Nike Women's Marathon-October 14th



I ran the half marathon in the Nike Womens Marathon in San Francisco.  It is the worlds largest womens marathon and includes 25,000 women.  Each year, it is so popular that Nike does a lottery drawing to select the 25,000 who will be included.  Luckily, this year I got to participate!!!  It started as a cold, foggy, and dark (7am race start) morning.  However, as the sun came up, it was lovely to run past so many SF landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39.  I did struggle more then I would have liked because it turnes out that I was getting the stomach flu that morning and would go on to spend a miserable rest of the day in bed with a fever.  But I did finish and was proud of it!! Instead of a big clunky finishers medal that is usually awarded, this race gives out coveted Tiffany necklaces distributed to the finishers by San Francisco firemen in tuxedos!!! Wow!!

 



Merrill Kids Mud Run- October 28

I enjoyed doing a mud run last month with my friends so much, that I figured the boys would love it too.  What little boys wouldn't want the chance to get as muddy as they possibly can?? 

 Tate is showing off his new dog tag finishers medal at the end of the race!

The boys had to crawl under the ropes on their hands and knees to get to the finish line.  If the were not dirty before, they were now!!

Carson made his way through the mud pit too, but included a lot of mud splashing.  He was a mess!

 This is Carson on the finishing end of the mud pit.  He had mud in his nose, ears, and mouth!

Luckily, they had tons of hoses attached to water trucks filled with fresh water for rinsing off afterward.  I would not have wanted these muddy boys in my new car!!

 This is the mud pit that they had been crawling through and was the final leg of the 1 mile race!

What a fun finish!

The race was out at Folsom Lake and it was a beautiful day to be outside.  I had originally expected to run along with the boys to help them out if needed, but once we arrived at the race I realized that there was a "no parents on the course" rule.  I was immediately concerned that I had signed them up for a 1 mile obstacle race that they now were going to have to do completely on their own!!! Yikes, what had I done?!! So.... I calmly instructed/pleaded with Tate to stick with Carson for the entire 1 mile and all the obstacles.  They were to remain a team no matter what and for him not to ditch his little brother for any reason.  Well, Tate did not disappoint! To my great pleasure, Tate was the best big brother ever.  Not only did he help Carson with the obstacles, but he even held Carson's hand for the ENTIRE race.  I was so proud of their teamwork and so proud of them both! Yeah!

 

Bishops Farm Pumpkin Patch

 

No fall season is complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch, however it has been 5 years since we have been out to Bishops pumpkin patch.  Carson was pretty impressed with this gigantic pumpkin, but no we didn't buy it! Carson is wearing his Luigi Halloween costume hat because he thinks it is the coolest hat ever.  It wasn't my favorite accessory for picture taking, but at least it helped make him very easy to find in the crowd of kids in the kids playground. 

 

Eric and the kids met me at the pumpkin patch, so I was pretty amused to see the unique outfits that they each were wearing that day.  Carson had on his bright green Halloween costume along with an Angry Bird shirt "I'm the Bomb".  Holly had on a dress that was 2 sized too small and mismatched shoes.  I love Eric for getting the kids ready while I wasn't at home, but I love his fashion choices even more!

 Bishops also has a fun sunflower patch which has little paths for the kids to run through.  For a small fee, you can pick the sunflowers yourself to take home. 

The petting zoo area is always a

favorite too!  The sheep and goats were a lot of fun for the kids to pet and feed!

 The baby goats were so little and soooo cute!

 

My neighbor Amy and I went to the pumpkin patch early in the morning before our families arrived.  She and I arrived at 8:00am and ran a 10k run that was sponsored by both Fleet Feet and the pumpkin patch.  It was a great run, but even at that time in the morning it was already pretty hot outside.  The 6 miles included running through the pumpkin patches, sunflower fields, and walnut orchards all within the farm property.  Eric and the kids met us there at the end to cheer us at the finish line.  Although Amy and I were hot and tired out, we spent the rest of the day with our kids having a fun day at Bishops.

Mud Factor- October 6th

My friends Rebecca, Rachel, and I (I'm on the left) decided that it would be a fun idea to participate in a mud run, so we signed up to do the "Mud Factor" mud run in Sacramento. In this event participants run a 3 mile course which includes climbing cargo net structures, under wire on your belly mud crawl, rope climbs and lots of other obstacles.....all involving mud!

 

We were covered head to toe and the mud was caked onto our arms, legs, shoes and clothes!

 

This is the course starting area and extends out into the dirty and muddy fields behind.  We stuck together for the entire course and had a fun morning getting a little exercise!

Happy 7th Birthday Tate- Sept. 20th

While I was at work, RahRah spent the afternoon at our house and together they all worked on Tate's birthday cake.  He loves Super Mario Brothers, so that was the theme of the cake.  It may not have been the prettiest cake, but it sure tasted great!

 

 

We had tacos for dinner and with the help of Carson, Holly and Bella, we all sang Happy Birthday to our big 7 year old.

 

 

After school the next day, I picked up Tate and his 3 best pals Luke, Lucca, and Cole.  I took them to Sky Zone which is the indoor trampoline place.  They wore themselves out, and got sufficiently hot and sweaty.  Finally their time there was up, so we moved onto ice cream at Big Spoon Yogurt.  There they made all of their own sudays with as many toppings as they wanted. 

 

Outside of Big Spoon, we sat in the patio area and Tate opened his presents.  Legos, Legos, and more Legos!  He loves Legos now, so Legos are what he told all of his friends that he was hoping to have.  After all ice cream was eaten and all presents were opened, I took each of the 3 boys home for the day.  Tate had a great party and fun birthday!!

My new ride!

After much consideration, I decided it was time for my old Explorer to be replaced with something newer, something in need of less repairs, and something that fit our family's needs better.  This is our new Ford Flex.  I love it!  It is a bit smaller then my Explorer, but seems bigger because the interior makes so much more sense with what we need in seating arrangements.

School days are here again! August 22,2012

 Yea, the first day of kindergarten is finally here!

Carson has been anxiously awaiting his opportunity to officially be considered a "big kid", and becoming a kindergartner is his big moment! 

Bright and early on Tuesday morning, he was up and out of bed by 6:50am.  A cool outfit on, a cereal breakfast eaten, teeth brushed, hair styled with gel.....and he was off to begin his school career!

 

Ms. Hellen is Carson's teacher this year.  We love her and think she is the best kindergarten teacher ever!  Promptly at 7:50, at the sound of her whistle, Ms. Hellen had all of her students line up on the playground and head toward the classroom door.  Carson turned to give Eric and I a quick wave as he made his way into the classroom with his new classmates.  Then he was gone to start his fun day, and our day with Holly began.  I think she really liked having our attention all to herself during that first morning...I think she could get used to it!

 

School kids!

 

 

Tate started 1st grade today!  He has 2 teachers this year! Mrs. Mazzone teaches his class on Monday and Tuesday. Mrs Sprinkle teaches on Thursday and Friday, and they alternate on Wednesdays.  I know this sounds a bit confusing, but Tate had teachers with this type of schedule when he did foundations kindergarten 2 years ago and it worked out just great!  This is the first year Tate now has a full length school day and is at school until 2:20 each day!  Such a big kid now!