Glacier Week Wrap-Up: Part II

Happy Monday!  Chris and I survived going back to work, and the girls did great too.  We just have a lot of laundry to do and I'm freaking exhausted.  Other than that- we're good.

On to the 2nd installment of our Glacier Week Wrap-Up.  This one is kind of lengthy as it covers 2 big days- Thursday and Friday.

If you missed part one, here it is.

Now we are on to THURSDAY:



The girls got to stay back at the house with G-ma and G-pa for the morning
while Chris, Uncle Dan, Auntie Cat and I went into Glacier National Park to
hike and drive in the mountains.

We went up to a place called Logan's Pass and Dan, Chris and I did a 2-hour hike
up a mountain.  It was crazy and beautiful and a tad treacherous (i.e. huge drop-offs without
any barriers on the path).  At least I thought so. The boys didn't.  But it was so cool. 

 

After the hike we had lunch and kept driving up the mountain.  We stopped at
a few different spots to get out and take in the beauty.

There was SO much beauty. 

 

Glacier National Park is so amazing.  I highly recommend it to everyone.

 

After our morning/afternoon driving in Glacier, we met G-ma, G-pa and the girls
at a place within GNP called Lake McDonald.  Maya napped with the boys while
the girls had fun playing in the lake.  Callie and I even climbed up the little
waterfall.

G-ma took a video of Callie going up the waterfall.  You can see that she was schooling me big time.


IMG 1200 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.
 

We ended the day with a boat ride on Lake McDonald.

And FRIDAY:

Friday morning I enjoyed a mountain run...I didn't go too fast because
of the hills and altitude, but that was okay because I got to take in the scenery.



The girls enjoyed a leisurely morning playing and walking.

The boys spent the day golfing.

After nap time, the girls took a gondola ride up the mountain.

We walked around, ate lunch, and went into the nature center.  Callie found out
she is as tall as a mountain goat.

Later on G-ma, G-pa and I took Callie to go down the alpine slide some more.
She went down it probably at least 10 times during the whole trip.  She knew
when all of the dips and curves were by the time I took her on it...it was so fun!

Throughout other parts of the day we relaxed in the house and outside.  It
was just another perfect day on vacation.

Tomorrow will be the finale- Part III!

Glacier Week Wrap-Up: Part I

Well folks, I'm back.  We're back.

We spent the past week (Tuesday-Sunday) near Whitefish, Montana with G-ma, G-pa, Auntie Cat and Uncle Dan.

It was a fabulous and beautiful week.  The family time was awesome, the scenery was amazing, and we all had a wonderful time.

In order to do the trip justice, I'm going to break it up into 3 or 4 parts, depending on how many pictures I can feasibly cram into the posts.  As you probably guessed, there are A LOT of pictures.

Enjoy!

PART I: TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY

Maya's first airplane ride went as expected.  She missed her first nap, so she
was a tad fussy, but Chris was able to get her to sleep for about an hour.
Callie was looking for Carebears in the clouds, and was a traveling champ.

We made it to Montana and did some exploring.  Callie and G-ma found
a bear statue. Callie went down the alpine slide with Daddy and Uncle Dan,
which ended in a chair lift ride up the mountain (more on the slide in a later post).

We also spent time hanging out at our beautiful rental
house.  It was the perfect place for us to stay!

Auntie Cat and I took the girls for a walk on Wednesday morning.  Callie spotted
some deer and Maya just chilled in the stroller.  The sun was still coming up
over the mountains, and it was beautiful.

 

Later that morning, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan, Callie and I headed to the public
beach.  It wasn't very crowded and we had fun building a sandcastle and
looking for rocks.  Once again, the scenery was beautiful.

Wednesday happened to be Chris' and my 9th wedding anniversary, so we celebrated
by doing a zip line tour.  It was awesome.  We got to go on 5 different zip lines on Whitefish Mountain,
and the longest zip line we did was 2000 feet long, 250 feet above the ground.  So cool.

We had a nice morning and afternoon relaxing around the house.

Chris and I capped off our anniversary with a great dinner in town, followed by
a drive up around where our rental house was.  The houses and views up there
were incredible.

That ends Glacier Part I.

That also ends summer.  I usually do a cute little summer wrap-up post, but that just isn't going to happen this year.  If you are a loyal reader (THANK YOU!), you have seen how much fun we have had.  It is going to be an adjustment for everybody to get back into the hectic school year schedule, but we will make it.  I am SO thankful to have the chance to take a summer break with my girls every year.  Not many people get that opporunity. 

Ok, as I was typing that I decided that I needed to do a collage of some of the selfies (except one) I took this summer as a wrap up.  Here you go!

OUR SUMMER SELFIES

That's it!  See you tomorrow for Glacier Part II.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hello!

Sunday night is once again here.  This one marks my last run with the "Mom's on the Run" group for the season.  I started back at the end of April, barely being able to run 3 miles.  And here I am, rocking out three plus miles the day after a half marathon.  I really am pretty proud of myself.  And I met some great ladies so I will definitely do it again next year.

As for the rest of the weekend...after my race yesterday, I got to go relax at home while Callie and Maya headed to G-ma and G-pa's house.  I met them over there later and we went to a neighborhood festival.  The girls had a great day (and I think G-ma and G-pa had fun too!).

This morning I was FINALLY able to convince Callie to get a haircut.  Not just a trim...a cut.  Her hair was getting so long, and washing/brushing it was pretty close to a nightmare every time.  It is super cute now, and hopefully will be much more manageable for everyone involved. :)

Same dress...she just had it on backwards at one point.  I think either
way looks cute.

I took the girls out to do some errands, and then after Maya's nap we went to church and Boom and Bops' house for lunch.

I had a couple of pretty cute breakfast dates at Starbucks.
Callie arranged the veggies on the tray, though ate none of them.
Then she played dress up with Boom.

During Maya's second nap at the condo, Boom, Bops, Auntie Mari, Callie and I went for a walk.  We happened upon Gold Medal Park and their whole sprinkler system was on.  It was crazy fun- Bops, Cal and I got soaked!  Boom and Auntie Mari watched and took pictures.

And I got some video too.


IMG 0988 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

There is one week left of summer vacation, and it will be a big one. I'm taking the week off of blogging, so no usual weekly posts next week.  I'll see you back here in a week or so. 

My Running History

Okay this is not going to be interesting for anyone, but after my race this morning, I looked through my scrapbooks and old blog posts to see when and how I did in my previous races.  So this is the history of my running career.  It is thrilling.  And it is my blog, so I'm going to do what I want. :)

I'll sprinkle in pictures of today's race just to keep you from totally falling asleep.

Like this one.  Of the beautiful sunrise at 6:30am.

Before I dig into the history, I suppose I should tell you how it went today.  It really was a beautiful morning for a run.  Whenever I told people I was doing a half marathon in August, they said "YUCK!  AUGUST! It is going to be hot!"  I'd say we lucked out this summer, for sure.

As for the race and how it went...it was decent.  It was slower than what I was hoping for, but I ran the whole time and finished strong.


That lady in pink and I passed each other back and forth throughout most of the
race.  I'm not sure when she finished, but she was good motivation for me.

I'm happy.  But also curious. 

So if you want to hear how someone who was a total non-runner back in 2007, came to do her 7th half marathon in 2014, read on.

Thumbs up by the liquor store

My first two halves were back in May and August of 2008.  Those were the full marathon preparation days...crazy times.  I did my first one (Lake Minnetonka Half) in 2:15, and my 1st Urban Wildland (same race I did today) in 2:06:33.  Then after the full marathon (Twin Cities in October of 2008), I took a couple of years off to, you know, have a kid.

My 3rd half marathon was done with my dear husband in August of 2010 (my 2nd Urban Wildland).  It was terrible and I finished in 2:30.  I didn't train very well for that one, as I had an infant at home.  But I finished and that's all that matters. 

My next half was about 8 months later.  I did the Get in Gear in April of 2011 (which, interestingly enough, I did the 5K version of the day after I found out I was pregnant with Callie in 2009) and finished in 2:13.

Half #5 was in August of 2011 (13.1 Series).  That was my best one- I finished in 2:05:44.  I followed that up with the Twin Cities 10 Mile in October of 2011, but I couldn't find my finish time on that one. 

Aren't you thrilled by all this?

I'm almost done.  My 6th half was in June of 2012 (Minneapolis Half Marathon) and I finished in 2:06.

Then it was about time for another kid, etc., which brings me to today.  Over 2 years later.  My 7th half marathon (my 3rd Urban Wildland) and I finished in 2:14:13. 

Thanks to my parents for cheering me on throughout the race, and to Chris and my babies for meeting me at the finish line.

Both girls were overwhelmed by all the post-race madness!

My next race is the Women Run the Twin Cities 10 Mile on September 28th!  I'll give myself a week or two off, and then the training continues.

FTPDF

Happy Friday!

My brain is totally focused on my half marathon tomorrow, so I'm not sure how much sense I am going to make.

Callie update: Still crazy and hilarious and frustrating and fun.  Her imagination is amazing.

Maya update: Still LOVES Kona ("oh-na!") and getting good at making her opinions known.  Becoming a pickier eater...sigh...

I organized my pictures this week by day, so here they are:

Favorite Things about Monday:
*Hanging out outside (as usual)
*Having Nik take more family pictures...coming to the blog soon!

Favorite Thing about Tuesday:
*Watching this one do all the things that she does

Favorite Things about Wednesday:
*Doing my last training run (I brought my cheerleader along)
*Playing at the beach with Kylie, Calvin and Sylvie
*Making a habitat for the caterpillar that Callie found with neighbor Hannah
*Listening to Callie say caterpillar: "cal-er-pitter"

Favorite Things about Thursday:
*Having lunch and going to the park with Boom
*Playing outside in the pool
*Going on a butterfly hunt in the wagon
*Watching the Lynx online and seeing Boom, Chris and Bops sitting courtside

Favorite Things about Friday:
*Swinging and climbing at the park
*Playing at the aquatic center (less than a mile from our house!)
with Jenna, Charlie and Mabel
*Watching Callie do her thing (which includes creating very creative outfits)

If you're awake tomorrow from 7am-9ish am, send some good vibes to me!  I hope to finish around 2 hours. I don't know why I'm so nervous...I have trained well and my body is ready.  I just need to get my mind ready.  That's the hardest part.

My task for the evening is creating an awesome new playlist to listen to during the race.  And go to bed at 9pm.

TBT: Happy Birthday Auntie Cat!

Today is Auntie Cat's birthday, so of course my first Throwback includes Auntie Cat!

Happy Birthday Auntie Cat!  Have a great day!

The last to throwbacks I have from this month are babies playing and babies making goofy faces.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hello Friends! It is almost August, but I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I only have 2 more weeks of summer vacation. I'm going to soak it all in and enjoy every last drop of it. We had the perfect summer weekend. Lots of family time...lots of sunshine...not much planned...naps...it was great.

Saturday

*We started out with a morning wagon ride (we love the new wagon- thanks Boom and Bops!).  As you can see from the bottom left picture, Callie refused to look at the camera.  It was because she was "too busy doing princess things."  She mistakes the wagon for a carriage, apparently.  That girl does have an awesome imagination.

*During Maya's first nap, I took Callie to get her first pedicure (speaking of princess things, jeez).  I wasn't sure how she would like it, but she did great.  Her feet were a little ticklish when the guy was buffing the bottoms of them, but she handled it like a champ.  We now have matching neon pink toenails.

*We went out for a family lunch, in which Chris wowed Callie with his "magic"...until she figured out herself that the utensils were magnets and could do it herself.  Maya was her usual goofball self.

*We spent the afternoon at the Wicks' house.  It is fun now that the big girls are old enough to play on their own with minimal supervision.  Dave got to hold the birthday twins- Kylie is exactly one year older than Maya!

Sunday

*We decided it was a perfect day to use the miniature golf groupon I bought awhile back. It was fun, but not the round of golf that Chris typically enjoys.  No score card was needed as Callie's main method of play was to immediately put her ball 6 inches from the hole in order to tap it in, and I had a 1-year-old strapped to my chest.

*There was a park near the golf course, so of course we had to hit that up. 

*We went to G-ma and G-pa's house for playtime and dinner. 

*And finally, I went to my Mom's on the Run group and ran the fastest 3 miles of my life.  Interval training works!  Also, the clouds were amazing.

My training is pretty much done (for this race).  I get to taper this week and the race is on Saturday.  Now it is time to trust my training, have confidence in my body, and hope that I will make it (with a PR)!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!