Camping Minus Mom

Chad has been wanting to take the boys on a camping trip for sometime now, but our busy schedule and the weather had never made it work out and this weekend.

The boys went to fancy Creek after a wildcat win on Saturday afternoon and set up camp. The weather was perfect and they were all very excited!

While I was at my first cross country meet Saturday morning they went shopping for their supplies. After some deliberation I decided not to go up to the campsite at all. This way Collin would not be tempted to come home with me when I left and it could truly be a boys night camping.

While they enjoyed a long adventure hike and cooking out over a campfire.... I enjoyed cleaning the entire house (and it actually staying clean for a little while after I was finished) an evening at reading and watching football.

And they even all made it through the night at their campsite! While I was very thankful to Chad for giving me an evening to myself, I was happy to have the boys home early this morning! They had a great time and are already talking about their boys only camping adventure.

Football and Family

It's time for another season of football, tailgating and time with family! Go Cats!!

And the boys were so excited to have cousin Daniel at the first game with us!

And daddy also got some fun K state mustaches for the first game...

I guess you need to look tough and intense when you have purple facial hair?

We had a great time and they were even fireworks after the game. But Colin made sure that he and I were long gone before those started. :)

Another season of football, family fun and purple pride has begun!

A Decade

Today our oldest is 10 years old.  Ten.  A decade.  Whoa.

This was me 10 years ago on my 27th birthday.  1 week over due with Mitchell.  I will take being ten years older over being 9+ months pregnant in August.  Any. Day.

And then at 12:07 a.m. all 10lbs and 1 ounces of this little boy came into the world.  Just 8 minutes shy of sharing a birthday with his mommy.  Lots of hair.....laid back personality from the start.....and BIG. :)

This was taken at 10 months... about a month before his first cranio facial surgery.  He was almost ready to walk and we had some scary things in the near future and I started thinking how I wasn't ready for him to grow up so fast.  It's funny when you are pregnant and/or have a small baby, all you really think about is that infant stage.  You don't really think about the kid-stuff like school, tying shoes, learning to read, etc.  Then you turn around and they are having sleep overs, playing baseball all summer and even come to show off their first bit of armpit hair.  Really, I'm not joking with that last one. That is really happening at our house. Yikes.

10 years old and such an amazing young man.  He has been through more surgeries than both his dad and I combined and taken it all in stride.  We are so richly blessed to watch him grow from that sweet, happy baby into the funny, inquisitive, loud, smart and still laid back 10 year old he is a decade later.

Coach

Even though my blog has a title that involves running, I haven't blogged much lately about it!  This week I have logged over 400 miles for 2014.  I have taken some time off from running towards a race goal for the summer and fall.  Partly because, running in the summer heat and humidity is no fun.  At.  All.

One reason was because of all the fun summer plans we had.  I didn't want to be tied down to a training plan.  I am no professional athlete by any means, but when I commit to a race that involves anything over 3 miles, I tend to be a little OCD about following the plan.  So it's been nice to just run to keep up my fitness level for the summer with no training plan looming in the back of my head that I "must" stick to.

Another reason I have not signed up for a fall half marathon this year is that I have taken on a different adventure where I will take on a new title I have never had before.  The one of Coach.  That's right, Coach Bunger is the new assistant cross country coach at EMS and practice starts next week!  I have never been a coach of any team so this seems a little daunting, but I am excited to run with the kids and be a motivator to them.  For our 7th graders and some 8th graders this is their first experience with cross country.  While I won't be able to keep up with 99% of them, it will be awesome to run them through work outs, support them (from the back of the pack) and push them to do their personal best each day.

While I am planning to run another half marathon in the spring of 2015, running with the EMS Cross Country Team will be a new (and needed) motivator to continue to push myself as I continue my journey as a runner.

1st Grade and 4th Grade and Off to School!

Today was the first day of school for our 1st and 4th grader!!

 It was the first day for the entire district, and being the lone counselor at the middle school it was pretty chaotic for me this morning and I wasn't able to get away.  So it was some great male bonding time with Dad and even donuts before hand to get a great start to the year!

 But we were all able to attend our school's back to school night where we met Mitchell and Collin's teachers, saw class lists and got excited for the new year.  Well, Collin still wishes we could start summer all over again....but who wouldn't after our great summer full of memory making?!

 And I have to say that Daddy did an awesome job getting the boys to pose for back to school photos.  These are hilarious!!!

Whirlwind

The days since we have returned from vacation have been a bit of a whilrwind.  I needed to be right back at work and things have been hectic with Camp Dewey, teachers returning and all the excitement that goes with the start of a new school year.

One major unexpected turn of events was the counselor opening at the other middle school in Manhattan at just days before we all reported back to work.  It seemed the Lord had a plan as now one of my best friends and also one of the best counselor's I have ever worked with is now back being my partner in crime!  I'm so excited to be able to work with Shelly again as she is now the new counselor at Anthony Middle School!

After being home from our trip to Florida just a few short days, we hopped in the car again last weekend and headed to Kearney for our nephew's first birthday party and had a great time with the Bunger's.

But going non-stop coupled with all the traveling before the increased pace of amping for the school year has finally caught up with me.  Good thing I've had a great read and even better company this afternoon.

The View

We started the week saying good-bye to this....

And after 18 hours of driving split up by 2 days on the road.....I am back at work gearing up for another great school year at Eisenhower!!!

And when I need to relax, I just think about this view above. :)  Before we left Panama City Beach, FL on Monday we had some more fun at the pool and beach.

Then we went to Emerald Falls nearby for a little more cousin fun Sunday afternoon.

The fun continued on bumper boats and then we finished with 18 holes of mini golf before going back to do.....more swimming!

After all that driving and time away, it was good to be home and I have been back at work this week, but I have to admit, I sure have been missing this view from our bed in the mornings when I wake up.

Florida was amazing!  First time at the beach for both boys.  Parasailing (Bucket list item for me). Banana boat rides.  Snorkeling. And white powdered sand beaches.  Let's hear it for the Summer of 2014!!!