It got better from here ...

Or did it?


It was a marathon weekend (literally) as the Aalberts family traveled to Iowa over Memorial Day.

Clearly, Maya was not interested in being in the car. We'd thought we'd leave for Iowa after the kids had their naps at school, but decided to try to get some miles in over nap time hoping that would make the trip faster and more enjoyable for everyone. But the timing was off. Maya was almost too tired by the time we hit the road and let us know it for the next three hours.

That said, she was energetic, smiley and fun at the three rest stop breaks we took along the way.

It was not a day to be strapped into a car seat.

On Saturday we hit the Iowa City Farmer's Market early, then went to our favorite playground in the ped mall, where the kids got out some energy and the parents found theirs with some coffees from the Java House.

A couple of hours later, Joel left for Madison, WI, to run what was overall his 37th marathon and third there.

I signed up for the race hoping for better conditions than I'd found in Champaign earlier in May. The Illinois Marathon was hot and humid, and my previous experiences in Madison had me optimistic I would find more temperate conditions that would give me a better race day.

While I may be wearing long sleeves in this picture, I ran the race shirtless to help me keep my temps down. It was 85 degrees by race end and it felt it. I finished in 3:45, well off my normal pace, but I still finished 187th overall, a good indicator everyone had a bad day. Indeed, I learned yesterday that they closed the course off 15 minutes after I finished for the health of the runners.

The good news is that I finished ... and that there was a family outing to Whitey's waiting for me when I returned to Iowa.

It was a great way to come home. The kids loved their scoops of Bubble Gum flavored ice cream, although Maya was skeptical of the gum drops themselves, waggling them out of her mouth with her tongue after each bite. It was a mess, but incredibly cute.

And, yes, the trip home went better. I wedged myself between the kids' car seats and acted as cruise director. Owen and Maya each took a nap and we had very little fuss.

It was good to be home.