Corporate Challenge Race

Hello everybody. I thought it was about time that I jumped in and blogged too. I am still feelilng the effects of last nights race at RIT. I entered and ran the infamous JP Morgan Corporate Challenge race which began Thursday night at 7pm. The rain was threatening all evening and held off until 5 minutes befor the race began. I've never participated in an event quite like this. As I predicted, I was bumping elbows with runners from start to finish which offered a rather different prespective to usual 5k-type races. Also, with the constant downpour, I had the combined relief of not overheating or sweating but the strange sensation of being"waterboarded" because I found myself swallowing water every minute. It was a strange and wonderful event to run with 9,000 others. My final time in the 3.5 miles adjusted for the 2 minutes wasted before I crossed the start-line was 29:39, or basically a 8:20 or so minute mile pace.Afterwards I had a meal with my tent which was the RCSD,unfortunately I didn't know any of them. When it came time to leave thousands of unhappy campers stood in a light rain- again- and waited for buses to shuttle them off. If I learned anything from my years of observing dad in a crowd situation, I learned that #1) He hated them, and #2) He did anything to avoid them. I could see that I could be a hapless watersoaked victim in this katrinia ll senario or I could be adventureous and try to get into one of the academic buildings. I choose the latter and in my second attempt, a door was open in some gym. I roamed around refreshing myself in climate-controled air, enjoyed hot water from a sink and in general killed time waiting for the crowds to disperse. The hot showers were very tempting but I decided to not press my luck. Afterwards I stopped by Peggy's apartment, as planned, and spent the night so I wouldn't have to take the long trek home. WIll I ever participate in that particular event again? I got a year to think about it.

Judy and I attended a Bar Mitzvah celebration this last weekend in Warrenton, VA for Cindi Reiss's son, Zachary. It was quite an affair starting with a service and Torah readings on Saturday followed by a celebration at the Airlie House. I now know why young Jewish boys and girls have an academic head-start on the rest of us; they have to study for their Torah readings. A major study in language, Jewish culture and history. The celebration after the service was quite lavish and inclusive of young and old alike. There was a DJ, a T-shirt artist/painter, three separate buffet lines and more. The setting was amazing. The Airlie house was a large working estate that has been transformed into a business retreat, luxury hotel and exclusive dinning destination complete with it's own air strip for private planes and small executive jets. The old barns, farm houses and other out-buildings have been converted into hotel rooms and the estate includes many gardens, ponds, and watershed areas. Nice digs for a Bar Mitzvah celebration indeed! Cindi was doing her part to promote the economic stimulus package in the Warrenton, VA area, for sure. On Sunday we attend a brunch at Cindi's house before everyone left town. It was nice to see old friends that we've met through the years from work and other social adventures from the West Coast to the East Coast and back again.

Breaking the July Trend ...

Sorry Bernie, but we decided we need more than just one cousin birthday party a year, so we are breaking the trend of July babies for the Klos siblings. Isaac is going to be a big brother this fall ~ our new baby is due to arrive on September 25! We are going to wait to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl because it is so much fun letting Isaac guess. He is very excited - he likes to hug & kiss Kat's belly, and he likes to put a blanket over her belly and say "Nite-Nite Sleep Baby!" Here are a few pics of the baby at 18 weeks on April 24 and Kat at 20 weeks last Friday.

We are currently finishing up the spring semester of teaching at the college ... just in time for Matt to start one last big house project before the baby arrives. Right before Isaac was born we completely gutted and remodeled our kitchen, so being as this is the second baby, we had to raise the bar. We will be gutting and remodeling our upstairs (currently two bedrooms that we only use for storage) into a master bedroom with full bath, the new nursery, and a landing with a large closet (gotta love the old houses with zero closet space!) Luckily we have a lot of great friends who have volunteered to help out.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone in Rochester in 2 weeks!

Love,
Matt, Kat, Isaac & our new baby

After a Run In with a Deer Fly

This is poor Andrew last summer after a deer fly bite on his cheek. As you can see his face swelled right up. He was very uncomfortable but it provided an opportunity for Andrew to ham it up for the camera while I laughed my fool head off and I snapped some pictures. I used one of these photos for his "follower" picture. My secret hope is that if I post an embarrassing photo, Andrew might enter into the 21st century and actually change his follower photo...or post a comment...or even just READ THE BLOG!
Hope

Aidan in a Hole

Abby and Alex made this hole for me on the beach in the Florida Keys. I liked it!

Aidan

Florida Keys in February

During our February break we went to the Florida Keys and stayed with my parents on Big Pine Key.