Boston Marathon and the beach

First off, I did get to see the Hunger Games this weekend...it was incredible!!!  The book is better but books are always better but I thought they did such a great job staying true to the book.  It was so good!

Second off, Austin is still acting TERRIBLE!!!  I am about to pull my hair out.  Please say a prayer for him and I.

Ok, on to the post....

Last Monday was Patriots Day which is a holiday in Massachusetts...it's also known as Marathon Monday.  David was off work and had been in California for 4 days so we were ready to make the most of our one day with him.  We woke up that Monday, packed a bag for the whole day and made our way to the Meduri's house.  Audra and I had already scouted out an area we wanted to set up a picnic and wait on the runners to come by.  It was the perfect place...on Commonwealth Avenue about a mile from the finish line.  We sat at the top of a hill so we were able to encourage the runners as they made it up their final hill.
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The boys loved just being together.  We packed trucks, balls, lunches, etc. to keep them entertained while we watched the runners.

Aaron, one of the blind athletes that works with my brothers non-profit ran the Boston Marathon so we stayed until we saw him run by.  Talk about inspiring.  He ran the marathon in 2.56...and he's blind!!!  Truly phenomenal.

I know we are holding a sign for him that he can't obviously see but his guide could see it and told him there were people holding signs for him.  

After we saw Aaron run by we started making the commute back to the Meduri's place to get our cars.  We walked along the route for a while and cheered on the runners as we passed them.

This is the view as we made the turn towards the Fenway Stadium.  The city was truly booming.  There were runners and spectators everywhere plus an 11:00 Red Sox game.

Our sweet husbands pushing the SUV's (double Bobs) back to the house.

We then packed back up in the car and drove to a nearby beach.  The temperature was in the mid to upper 80's so it was a perfect day for the beach.  The boys LOVED it!  They couldn't get enough of the sand, water, and sunshine.  It was truly perfect.

The water was freezing but that did not deter my little ones (or other ones) from getting in.  It sure did deter me though.

All three boys had looks of pure joy on their faces.  They loved it.

After the beach we drove to a nearby Pizza Joint to have dinner with the Meduri's.  It was an experience to say the least.  No one had a nap that day so we were on melt down, making a mess of everything, having accidents in our pants that then leaked to the seat...it was chaos but so fun to experience it with a precious family that completely understands that life with kids is often chaotic!  
It was a fun way to end a great holiday.  We are going to miss Patriots Day next year!