Attack of the Praying Mantis

I know. Enough about the praying mantis. I've written more about this still-unnamed insect than my own kids lately. But there have been some interesting developments to the story. Just as we were about to let the thing go for fear PETA would knock down our door and demand we stop the cruelty, Ben found a cricket outside, something we have on good authority that praying mantises like to eat. He thought it was at least worth a shot and luckily for us he chose to document it. Like in Cloverfield, it's kind of hard to make out what's happening at first, and then, oh yeah, that's the monster and he is totally going to eat you.

Warning: the following pictures contain graphic insect violence

I told you that thing was a killer.

Praying Mantis Update

I think the praying mantis is protesting its captivity with a hunger strike. I started to feel bad for the little guy because he had no food and was stuck in a little plastic container (reverse Stockholm syndrome?) so I had Ben stick some of the large ants that have invaded our house into the container with him. Now, just so you know that my previously expressed fears weren't completely baseless, it did get out when we opened the lid. Luckily, praying mantises are bright green and not really fast moving so it was pretty easy to put back in its cage. But it still didn't seem to like the ants crawling around in there with him so Ben took out the ants, killed one of them, and put it back in the container. And there the dead ant has sat for 2 days. The praying mantis is either as picky as my 1 year old about what's for dinner or else it's decided to make a statement. I think we're going to have to give in to its demands and let it go soon. I don't think I'd make a very good president. Or superhero. I cave in to killer bugs/terrorists way too easily.

We're alive, and sometimes even well

We've had a busy past few months and when I'm busy, blogging is the first thing to go, followed closely by dusting and cleaning the shower. We've ventured a little further south and are living it up in Durham, North Carolina now. It's nice to have a fresh start amidst people who have no idea that I've neglected my blog for months at a time. But I'm not even afraid of people finding that out here since everyone is so extra nice. They take longer to do everything, but they're super nice about it.

The girls have made lots of new friends, including some from the animal kingdom.
Ben found this turtle about a mile away from our house on one of his runs and ran home with it. I don't even like to run holding a water bottle. I can't imagine running with a turtle for a mile (the thing was heavy). Way to go Ben! He had grand visions of the turtle living in our backyard, but it took off for greener pastures shortly after its arrival, a decision perhaps spurred on by Elise trying repeatedly to feed it sticks and leaves. Here's Elise bidding it farewell, "bye bye sea turtle." No matter how many times I correct her, she insists on calling all turtles "sea turtles." This is how the conversation always goes: I'll say, "it's not a sea turtle, it's just a regular turtle. Sea turtles live in the ocean." Elise, "Ok, bye bye sea turtle."



A frog/toad (I didn't get close enough to verify) appeared in our sandbox with no sand turned swimming pool a few days ago. Elise offered it some of her lollipop but it declined.

Finally, the latest addition. Our 12 year old neighbor loves playing with Elise and she showed up yesterday with a little container for her. She found a baby praying mantis at the store and brought it home to give to Elise. She even made it a little container to live in. Elise loves it. I don't know how long it will last. I'm too scared to feed it for fear it that when I open the lid it will attack my face and get loose in the house. It is kind of cute, in a killer insect kind of way.

Playing catch up- Chloe turns one!

My little Chloe bug turned 1 in June. It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago Ben left for a 5 hour bike ride and I went into labor shortly afterwards, a month early. This year we had a quiet birthday here in Durham surrounded by boxes and messes. Our neighbor brought over some balloons and presents and I took a break from painting to bake her a cake, which she refused to eat.

Stuffing her face with some birthday pizza Opening some presents

I just looked at some baby pictures of her and got a very very small twinge of "baby fever" as Ben calls it. Look at that face though! So precious.

And look how little she was.

I think I need to stop looking at pictures now. We love you Chloe!

The blogging marathon continues...

Three posts in the same week? That is some serious blogging for me. I forgot I had all sorts of video from Costa Rica. Here are some highlights.

I don't think Ben has ever been prouder of Elise than when she set foot on that surfboard.

This video is pretty self-explanatory. "I kiss the lizard."

Chloe doing her thing at the beach.

I don't know where all this love for reptiles is coming from. I blame Jeremy.

Costa Rica '08

We were lucky enough to spend another week in Costa Rica with our friends, the Preeces, and their friends, the Gardners. Jenny's grandpa owns a house there and we were honored to be invited back again this year to enjoy the sun and surfing! We all have little girls the same age and it was fun to see them running around together and getting along together, for the most part!

I think Elise's favorite part was probably seeing the Barbie: Island Princess movie for the first time, and several other times during the course of the trip. She still asks to see it all the time, well more like demands it, "I want to watch Barbie," or alternately, "I want Barbie songs." But she still had fun seeing all the different animals and making sand castles. On a perhaps unrelated note, I caught her counting to 6 in Spanish today. Neither Ben or I taught it to her, so either she soaked up some Spanish in Costa Rica, or she's been watching too much Dora.

Ben just wanted to surf the whole time. I had fun not being pregnant this year and getting to go on the canopy tour! In fact, just not being pregnant pretty much made the vacation. And little Chloe was a trooper and loved playing in the sand and shoving big handfuls of it in her mouth. A big thank you to the Preeces for putting up with us for so long!



We've got a busy few weeks ahead of us. We close on our house in less than 2 weeks so we've been busy packing up. I'm excited to be in a house of our own again and have some more space for the kids to run around in. Durham here we come!

Boston 26.2

A few weeks ago I found myself running the Boston Marathon. Not that this was a last minute decision to run a marathon. I've been training and training for this really ever since I had Chloe last year. But I had some injuries late in the game. All in all, I count myself lucky that I made it to the start line, not in an ideal condition, but in a "Well, my calf still hurts, but I think it'll last 26 miles" condition.
It was a surreal experience to find myself running an event that is so big and such an aspiration for so many people. I've never seen that many people in short shorts and spandex in my life. I just remember when I finally reached the start line (it took about 8 minutes to get there!) and everyone started running at once, all I could hear was the sound of shoes hitting pavement. A lot of shoes hitting the pavement. Quite a difference from all my solitary long runs. In the beginning, I was just surrounded by people and when you went up or down a hill you could really see the crowd of runners snaking ahead of you on the road.
The three hours honestly just flew by. I had a great marathon. I doubted that I would ever say that running a marathon is fun. The Baltimore marathon from mile 16 on was just terrible. I vowed never to run another marathon again. But I feel like I ran a smart race this time, thanks solely to the counsel of my coach. He made me promise to take it easy the first half, and if I felt good still, to go crazy on the second half. It was painful to watch people pass me those first 13 miles. But it was really fun to pass people on the second half, especially up the hilly parts. I felt really strong at the end and was glad I eventually gave in to coach.
One of the best parts was having my old team all come out to support me! We're all scattered right now with residencies but everyone converged on Boston for a reunion. I couldn't ask for better friends or teammates! I owe so much to my coach, Brigham. I don't even want to know how many hours he spends writing schedules and workouts, and even though he enjoys every minute of it, I know he doesn't have a lot of those minutes to spare right now. A big thanks to assistant to the Coach, Ben, for watching our girls while I was out running and supporting me in so many ways. Though he and Brigham clash sometimes, I know they both want what's best for me.


Here are my stats for any other running geeks out there.
Official Time: 3:22:58
Pace: 7:45/mile
Overall Place: 4882/21963
Gender Place: 592/8935
Division Place: 482/4908

And pictures too of course.


Next post: Costa Rica pics I promise!