Warrior Dash 2011

Last Sunday I ran the Warrior Dash with three of my friends/boot camp girls.

We started our nice and clean in our fringed and beaded cammo shirts, courtesy of Michelle. We ended up really muddy and gross and minus a pair of shoes.



(me, Michelle, Lisa, Noelle)

The giant pile of shoes. You really don't want to keep your shoes after wearing them in the race. They're disgusting. So this charity takes them, industrial cleans and sanitizes them then sends them to third world coutries. Pretty cool.

We took a waterproof disposable camera with us throughout the race. We weren't trying to win. Obviously. Or even be a tiny bit competitive. We just wanted to have fun, so our goal was to finish in under an hour. The guy who won? He ran it in something like 22 minutes or less.

It's in Hocking Hills so most of the course is hilly. And it had rained the night before so it was super slick with mud. So slick and hilly that instead of running, we did a lot of careful hiking.

I'd just jumped in over a dead fish. Awesome.

The best part? Jumping over fire. This was the second to last obstacle. Just before the crawling to mud part.

See, very muddy.

On the shuttle bus back to our car. We'd been sprayed off by a giant hose so while from a distance it might appear we're slightly clean, we weren't.

I think we might do it again next year. It was fun. Mud and all.

Random, again.

Today I saw this and it made me smile.


He likes to eat his feet.


Michael had a basketball game at Shelly's high school last night. I texted her, "I'm at your school. No reason to tell you that. Just felt like it," while we were in the commons having a snack during halftime. I'm taking pictures of the girls and the next thing I know, there she is! She had conferences. Totally did not expect to see her, it caught me off guard, oh but what a fun surprise! Also, I'm glad I sent her such a random text.


The girls have been putting together quite the outfits when dressing themselves. These were Mondays' looks. I meant to take a picture of today's as they were equally colorful.

Swim lessons ended Monday. Emma can move up to what is essentially the same class, just for older kids. But really, we just need to work with her on her strokes, holding her breath and her confidence. She can swim, she just thinks she can only go so far and then stops. She could go so much further in the pool if she'd just keep going.

This one was promoted from beginner to advanced. On one hand, not surprised since the beginner class is just to get them acquainted with the water and that's no issue for her. She loves it and is not at all afraid. On the other, it makes me laugh because whenever Taylor had her on her back and Mac was supposed to be kicking, she'd instead just let Taylor pull her through the water. I'm thinking she's going to have to work a bit harder in the next class.

This is how we entertain ourselves. Michael comes up with random stuff for the girls to do. In this case, it was practicing both their long jumps as well as high jumps. Emma was so into it. She's competitive. Very.

Ryan in the exersaucer at the gym's Kid Park. I think he likes it. (Of course it could be that he was happy to see me. Just sayin'.) Bonus, extra time working on his trunk/head strength. No worries, though, he gets plenty of time being held by the wonderful women who work there. He's quite the ladies man already.

Rock the Park

So our town does these Friday night concerts four times a summer. They're not the typical family concerts in the park, but rather for adults 21 and over. This past Friday was the first one and Michael and I attended. We went with some of the girls I work out with and their husbands.

The band was The Breakfast Club, so it was all 80's music. Some pop, some hair metal. Definitely some Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. Which made me happy. Of course, I couldn't get all of us together at the same time but we did get this photo of five of us, but we're missing five others that were there but somewhere else at the concert.

(Kelly, Lisa, me, Megan, Tracey)

I think this was the first time in, oh, maybe years, we'd been out as a couple with friends but without kids. It was good. We should do it more often. Except that's probably not going to happen with a baby arriving in less than 5 weeks. But it's a nice thought.

Ten on Tuesday

1. T-ball tonight. It was hysterical. Lots of kids randomly running around. Emma said she wanted to stop halfway through the first inning, but that was short-lived, she got in to it again. At the end she loved it, said she had fun. And I did catch the glove on her butt on at least two occasions. Don't know if the song went along with it or not. Oh, and she slid in to home her second time up. On her knees. It was too funny.




2. So this past Wednesday Emma decided it'd be a good idea to climb on a cozy coupe at Kid Park (fitness center), then just let go. This resulted in a face plant on the floor. Which we thought resulted in just a scraped up nose. Turns out there was a GIANT goose egg hidden under her bangs, although I didn't see it until 2 1/2 hours later when I caught her touching it. She never mentioned it once. She only told us she hit her nose. After the tears, we went to the library - she was fine. Then the grocery store - she was fine. Never let on about her forehead. It was big and squishy and purple. Ugh. She held some ice on it, and never said it hurt. But Thursday night it had flattened out, Friday she had a black eye, and on Saturday night it'd spread over to her other eye. Here's how it looked on Monday.


When she told me how it happened, "I climbed on the car and then just let go and I fell." I said, "well maybe that's not such a good idea and you shouldn't do that again." "Yeah, you're probably right, Mom." Yeah, I think I am, Emma.

3. We went to the Akron Zoo yesterday. Great thing about the Akron Zoo - it's small. And only takes a couple hours to go through. Compared to the Cleveland Zoo which is too big to do in one day. Perfect for the girls. And also one certain pregnant lady.

Jelly fish are weird. Yet fascinating. And in this picture, strangely pretty.


The girls liked the tiger. Related - Mackenzie did not like the bear that was right up in the glass. one habitat over. She hid behind me.

(Emma, Mackenzie, Ava, Bree)

Me and Lisa. Had the girls take some pictures of us, but let's just say the angles weren't the most flattering.


Me and my girls. And Lisa in the reflection.


4. Friday (yeah, totally not going in order, here) we had lunch with Missy, Maya and Laney at the park. Where the highlight (for the girls) was playing in the mud puddles. For the moms, the highlight was sitting in the pavilion watching: seats + shade + not having to chase small children = a good morning.


5. That evening we went to the pool. Where both girls had meltdowns when it was time to leave. That's always fun.



6. Hmm..where am I..oh, Saturday before Memorial Day. Blossom Time. Got the girls bracelets for the rides. Turns out the only thing Mackenzie would ride is the train once and the Merry-go-round twice.




7. And the Friday before that, went to my sister's to swim. Love the Target dresses. And the pigtails. And the almost identical faces they're making. Have I mentioned Mackenzie's freckles are coming out? She has three. They're cute.


8. And the Wednesday before that, planting pumpkins and flowers with Grandma. So far we're 2 for 3 - the pumpkins and Mac's flowers are showing, Emma's are MIA.



9. In an effort to stop the night-wakings, Mackenzie is no longer napping. It's great that she sleeps through the night (finally!) and therefore I get more and better sleep. Not so great is the fact that she's pretty cranky/clingy/rotten most days from 3 - 5ish. Also, she is prone to falling asleep in the car if we're driving in the afternoon. Kind of like here, when one minute she was watching a cartoon, the next the was asleep. Shortly after I had to wake her up for dinner and it was ugly.


10. Speaking of Mac, she still hasn't grown out of the color-with-marker/use-stamps-all-over-my-body phase.


Bonus - Fun jumping shot of Emma, Bree and Mackenzie.

And with that, I'm sort of kind of caught up. A little. For now.