And I Ran....

2 weeks ago, I ran the Groundhog Run 5k. The run is held in North KC in the Hunt Midewst SubTropolis, one of the largest (if not the largest) underground office facilities. The nice thing about the undergrond is even though it was 10 degrees outside, it was about 65 indoors. Here's a picture of the chaos that was:



I ran for my best ever time of 34:31. I had been training at a 12 minute mile pace, so to beat that felt good. I actually ran the first mile in just over 10 minutes! Next up will be the Trolley Run in April.

2008 in Review

Well, I guess it is time to put up a new post. It is 2009, after all. Thought I'd post some pictures from last year that never made it onto the blog.

January & February brought snow (and the related snow shoveling) March brought the beginnings of spring blooms... In April we visited the Liberty Memorial and the WWI Museum... We took the elevator to the top for some outstanding views of the city... We also visited the Kauffman Garden in April, the trees were painted blue (maybe for the Royals?) May brought flowering trees... ...And a short trip to Palm Springs In June, we took the Jeep off roading... ...where it got nice and dirty!! We also had some landscaping work done and got new patio furniture July was Paris..


In August, Jeff competed in his first Triathlon
...and we visited my family in Minnesota
In September I started knitting again, with some help
October brought a day trip to Des Moines to meet up with a friend. We visited the Botanical Gardens while we were there.
We also had a beautiful weekend for camping. Here is Jeff trying to get a football game on our battery powered TV.October is also when we started our bathroom renovation

Which wrapped up in November
And we wrapped up the year with a wonderful Christmas

You say it's your birthday....

Yep, I'm another year older. Wow, do I look like a little boy in that pic or what? Good thing it was a pink jumper!

Day 5: Versailles

Moving right along with our Paris trip....



On our 5th day we took a trip out to visit Versailles, which was a 30 minute train ride outside of the city. The palace was immense and a bit overwheliming with all the ornateness. My favorite part was the grounds, which seemed to go on as far as the eye could see.



Inside the palace, we toured the private apartments of the king and queen.





It seemed like the beds were so small!

We also went through the hall of mirrors.







We couldn't go inside the chapel, but I got a good photo.



Once outside we walked down to the great canal, then over to the Petit and Grand Trianon, "smaller" palaces (if there is such a thing).



It was a lot less crowded there, probably because most don't make the 20 or so minute walk, although they did have bikes for rent.



The Petit Trianon was a favorite of Marie Antoinette, who had a little hamlet village recreated on the property.





This was called the Temple of Love.



Once we got home, we rented the movie Marie Antionette because it was filmed on location at Versailles. We enjoyed seeing the palace again through the movie.

Day 4: The Marais, Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower

It has been 2 months since my trip, but I'm only on day 4!! To speed it up, there will be less text and more pictures.

On our 4th day we ventured through the Marais, visiting the Place de la Bastille, the Promenede Plantee and the Place des Vosges. We walked through the Ile St-Louis and Ile de la Cite and toured the Notre Dame. Later that evening, we went up to the Eiffel Tower. We only went up to the 2nd level, as the 3rd was closed.