Happy New Year - Here's Sept. 2013

IMG_2240, a photo by tracyg00 on Flickr.

Yep - New Year's Day 2014. I am going to wrap up last year today. I mean it!

September was another busy month for us. We were at the cottage for Labor Day weekend. Jake and Darin were out fishing and - no lie - Jake was catching fish as quick as Darin could take them off the hook and re-bait. He must have caught at least 30 small fish that day. As a matter of fact, he threw in his hook with no bait a few times and even caught fish on that. I went out there and grabbed the little Barbie pole and after about 5 casts, I caught this monster:



We made it to the Walworth County Fair (just like every year). Here's the cousin photo by the Tilt-a-whirl:



Megan had a busy sports month with lots of soccer games and cross country meets.



We had our Balmoral block party on Sept. 7th. One highlight was the donut eating contest. It hung from string and you couldn't use your hands!



The kids loved the DJ and the bouncy house, as well. A good time was had by all.



Megan had her first cross country meet on Sept. 9th. It was a really hot day, but she handled it like a pro. Look at this form:



She had another meet on the 13th at Bunker Hill with approx. 500 girls in her race. That's one intimidating start line!



That same day, we had to leave the meet right after her mile run and head over to a soccer game. She basically changed into her uniform in the car and we arrived at the game right after it started. She was definitely warmed up already!!



Then, this superstar athlete had another cross country meet the very next morning! Oh, how I would love to have that energy!



Did I mention that Megan was also taking guitar class at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Thursdays for all of Sept. and Oct? The four of us went to her class on the 19th to watch a special performance by a band from Mexico. After the performance, Jake and I got to go to class with Megan and Darin. Jason (her teacher) brought Jake a guitar so that he could join in.



Here's an interesting cross country story. On the 24th, QAS had a meet at Regina High School. They had chip timing and a big finish line structure. They had the top 7 from each team race in the first race and then had an open race for remaining runners. Megan typically finishes in the top 3 on her team, so she ran in the first race. I believe she ran about a 7:30 mile that day.



When they had announced the open race, she said she wanted to run again. She decided to pace two of her team members in the second race. I gave her a goal to get them to run a 9:00 mile. (previously, each of them had only run as fast as a 9:45). They ended up finishing at 9:01 and 9:03. That's my girl!



We were back in WI for the weekend of the 27th. I made the kids pose for a couple of pics. This is one of my faves...



The Marino family joined us on Saturday night and then the whole crew went out on Sunday for some apple picking and boating.



Here's Jake and his buddy, Jack at the Apple Barn:



It warmed up enough in the afternoon to hit the lake. Each kid got to drive for a while.



And that's a wrap for September.