Family Time

Made a family trip to the circus on Sunday... kids (and Travis) finished this popcorn before the circus even started! We all enjoyed the show -- amazing stunts/tricks by humans & animals -- SO glad we went!!
Made a trip to the Evergreen State Fair today. This has become a Labor Day annual tradition for us. We started out with the Alaskan Pig Races --- so cute!! Nothing better than tiny mini pigs racing around a little track!! Highlight of the fair for me - every year :)

This year we decided to do some rides (last year Noah wasn't quite tall enough -- so we avoided that whole area). Noah enjoyed the teacups ride... until Travis got it going around and around... I think that was a little too much for him. He enjoyed it again after they stopped spinning so much. Here is a video (not great quality though - I used my phone)

Cute kiddie roller-coaster...

Ended the night with a bath after dinner -- in our master bathroom. This was a treat for the kiddos -- they usually are in their little tub.

Well -- feeling a little anxious tonight. Evelyn starts Pre-K tomorrow at a new school. Noah will still be going to his daycare/preschool center for another year. I will post some pics soon of Evelyn in her big school-girl uniform. Gosh - I feel old all of a sudden!!!

The Joys of Children

Here is a picture of Noah from church.... this is in the "cry room" (where we take him when he misbehaves). Can't you tell how much he dislikes this room and how disappointed he is?? :)
Some of you saw this on FB, but I am posting it here, too -- just because I thought it was cute. Our normal priest (Father Jim) is on vacation for the month of August. So -- after Mass this past Sunday Evelyn asked "How come God wasn't there today?" I explained to her that Father Jim was on vacation for a few weeks. We definitely have a teaching opportunity there... I think I might let Travis tackle that one though :)

To be fair, here is a recent picture of Evelyn in her new swimsuit (Thanks Kara!). She has been enjoying the beautiful weather by playing out in the backyard in her plastic kiddie pool.

I took Noah blueberry picking this past weekend (might have had to bribe him with a few pieces of candy). He had fun picking the blueberries and adding them to my bucket for about 5 minutes. I then told him that he could pick them off the bushes and eat them instead of putting them in my bucket. That kept him happy for about 2 minutes.... then he decided that it was much easier to eat them directly from my bucket. UGH!! He was eating faster than I could pick!! Maybe next year we will have better success.... :)

In other news, my foot/heel has continued to bother me recently. It hurt a little before my half-marathon, and has been really bothering me since. I have pretty much taken a break from running for a while. I will have to resort to other types of cardio for now... with hopes that a few weeks off will heal my heel :)

What Next??

It was Renton River Days this weekend -- and the festivities started Friday night. After work, I rushed to get the kids from school so we could go to the outdoor circus. It was really cool -- it was a traveling group of kids from Wenatchee, WA -- and they were really good! Tight rope walking, flying acrobatics, etc. -- the kids loved it!! Evelyn wanted to get pictures with the different clowns and performers afterwards... Noah was a little unsure. He kept his distance for this picture... and then decided to sit out of the other clown pictures :)

I woke up early Saturday morning to meet another new running friend. YAY!! There is a huge running/blogging community out here that I am just starting to get connected with. They run a lot of local races, sometimes train together on weekends for long runs, provide support for each other, get together for night-before-race dinners, etc. -- I hope to become much more involved in the future!! Definitely my kind of ladies :)

I met Kerrie at 6:30 (had those "first-date" type nerves again!), and we headed up along Lake Washington. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. We came upon a bald eagle on a branch directly overhead -- we had to run under him -- he kept one eye on us the entire time. Cool -- but very creepy! I like wildlife -- but I can be a total wimp sometimes, too!!

Kerrie and I planned to do 10 miles... but I could only do 8 (and I really struggled with those!!) I think it was a combination of not being fully recovered from last weekend, not running at all since last weekend's race, and trying to adjust to talking, running, and breathing all at the same time. It is hard to do!! :)

We swapped stories about running, races, kids, work, etc. and discovered that we have a lot in common. One big similarity was our three year old boys and our struggles with potty-training them! Another that she grew up in a neighboring town to Travis's hometown -- she dated a guy or two from his high school -- very small world! Even though it was a painful run, I had a great time, and made a new friend!!! I need to work on the running/talking combo though :)

The question now is: What next? You Go Girl in Tacoma, Seattle Half Marathon, something different??? A girl like me has to have a goal :)

13.1 miles from Napa to Sonoma

I ran the Napa to Sonoma half marathon this past weekend with a few girl friends from college. This was our "girls/destination race weekend". The weather Sunday morning was perfect -- probably in the low to mid 50's at 7AM. We got to the start (Cuvaison Carneros Winery) with about 30 minutes to spare -- but the bathroom lines were extremely long, so after using those, we pretty much walked to the start line and they started the race. No time to sit around getting nervous!

I started the race with the 2:00 pacer. I wanted to keep her in my sights for as long as possible. If this race was anything like my previous ones, I knew my pace would slow down the last few miles, so I wanted to have some faster miles at the beginning :)

Pretty much right out of the gate we had to head up "butt-burner hill". I have to admit, I was a little worried when I got to the top. I was concerned that it might have zapped too much energy too soon. But -- I stayed with the 2:00 pacer and kept pushing. My first mile was FAST -- even with the hill. I was feeling great.

The course was a series of rolling hills through wine country. Very scenic - checking out all the sights helped to keep my mind off the race. I think it was around mile 7 that I started thinking that I could possibly beat my best time. Being an engineer at heart, I kept doing the calculations in my head of mile times for the remainder of the race and what my finish time would be. That kept me busy for a few miles :) Miles 11 and 12 were kinda brutal -- I was getting a side stitch, and just couldn't get comfortable or catch a full breath. But, I knew at that point that unless I completely screwed up, I would end up with a PR. The question was, by how much?

Entering the city of Sonoma gave me an extra kick. But that didn't last long. After the last turn, the finish line was in sight --- however it seemed like it was still a mile away (it was probably more like a half mile). I wanted to walk for a few seconds to catch my breath. I figured if I did that, I would be able to finish strong. The girl next to me (who I had been running with for the last mile or so) looked at me and said "GET MOVING! You can do this!!" I have to admit -- I was completely shocked that she was calling me out... but I looked at her and said "Thank you -- that is JUST what I needed" :) So --- I picked up my pace and pushed as hard as I could towards the finish line. I have never been so tired in my life! I crossed the finish at 2:05:16 but my chip time was 2:04:34 --- about 5 minutes faster than I have ever ran a half-marathon. I am by no means a fast runner --- but this was a huge accomplishment for me!! I grabbed some snacks/water in the finish area and walked back to the final stretch to cheer on the rest of the girls. Here is the happy crew after the race:Notice the wine glasses in our hands? Well -- one downside of the race was that there wasn't much food/snacks to refuel afterwards. There was however 25 wineries and a few breweries in the park giving free tastings for a few hours. T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!! That was a dangerous combination!! Here is a picture of the crew after enjoying a little too much wine :) Needless to say, I slept the remainder of the afternoon to recover from the race and all the drinks!!

Here is a video from the race -- some more pictures, too. The announcer says my name after I cross the finish... I think you can kinda tell how much pain I am in... I can barely run!! The Pearl Jam guy they mention (Mike McCready) ended up crossing about 8 minutes later. I thought it was kinda cool that they include a video like this for all of the finishers :)

Summer has Officially Begun!!!!!

I love the beach -- thankfully so do the kids!! Today was our first beach trip of the summer. After our typical Saturday morning big breakfast, we headed to Newcastle beach. The weather was beautiful, the water was cold (but that didn't stop us), and the sand was perfect for castle making. Turynn and her mom Jody met us there, too. Here I am playing with Evelyn and Turynn:

Kiddos (Noah couldn't be bothered with a picture, he was too hard at work)Family shot: We saw numerous boats on the water, a seaplane take off, a male and female duck swim by closely, and also a bald eagle that swooped down a couple times towards the deep end of the beach area (I think it was trying to catch a fish) -- pretty cool. The weather is supposed to be nice again on Monday... maybe we will make another trip to the beach :)

Slacker...

I know -- I have been a complete blogger-slacker lately. But we have been pretty busy -- and life sometimes get in the way, you know??? :)

Both kids graduated from gymnastics recently. Their final night they have them do a routine of different stuff that they have learned -- it was pretty cute. I was a bad mom though and forgot my camera for Noah's class. The next night was Evelyn's class, and I remembered. (so just imagine Noah doing the same things, and you will be able to make your own picture!)
Is Noah ever going to be able to smile like a normal person?? I always get this scrunched-up cheesy face :) Ha ha
In other news, I ran another half-marathon. I decided Wednesday that I would maybe like to do the Rock N Roll Seattle race that was taking place on Saturday. I checked out Craigslist -- and I bought a clearance priced entry from a girl who was injured and wasnt' going to be able to run. Bad for her -- great for me!!! It was the perfect morning for the race -- probably in the mid to high 50's when the race started. I was even able to stop on the side during my run and hug the kiddos during the last quarter mile. I loved having them there!! My next race is July 17th in NAPA!! I am SO looking forward to that trip and meeting up with college friends :)

A Pretty Perfect Day :)

My day started out early this morning to meet a new running friend, Zoe. I met her through the blogging world. Once I figured out she was a fellow runner, and lived somewhat close, I contacted her to see if she had any interest in running together.

We met up at 6:30 to run on the Cedar River Trail. I joked about it kinda being like a blind date. But -- We had a full 8 miles to get to know each other. We shared stories about husbands, kids, running, and past injuries. I had a great time -- and loved having a buddy to spend my morning miles with :) She is running the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon in two weeks (only 7 months after her daughter was born!) I consider myself pretty tough at times... but she is one tough chickie!!! I love surrounding myself with people who challenge me - I hope to have more running/training with her in the future. (picture from her blog)

Once I got home and showered, Travis and I took the kids to the park. We are dog sitting right now -- so we had two dogs with us, too. My hope was to tire the entire crew out a little bit!!Travis took Noah to get his hair cut after the park -- this is the before shot (the haircut was WAY overdue!!Here is Evelyn right after I told her I was posting her Princess ride-on car on Craigslist... guess she doesn't want me to get rid of it.During nap-time, I went and got my hair cut and highlighted. We had another quick visit to the park when I got home, and then we went out to our favorite local pizza place for dinner. After the kids' bedtime, Travis and I had an at-home date-night with a Redbox movie.

Yup - pretty perfect :)