Cowtown 2009...

A little less than a month ago, Grant & I packed up the dogs and headed up to Ft. Worth for the annual Cowtown Race. One of the events at Cowtown is the half marathon. Since Grant has vowed to run four half marathons in 2009, it made sense to run one of the most popular races in Texas.



Grant asked Mike & Veronica, some of our favorite Okie residents, to come down for the race. Veronica decided to run the 5k and Mike, Grant, and John (Grant's best friend since middle school) ran the half. They definitely made for one happy, supportive team. The picture below was taken TOO EARLY in the morning and they're smiling away! I can promise you I wasn't smiling that much...and it probably has to do with the fact that Erin & I couldn't find a doughnut shop to save our lives. P.S. It was wretchedly cold and windy.

This would be our I'm-very-cold-and-would-love-the-guys-to-cross-the-finish-line-so-that-we-can-find-doughnuts face.

Erin brought Gabe-the-Babe as a cheerleader for the runners. Erin was probably asked FIFTY TIMES (not exaggerating) what type of dog Gabe was. She was even asked if he was a wolf! By the time we left downtown Ft. Worth, us Melson girls AND Gabe were tired of all the questions.
After waiting at the finish line for about thirty minutes, we saw our guys making their way to victory. That would be Mike waving to his adoring crowd. Right as he got to that orange cone, he stopped, bent over to stretch, and checked his watch. The crowd started screaming at him to finish, that he was not done. Ever the clown, Mike looked up with a big grin and sprinted to the finish line.

Yay half marathoners!

Later after a full day of eating, (Yes, Erin & I found our doughnuts finally. It was almost a catastrophe though, when we realized our favorite doughnut shop, "Doughnut", only had ONE eclair left. Erin & I were forced to split it but were able to keep the claws out of the situation.) sleeping, and more eating, (Erin, Veronica, and I split an extra-large pizza and were a little too excited about it.) we went out for some fun. Unfortunately, the guys were still beyond tired from their 13.1 mile jaunt around Ft. Worth. They went home and went to bed so it was up to the ladies to dance the night away.And that we did. :)

Adios Mexico!

After an amazing five days in Mexico, it was time to say goodbye to our best vacation, to date. We had adventures, relaxation, and made lots of memories. Mexico: adios for now. We'll be back...

Mexico-The last night

For our last night in Mexico, we went to the resort's Japanese restaurant. I don't think I've ever had better sushi that the kind we were served here at Mikado. Amazing!

Our chef told us to call him Jackie Chan. He was hilarious and loved posing for the cameras. Mr. "Chan" flicked some of the food he was making us into the air for us to catch in our mouths. Being a huge fan of food, this was an easy task for yours truly. ;)

Olay! An awesome last night in Mexico!

Mexico-Day 5

Our last full day of Mexico (Wednesday) may have been my favorite day. We walked through the community that our hotel was located in. We came across a swim-with-the-dolphins marina, which was HUGE! I was lucky enough to watch feeding time and see some fun dolphin antics. Grant had a really hard time pulling me away from this!

After watching the dolphins, we hopped a boat in a nearby marina to go parasailing! On our first day in Mexico, we saw a parasailer off the shore where we were swimming. We decided that THAT was definitely something we wanted to take advantage of while south of the border.

There we are! Grant and I rode tandem, where he sat behind me. We got up to a height of 300 feet in the air! Everytime I made a signal to the boat to go higher, Grant made the signal that he was going to be sick! Ha ha!
There I am, a little wind-blown, but ecstatic after one of the coolest things I've ever done!
Heading back to shore! We ended up on the boat with a girl who apparently didn't know she got sea-sick. She puked once over the boat on the way out to sea. Once there and up in the air, she puked from her harness as she parasailed. Once down, I helped get her lifejacket off, which had vomit all over it. For good measure, she heaved once more on the way back into the marina and the captain had to spray down one side of the boat when we got in.

Here we are! Sea-sick-free and happy from our big adventure in the air!

Mexico-Day 4

On our Tuesday in Mexico, we decided to take a little trip over to Playa del Carmen. We wanted to hit the obligatory Senior Frogs and do some shopping. We didn't spend any time on Playa's beach but we did get to see how beautiful it is. Neither of us had been so we had to see what all the hype was about.

I think it's safe to say that our favorite part of Senior Frogs was the view. It was right on the water and we could see the ferrys that go over to Cozumel.

Classy barstools. ;)