Heigh-ho! Come to the Fair

My title comes from a song I remember singing during voice lessons early in high school, and for some reason I still sing this song every year when it's time for the fair.  I was thinking last night that it has probably been close to 20 years since I first learned that song.  I have a knack for remembering lyrics to songs I sang as far back as elementary school....yet ask me anything about any kind of advanced math and I will run in the other direction!  I guess we all have our strong and weak points. :)

Last night was the last evening for rides at the Riley County Fair so we spent several hours (thanks to a break in the heat with some cloud cover) at the Carnival.

Mitchell and Daddy took on all the big rides and with no lines, everyone was able to ride as many times as they wanted.

 I could hear them both laughing and giggling as I took this picture!

The slide was not Collin's favorite.  If you can see his expression, it was NOT what he expected and he only did this ride one time. :)

Mutton Bustin'

One year ago, Chad and I were in Nebraska while Chad competed in the Omaha Triathlon.  While we were gone, my parents took the boys to the Kaw Valley Rodeo where Mitchell first saw mutton bustin' and proclaimed he WOULD do that event next year.

We thought with 12 months (and craniofacial surgery somewhere in there) that Mitchell would forget about this event.  But he has talked about it on and off during the year and when the Riley County Fair came around, it was a high point of conversation for him.    And as you can see above....he finally got to compete last Friday night.

It was pretty funny to watch and he did great.  He admitted that it did hurt (like we had warned him it might), but there were no tears and as always with our easy going guy....he had a great time!

Of course Collin enjoyed himself as well with all the cowboys and of course the horses.

High Dive

Ladies and Gentlemen....Collin passed the swim test and has taken the plunge from the diving boards at Cico Pool! 

Not too bad for a 4 year old...right?  As if this wasn't enough stress for this mommy, he also then decided to follow his brother up the high dive.  Yes, the HIGH dive.

This isn't the actual high dive at Cico, but it's a good representation!  I didn't have my camera with me for this bold moment in Collin's life, but if you look at a previous blog about  Mitchell on the high dive, you could just insert Collin in the first picture.

Collin shimmied up the first time and went right off with no problems.  We were SO proud of him!  He swam over, gave me a big hug and said "I'm going again!"  And just like the first time Mitchell went around this age....the second time was stone cold fear.  Collin went to the edge and totally froze, starting shaking and sat down.  A very wonderful lifeguard climbed the ladder and gave him the encouragement to jump a second time.  I was very thankful when Collin decided after this that the high dive "isn't for me right now mommy" and chose to stick to the low board.

Aside from the mild heart palpitations he gave me, Collin has made some huge gains in the water this year....we certainly have two little fish!

Cowboys at the Mall

We found a creative way to beat the heat (and take a break from the pool) on Saturday with the Kaw Valley Jr Rodeo.  And of course, when Collin heard where we were going...he insisted on the proper attire for the event.

We got to the mall and both boys signed up in separate age groups for the rodeo.  And don't worry, while Collin wore his gun holsters....we obeyed the "no guns" sign and kept them empty!

There were four events to compete in for the rodeo.  Horse shoes, barrel racing, cowboy shuffle board (complete with plastic cow pies) and steer roping.

 Mitchell didn't look the part, but he turned out to be a fast cowboy with mighty fine skills....

And at the end of his age group, Mitchell was very excited to place 2nd!

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon!  And the boys got free tickets to the Kaw Valley Rodeo next weekend.  Mitchell the Fearless is determined to sign up for mutton busting this year.

If you don't know what mutton busting is, go ahead and do a quick You Tube search, then check the blog again in about a week....

Surfer Dude

Today Mitchell got to do something he has been begging to do all summer....tackle the Sting Ray at Manhattan City Pool!

 He has done this before last summer with Chad and at a similar surfing experience while we were on vacation in Minneapolis.  Below are some action shots I took on his first attempt of the day.

He did great and had fun suiting up for the experience mulitple times this afternoon while we tried to beat the 105 degree heat this Friday.  Looks like I'll be getting out extra early tomorrow morning for my 5 mile long run before we start another 100+ degree day in Kansas!

Rocky Mountain High

Chad and I have spent the past few days in and around the Denver area and we are having a great time!

 After Chad's conference today, we headed up to the Boulder area and went to Eldorado Canyon for a 4 mile hike.

 It was great cross training and we have been enjoying our time together just as a couple these past few days.

The other added bonus is that we have also been able to visit Shana, Josh and there new addition Myla!  This conference worked out perfectly and I have been enjoying our visit together and getting to know their precious new daughter.

Race Pictures, 9 Years and Level 2

I've had bronchitis this week so I have struggled getting my runs accomplished.  Thankfully, the antibiotics have me feeling much better just in time for my 4 mile long run which I hope to get in tomorrow.

I've added some official pictures from the Freedom 5K Run on the 4th of July in Junction City as well.  This was our first race wearing our jersey's for the Kansas Beef Endurance Team!

Today is also the day we moved to Kansas 9 years ago!  I remember this day because it was the day after John and Krista Croghan's wedding...so it's an easy date to remember. :)  Hard to believe we have been residents of Kansas for almost a decade!  And as I remember, we moved in a middle of a heat wave much like the one we are having now back in 2003.

This week we also started swimming lesson for both boys at Cico pool.  Collin had to start in preschool swim lessons because of his age, but was quickly passed up to "big pool lessons" as he called them. 

And yesterday he was very proud to pass into Level 2!!  Mitchell is also working super hard and is about to pass into Level 6.  Both boys love the water and are doing great so far at swim lessons this summer.

Star Wars Cousins

It's been a great weekend with family! 

The boys have been so excited to have Aunt Amy, Uncle Doug and Daniel down for a visit and we have had a lot of fun together!

We've made some great memories together....

and they obviously have great taste in movies! :)

Freedom Run

For the second year in a row, Chad and I started the 4th of July participating in the 5/10K Freedom Run in Junction City.

I have no idea how I tweaked my back about a week ago, but it kept me away from running for 5 days.  I was glad that I had signed up for the 5K because of this but the run went better than I expected. It wasn't my fastest 5K time, but I finished in 29:42.  Chad had a great run and finished his 5K in just over 25 minutes!

Our next race will be August 4th running the Brew 2 Shoe 10K in Manhattan.  Nursing my back left my mileage on the short side for week one of my training.  But I successfully finished my first long run of 4 miles today.  As I continue to run in the heat and humidity, I keep reminding myself how strong I will feel once the cooler weather arrives before the October race date and not focus on my much slower pace averages.  I am hopeful my back will continue to feel better and next week I will log all the miles on week 2 of my training schedule.

Brave

We haven't seen the new Disney movie yet, but the title seems very fitting for Collin over these past few days.

Not only has Collin conquered the purple slide at Cico Pool this week, he has also faced his fears of fireworks head on!  Last year we couldn't even get him out of the house to look at fireworks so watching his brother light them off was a huge step!

Mitchell the firebug was very excited to get to light some all by himself this year and is already asking to go back for more.

As you can tell, he was a little cautious about them the first night.  However last night he watched again and even got in on the action throwing some snaps for the first time.  Both nights he has commented that he has been "very brave" and we couldn't agree more.  Maybe he'll be ready to stay at this year's opening KSU football game for the fireworks display as he insisted he wanted to do last year?

16 Weeks

Ready or not....my 6th Half Marathon is now 16 weeks away.  That means it is time to start my training schedule again.  I'm not sure how I tweaked my back last week, but I am hoping a few more trips to Dr. Sorrell and I will be back in my running shoes to start my first week of training.

Look at this big man going off the family slide at Cico Pool all by himself!  Up until last week, he wouldn't even enterain the idea of going down this slide with anyone....let alone by himself.  Somehow I got him to try it with me last week (I could have promised a trip to Target perhaps if he went down one time with me) and that was all it took. 

Collin now loves it and has become much more adventerous in the water this summer. We are excited to see how he does at swimming lessons next week!