Oatmeal for Breakfast

Halvsies

Written by kelly on June 30th, 2009

Not sure what you call someone who finishes a half marathon. Not a marathoner, but halfer? Would the plural then be halvsies? I guess you could call us halvsies or marathoners-between the two of us we did run 26.2 miles. We just shared it.

In dreaming of my plans for my 30th birthday celebration, I somehow got the great idea to run a half marathon. Jonathan planned to run with me, but during one of our training runs in January, it was quite evident his knees would not permit him to participate as planned. I pressed on with training, running toward my goal of completing that half marathon without stopping. My only intention was to run the whole thing. My brother Erik decided he’d join me for the fun! Sadly, his desire to train wasn’t as great as mine. His longest run before race day was four miles. FOUR MILES. I was concerned that he would sustain an injury or hate me by the end…

I also called this the traffic jam marathon. While heading to Qwest Field Thursday afternoon, we were stuck on I-90, waiting to get off the freeway and to the events center where I could get my bib number. Here’s the view we enjoyed for 50 minutes before I realized I could in fact walk along the off ramp with the other desperate marathoners. I’m SO GLAD Carrie drove so I could hop out of the car without having to deal with my vehicle being towed! Thanks Carrie!

Time to make a run for it! Traffic isn't moving!

After running toward the Qwest events center, we arrived inside in time to get our numbers and goody bags and yay! we were ready for the race! This picture is a bit blurry, but it’s the best we got:

It's official!

I spent most of Thursday and Friday monitoring my water intake to ensure hydration for Saturday and Erik, well, he ate a bunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

We got up early Saturday morning and hoped for the best! And then, another hour of jammed up traffic!

Not again!

And there were, of course, more people running on the side of the road:

He's ready to run! He's already running!

We were finally able to exit the freeway, then about ten minutes later, we decided to just get out and walk-that was around 7:20 and we’d been in the car for an hour and a half. We walked/skipped/ran to the start and just jumped the fence into the nearest starting group. We crossed the start line at around 7:40 though the event officially began at 7:00. The first five miles went by very quickly and were very enjoyable. It was a great day to be out running! The weather was beautiful, the bands were great, there were cheer groups from area high schools cheering us on and the general atmosphere was up beat and fun! We even saw a bald eagle in a tree right along Lake Washington!

Here are some photos of us finishing the race (from the race photographers, you can see more photos here):

Really happy to cross the finish line!

We planned to cross the finish line together, holding hands:

and we did it together!

As we were crossing the finish line, we could see Mom and Jonathan and Katherine and then Carrie, Brenda, Christi and Holly with their signs cheering for us as we finished! It was so wonderful. I was just really really happy that we did it and made it without injury. I think Erik was mostly happy to be finished and rather tired. We got some water and a banana, bagel, bag of chips (seriously! Sunchips were SO GOOD at that moment), a bottle of cytomax and then we stretched out and I got chilly so I wrapped up in a mylar blanket. It was fairly easy for us to find everyone at the family reunion area.

And Erik is displaying his granola bar

Christi, Katherine, Brenda, Jonathan, Holly and Mom and I'm guessing Carrie is taking the photo.Thanks for being there to cheer us on! It was great to have such a crowd there for us! We love you!

He's a winner!

We were also able to miraculously find some of our friends! Here’s our friend Christi, who finished much faster than we did, but will still be my friend! Great job Olsons!

Christi and I get a photo together before we head out!

Thanks for being excited for us and for your encouragement!

After all the photo nonsense and some talking excitedly, we had brunch at the Portage Bay Cafe where I topped my french toast with every type of fruit I wanted at their toppings bar. Please excuse Jonathan’s elbow in this photo. He didn’t know how excited I was to take a photograph of my food.

Yummy french toast

We were all delightfully full after brunch and headed home where we cleaned up, skyped with Rachel and I took a nap in the yard then moved inside to take another nap in my bed. We had some Freshway Pizza for dinner and watched “Run Fatboy Run”. All in all, a very enjoyable day indeed.

That was such a fun time, I think we’re going to do another one! Anybody want to join me for the Super Jock n’ Jill half marathon on Labor Day? Looks like this one starts at Redhook in Woodinville, heads up to beautiful Bothell and then back down to Woodinville on the Sammamish River Trail. It’s going to be fun!

Big thanks to Jonathan who encouraged me to train and helped me find time in our schedule and did things like take me out to buy running gear and didn’t complain when we ate sandwiches for dinner on long run nights and is generally encouraging and wonderfully wonderful. Kelly and Erin, thanks for listening to all my random questions about running and for giving me a training plan and for offering to run with me even though we never found each other on race day! Carrie, thanks for being my friend and for being excited for me! And Mom, thanks for taking the bus early on a Saturday to see us cross the finish line! Wendy, thanks for your tips from afar-move back to Washington so I can have a running buddy (oh and the schools here are better and it’s not so hot and all that too).

Erik, I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t think you’d make it-but you did it! I’m impressed with your determination and your fierce love for me that made you brave the pain I know you were feeling on race day. Thank you for being such a great brother and good friend to me. I promise for my 40th birthday we’ll do something less intense, like maybe we’ll hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon or go fishing in Alaska or something easy like that, okay? Love you!

Posted in family, friends, fun, running | 4 Responses »

England: Wrapping it up

Written by kelly on June 26th, 2009

After our time in Leeds, we said good-bye to Bara and Tim and Terry and headed back to London. Since the day was primarily spent on the train, I don’t have many photos, but suffice it to say we had a great time on the train doing things like napping and playing cards and reading.

Upon our arrival to London, we boarded the Tube and headed to Kensington (Earl’s Court stop) and got to our hotel for the next two nights, The London Lodge Hotel. It was a very nice hotel and the staff were super friendly and helpful. Sadly, Erik realized that in addition to leaving his jacket in Leeds, his passport was also still there. Rachel quickly made arrangements to head back up to Leeds to collect Erik’s passport because there was no guarantee the Post would make it in time due to the weekend. We sent Rachel off and then headed out to explore Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and Harrod’s.

Kensington Palace was closed when we got there, but here are some photos of us outside the gate (except Grandpa who hates all royal families):

Erik and the palace gate

J&K outside the palace

After exploring Harrod’s a bit, we were hungry! So we stopped at the closest place we could find which happened to be an Italian restaurant. We all ordered some delicious pasta, except Grandpa who ordered a club sandwich.
Here’s a baby octopus from Dad’s dinner:

mmm, delicious.

The next day was Sunday and we went to the Matins service at Westminster Abbey. It was enjoyed by all, especially Mom, Dad and Jonathan. Erik and I were a little bored but Jonathan sat between us so we didn’t cause a ruckous. After church, we went back to the hotel where we collected Grandpa after Rachel’s arrival and we all headed to the National Gallery to see some art. Wow, that place is amazing! We spent most of the afternoon there with a little break for some sandwiches from Pret.

We went back to the hotel and dropped off the parents and Grandpa and the kids headed out for a curry! It was great fun for the four of us to adventure a bit in London. We went to Masala Zone in Covent Garden.

Jonathan is SUPER excited for curry!

Rather than curry, we had thalis and mango lassi.

Thali is delicious!

And then, Erik remembered he’s the youngest sibling and an Amuricahn, so he did this:

scrape, scrape, scrape

Waste not, want not.

After that delightful display, we wandered to Leicester Square for some gelato. It was delish.

Rachel enjoys her gelato

We split pistachio gelato and I got a decaf cappuccino

Here they are all full of gelato. Erik also had a cappuccino-not decaf

We hung out a bit and made our way to Piccadilly Circus and then back to the hotel for one last night of sleeping before heading back to the States.

Monday morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel (it was delicious as well) and then headed out for some souveniers from the trip and so Rachel could see Harrod’s.

Here’s one last family photo:

Eskephersons at the Harrod's Food Hall

One last photo with Rache before she left for Leeds

We did our final packing up, headed to the tube stop and got to the airport in plenty of time to have a late lunch/early supper before our flight. Luckily, there was a Wagamama at the airport! I heart Wagamama so Jonathan and I ate there whilst Mom, Dad, Erik and Grandpa enjoyed some other airport fare.

Jonathan enjoys an elderflower soda

Jonathan's plate-it was SO good!

Then we went to the gate to board the plane. Except the gate wasn’t really the gate! It was just a stairwell! Then we had to RUN to the gate, which againwasn’t the gate, but an entry point for a shuttle bus! I was very glad we made it onto that shuttle, especially since the rest of the fam was already to the plane. Upon arriving to the plane, Jonathan kindly put my backpack into the overhead bin, then promptly smashed his thumb meat. It was really sad.
Here’s what it looked like:

Ouchy!

So we said, “See ya later England! Thanks for the good times and the injury!” and sat back for our flight home. Oh boy, was I glad we were able to take such an enjoyable trip together. The Eskesens and McPhersons make a good traveling team! Where will we go next? I’m not sure but Grandpa has mentioned this.

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England, Where were we? Oh yes: More of Leeds

Written by kelly on June 26th, 2009

We arose the morning of the 29th to a sunny sunny morning! What a treat!

When I looked out the window, I saw this in the garden:

Dad, Mom, Bara and a troublesome tree

My parents LOVE doing yard work and they did a little while we were in England. Later, Mom and Bara headed to the local garden center to get some (organic) spray for the tree.

Tim and Rachel did some work:

then we headed back into Leeds to see the Uni and generally hang out. Our first stop was the Library, (Parkinson Library? Sorry Rache, I forgot the proper name) and Rachel gave us tours. We got to see where she studies and the special collections and generally tour around. It’s a beautiful library with what I would call an art deco theme.

After the library, we walked to the English House, which is really a bunch of houses connected. I got to see the super special poster with all the photos of the students of English. Here is Rachel pointing out here photo:

We followed that up with some delicious lunch (sandwiches and milk shakes! YUM!). At this point we were walking toward a park to enjoy our lunch and Grandpa stopped and said, “I”m not walking a mile to see some damn park” so we stopped right there and ate outside the engineering building, which is about as attractive as engineering buildings are apt to be.

After lunch, Mom, Dad, Erik, Jonathan and Rachel went to Carr Mills to see her room and where she lives while Grandpa and I chilled in the Library where it was nice and cool and oh, Rachel’s dorm is over a mile away so it was probably good that we opted out of that portion. This was one of my favorite parts-hanging out with Grandpa and asking him questions about his job and what it was like when he and Grandma first got married and how it was to have seven children running around the house all the time.

Upon the return of the rest of the group, Mom, Dad, Erik and Grandpa headed back to Bara’s while Rachel, Jonathan and I walked back to her dorm for my official tour and to hang out with Tim and get some groceries. After our adventure, we arrived back to Bara’s where we corralled everyone and walked to the nearest fish and chip shop and got our supper. Erik liked it immediately:

Erik digs in!

The men finished out the night with a rousing game of Settlers of Catan

It's about as exciting to watch as Risk

Meanwhile, Rachel and Terry enjoyed some good old fashined “rock, paper, scissors”

1, 2, 3, Go!

It was a very good day.

Posted in England, family, photo, travel | 2 Responses »

Because you asked

Written by kelly on June 24th, 2009

For those of you who have mentioned it, my brother’s Pale is the New Tan shirt is from a website called noisebot. Here is the link: http://noisebot.com/pale_is_the_new_tan_t-shirt.htm

It seems you can also order a hooded sweatshirt (sometimes referred to as a ‘hoodie’) OR a tote bag! WOW!

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Things we like

Written by kelly on June 23rd, 2009

Interrupting our vacation chronicles to bring you some new info and possibly a “regular feature” on oatmeal for breakfast: Things we like. Don’t worry, you’ll have the grand finale wrap-up of our England vacation later this week!

We like Fresh Way Pizza! It is a take and bake pizza place located on 164th in Redmond that is a real delight! When you walk in, you feel like you’re at your best friend’s house in high school and her mom is asking you what you’d like on your pizza that night. They also have whole wheat dough! YAY! It’s a small operation, just one location for now, but this is tasty pizza that will hopefully be around for a long, long time. Also, they deliver their goods! In smart cars!

If you’re wondering what to have for dinner, give them a call. You won’t be disappointed!

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England: York

Written by kelly on June 18th, 2009

The day began with some sweet hanging out of the laundry and hoping it was dry by the end of the day. I REALLY enjoy line drying our laundry and will be a happy girl when we get our own clothesline (after the yard project is complete).
Here is what our stuff looked like in England:

Out to dry

Maddy made delicious porridge for breakfast. Good job Maddy!

Then we went back to our favorite train stop at Woodlesford and caught the train to York! This was maybe my favorite day of the whole trip! Grandpa decided he’d rather stay back and finish a book he’d started the day before so it was a bit sad that he ditched us, but otherwise it was most enjoyable.

We arrived to York and walked along the old city walls. Jonathan was able to use the gorillapod to set up a sweet shot of all of us:

We went to York minster and decided we’d like to climb to the top! It’s not everyday you’re able to climb to the top of a cathedral! Regrettably, the line was long so we bought our tickets and then headed out to explore a bit more. We visited shops and looked around, the men went to a shop that really only sold meat and then we all took tea at Betty’s tea shop.

After we were filled to the gills with tea and food, we went to the Jorvich Viking Centre and learned of the Viking history of York! It was very interesting and a little creepy and maybe smelled a bit dodgy, but it was great! After the Vikings, we climbed the tower (which was really two towers) to the top of Yorkminster.

Mom and Dad-almost half way!

The view from the top was beautiful

After getting over the fact that we climbed hundreds of stairs while confined within a spiral staircase made of stone, we headed to one of the squares for the Historic Pub Tour of York (can you tell who picked which activities for the day? Mom and Kelly and Rachel=tea, Mom and Dad=climb the tower, Dad Dad Dad=pub tour). Oddly enough, the pub tour was very enjoyable, though I did ask for a coca-cola classic rather than ale. Because who wants ale when you can have a delicious coke? Not me.
It was just our family on the tour, which made it very nice and a little bit hilarious.

First stop on the pub tour-The Lion and the Lamb

The Lion and The Lamb was our first stop and the pub in closest proximity to Yorkminster. The church ran the pubs at one time, which must have made its location convenient!

It was very nice to sit and rest after all that walking:

And Dad and Jonathan enjoyed some bonding time:

Thankfully, the glasses of ale were small so everyone had their sample without incident (Big E and I skipped out on this one)

More pub tour photos:

After our historic pub tour it was time for dinner and since Grandpa wasn’t with us, we had Italian! It was delicious.
We were able to catch a glimpse of the sunset as we headed back to the train station for our train to Leeds.

Sunset in York

J&K with York sunset

Posted in England, family, marriage, photo, travel | 4 Responses »

England: Leeds and Kirkstall Abbey followed by dinner with Rachel’s friends

Written by kelly on June 17th, 2009

We awoke to a beautiful day in Oulton (the village outside of Leeds in which we stayed) and I enjoyed trying to keep up with Bara on a short run in the morning. Then Rachel, Jonathan and I went to the nearby Cottage Bakery to pick up some delicious bread for breakfast:

Inside the Cottage Bakery, photo by Jonathan

One of the funniest things about the bakery is that everything had a label, just not what you could expect, and the labels were not readable from the distance at which we were standing. We just asked for a loaf of bread, yeah that one with the hatch marks on the top and some delicious ham to make this for breakfast:

Photo by Jonathan

Then we decided to head into town. One of the difficulties in traveling and staying in a place where one has only been taken by car is that the public transport is maybe not like a big city. In fact, it is more like Seattle in its frequency. So we waited for the bus we thought would take us into town, but the bus never did seem to show up. Dad bravely ran up to another bus and asked the driver which route we needed and where it stopped so we moved across the street and around the corner. After awhile of waiting, Rachel was able to send a text message and receive info from the transit authority that the next bus would not be for another thirty minutes. At this point, Grandpa decided he’d rather hang out in the garden for the day and the rest of us hoofed it to the train station.

Photo by Jonathan

The train station was called Woodlesford! It was really fun to say! We were on our way to Leeds for some fun in town! Once we arrived in Leeds, we headed to get some lunch (and a new mobile for Rachel as hers was busted). After lunch, we took the number 33a bus out to Kirkstall Abbey and toured the grounds a bit. It was kind of rainy and chilly by this point, so we didn’t stay long. We arrived back to Bara’s and had an adventure at the grocery store followed by dinner with Rachel’s Uni friends so we could all meet them and hang out. It was a delight! In addition to the beautiful house, there is a newer barn in the garden and we were able to dine outside for the evening:

Fiona, Tim, Rachel, Maddie and Terry just before we dive into dinner

Grandpa, Erik, Bara and Dad before dinner (Jim joined us later)

The food was delicious and the company very enjoyable. It was good to meet Rachel’s friends and know that she’s in good company while she’s away from us!

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England: Chester to Leeds

Written by kelly on June 15th, 2009

We arose Tuesday morning to fairly sunny skies and had a rather unfortunate breakfast at Wetherspoon’s (hey, it was the closest restaurant to our hotel). Following breakfast, we packed up and checked out of the hotel. We met Rachel at Euston Station and checked out the offerings at the shops in and around the station before boarding our train to Leeds.

One of my favorite things about newsstands in the U.K. is the offering of a free item with your magazine. Mom picked nail polish!

I got a really cute Cath Kidston bag which now houses my pens and pencils and assorted relevant Bible study materials.

Here are the McPhersons on the train from London to Chester:

We had a transfer in Chester and enough time that we were able to get out (meet Tim!), stretch our legs and walk around a bit. Chester is a beautiful little city, surrounded by Roman walls. The Eastgate Clock in Chester is the second most photographed clock in the world (after Big Ben, which is really the bell, not the clock but I can’t remember the name of the clock in the tower in which Big Ben is housed). I digress, here are Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Erik with the Eastgate Clock in all it’s Chester beauty:

We walked around a bit and took in the sights of Chester. Saw the cathedral, had tea at Hattie’s tea shop, walked along the walls and visited Chester’s oldest pub (or one of them).

tea at Hattie's

outside the Chester cathedral

Ready for pints at Chester's oldest pub

Cheers!

We then boarded the train to Leeds and met Jim and Bara who were kind enough to drive us to Bara’s house where we stayed for the next four nights.

Posted in England, family, fun, marriage, travel | 5 Responses »

England: London Part One

Written by kelly on June 12th, 2009

Okay, here’s the follow up to Eskepherson Family Funtimes 2009 England!

Monday morning we awoke and took the tube to Bethnal Green to meet Rachel, who was staying with some friends in that area. The cafe her friends recommended for breakfast was closed for the bank holiday, but we did see a sign that said “Cafe Open” so we went to Cafe Open, which was really called something else and run by a delightful Turkish couple. We had delicious coffee (not Nescafe!) and our first taste of traditional English breakfast.

Mom and Dad and Grandpa with their breakfast plates (please notice the beans, black pudding, fried tomatoes and the bubble and squeak-mashed potatoes, peas, carrot and cabbage all mixed together then fried up):

Jonathan won the prize for most beans consumed at breakfast (please also note Erik and Rachel in the background enjoying their breakfast):

Then we headed to Piccadilly Circus to buy our tickets for the hop on hop off bus tour. We were also able to purchase our tickets for the Tower of London from the guide, which saved us one line!

We took the original tour route, which gave us a pretty good idea of our bearings in the city and we were able to see Hyde Park, St. James Park, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Victoria, the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Marble Arch, Shakespeare’s Globe, the back of Buckingham Palace and hear quite a bit of history. Since it’s hard to take photos from a moving bus, we don’t have much from this. But here are photos of us on the bus!

We hopped off the bus tour at the Tower of London and toured around there a bit. Here are some photos:

(Just as we’re going into the Tower of London. This is one of my favorites from the trip)

Mom and me with Tower Bridge behind us. Mom caught on with British smiling!

Jonathan and a Yeoman right after we saw the crown jewels.

After the Tower of London, we got onto a boat to Greenwich (it was included in our bus tour) and went to the Prime Meridian Line. Erik and Grandpa stayed closer to the pier where they didn’t have to hike up a steep hill and bought some figs and probably picked up girls.

Mom, Dad and Rachel at the Royal Observatory at the Prime Meridian Line.

Then we hopped the boat back toward Westminster Pier.

Mom had tea on The Thames.

Then everyone took naps. I’d forgotten we saw so much stuff our first day. No wonder we all wanted to nap!

Grandpa yawning, Mom and Rachel resting. Hilarious.

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Jolly Old England

Written by kelly on June 9th, 2009

About fourteen months ago, Rachel decided for sure that she would be leaving us for a good chunk of time and heading across the Atlantic to persue her graduate studies in English. And since she’s my sister and I miss her and because I like to travel, we planned a little Eskepherson family fun trip to England! YAY! It was a great way to hang with the fam and celebrate my final days in my twenties.

Just to familiarize you with the people you’ll see here:
Jonathan, world’s best husband, married into the family and still likes us.
Kelly, narrator; oldest and shortest child of Ron and Linda Eskesen.
Dad, um, he’s my dad.
Mom, you can guess that one.
Rachel, younger but taller sister (she’s the blonde one).
Erik, younger and also taller brother.
Grandpa, 88 year old traveling man. Father to seven, grandfather to way more and great-grandfather too. He’s up for more adventures and I think we might need to make that happen.

We departed Seatac Saturday May 23rd and arrived to London Heathrow May 24th where Rachel was waiting for us. This is probably going to be several posts of info because I want to write everything up while it’s still in my mind and really, this blog is as much of a journaling exercise as an effort to entertain the tens of readers we have every week.

Here is a photo of me and Mom waiting at the gate before our flight:

and me and Jonathan on the plane before take off:

Dad and Erik discover the “goody bag” on the airplane:

Once we arrived in London, we changed into our matchy t-shirts so everyone would know we were together and we’re Americans. It worked like a charm! Also, the shirts were very nice to change into after a nine hour flight.

We made it to our hotel and found some dinner then basically went straight to bed. Travel can be hard work! Whew. And since I like suspense, I’ll end this post now. You’ll just have to wait to see what we did with our time in Jolly old England.

Posted in family, travel | 4 Responses »

Or: The New Adventures of the McPhersons