The first 5K

I did it. I tried the 5K. I can only say I tried because I didn't make my goal of running the whole thing. I do have some excuses prepared: I had a head cold for a week and a half, so I hadn't been training; I had only slept 3 hours the night before because Laura picked that night to only sleep 3 hours (?). But still, they are just excuses. I will try again and do better. I ran almost 2 miles at a much faster pace last night. I am going to sign up for another official one this fall to give me another goal.
It wasn't a total disappointment: I was glad to make it under 40 minutes (39:23); I came in 593 out of almost 800; It was very exciting to be running with so many other people; we were running through the zoo, so it was fun to see the animals watching us as we jogged by.
Can someone please explain how I can go from getting almost no exercise to running every 2-3 days for 6 months and still be officially "obese"? Actually, I gained 5 pounds? That is ridiculous. Just think how much easier each step would be if I lost 30 pounds. But I'm not giving up yet. I definitely feel better, physically and mentally, so it is worth every difficult, jiggly step.

Sleepy head

Shark parenting

Yesterday, Jim took Laura to a very basic mountain bike trail, then she climbed the wall at REI (made it to the top and rang the bell) , then we all went geocaching at Lebanon Hills park, the out for dinner, then a game of Sorry! before bed. Shark parenting: keep 'em moving all the time.

Bye Bye Pizza Hut

We happened to be driving by while this excavator demolished a Pizza Hut. We parked and watched for at least 30 minutes.

Yippee! Aunt Kim's!

The kids and I ventured to Aunt Kim's for an end-of-the-summer trip. The original plan included camping on the way, but check out this post to see why I'm glad I didn't go that route. On the way, we took MN Hwy 61, which goes along the Mississippi river. It was beautiful and we saw 5 bald eagles at very close range and several trains. We stopped at a neat playground in Red Wing and Lark toy store in Kellogg. 

The toy store had some interesting lawn mowers!

At Aunt Kim's we were super busy. The farmer's market, a flea market, the zoo, Ella's Deli, the outlet mall, swimming at her pool, movies after the kids went to bed, and church. And we were only there for about a day and a half! Phew! But it was great to see Kim and we all had a great time.

I have been horrible about getting pictures lately. I will try to do better, especially to get the kids in pictures with our family and friends.

Not a Happy Camper

We took Adam camping for the first time last night. Well, we tried. He's not a fan. Parts of it were certainly fun, but these 2 kids are like oil and water right now. Trying to put up the tent by myself while they "played" was really pretty awful. I wasn't too smart because this was about the time I know that Adam gets really tired and grumpy. But then we took a little hike, gave Adam a chance to nap on my back and we all cheered up significantly.

The kids practiced casting. Who needs water? 

After Jim showed up, things improved. We had dinner and went to the camp playground. The biggest hit was a teeter totter that we could all ride on together. Then, the obligatory storm rolled in and we all headed to the tent. We realized our rain fly waterproofing had deteriorated since we last used the tent. It wasn't terrible, but we did have a few wet spots. Not enough to make us leave...yet.

We played for a while and enjoyed ourselves, then tried to settle in to calming down.

About 10pm, we gave up on Adam and Jim took him home (we were about 3 miles from home). Laura and I had a nice night and woke up to a beautiful day. We started breakfast, had a nice game of slap jack, and the boys showed up to eat with us (and brought coffee!). It turned out nice.

All you regular campers-with-young-kids out there, I will take any hints or suggestions on helping a 2 1/2 year old boy settle into a tent at night. When he gets tired, he doesn't get sluggish. Instead, he winds up and can't keep his body still. Absolutely out of control. Is that phase? 

What we have been up to lately

It has been a busy summer! Here are all the pictures from the last few months that I had flagged for the blog, but never got around to posting.

Checking out the really full Mississippi

Laura got stuck in the baby swing. I went to check on her through the kitchen window and she looked so cute with her long legs dangling that I took a picture. The I realized she was stuck and went to help her. I swear I didn't know it until after the pictures! 

First big girl blister from the monkey bars!

Experimenting with a quill and ink

First sugar snap pea from her own garden! The heat long ago destroyed those plants.

Riding a city bus

Splash pad at the MN Zoo

Minnehaha falls

A surry, with the fringe on top of course!

Laura climbed the rock wall at REI 

She made it about 2/3 of the way up before she lost her nerve. It was really great! She wants to try again soon.

Finally a picture of my camera shy boy.

We've been swimming in our little pool a LOT!

A playdate here and there too.

Adam has stopped sleeping during naptimes, but he's not really ready to make it all the way to bedtime. If he's completely loosing it, he rides in the mei tai on my back while I make dinner and he usually takes a cat nap in there. This time, I took him off my back and he stayed asleep in the couch for about 20 minutes while Laura and I read books.

Laura's feeling pretty comfortable on her big bike.

Adam learned to pedal in the last few days and is totally into it.

We found a couple of horses on a family bike ride this weekend and stopped for a quick picture.