Scout Camp!

My baby is growing up. Literally. Right in front of my eyes!

Ryan just turned 11. ELEVEN!! How is that possible? Wasn't he just learning to walk yesterday?

He left today for a week-long Boy Scout camp... in Ohio. He'll be earning several merit badges, learning new skills, and well, having fun!

I'm not sure who it was harder on this morning. Me, or him. I'm banking on ME. I'm not ready to let my baby jump out of the nest yet!! ;)

I know he'll have a blast. And, he'll probably come back & be taller than me!!

"And from that moment on, I was running..."

Yep, Forest Gump said it best...

After getting addicted to working out, (and, I still can't believe those words actually came out of MY mouth!) Mike & I registered to do the Indy Mini-Marathon this year.

Mr. Treadmill & I logged many miles together doing "intervals"... spurts of walking & running. Mike logged miles with Mrs. Pavement. All in all, we were well-trained.

May 8th, 2010. Race day. We were prepared. Running shorts? Check. Running shirts? Check. Sunglasses? Check. iPod? Check. We walked outside. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Are we dressed warm enough? Oh sure. It'll warm up. (It was in the mid-40's outside.) Surely the sun will come out & warm things up. We got to the race. No sun. And as an added bonus, the wind picked up. Fantastic. Um, Brrrrr??! If anything, the temperature kept us moving when we didn't feel like moving! It was pretty funny though. As with any normal race, people tend to shed clothing along the way. There were stray sweatshirts, shirts, hats, gloves... Mike & I thought hard about picking up something & putting it on along the way! We were freezing!

The Indy Mini-Marathon is the largest Mini-Marathon in the country.
Honestly, it's almost too big. For 13.1 miles, you never really get away from "the crowd", which can be taken two ways. It's inspirational when you're feeling like you can't take one more step (yay! other people to crawl across the finish line with!); and frustrating when you're running & have to dodge your way through a mass of people (get out of my way!!)!

Our goal was to finish in under 3 hours, which we did. However, Mike & I were a little disappointed with our time. You see, because the weather was cool, we were over-hydrated, and needed to make more "pit stops" than usual. Which then equaled waiting in line (along with everyone ELSE who was over-hydrated)... so about 12 minutes of our time was spent waiting, which got figured into our race time. So, if you subtract that time, we were more on course. Anyway... we finished, and really, that's all that mattered!!That last quarter mile feels like it lasts F-O-R-E-V-E-R!


Going across the finish line. YES!!! We did it!!!! Mike was checking his phone, where he had a stopwatch set.


Our medals, and proof that we finished!

The vacation to end ALL vacations!

Yep, I'm just a little late posting about this, but... better late than never, right? Apparently, that seems to be my mantra.

Okay, so for Spring Break this year, we headed to Arizona (as seen from a previous post). We relaxed with my parents/grandparents/uncle for a few days, then hit the ground running! Okay, well, maybe not running... but we sure did do a lot of driving and walking!

We left AZ and hit the dusty trail for CALI-FOR-NIA!! We were on a mission to see "The Mouse". Disneyland, here we come! Okay, enough of the puns.

Mike & I have always talked about how generous my parents have been with us, and how they've treated us to many things over the years. We wanted to do the same for them. So, we took them on vacation with us! I swear to you, it was the BEST vacation ever!!!
We ended up getting 3-day park hopper passes to Disneyland and California Adventure, and even during those 3 days (well, 2.5, really), we still didn't see everything we wanted to! The weather couldn't have been more perfect for this trip.
It had been YEARS since my parents had been to anything Disney-related. Our boys were STOKED to show them around!
It was so awesome to see them be so excited, and making life-lasting memories with their grandparents. I was amazed as well. For as long as I've been alive, I have NEVER witnessed my dad go on any sort of amusement-park'ish ride. That changed on this trip. For the first time in my life, I saw my dad ride on a roller coaster. And not just one, ALL of the roller coasters... even one with a loop!!! I told my kids that this was a pretty special time!! It was like we were ALL kids again. Disney has a way of making that happen. I don't know if they spike their food/drinks with something or what... ;)

After leaving Disneyland, we headed south. We stopped at Seal Beach for a bit. How can you go to California, and not stick your feet in the ocean?! So, we did. And, it was cold. BUT, the boys didn't let that stop them -- they got in, clothes and all, and had a BALL!! They had the sand in the shorts to prove it. ha!
After leaving Seal Beach, which ironically, we never saw one seal; we headed to the San Diego area to prepare for Legoland! We stayed at a beautiful resort within walking distance to the park. Now while Legoland is awesome in it's own way, we should've done it prior to Disneyland. Or, maybe researched it a little more... our boys had pretty much outgrown it, but still had fun. It was all part of the experience, and is something we can check off of our bucket list. ;)
Mike, the boys & I flew home from San Diego, and my parents drove back to Arizona. We were all exhausted, yet totally fulfilled at the same time. Even after spending 10 days together, we were all still getting along & totally happy with each other! I think this vacation will go down in history as one of our best!!

Deja vu??

Ugh. Okay, clearly, I stink at keeping this thing current!!

As always, I'm going to try (and TRY, being the key word here) my best to do a better job of keeping this blog up.

Okay, now you have to keep me accountable! Grandma, you need to give me a 'nudge' every now & then, okay? :)