28 Years

 

Happy 28th Anniversary, Tim and Sharon!

The Rooses

Merry Christmas

We hope you are all enjoying time with family and friends as we celebrate our Savior’s birth!

Merry Christmas

Love,

The Rooses

Chicago Marathon Video

Hey Everyone,

Here is the video for the Chicago Marathon. Tim put arrows to where Howard is running, because it is almost impossible to find him otherwise.

Enjoy!

,

The Roose Family

Chicago Marathon Weekend

10-9-10

At 4:36 AM on October 9, 2010 Tim, Sharon, and Katelyn set out for Chicago to watch Uncle Howard run the Chicago Marathon!!!!!   (Jesse stayed home to take care of the cats, study, and wasn’t feeling the 20 miles worth of walking we ended up putting in during the weekend. )

—-But first a day of sightseeing…

Our first stop was to the Marathon Expo. None of us had ever been to see a marathon, let alone a marathon expo and had no real idea what to expect.

  

It was huge! We didn’t get any photos of the actual expo because we were too busy getting free samples of bars, yogurt, socks, cowbells, etc. Above is a picture of the hallway to get to the expo lined with marathon signs. A big theme of the marathon was the “10-10-10” for the date. It was really cool! Below is a photo of a poster we also got at the expo.

    

After we left the expo we found our hotel, parked, and set off to see the city!

 

 

Our second destination was the Sears tower, now called the Willis Tower. Along the way we walked into a video shooting. It was probably only for a small commercial we will never see, but it was  really cool to watch anyway!

  

The 4 people walking across the street dressed in black and carrying instruments were all part of the cast, along with the girl in the green dress on the far right of the photo.

  

All of the people in this picture were part of the cast. They were just standing by and would walk across the street when “action” was called. They were the “pedestrians.”

  

Then we saw the tower!

  

   

After the very long lines we finally got to pack into the elevator with 37 other people and begin the 60 second ride to the 103rd floor. Our ears hurt, popped, and the elevator began to shake a little as we neared the top, but we made it!

Here is a view of Chicago 103 floors in the air.

 

At the top they also have 3 sky decks. It was a small area of glass sticking out from the rest of the building. It was a little scary, but well worth the experience.

       

That would be Chicago…under our feet.

It was a very pretty view of the bay.

 

There was history on the walls up in the sky deck and Katelyn took a picture of the an important one.

     

The glass needed a cleaning from the outside badly! They have an automatic cleaning system that will do that, but it takes 3-4 weeks to get it all clean.

    

After seeing the views, we were ready to head back down. Apparently everyone else was ready at the same time, because the line was extremely long and the security people kept telling everyone to “keep moving forward.” How close can you get to the person in front of you?!

     

When we finally reached the bottom it was on to more sightseeing!

We were rather glad we didn’t have to park like this!! Eek!!

     

The trains regularly rattled noisily across the track while we walked underneath them. All a part of everyday Chicago, but still fun to see.

 

And of course the streets were lined with hangings for the marathon.

     

The second destination was the Buckingham fountain.

  

It was a gorgeous day and the fountain was beautiful!

 

          

From there we tried to find the finish line, but couldn’t find it/ couldn’t get to it because different areas were blocked off.

So we went to: The Bean!

       

  

Let’s play, “Can you spot us?” (don’t worry, you probably won’t be able to )

There we are!

  

 

 

   

     

          

After the Bean, we wanted to see the Chicago Tribune and all the rocks from various places in their walls.

      

They had a moon rock behind glass in their wall.

  

More sightseeing as we set off to Michigan Ave. to find Garrets Popcorn. A popcorn only sold in NYC and Chicago.

 

While standing in line at Garretts Uncle Howard, Aunt Myra, and their friends came walking up. So, putting our faith in Uncle Howard to get us to another shop, we left the extremely long line in search of another lesser known Garretts.

Well, he did good. We got to another location, whose line was actually inside the shop and purchased “the Chicago Mix.” (cheese  and caramel popcorn mixed together) It was very good.

The shop was also on the way to another area we were headed. Uncle Howard had to pick up some things for the race the next day for the Steps Foundation – the organization he was running with. Ryan and Sara Hall are professional runners who started this organization to raise money for poverty, anti human trafficking, and a mentoring running program. Ryan Hall was going to run the Chicago marathon but ended up dropping out because he overtrained. We got to meet him and Sharon got his autograph!

Then we set off back to our hotel. (note: These pictures were actually taken much earlier in the day. It was dark out by this time.)

 

10-10-10

Sharon and Katelyn had made t-shirts to wear for the marathon.

   

We left our hotel at 5:30 AM to meet up with Howard and Myra to wish the marathoner good luck and walk with Myra to the starting line to claim our spot before the crowds came.

             

By the time it was ready to start people were everywhere.

             

The wheelchairs were off at 7:20 AM.

and the runners at 7:30.

GO HOWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

After the start line we tried to see him at the 2 mile, 13 mile, 17 mile, and finish line. We couldn’t see him at the 2 mile because of way too many people and he didn’t see us at the 13 or 17 or finish.

But we met up with him after the race in the family meet area. He looked really good for just having run 26.2 miles.

       

The meeting area was filled with racers and spectators alike.

   

Overall we had a great time in Chicago and watching the marathon.

We hope to get some video up in the coming days.

See you later,

The Roose Family

We Moved!!

Find us at our new home at www.roosereport.wordpress.com

Welcome to Our New Site

Thank you for following us to our new Blog site. We’re sorry it has taken so long to update.

In June we went to the Outer Banks, NC. Among the hours spent getting burnt in the sun, tasting the salt water as the it spewed up in our faces (of course Sharon got a little more personal with the salt water as she fell into it twice when waves knocked her over), relaxing at our rental beach house, and watching Jesse feed the seagulls with cheez-its, we visited the Wright Brothers Memorial, hit up the thrift stores, went to Okracoke Island, and ate seafood at Dolphin Den restaurant. We also spent time gathering numerous seashells and watching the sunset and rise. One of the most memorable moments was when we actually got to see dolphins feeding in the morning. We spent our money at Super Wings, a store with all things beach related and tons of super cute clothes. Above all, we had a great time being with each other.

At the end of July we enjoyed the annual Van Mersbergen Campout in Michigan. More time was spent at a beach, although this one didn’t involve seashells and dolphins, there was plenty of temperature perfect water and good times. We did the traditional Great Harvest Bread Co., Wippi Dip, and Meyer trips, along with a new experience of blueberry picking. We also went geocaching and enjoyed reconnecting with family.

Before we knew it, it was time for school. Katelyn began at Pella Christian for 7 days and then transferred to Keystone National High School. It is an online high school for kids all over the world, has graduated famous people, and allows for very flexible schooling. Katelyn is enjoying learning in the new environment and loves the at-your-own-pace learning. Jesse switched his major this year to an IT major and likes his new work study of helping people with troubleshooting computer problems. He was excited to have a double dorm room all to himself.

Labor Day weekend brought more family bonding at the Annual Van Mersbergen campout. We played Minute to Win it, ate together, had a church service, went geocaching, and participated in the Van Mersbergen 2 mile fun run/walk.

Other than that, Sharon is excited because she recently accomplished her goal of running for 30 minutes. Tim got a Kindle for his birthday and as we are writing this post is still praising the wonders of the electronic book reader. Of course, we smile and nod along. Katelyn has now begun dance classes; taking Pointe Class, Pre-Point/ Ballet, and Jazz/Tap class. In 2 of the 3 classes she has cousins Mackenzie and/or Alissa also in the class. She is also volunteering to help a 3-5 year old “Pink” class, in which she also gets to bring Rachel, a day care child of Sharon’s, to as well.

Until next time,

The Roose Family

This and That

Sorry it has been so long since we last updated. We have gotten so busy and there has been little time to sit and think about blogging.

With that said, here is the abbreviated version of the last 5 months of our lives.

March 6 was Katelyn’s drill team spring show.

Although it was a hard decision, but one made with certainty, Katelyn has decided to leave drill team for the rest of her high school years.

Next order of business… Our family lost a teenager of June 21 when Jesse turned 20. Katelyn also celebrated a birthday on July 2 and turned 17.

Jesse finished up his first year of college. HE SURVIVED!!!!!! ‘nuff said.

He has been working at Central for the summer. He works on the grounds with the maintenance department.

We hope to enjoy the rest of the quickly disappearing summer with a trip to Michigan and spending time together.

The Roose Family