveway so Jim wouldn't have to just two days before the marathon!