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Last night at Stolo’s pub, after a long and hilly hash with the Calgary Hash House Harriers, Rali was a sight for sore eyes:

The day after the Red Dress Run, Rali ran in the 10k Mother’s Day run in Edmonton. Her previous personal best was 52:54 in the snow in the St. Patrick’s Day 10k in Calgary. Her time in Edmonton, in the cold, after running the Red Dress Run the previous day: 51:15!

Here are Rali and the kids, just a few seconds after she finished.

On the weekend of May 10, we all traveled to Edmonton for the Edmonton Hash House Harriers Annual Red Dress Run. The kids have been to red dress hashes before, in Croatia and Nigeria, but was the first time they were the only kids in attendance. But they all did well, running the entire trail with the other 200 or so hashers. The event raised over $35,000 for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Here are Mad Dog, Ratatouille, and Snowplow on the trail.

May 6 was Carmen’s third birthday, and we had a few friends over for birthday cupcakes. Since Rali was cooking, she added a LOT more to the menu, and had to send out a “no snacking” email a couple hours before the party to make sure everyone arrived with an empty stomach! Carmen had some friends over to share her pink strawberry cupcakes. If you look closely, you can see her about to blow out her three pink candles.

When Rali and Mike rode their bikes up to Banff on April 26, we spent the night, then we all went to the magnificent Fairmont Banff Springs hotel for brunch on April 27. Here’s the whole group in front of the hotel. The bottom row (l-r) is Rich, Rali, Mike, and Brenda. The top row is Kristof, Carmen, Kelvin, and Gloria (Carmen’s Cabbage Patch Kid).

On April 26, 2008, Rali and our friend Mike rode their bikes from Calgary to Banff, a 127-kilometer trip. Rali says it wasn’t too bad, except for the very strong headwind midway through that had them pedaling hard even on downhills, and the traffic noise from riding on the shoulder of the Trans-Canada highway. Here’s Rali at roadside, entering Banff National Park.

On Saturday night, May 3, 2008, we went to a surprise 40th birthday party for our friend Andrea. Everyone had a great time, especially the kids, and especially when chocolate cupcakes were served for dessert. Carmen’s strategy was to lick all the icing off the top first, which led to this:

This morning was Kristof’s birthday party, held at Bulldog Interactive Fitness, which is a fitness/exercise center for kids. The guests, most around Kristof’s age, had a VERY energetic party–it was a blast! Here’s a photo from the party, with Kristof on the Treadwall, which is a moving climbing wall. Kristof’s climbing record: 116 feet!

On the morning of April 10, Rali had planned to go for a bike ride with her friend Jamie, with Carmen in the bike trailer, but Calgary’s weather is unpredictable: we had the largest April 10 snowstorm in 100 years or so. So they changed plans and went out for a walk instead, with Carmen in the stroller. As they were out walking, they came upon a Global TV news crew, and they were on the 6:00 broadcast that evening. Here’s the whole Global TV news segment in which they appeared. They’re at about the two-minute mark.

Eight years ago today, Kristof joined the family. We went out for breakfast this morning, and here’s how our 8-year-old looked:

And just to refresh everyone’s memory, here’s how he looked just eight short years ago:

I think he’s aged pretty gracefully…don’t you? If you’d like to drop him a line, you can email him at kristof at roesing.net.