Richer Visit after Fire

Robert and I were so grateful to have the entire Richer family here for a visit and to help after the fire. I want to tell you, if you have a friend or family member who goes through something tramatic like a house fire, the best thing you can do for them, if it is within your power to do, is to take off from work or whatever you are doing and go spend a few days with them. We needed people to be with us so that life didn't feel so lonely. When we are going through something like this it can begin to feel very isolated, like you are the only people who have ever been through a hard time, and we didn't have to go through that because our family was with us for a week and a half after the fire. We are so grateful to you. Thank you! Bruce & Nicole, we know you would have been here with us in a heart beat if you didn't live on the other side of the country. Your prayers, encouraging words and phone calls meant so much to us. Thank you too.

Disney Princess Half Marathon

13.1 Miles
2:38:43 Run Time
12:06 Average/Mile
Started Training September 1, 2009 Literally 1 Mile at a time!
Shortest Mile 11:42 (Mile 7)
Longest Mile 12:36 (Mile 12)

Better than I ever expected.



To Erin's credit (as well as Jenny and Lauren) she stayed with me up to mile twelve. She could have gotten a much better time if she hadn't been hanging with me. I am convinced I did so well because i had people to run with that I knew and could talk to.
Linda however got stuck back at the beginning due to an unfortunatel port-a-john incident. But ran a fantastic race coming from the very back of the pack to finish about two minutes after me. Rock on Aunt Linda!

ERIN RICHER #1446

EDINBORO, PA

Age: 29 Gender: F

Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	2:51:28
Chip Time	2:35:06
Overall Place	3029 / 6324
Gender Place	2912 / 6128
Division Place	498 / 908
Age Grade	42.4%
5K	38:03
10K	1:15:08
15K	1:52:10

LINDA PRAETZEL #6272

VALLEY CENTER, CA

Age: 49 Gender: F

Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	2:57:09
Chip Time	2:40:47
Overall Place	3419 / 6324
Gender Place	3290 / 6128
Division Place	334 / 640
Age Grade	47.1%
5K	39:58
10K	1:16:27
15K	1:55:29

COLLEEN MARTIN #6825

WASHINGTON, DC

Age: 27 Gender: F

Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	2:55:02
Chip Time	2:38:43
Overall Place	3263 / 6324
Gender Place	3138 / 6128
Division Place	533 / 908
Age Grade	41.5%
5K	38:06
10K	1:15:11
15K	1:52:14

very funny

Our Home

Now that we've completed most of the work we've been doing on our house, I thought I'd post some photos of the results for family who haven't been able to make it to DC for a while. Our projects have definitely been learning experiences but we've been very happy with how things have turned out. -R

Good 'before' pic for the next shot:

Happy Veteran's Day

This is a simple post for the purpose of thanking four men I know and love who have spent time in their life away from their wives, children, parents, siblings, and friends in order to serve this country I am so glad to call home. They serve(d) to reserve for myself, and those they left behind, all of the rights we enjoy and even some that we don't.

So here is to you, Grandpa Praetzel, Grandpa Bennett, P.A. , and most currently my awesome brother Jeff Richer. I dedicate my heart to remember at least once a year what great men you are, and what a wonderful country I live in because of your sacrifice.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Queens, NY

This is one of the rails inside of Shae Stadium. It was a really cool experience being there the second to last game. Directly beyond outfield you can see the new stadium being built.











Emily tookt his picture of the seat directionals - I thought it was cool.












Robert and I - infront of the feild - thrilling I know.







You can see there is the new stadium.

















We took this trip with two of our friends. It was such a wonderful time. Rich grew up in NJ. This lead to his family being serious Mets fans. It was very special for us to share this memory with Rich and Emily. Emily's parents live in Mass. and drove all the way down to NY in order to watch Rich and Emily's 15 month old son for 4 hours while we watched the game. So Amazing! They are so sweet.

So, I dedicate this wonderful trip to Missy and Jeff O'Dell the Weekend Warriors!

Thank you for your kindness to us and radical love of your grandson.

STOP 6: Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland Indians. Not as packed out as other stadiums, but in all very nice.


Robert and I posed for a photo that a very nice usher offered to take for us. It was great. He was this incredibly freindly man who you could tell loved his job and worked hard at it earning every ounce of respect the season ticket holders gave him. That is one thing I have learned on this trip. I LOVE MIDDLE AMERICA. The people who make up these city's are some of the most hard working genuine people you could ever hope to meet. They love what they do and they do it well.
The architect of this stadium was a brilliant man. The glass windows you see here are actually part of the club restaurant that is open to all people, but a discount is given to season ticket holders. When you enter the field at left field these are the first thing you see. It is actually very impressive in person.
They had the most impressive score board of all the stadiums we went to (not including Wrigley's, which is in a whole other league). It was very important to both Dave and I to be able to see plenty of statistics, and the Indians' has statistics to spare. Also, you will see that below the score board there are bleacher seats. I believe these are in imitation of the bleachers in Chicago's Wrigley Field. It was heart breaking though to see how empty they were.


This is the view from our seats. I would like to take this moment to praise the awesome ticket buying work done by my amazing husband. At Each and EVERY game we went to we had awesome seats. Not only were they in a great location in the park, at every game we were at the end of a row. You may wonder, what does that matter? It matters a ton, especially if you are hoping to get up during the middle of the game to go get something to eat or drink. Which, we did plenty of.

To Come: A ranking of our over-all experience at each stadium broken down by 8 categories, each weighted by how much they play into the overall scoring. AND, Video taken at each park during the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game"

Next Stop: HOME!