At the end of the spring break week (Sunday), I headed out to Boston for the marathon. Here is a pic of me with Jen and Becky. You can tell from our apparel and shiny skin, that the weather was not our friend that day. At the start of the race, the sun was already super hot (it was 10:00 am). The first 5 miles weren't terrible, but I could see the wheels come off for many athletes before the half way point. I realized that my skin was dry at mile 9, which is not really a good sign. Originally I thought I'd just like to run under 4 hours, but after feeling a little dizzy near mile 13, I changed my goal to finish without ending up in the medical tent. I can't believe how much more terrible I felt during this race than my last. Even afterward, I just wanted to sit down (compared to running to the train and airport after the Marine Corps Marathon with very little fatigue). Anyway, here's my finish photo. Not pretty, but I can check that off the list. Oh yeah - that slow time was a 4:26.
That race was on Monday and the following Friday, I left for Oregon, IL with my girl scouts for two nights of "camping" at White Pines Ranch.
This is the first night before the hayride.
The next morning, we got up early to see the horses let into the pasture. It was a pretty amazing site. Just beautiful.
They kept these kids busy with activities all day. They swung on a rope:
Dug for fossils:
Went on a canyon hike:
More hayrides:
And of course....horseback riding:
Another group photo on the last day (missing a few girls):
Here's a glimpse of the bunk room (note the plush mattresses):
And, just before heading out, we took one last hike. This tree is hollow in the middle from a lightening strike, but amazingly it's still living:
That was the trip. The girls are excited to do it again next year.
A couple more notable items for the month. Megan had taken a break from riding her 2-wheeler and decided that it was time to get back on that thing. It was as if no time had passed. She was off!
And, I let my crazy competitive side come out at a school function. My team won a scavenger hunt and I proceeded to rub it in with photos like this:
Monday, July 2, 2012
Even More April
More April
The kids and I tagged along on one of Darin's business trips for spring break this year. We headed to St. Louis, with a stop in Bloomington on the way there. We stayed at a Holidome near Six Flags (unfortunately Six Flags hadn't opened for the season at that point). We went to the City Musuem one day. That place was pretty darn cool. They rode a 3-story slide in the lobby.
They climbed all over various caves and carvings:
We saw the World's Largest Pencil.
And brave Megan climbed through this wire cage about 4 stories above the ground to get into this plane that was suspended up there. I'm not afraid of heights, but this kind of creeped me out.
Jake hung back with me. Smart kid.
We went back to the hotel after all of that climbing to give the kids a rest. They had their own room, connected to ours. They thought it was so cool that they could watch whatever they wanted on TV while in bed. Anyway, we were hoping they'd rest up a bit, but they wanted to go to the pool. Darin played with them while I went out for a hilly run.
The next day, we went to the St. Louis Zoo. That place is really fabulous. It's free, just like Lincoln Park and it's huge. Actually, before we went there, I made Darin drive us over to the Arch to get the iconic photo. (We should have gone the day before because we were right there, but of course, we didn't). So I made it really inconvenient for poor Darin who was trying to get to a meeting. (I got my photo, though):
Now back to zoo stuff:
They got to ride the carousel.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that we brought Flat Stanley with us and snapped photos for Megan's class project.
All in all, the kids had a good time. They made up a song on the way there.....
"We're going to St. Louis. Doo Doo Doo"....over and over. Maybe we'll try to get back there before summer ends.
