Thanksgiving in Minnesota

We had a wonderful holiday weekend visiting Aunt Amy, Uncle Doug and cousin Daniel in Bloomington, MN!

On the way up, we spent the night in Des Moines to break up the trip and of course got in some pool time.

Chad continues his reign as king of the belly flop....

And it even snowed on Thanksgiving! We loved their new home and the boys had so much fun together!

And after a long car trip home....look who returned just in time to welcome us home?

The ice wasn't as much of a welcomed surprise however....

Glad we got home without incident and thanks to The Drake's for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Six Miles on Sunday

It's been awhile since I ran a 10K distance but today I put in my longest run in several months.

I have a goal of running 700 miles in 2015 and I'm about 30 miles away from achieving this mileage.

We also had a busy weekend with some early Christmas decorating and a chilly Saturday at the K-State Football Game.

Its a short week before a busy holiday vacation!

TIMBER!!!!

 There are times when being an adult is just no fun.  Like when your three giant cottonwood trees in your back yard start to separate from each other and you find out just how expensive it is to have them removed.  But of course the safety of our house, family and neighbors around us comes first and yesterday the term "Oh, how the mighty hath fallen" came into play.


The morning started with just one large truck, a skid steer and a two large containers in the front of our house for the lumber.  Since the tree was also hanging over some power lines, we weren't sure if Westar would allow our tree service to do all the work or not.  We have been less than impressed with the tree services associated with Westar so I was thrilled when I came back in the afternoon to find that a very large crane had also made an appearance in our backyard and the owner of Hummel Tree Service let me know they were just going to get it all taken care of!

 

My dad asked how tall the tree was and they  estimated the tallest branches to be 70 feet!

 Seeing the work done yesterday, I would say that we would highly recommend Hummel Tree Service.  There is still work left to be done today.  They worked until dark and this was all that was left of the 3 huge trees by the end of the day:

Pride

I've continued running since the end of cross country season and have now logged over 650 miles in 2015.

But this week's second run ended abruptly after 1 mile when I tripped on an uneven sidewalk and fell for the second time this year.

Besides skinned knees, hands and elbows, this fall wasn't as bad as my first earlier in the year. What was memorable was my half barrel roll at the end of the fall that landed me in what can only be described as Lucifer's front yard. 

I stood up to find myself covered in large stickers and burs! So many that I had to phone a friend (thanks again Diane) to help me because I could hardly move.

About 200 stickers later, I can say this fall hurt my pride more than anything. I've often heard veteran runners talk about taking a tumble while running and saying it's a matter of when not if for a fall while running.  It took me 5 years, but now I guess I would have to agree with this statement!

Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween from our old man golfer and evil Anakin Skywalker!

 Mitchell chose to re-purpose his Mary Poppins attire this year (score for us) and just added a golf club and some funny facial expressions.

Collin also used a previously worn costume by his older brother (score again for us) but had to make the distinction that he was "dark side Anakin Skywalker" .  He even wished we could find a way to turn his eyes yellow like they do in the movie when he turns to the dark side.  His trend of always choosing the villain  as his favorite continues....

Haunted House and Braces

During our weekend trip to Nebraska to spend time with family, we were able to take Mitchell to his first haunted house experience in Kearney.  This brought back lots of fond memories of my own as I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful childhood best friend and family who took me to several haunted houses in Lincoln as well as spooky hay rack rides in their small town of Belvidere.  We talked a lot about my memories of these leading up to our haunted house experience so Mitchell was super excited by the time it was finally our turn to enter the experience.

The haunted house in Kearney was downtown and in the basement of the World Twin Movie Theater.  It was very well done and we had a great time together!  Mitchell thought it was awesome and talked about it non-stop the whole way back to Grandma and Grandpa Bunger's in Hildreth afterwards. Non. Stop.

Of course he told others that it "really wasn't all that scary."  However, when I wanted to take a picture with one of the spooks who gave us one last fright while leaving....he wasn't
willing to do so. :)

In other exciting news, Mitchell finished his first stage of orthodontic work today!!!  He has been taking care of his palatal expand-er in the roof of his mouth and top braces for the last 10 months and has really done a good job with the whole device, but he was ready to have it removed!

What an amazing difference!  I wish I could have taken a picture of all the inside his mouth before and after shots....because they were pretty incredible.  We will now continue to follow up with the orthodontist every few months for the next year or so until he is ready for phase 2 of braces.  However, because we have already done this work, he will have braces only the next time around (most likely in middle school) and if all stays on track, the usual time in braces will be less because of the corrections made in phase 1. 

Phase 1 orthodontics. .  Phase 2 orthodontics coming later.  Cranio facial Surgeries 1 and 2.  This kid needs an insurance policy to cover all the work he has had done from the chin up!  But what a blessing he is and worth every penny. :)

Pumpkin Patch 2015

Today we went with the Bunger Family to a pumpkin patch in Glenvil, Nebraska.

This out in the middle of nowhere pumpkin patch is south of Hastings and was very well done....everyone had a great time!

Collin even got brave enough to take on this low key zip line...with mild bribery.

The cousins had a great time exploring

And interesting results came from the self-face painting station....

Thanks for a fun weekend in Nebraska, Grandma and Grandpa Bunger!