Good News All Around!!

There is a bunch of good news in this post :)

1) I went for my longest run tonight since I hurt my foot. 4 miles pain free -- and could have went further, but didn't want to add mileage too quickly and risk getting hurt again. Yay -- feeling like I might be able to get back into a running routine again!!

2) (please don't be judge-y about this one... I have been feeling like a big fat failure... this is SUCH a relief!!) Had a "potty party" for Evelyn tonight at ChuckECheese. She has been diaper free for about 2 weeks now --- AND -- without accidents! Seriously -- all it took was for Evelyn to want to do it -- and she did it. (not a single accident since she decided she wanted to use the toilet) Stubborn little girl! She had me so stressed for so long... I was about to seek therapy :) For her, it was a combination of being afraid of the toilet --- and good old-fashioned "I don't want to do it because I know that you want me to do it". Grrr!!! I should have known she was going to be stubborn when she was breech and refused to flip around in the womb!! Oh well -- I will look back and laugh... someday.

Had to laugh at Noah in this huge monster truck -- he loved it!3) Our annual Vandervort family vacation is coming up!! We will be with my in-laws and Chuck, Kim & Lola. This year we are driving to beautiful Leavenworth, Washington. I have Friday, Monday & Tuesday off -- should be fun!

Happy Anniversary to Us :)

Hard to believe it has been 6 years... We had a date-night last night to celebrate. Here are a couple pics:
Here we are at the gum wall that is behind Pike Place Market in front of a small theatre -- gross, huh?!

3 on 1

I babysat my niece Lola last night so Chuck & Kim could have a night out. She is such a sweet little girl! Here is a picture of the three kiddos playing together: Today at my gym was "Free Kids Club Day" --- Thank the Lord!! The man upstairs was looking out for me :) He knew that I needed some good sweat time for stress relief! The weekends seem long sometimes when Travis is out of town.
After Lola left I took the kids to the gym. They had fun playing with all the new toys there -- they also have a huge climbing area with a slide. When we were leaving Evelyn said "it was kinda like gymnastics". Two thumbs up :)

Random Adventures

I have been feeling as if I don't have a lot to post about recently... Travis is traveling a TON, and I am just trying to "keep my head above water" and stay somewhat sane while he is out of town. Here are a few pictures from the past week or so...
I took the kids to the fire station after "school" one day. The kids are always pointing out the fire trucks when we drive by... so I took them there to check them out up close. The fireman was really nice -- put Noah up in the driver's seat -- it was so cute! They also had free coloring books for the kids and honorary fireman badge-type stickers. I guess they get a lot of kids/families that just drop in!!
Here is a picture from one of the rare days that Travis was in town. Our town had a parade/festival that we checked out. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time :)This picture is just to highlight how Noah sleeps at night... with his butt up in the air. He has two blankets in there -- but they always end up at the end of the bed. Pretty cute, huh?? :)

Cheese!!

Well -- the picture taking was stressful... but we managed to get a couple good pictures :) In other news... my hiatus away from the gym is officially over!! Since hurting my foot I seemed to have lost some of my motivation. I have been pretty bummed that my plans of races/triathlons this summer was squashed. I've added a tracker again to my blog to track my workouts -- I think this will do a couple things 1) help me track what hurts/doesn't hurt my foot 2) push me to stick with my training/physical therapy.

Still hoping to be able to do something by the end of summer/fall... a sprint tri would be awesome, but I will be happy if I can run a 5K :)

Riding Solo These Days...

I've been feeling like a single parent lately... Travis had been out of town for almost two weeks now!! My way of coping with the situation is to keep the kids extremely busy. So, because the weather has been beautiful lately -- we have been frequenting every beach & park around!! Here are a few pictures from last weekend at Newcastle Beach:

Noah spent a long time playing right at the shore -- he loves to splash around in the water.

Looks like I accomplished my goal of tiring them out!!

Trav's parents were in town this past week visiting. They helped out a couple nights during their trip. Here is story-time last night:Hoping to make a trip to the beach tomorrow... also have plans to try to get some pictures taken this weekend. I'll post them soon if they turn out cute!! :)

NW Trek

We took a trip today to Northwest Trek in Eatonville. Very cool place! Almost 800 acres... bears, cougars, bison, elk, moose, etc -- not a zoo (no lions, zebras) -- more "Northwest" animals. We kinda decided to go last minute... the weather was grey and chilly, and I guess the animals "come out" more when the sun isn't out... so it was perfect!

The highlight of the day was a tram tour. It lasted about 60 minutes and drove around a huge wildlife area. It was all open air... no windows. Animals were right next to the road/tram!Seriously -- this caribou was putting his nose right up to me!!I know all of the animals are supposed to be herbivores --- but I was pretty scared of the bison -- they freaked me out. This big guy came right up like the elk did -- and I had to back WAY up. I wasn't about to let him chomp on me or my babies!!This is the best picture I took of the kids... couldn't get them to both look at me and smile... but this one shows how similar they are becoming in size.

We all enjoyed the 4 day weekend -- had an opportunity to "recharge our batteries" -- but now it is back to the real world again :)