Blog Update

It's been awhile! I'd be surprised if anyone is still reading this thing! Alex has had 2 meets since I last blogged. He had the weekend off since there were no Invitationals. Just 2 "Dual" meets, one last week, one today. He more than met his goal of "Under 20" for a 5k. I think his next goal will be "Under 19"...

Today Alex had a great race. He seems to be knocking off more of his competition each week. And today he did something he's never done before. He beat his best friend Sean.

His initial goal was just to stay with Sean. Little did he realize, he was going to beat him. He beat him by just a few seconds, but I think it was a huge accomplishment for him. And a big boost to his confidence. Sean was the best runner on the team last year. And he's been running #2 for Freshmen this year. Now Alex is #2 for the freshmen. He finished the race today in 19:14. And placed 11th for his team. That's just one spot from making the Varsity Squad and earning a school letter. Not bad for a little freshman! This weekend is the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester. Alex is really looking forward to it. It's a huge all-day event.

I did a little "Fall" decorating this past weekend. And I mean "a little". I didn't go near as crazy as I went last year. But it's still festive. We also got some pumpkins. Which are on display outside. We sprinkled Cayenne pepper on them to hopefully keep the squirrels away. I'll let you know if it worked. It only took a few hours of them being out there before the squirrels started eating one of them, so we had to do something or they'd be gone before Halloween!

I made a fun and very easy casserole last night for dinner. It's called "Mac & Cheese Lasagna"

It was in a Kraft Foods email I got the other day. And it was super easy. If you're looking for a quick and easy dinner that everyone will eat, I highly recommend it! Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

V-V-S Invitational

Another Saturday, another Invitational! Today we traveled to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, right near Turning Stone. In fact, you could see the Turning Stone tower from the course... (But no, we didn't stop on our way home.)

Alex was still feeling under the weather with his cold. But boy, it sure didn't slow him down.

In fact, I think there's something with him being sick and running faster!

He ran a fantastic race today.

And finished 23rd overall, out of 140. He placed 5th for his team and had another personal best, at 20:09. He's promising a sub-20 next race.

Alex with his best friends Sean and Spencer. They also had great races. Sean finished 14th and Spencer finished 20th. If you'd like to see the full race results, you may check them out here!

Friday Night Football

Tonight we went to the Inaugural Liverpool High School Football game in their new stadium. It was VERY crowded.

The lines into the stadium were long and it took more than an hour to enter...

Every TV station in town was there, plus radio stations, and lots of security... We were even asked by Ch. 3 if we wanted to do an interview. We passed... heh heh.

But thankfully we got there in time to see the "parade" of Fall athletes in the dedication ceremony for the new stadium. The Boys Cross Country team led the parade.

All the boys were in awe of the crowd watching them... they don't get this kind of crowd at a x-country meet!

The freshman class was at the back of the pack.

Alex stayed to watch the game with his friends, while Eric and I headed home where it was warm! (I'm not looking forward to trucking back over there to pick him up though!) The home grandstand was at capacity. Alex is in the middle somewhere...

They played Baldwinsville. B'ville is undefeated and ranked #3 in the state...

I hope the home opener isn't too much of a blow-out! (It's 33-14 as I write this, B'ville is winning...)

Personal Best

* * * Warning to my readers... * * *
I have a feeling I'll be posting a lot of photos of Alex running in the coming weeks/months. Besides work, it's about the only thing going on in our house! Also, he loves seeing his photos on the blog, and so do the Grandparents... So without further ado, more pictures of Alex running!

Last night was the 2nd meet of the season. It was a much smaller meet than the one on Saturday. Just 2 teams.

Alex had a bad cold and almost didn't run the race since he wasn't feeling well.

But wouldn't you know it, he had the best race of his career so far!

His time was 20:27 for the 3.1 mile course. And I'm told the home course is the toughest course they run. Lots of hills.

And today at practice the coach gave him the "Top JV Performer" award. He was rather pleased. And very glad he decided to run the race! (Thanks again to Mr. Andrews for the awesome race photos!)

Busy Saturday

Yesterday was Alex's first HS cross-country meet of the season. This is a picture of the team. All of the photos that I'm posting from the meet were taken from the "unofficial" team photographer. One of the parents enjoys photography and spends his day not only cheering everyone on, but he takes pictures of each of the kids and posts them to a website. If you'd like to see all of his photos, you're more than welcome to check them out here.

Alex attaches his number to his uniform.

Alex is in the pack of these runners. This is the JV race. There were over 200 kids running.

Here I am, with one of the other parents, watching the finish of the race. And cheesing for the camera.

After the race, a pep talk with the coach. All the kids did really well. They made a team goal for everyone to get a time of under 21 minutes by the end of the season, and I think all but 2 of the kids accomplished that goal at the first meet! (Alex's time was 20:40, for the 5k course.)

These are the varsity guys taking off for their race. They are a growing team this year. They lost their 6 top runners from last year, as they all graduated.

After watching Alex's meet, Eric and I met our friends Simone & Rich at the Irish Festival in Clinton Square. If you may remember, Simone is the one I went to HS with in Maine, and we discovered that we live in the same town now. It's our annual tradition to attend Irish Fest together! (This was last year... )

The "before" pose... notice my "Irish" jacket and my green earrings!

Rich and Simone's "before" pose...

After a few beers, the boys were comparing beer bellies. (Of which neither of them has!)

I think we were sort of dancing here.

It was quite a crowd listening to The Glengarry Bhoys!

Now they're really dancing!

This was our accumulation of cups. Mind you, all of this was free! Rich & Simone got us all VIP wrist bands. Which meant we got to hang out in a private tented area. And in addition to that, we got free drinks, we had a great dinner of ham, cabbage and potatoes, plus we had our own port-a-potties! We love Irish Fest!!

And so it begins...

Fall has begun at our house. Fall means school and activities. And being busy.

Last night we attended the first of what will most likely be many get-togethers. It was a pasta dinner for the x-country team, at the home of one of the runners. Tomorrow is their first meet. There are 25 young men on the team this year. (10 run varsity, 15 run junior varsity.)

There were 60+ people in attendance. (Dad, if you're looking at this, we went to a yard sale at this house this past spring, the tent is still standing!)

The boys played basketball and Frisbee in the front yard. While the coach watched, hoping nobody would injure themselves before the first meet!

If anyone is interested in attending a cross-country meet this fall, the schedule is here, although it's not complete and some of the times are off, like today's. It's not at 9am, it's at 12:45... But if you're interested, let me know! I'll give you exact times. Alex is running JV, which usually runs before the Varsity race....

End of Summer Tradition

Yesterday was the annual Pelo Labor Day party. For years now, it has signified our official end of the summer. I didn't take very many pictures, but these are a few fun ones. Eric is having some coffee... with Bailey's. (My new favorite thing!)

Mary brought these amazing and gorgeous cupcakes!

Louise outdid herself with the bonfire.

Some of the usual suspects. Most of whom we won't see again until Memorial Day.

Louise, John and Gabe enjoyed the fire. I'm sad to see summer come to an end... but am excited to start decorating for fall and baking some fun fall desserts!

Quiet Week

We had a very quiet week around the Hayden House. The man of the house was away on business. Alex and I mostly hung out and tried to keep cool. It was a hot week! (Of course now it's cold and windy... ) Eric returned last night from his trip around the country. He's thrilled to be home. He had a hard week, put in 16 hour days and he's happy for a 3-day weekend to rest.


Before Eric returned last night, I took Alex over to the HS so he could play tennis with his friend Sean. (I don't know how either of them still had any energy left after the last few weeks of double cross-country practices every day!)
While they played tennis, I explored the new stadium. This was several years in the making. And it's finally done! I'm glad Alex will have a home track to run on and a home football field to watch football games at for his whole HS career. It was all ripped up a couple of years ago because the turf had asbestos in it. (Or something like that...) Fortunately, it was just finished in the last couple of months. All ready for the first home football game next week!

Jenny even went with me to explore the new bleachers. We walked all the way up to the top, twice! I was afraid to take her out on the turf field... I thought she might leave her "mark" on the new field.

We walked around for almost an hour, and she was very worn out!