Family 5K

In May I happened upon some information about a family 5K that would take place in the fall.  They ran a special one day where kids could sign up for free with their parents.  I decided that my family needed to do this.  We were going to train and get healthy and become runners.  Not only that, I invited my sisters family to run with us, and my mom to walk the race with Emmie.  This was going to be a big family affair.  We were all in good spirits with 4 months to train and prepare for the race.

But the whole training thing didn't really happen.  A few times we went hiking or running as a family. The kids hated it and whined and complained the whole time.

And then the race day came.  A little more quickly than we had expected.  And on the 5th day of my week of prescribed shingles meds. And a week and only 5 days before I was going on my cross country trip.  Had I known how stressful and busy the summer and fall would be I probably wouldn't have signed up.

But, ready or not, we picked up our shirts and race packets on the 24th and went to bed early to get ready for our race the next morning.  The weather was gorgeous.  There was quite a crowd, and I actually loved the route we ran.

Others did not.  Some people thought they were going to die.  But they didn't!  Everyone lived!  Unfortunately no one wants to run another race with me though...

I love this picture of Owen!  He looks so determined!

Shingles

I don't have a picture for this post.  Too bad for you.  But I just need to make it known that apparently I am akin to an 80 year old woman.  I guess I've been a little stressed over the last, oh, I don't know, 6 months or so....because I got shingles.  I had them for over a week before I finally relented and went to the doctor.  Had I not been planning a cross country trip I don't think I would have gone.  But I did.  And they declared my illness and then promptly started me on meds.  And I finished the day before I left on my trip.  Yay me!

Murder Mystery Party

So this is Brooke.  I may have mentioned her in the past.

 She has a birthday in September.  And while we were camping this summer we decided that we would have a murder mystery dinner and John would smoke some meat for her birthday.  And that we did.

It was a 50's themed party.  I had fun decorating.  And I learned that I'm lame and don't have enough place settings for a dinner party of 8.  I'm lacking 2 spoons and 1 knife.  But what I lacked in silverware, I tried to make up for in decorations.  I thought it turned out cute!

 Brooke was a prom queen and the murdere, Aaron was a  media mogul, I was a news reporter, and John was a music/dance sensation.  

It was fun to get all dressed up.  John and I rarely do that.  We ended up having a fun night.  And now I'm hoping I have a need to throw a 50's party again! I mean, I've got all the stuff!

First Day of School

Summer came and went quickly.  To be honest...I was ready for school to start this year.  Not because I was sick of my children, but because the summer was a rough one and I just wanted it to end so that our problems would!

This year Ainsley started middle school.  She didn't appear to be nervous at all.  I was terrified.  Probably because my middle school years were quite possible the worst years of my life.  I was so relieved and happy when Ains came home happy and excited and loving middle school after her first day! I was literally checking her schedule repeatedly throughout the day wondering what she was doing and how it was going.  We're 2 months into school now and she still loves it.  I'm so relieved!

Owen started 4th grade this year and had Mrs. Noel. I'm assuming he's doing well and liking it.  I don't seem to get the same daily reports from him that I get from Ainsley.  But he usually says that his day was "good" so I guess that's something.  And also I haven't heard from his teacher.  So hopefully that means all is well!

And Emmie is my big kindergartner this year!  She is so excited to have school every day like the big kids but she gets to come home at noon and play with her friends every day.  She's living the life I tell ya!  With all of my worry about Ains starting middle school I didn't really have time to worry about Emmie starting kindergarten.  But she did great!  I believe that there is a reason youngest and oldest children are so different.

The birthday that just wouldn't die....

When we got home from camping my mom wanted to do something for Owen's birthday so we went to their house for more cake and their gift...which was a golfing lesson from Grandpa.

So the next night Owen got to go on a golfing outing. The jury is still out on whether or not Owen will go pro with that one or not.

And then the next day was his friend party.  My kids only get friend parties every other year.  So lets just say that for Owen this party was much anticipated.  It was literally the  easiest party I have thrown to date.  I'm learning that boys really don't care about any of the fluff.  And I love it!  Owen's friends came over.  We drove to Jumptime.  The boys jumped their little hearts out.  Then we came home for cupcakes and ice cream and presents.  And then their parents came and got them.  They went home tired and sweaty and happy.  It was awesome.

And then after what seemed like days and days of celebrating the beginning of Owen's ninth year of life...it finally ended.

Owen's Birthday....That was in August...Oops

So....Owen's birthday happened. Just over 2 months ago. And I'm just now documenting it for posterity. Just a bit late.  We actually spent the weekend camping over Owen's birthday.  We went back up to warm lake with Kortney's family.  Of course the rope swing was the main event. So much so that when we first got to the lake everyone was searching for life jackets etc. so they could jump in.  In all the rush I somehow ended up digging through a complete strangers bin full of life jackets asking Kortney and Dan which one was Bailey's.  While the owners of the bin sat literally 2 feet in front of me looking at me like I was crazy.  I just started laughing and apologized for being the crazy lady at the lake that day!  I am still getting made fun of for that and I have a feeling I will for at least the next 3 years...

Anywho....

Owen lucked out and one of his buddies from school happened to be camping 2 sites down from us.  He had a built in friend for the week whenever he got sick of the girls.  Here are Owen and his friend carrying the raft back on shore after trying to walk under it in the water.  Clever boys.

We rented a canoe one afternoon and John and the kids paddled around the lake for a couple of hours.  I'm pretty sure John's arms were dying by the end.  The children's rowing skills were slightly lacking.

I was pretty impressed with the kids creativity while we were up there.  They raked aside pine needles and made their own house out in the wilderness.  You can kind of see the lines of pineneedles that were the room dividers in this picture.  They would even hang up all the towels on trees to create walls and everyone had their own room.  The "house" was massive!  A lot of hours were spent playing there on this trip.

We also hiked down to some natural hot springs. They were HOT! But it was a nice little bath....only lacking soap and shampoo....

We brought up all of Owen's gifts and his cake with us for his party.  

He chose hot dogs for dinner (how perfect is that?) and we made home made ice cream in a bag.  

The cold hands and salt water everywhere were worth it. I thought the ice cream turned out pretty good!

Imagine Dragons

John took the kids to their first concert on Saturday.  We bought the tickets a while ago and I laughed when Owen asked which song the band was going to play.  He was thrilled when he learned they would play like 20 songs. At that point he determined that he was going to learn all of Imagine Dragon's songs.  And I think he may have done it.  He carried around his ipod in his pocked nearly all the time listening to their songs.  Needless to say when the time finally arrived he was a little more than excited to go.

And as luck would have it they ended up being only a few rows away from their good friends!  Lucky kids!

The report I got that night (from all 3 concert attendees) was that the concert was amazing!  And literally the best one they had ever been to.  Which wasn't saying much for Owen and Ains but it was for John!  They couldn't stop talking about it!  I was glad they loved it.  And maybe next year I'll find a sitter for Emmie and join them!

Escape from Reality

After all that happened with our house I told John that I needed to get away. And more specifically that I needed to get away to somewhere where I had no cell service.  (I had become obsessed with the worry that I was going to get a new message or email about a new disaster.)

So on a the Sunday night after everything had calmed down a bit we started planning a camping trip for that Thursday.  And as luck would have it one of my favorite friends, Brooke, texted at the very moment about getting together that week. It was destiny.  And a fabulous little getaway ensued.

We reserved a spot at literally one of the only campgrounds that had availability online.  I was nervous about what we would find when we got there.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  The only thing worth mentioning in the campground was about a dozen awesome climbing rocks.  But it was shaded and private and just what I needed.  I'm going again next year.  To Helende site #3, if anyone wants to join me they are welcome.

We were about 4 miles a way from Kirkham hotsprings.  It was a short little hike down to awesome warm pools right on the side of the freezing river.

And there was a perfect rock for jumping into the river and then a warm "shower" coming off the mountain to warm you up after the icy plunge.  The first time my kids jumped in I was terrified.  And then when I saw they survived I thought it was awesome.  They probably each jumped like 20 times.

Brooke's frog jump was my favorite!

I stuck with the boring pencil dive with nose plugged.

A conversation with a stranger led us to a perfect beach area the next day. He actually gave us another tip too...he instructed us to go the hot springs at night and lay with your ears submerged.  Apparently if you do that while watching the stars and hum your favorite song the stars start to appear to come toward you.  I'm guessing its like being on drugs without being on drugs....or maybe he just forgot to tell us that drugs were actually needed for the full effect?  We may never know because we didn't make it back to the hotsprings at midnight.  Maybe next year :)

Anyways, his beach recommendation was spot on!  It was a perfect little bend in the river with a huge rocky area and a soft sandy area.  The best news of the day was that I skipped my first rock.  Ever!  It was awesome.  My high for the day was 3 or 4 skips.  I can't remember.  Either way I'm very proud of myself.

Notice the cool rock towers....

The men and Ains and Owen jumped in the icy river and swam across.  Another terrified mother moment.  But they did it.  And I'm sure it was empowering for them.  So I guess I'll allow it.  Even though I'd rather keep them safe with me at all times.

The weekend was full of treats, fires, laughter, talking, dutch ovens, relaxing, a bit of arguing(darn kids), and just enough icecream.  It was perfect and just what I needed.  There's something about being out in nature that rejuvenates me.  I love it.