When We Last Left Off...

Seems to have been awhile since I last posted!  Dang, time flies when you have to work for a living!

Since the camping and back to school updates, we've been busy getting back into a groove of school, getting up at 6am(ish), homework, packing lunches, paying  for schools fees, paying lunches, girl scouts, after school art and choir programs, homecoming coming up (Mason is actually going he says!), soccer...ya know.

First, running:  I've really been hurting and not running much.  I pulled my hamstring back in (Aug?) and it's been hurting since.  I've done a few fun runs and they have been fine.  I'm worried about the Half in October but know I can finish...but it may take awhile to recover.  I really want to finish it though because Alison will be at Mile 13 as a Children's Champion! It's very important for me to make it to the end AND still have enough strength and energy to hang out and have fun with her there!
In August, 12 of us girls did the Tap N Run and we were the Blue Mooners.  We had a TON of fun running in our tutus and buttocks!

Strides for Hope is the Ovarian Cancer run and has become one that I really enjoy running with my friend Heather, who lost her mom to ovarian cancer 2 years ago.  Our team is Carla's Rum Runners and the rum and coke toast after at 10:30am has nothing to do with why I run it!

We are back in the soccer groove too...this year is a little different.  Ella has gone up a league.  Justin is no longer coaching her.  She's playing for Coach Sam, who coached her indoor league.  It's been a bit of an adjustment but she is loving it!

 Daddy and toothless Si watching one of Ella's games.

Justin IS coaching Si's team again this year but he's the assistant.  It's been hard for him to give up a little control over "strategy" and how to coach the kids but it's been great because he's not doing the organizing for snacks, trophies, etc.

And this look on his face is one we see often.  I love it.

And for your amusement - go back and look at this post of Silas and his soccer arms/face :)



Oh, and I got my hair cut!!  First time in a LONG time that I've chopped it off...but it was time!!  I don't think I had my hair out of a ponytail in 2 years and I was sick of it.  This is quick and easy, I like that I can do something with it when I'm so inclined (like going to a concert!) but can still get it into a (albeit, the teeniest ever) ponytail!

Last weekend, Justin and I went to Put-in-Bay with 4 other couples.  MY FIRST TIME THERE!  We had so much fun!!
We got there on Friday, early evening.  Caught the Jet Express by the skin of our teeth at 5:45pm.

We milled around the island, had a little dinner and drinks and then chilled and got ready for our Saturday morning PIB 5K!  After a very soggy Friday night, we had incredible weather for the morning run.

 

Doug and his babes had a great run!

We spent the rest of Saturday watching the Buckeyes game and bar hopping.  We found a super fun band that night and got to dance and have a great time.

We're really looking forward to doing it again next year.

The last but definitely not least update is our progress on the house (a YOSP update the I've failed to do lately!).
So, one of the things that we really wanted was to convert the 1st floor laundry into a mudroom. Justin put a laundry area in the newly finished basement and that allowed for the laundry room by the kitchen to be turned into a mudroom.

It was a big project and the first portion (tear out and tiling the floor) went pretty smoothly.
Building the cubbies went fairly smoothly too.  The problem really started when trying to get the cubbies INTO the space.  That wasn't as smooth!

And then TA DA!  It all worked out and I have my mud room!!

It is such an awesome space.  The baskets at the bottom hold shoes, the ones above can be used for gloves, hats, etc. Papers will go in there, hooks for book bags, jackets, hats, umbrellas...
Top shelf holds lunch boxes and other odds and ends. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!


It's been a fun and productive month!  Much more to do in October!!

Camping (Part 2)

Back to our camping trip...we continue to talk about how much fun we had 2 weeks later.  We'd love to get another camping trip in this fall but with the soccer schedules, it will be hard to make happen!

We hiked on Saturday - went to Old Man's Cave.  It was beautiful but crowded.

I love this picture of Silas - big blue eyes and his toothless grin :)  And of course, another bug bite on his forehead!

 Managed to get a few pictures of the 3 together...that is very hard to do these days!

 

Silas was trapped between 2 rocks :)

 Ella and Silas in one of the caves

I love this picture of Silas but he looks like such a little man.  I asked him to smile and he gave me a pose too.

This was a strange little creature that buzzes around Tara and Steve's farm down in Logan.  We looked them up after getting home.  They are Hummingbird Bees which are actually a type of moth. Very neat to watch them fly around - their wings really make them look like little hummingbirds.

Mason needed a challenge while we were hanging at the campsite.  He climbed the big tree and then started trying to get one of the dead limbs down (the one jutting out on the right side of the tree he's in).

He ended up spending about 45 minutes with a rope (with a scrub brush tied to the end for weight) trying to lasso the branch and then pulling on it.  He did finally get it!

We took a little walk down by the river that ran beside the campgrounds.

The inside of the condo tent - Silas is burrowed down in the black sleeping bag.  Our 2nd night of sleeping was much more comfortable than the first night.  The air mattress lasted longer and it didn't get as chilly that night. 

After another yummy JP prepared breakfast, we started tearing down camp and packing up.  Amazing  how much stuff we had for just 2 nights! Seemed a lot harder to get it all back into the van!

Though we were all looking forward to getting home to a nice hot shower, we wanted to take the kids on another hike to Rockstall - the spot where we hike when we go on our couples' weekend.  It's beautiful and MUCH less crowded than Old Man's Cave.  In fact, we only saw one other person on this hike.  

Ella took this picture of me and Justin.  Yay!  I'm finally in a picture!  :)

 And a rare picture of me with all 3 kids!

Miss Boo taking a breather at we finish up the hike.

Here is a video of the kids swinging on the vine.

We had so much fun on this little camping adventure. It was great to get time with the kids, unplugged from the TV and Wii games. Can't wait to do it again!