Surprising 2013

We're not even halfway through January yet, and it's already shaping up to be a surprising -- and surprisingly good -- year.

Consider how we kicked off the new year here at The House. No wild parties or children carousing Lego bins until midnight. . . we hosted a 5K. I know, right?! And if you know The Family, you're even more surprised.

We were really impressed with the folks at Lifetime Fitness and their sponsoring Commitment Day on January 1. In a nutshell, they organized 5Ks in 30 cities around the country so folks could kick off their year with a healthy activity. Great idea, no? Except they wanted $40 for the privilege to run with several hundred of your closest strangers. Oh sure, they'd give you a t-shirt; and if you wanted to bring a kid along, that was OK, too. But seriously. Forty bucks?

As I was lamenting this exorbitant expense to The Husband, the words I was least expecting to hear actually came out of his mouth: "Why don't we organize our own?" After ascertaining that he did, in fact, realize none of us run (any distance, with any sort of regularity, and certainly not for enjoyment), I warmed up to the idea. Why not indeed?

So here's the brave band of souls that took to our neighborhood streets on Jan. 5. (We were having torrential downpours on Jan. 1 and we just weren't that committed.)

Yes, we're all facing away from the camera (everybody but Kirby, the wonder dog). Keeping our friends safe from wackos and predators.

It was surprisingly fun, even though the only ones who ran were our neighborhood Iron Man and his dog. Most of the kids rode bikes, although Boy #2 did a fantastic job of encouraging The Husband to run in spurts. I walked; no mystery there. We're thinking that we just might do it again next year.

Surprise #2 is that Boy #2 mastered his training wheels at a blistering pace, setting a personal best "international record in the cul-de-sac" (his words) of 8 laps around, plus a bonus roll almost all the way around the subdivision. Since he'd avoided the big boy bike for much of the past year, we'd resigned ourselves that maybe biking just wasn't his thing. Turns out he enjoys it quite a bit if the seat and training wheels are adjusted correctly, so everything's at the right height and his knees aren't up in his ears. My boy, the perfectionist. :-)

If the rest of 2013 continues in this vein, I might even have to send Christmas letters come December.

-ma'am