Tough Mudder 2011

I am sure by now all of you know that George completed the Tough Mudder New England course over Mother's Day weekend. It is really hard to explain this event to those who have not experienced it. It seems insane to run up and down a mountain 4 times and then endure 28 military style obstacles including jumping from 22 feet into 38 degree water, being electrocuted, and crawling under barbed wire just for the fun of it. But those if you who know George, know that he loves a challenge. Especially if the challenge is a physical and mental challenge. So needless to say an event that is advertised as "probably the toughest race on the planet" was all that George needed to hear and he signed up !!

This is a cool video that shows more about the actual event:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ToughMudder?blend=2&ob=1#p/a/u/0/ObcX5ZopSZE

On a serious note, we are all very proud of George and everyone on team, "Chicken Legs." They trained for 6 months for the event and it showed. They all completed the course and worked together as a team to get through the 3.5 hours and 10 miles of pain.

Below are the pictures of our weekend in Vermont.

This sign greeted us as we pulled into town.

The day before the event we decided to check out the mountain. This is a picture of George and the girls in front of the electric wires that George would run through the next day.

Maybe this should have been the first sign that it was going to be a hard event :)

This is a view of the fire obstacle from the main road. The Mudders had to run through a maze of fire.

Preparing the snow for the another obstacle.

The girls waiting for Daddy to come down the mountain.

George on the greased money bars. Unlike Marc, he didn't make it all the way across :)

George and Drew at the 7 mile mark. Looking pretty good considering all of the obstacles they had completed.

Marc playing in the mud.

Drew also playing in the mud.

George- post barbed wire crawl.

Tough guy !!

This is an awesome action photo. I don't see any chicken legs in this picture !!

We spent a long weekend in Vermont and decided to explore a bit the day ofter the Tough Mudder. So we of course got ice cream and relaxed in this huge chair.

This is the house we stayed in. It was amazing. It even had a slide and rock wall in the basement. We had a great time there.

Back to ice cream :) The girls with Marc and Jill.

Mommy and Isabelle showing our muscles. Yes that is a snow covered obstacle behind us !! Those black dots are people coming down the snowy slope.

The next generation of Tough Mudders.

The only way to get one of these orange headbands is to complete the course. So it is a big deal to own one of these sassy headbands.

This picture screams Tough Mudder !!

The house also had a zip wire and Isabelle was a pro. It was fun to watch her. She is in training to do the Tough Mudder 2025 with George.

Easter 2011

A few weeks ago we had a wonderful Easter weekend. It was full of candy, food, and family. The weather was perfect and we had fun seeing everyone and talking about the Easter Bunny.
Below are some of our favorite pictures from Easter weekend.

Amazingly the girls kept their dresses on all day and really enjoyed wearing the bonnets and gloves. A HUGE thank you to Nana for finding that last 2 Easter Bonnets in the state and for sassing them up for the girls. The bonnets made the outfits !!



Before Easter we dyed eggs with our neighbors. It was fun for all and I enjoyed eating the hard boiled eggs for lunch :)



We had Grammy, Grampy, and Jen over for an early Easter dinner. As you can see this is a picture of the kids table. They girls really enjoyed having their own table. And of course they are eating apple sauce, because they are true Spencer's !!!



Here is the adult table. Not quite as cute as the kids table. Although Jen's belly is super cute !!



The girls saying Hello to their soon to arrive cousin. Only a few more days to go until we get to meet baby Costa !!



Grammy and Isabelle after opening up tons of Easter presents. It was like Christmas in April !!

The girls trying on their new swimsuits from Grammy and Grampy. They are now ready for summer.

The kids table again. My three children enjoying an Oreo dessert :)

Grampy and the girls and more presents !!

On Easter Sunday we headed up to the Russo's for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. The weather was perfect and it was a huge success. Thank you Russo's !!

This a rare picture of the girl cousins.

My beautiful Isabelle.

Papa and the girls relaxing before Easter dinner.

Isabelle and the a few of the boy cousins. Notice, Koda has a cast for his broken arm. Frank and Danny have also broken their arms. Looking at this picture I wonder how they could have all broken their arms ?! Thank goodness I have girls !!!

The back view of the cutest little 1.5 year old I know.

And now a front view of the cutest little 1.5 year old girl I know.

My big girl. I am not sure how it happened. But Isabelle has really turned into a big kid and she looked so beautiful in her dress.

And now back to reality. The dress stayed clean for about a half hour.
But with all of that good food at Nana and Papa's how can I blame her for digging in !

I couldn't help it. I had to add this picture to the blog. It just makes me laugh, every time I look at it !!

Waiting for Spring

So it has been almost 6 weeks since our last post. We really need to get back on track !! We have been watching the snow melt and enjoying playing outside. And we are not so patiently waiting for Spring to arrive !! Below are my favorite pictures from the last few weeks.

The Girls hanging out in the backyard on their favorite rock. As you can see they are both very happy to be outside.

Daddy and the girls got restless and decided to head outside, even in the snow. Thankfully all of the snow is finally gone.

Nana and Papa came to visit us before they headed to Florida for a few weeks. We had a really fun visit with them. And we are glad that they are back from their trip. We missed them.

My little leprechauns on St. Patrick's Day.

Isabelle playing in the yard. Her new favorite game is jumping over the brook and throwing rocks in the brook. She is quite the little Tom Boy !

Did I mention our little Tom Boy also likes to jump off of everything !!!

My little astronaut :):) This day was actually too warm for the snowsuit. But Ellie really wanted to wear it. In this picture she is walking towards me to get her purse. That is the accessory that completes this look.

Isabelle and my boots. Enough said, I guess ?!

This is what happens when we are stuck inside all winter long. Playing in the cabinets is fun and seems like a good idea. CABIN FEVER !!!

The girls.

A very rare picture of Ellie smiling. She smiles all of the time, just not for the camera.

Unfortunately for Ellie, she has inherited my hair. So this is what her hair looks like when she wakes up. And so does mine. It looks much cuter on her.

The girls on their way to school for PJ day. In case you can't read their jammies, they both say "Mommy's Girl." Guess who dressed them :)

Just a few weeks ago, Aunt Jen had her baby shower. It was a great party and we can't wait to meet the new baby in a few weeks !

Isabelle was Aunt Jen's helper and she helped her open every gift. And as you can see she took her job very seriously.

Two studs hanging out at the Special Olympics basketball game. We had fun watching the Mustangs play a few weeks ago. Stay tuned for more pictures of these 2 studs in a few weeks after they complete the Tough Mudder in May :)