End of Summer Adventure

I have been back to work for over a week, but the boys are still enjoying their end of summer with a few fun trips before school starts on August 18th.

 Last week they got to go on a trip to Minnesota with Grandma and Grandpa Ammeter!  They were SO excited to visit their cousin Daniel and we were so thankful for my parents taking them along and for Aunt Amy, Uncle Doug and Daniel being such gracious hosts!!

 The house was quiet with the boys gone all week, but both Chad and I had such crazy schedules for the week, that we didn't seem to be home much so it was a perfect time for the boys to take this end of the summer adventure.

I've had to take several days off running this week after pulling my hamstring last week.  I have ran over 20 miles 3 weeks in a row up until now, so not running these past few days has me feeling lazy but I know I need to let things heal up before middle school cross country season begins next week.

Even though Chad and I didn't spend much time at home last week with work and evening meetings, our cats must have noticed the drastic decrease in activity judging by the scene we came home to one evening.  Ellie had dragged out a total of 4 socks and 3 stuffed animals from both of the boy's rooms.  I am guessing this was her way of telling us she missed them?

Disneyworld 2016!!!!!

It's official and we couldn't be more excited!!!!!

We are going back to Disneyworld in November 2016!!!!!

500 Miles

This week I officially logged over 500 miles for 2015! 

I wanted to reach this goal of 500 before the end of summer, and I got this done with just a few days to spare before heading back to work next week.

I also logged over 80 miles for the month of July which is the most miles in one month I have ran this year!

The boys and I are taking advantage of our last few days of vacation together before I head back to work. I am so fortunate to get this time in the summer to spend time with them.

It has been a great summer together and soon it will be off to 2nd and 5th grade for them...hard to believe!

Swim and Sing

The past two weeks have been busy with the end of baseball season for both boys, swim lessons starting for Collin, a weekend swim meet in Lawrence for Mitchell and dress rehearsals all this past week for Mary Poppins.

I took a few pictures of the boys out by our back flower bed before their final rehearsal on Thursday. 

Collin was "embarrassed" to take them...but they turned out great!

This production is put on by Manhattan Parks and Recreation and is for students in K-12. 

There were over 150 students involved and it was wonderful! 

And many of our friends from church were involved as well.

We've had two very busy and fun summer weekends full of activities the boys have been involved in. They've done great and we are proud of them!

Grandma Bunger to the Rescue and 10 K Distance

We are blessed to both have wonderful parents and both sets of parents are also amazing grandparents to our boys!  This past weekend Grandma Bunger pulled through for the boys knocking out some pretty spectacular costumes for both boys in their upcoming performance in Mary Poppins!

 I cannot sew.  There is no nice or wordy way else to explain it.  I never learned and also have never tried more than past sewing on a button or two. So the idea of coming up with these costumes was more than overwhelming for me.  Mary is SO talented and I appreciated her taking time of her busy schedule to make these costumes happen for the boys.

 The boys both had to have this "base" costume seen above and then Mitchell has to have an additional toy costume that can be worn over the base costume.  Don't they look amazing?!

On the the running front:  I took most of last week off while on our trip to Colorado from running but stayed active with hiking and other outdoor adventures while on vacation.  With the unseasonably cool (but welcomed) temperatures today, I was able to run my first 10K distance.  This was also the longest distance I have accomplished since my last half marathon in May.  It wasn't fast, but I completed it without any walking!

Snow Mountain Ranch Day 1

Chad woke us all up early on our first day at Snow Mountain Ranch to take a hike up 9 mile mountain.

It was a beautiful trail!

We saw Fox, several birds, and even a woodpecker in its nest with babies!

This is my favorite picture of the top of the mountain. :) #cb4life

After making it back down the mountain, we decided to go check out the reservoir we are going to canoe later and went on another hike to a waterfall.

It was a busy morning but we saw lots of beautiful wildlife and the waterfall was amazing!

We hurried back down the trail from the waterfall in time to make a reservation to go canoeing in the reservoir 

by the camp.

Then after a quick bite of lunch in our cabin, we went tubing! This was a hit for everyone in the family!

More fun tubing! That even have a tram that brings you back 

up the hill!

This was so much fun we plan on going back for another session of tubing on Tuesday!

After this we had some downtime at the cabin with the boys played and Chad and I read books. I went miniature golfing before having supper in the cabin again and now the boys are swimming at the pool. We are having a great time at Snow Mountain Ranch!

Last Morning at Snow Mountain Ranch

We ended our evening last night with the boy enjoying the Kiva Center.

I stayed back at the cabin and finished my second book of the trip and went for a walk around all the cabins.

One final short hike this morning before packing up for the long car ride home. We are all tired but have enjoyed our first famy vacation in the mountains!