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!

1 Year Later at the T-Rex Cafe

Monday Mitchell and I set out for KC to pick my parents up from the airport after almost an entire month of cruising and vacationing in Alaska.  We are all very glad to have them back home!!  Since their flight wasn't due until evening, we decided to make a day out of our two hour trip east.

After spending the day in Lawrence with my good friend Amy and her oldest son playing at the pool, I took Mitchell for a special treat...the T-Rex Cafe at the Legends!

While I'm not sure the food (and the elevated price tag that goes along with it) is worth it...Mitchell was very excited.  We took him there after his spinal tap almost exactly one year ago and this was the location where he started experiencing intense pain from the procedure so we had to cut our meal and visit short. 

What a difference a year makes!  Even though I was less than impressed with the food (and again, the price tag) seeing Mitchell experience the fun atmosphere still made it a great evening together.

The boys were also able to participate in vacation bible school this week and loved it!!! 

After yesterday's sweltering run I have now logged over 300 miles of running in 2012!  I think this picture of Collin below sums up how we all feel about the relentless heat right now.....

Running in the Kansas Heat

106.
That is today's projected high in Manhattan.  And what's tomorrow's high you ask?  107.  Yeah....

Needless to say the boys and I have spent lots of time at the pool in this heat!  But one thing is for sure, running in this heat and humidity takes on a life of it's own.

This year Chad and I will be running in Junction City again on the 4th of July doing the 5K race.  With highs similiar to the one's listed above and knowing what the heat index was when I ran outside this morning....I have no lofty ideas of obtaining a PR during this run. 

I continue to keep in mind that the summer heat and humidity means slower times/pace and that once the heat subsides and the humidity goes down, my legs will stop feeling like blocks of cement 1.5 miles into my run.  Training will start soon for my next half marathon and at the very least I will need to start increasing my distance for the upcoming Brew to Shoe in August.  The heat is on, but I am determined to keep running....even when it's 88 degrees at 8:45 a.m.

Another First

Even though we have lived in the Manhattan, KS area for nearly 9 years....we finally experienced our first Country Stampede on Friday night.  And as you might guess, the people watching was epic! :)

The weather was perfect and we were excited to see the Zac Brown Band in concert again as they are such a talented group. 

It was fun to spend an evening with a group from Chapman including the Ingram's.  I will miss my dear friend (and fellow counselor for the past 7 years) Shelly so much next school year!!!