April 18 = Marathon Day

Warning: there are a lot of pictures in this post.

First- I thought this bottle was really cool.  I was talking to a girl at MOPS today (two weeks after the marathon) and her brother lives in Boston and his Birthday is April 18 and sometimes falls on marathon day.  When it does, he doesn't have to work on his birthday because as she said, Boston shuts down for the marathon.  It's so awesome.

Zachary got up really early to head over.  I was really hoping for everyone's sake that I'd be able to handle the kids by myself "last night."  I like to pretend I'm writing the blog post on the actual day the pictures were taken so as Jen Hatmaker said in her book that I blogged about "yesterday," give me this victory.  However, I couldn't.  Grandma graciously came and slept with Liam and I slept with Malia.  It wasn't great but we survived. Malia finally fell asleep around 4 something so here she is at 7, sleeping like an angel:

I hated to do it but I had to wake her up because it was time to go!  She had breakfast with Pops:

and here's Liam and Pops on the way to the car to grab the strollers.. and then we got on the hotel shuttle to the aiport.

Here's some pictures from the shuttle:

Then we got on the metro- no pictures from there because it was all hands on deck with strollers and toddlers and handrails and crowds.  I mentioned "yesterday" that I packed while under the fog of a migraine so I did forget to bring tennis shoes... instead, I wore my Sanuk flipflops.  I was nervous but they were great and we didn't have to walk very much at all!

So a few days ago, we discovered that while Zachary thought the Red Sox game that he bought tickets to was after the marathon, it was during the marathon.  He was so upset that he was going to miss the game but insisted we go see the game instead of trying to see him run without any guarantees of even a glimpse of him.  We got in the park and learned we had to check the strollers- there wasn't enough room for them under the seats like we had read the night before.  The check-in was next to this:

We started out with high hopes all in our seats at the game.

 

But that didn't last long.  Malia's lack of sleep got to her quick and Liam was determined to get out of the confines of the seats somehow, even if it meant crawling under the seats of the people in front of us.

So Malia broke first.  I took her out and retrieved the stroller we had to check-in and we went shopping for Red Sox hats for me and Liam.  I picked one out for her but she pushed it away forcefully so I didn't push it.  When I came out, I discovered Grandma and Liam had abandoned the seats as well.  So we took the opportunity to get some more pictures!!

At a certain point I decided I had to see part of the game.  So as Malia was falling asleep, I went back in with Liam determined to make it work.  It didn't.  After a few minutes I handed him off to Pops and after a few minutes, Pops decided to join Grandma and Malia.  I got these pictures from their time together: 

 

So it was the eighth inning when I was childless watching the game.  We had been up 1-0 since the bottom of the second inning.  And by we I mean the Red Sox.  Anyway.  In the top of the eighth, the Blue Jays scored four.  It was sad but we still had hope.  I was also holding out hope that Zachary would make it to see even a second of the game.  We didn't score any in the bottom of the eighth but neither did they (the Blue Jays) in the top of the ninth so it was the bottom of the ninth and we had to score at least three.  So the whole game, Boston fans were upset because David Ortiz aka Big Papi hadn't hit once.  He's lots of Red Sox fans' favorite player.  So it's the bottom of the ninth, we score two and there are two out.  When I saw Big Papi was up next, I knew I had to get a video of him hitting.  He retires at the end of the season and it wasn't looking like Zachary was going to make it in time to see him hit.  So I was about to hit the record button, the crowd is going wild because he's coming up to bat and.... HERE COMES ZACHARY.  I got chills everywhere because he could not have had better timing if he'd tried.  The crowd that was already on their feet and cheering cheered even louder seeing a marathon finisher coming into the stands. It was movie material.  And then Big Papi struck out and we lost.  But still!  Zachary got to see Big Papi in the game and got a lot of accolades for being there after running 26.2 miles in 3:25.  We got someone to take this picture to remember the moment: 

And then we got a few more pictures.  I had not seen the Mickey Mouse figure before so I snapped a few more:

And then we headed to one more store so Zachary could find some stuff- the one in the park was crazy busy after the game.

  

  
We got this picture after our shopping was done- the whole group!

Walking back toward the metro we saw this sign that Zachary must have been super relieved to have seen earlier in the day:  

 

From here it's a blur.  I know we ate and slept but that's all I remember.  It was quite a day and Zachary achieved something he has been dreaming of for a while.  I'm so incredibly proud of him and in awe of his ability!