Summer Highlights

Well, here we are. The last week of summer. It went so fast, but we made some great memories. There's something about the urgency of summer. On the one hand, the pace of our life slows way down. On the other hand, I know how quickly it goes by, and how soon the new school year will be upon us. It makes me appreciate my time with the girls so much. It also makes me want to take full advantage of the time we have together. These are the highlights of the last two months. These are the things I don't want to forget.

1. Sophia's first plane ride

 

2. Disney World

3. Clearwater Beach

 

 4. Seaworld

  

 5. Getting to vacation with my parents, sisters, and brothers-in-law

6. Lots of play dates with cousins and friends

 

7. Splash Parks

8. Many hours riding bikes, splashing in the baby pool, gardening, and enjoying the back yard.

9. 98 miles logged so far running on the treadmill and around Windsor, including many times around beautiful Windsor Lake.

10. Watching Kenley do gymnastics



11. So many cuddles

12. Witnessing Daddy/Daughter bonding

13. Time with my husband

14. Olympic opening ceremonies projected on the side of the house

15. Last but not least, my 7 year anniversary with Mike. We are celebrating Friday. I'll share our adventure soon!

Looking back on our summer, I feel overwelmed by the blessings in my life. I am so thankful for this summer. Now I'm looking forward to starting a new school year, meeting my new class, and continuing to experience God's blessings in our lives.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When I think back on the past week, the words that come to mind are the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I'll start with The Good

Kenley is very into make believe and pretending these days. She is almost never herself. Often times she is acting out a character from a show, movie, or book. Other times she is pretending to be different family members. It would be one thing for her to just pretend to be someone else, but she reassigns all of us to be different people as well. If she's Rapunzel, then I'm Mother, Mike is Eugene, and Sophia is Maximus. Her favorite is to pretend to be her 2 month old cousin, Declan. If she's Declan, than I'm Aunt Jessica, Mike is Uncle Matt, and Sophia is Declan's big sister Livia. This gets tricky because she gets frustrated if we address Sophia by her actual name.

Me: Sophia, bring me your cup, please.
Kenley: That's LIVIA!
Me: (sigh) Livia, bring me your cup, please.

...nothing...

Me: Sophia -
Kenley: NO! That's Livia!
Me: Declan, she doesn't understand that! She only knows herself  as Sophia!

Earlier this week she decided to be Mary. She walked around with a blanket on her head caring for her baby Jesus.

She spent a lot of time wrapping Jesus in swaddling clothes,

rocking him, burping him, and laying him down in his manger.

Eventually she decided she wanted to be Jesus and asked me to wrap her up in swaddling clothes,

and lay her in a manger.

I love her imagination!

The Bad started Tuesday night.

The girls were in their pajamas, just about ready for bed when we decided to go check on the vegetables in the garden. We were standing outside talking about the cucumbers and tomatoes while Sophia wandered around peering over the small garden fence, checking things out.

The next thing I know she is screaming out in pain. I look over to find her covered in wasps. I scooped her up, and ran out of the garden and into the house. As I ran across the patio I felt a sharp sting on the palm of my hand, and we got out of there as fast as we could.

Sophia was hysterical when we got inside. She had one bright red sting mark on her forhead, and we found three more on her hand, and one by her ear. My hand was throbbing so I couldn't even imagine what she was feeling.

Mike had a little medicine stick for stings and bites nearby, so we searched her body to treat all of the areas we could find, all the while watching for signs of an allergic reaction. Her hand swelled up pretty quickly, but it had three stings all in close proximity, so we gave her Benedryl and continued to keep a close eye on her breathing and swelling. She seemed to be okay.

Mike later went out and found a nest that she had knocked when she put her hands on the fence. We went on to find dozens more nests all over the yard. We have double sided fencing around a third of an acre. I guess the idea behind this is that there isn't a "bad" side of the fence, no matter which side you are on. This particular type of wasp chews wood to make their nests. The few inches in between the two panels of fencing were the perfect habitat for the wasps. Mike spent hours pulling down one side of the fence, finding multitudes of nests spanning the entire perimeter of the yard.

We now spend time every day checking the yard for nests, and removing them as quickly as we can. The image of my 18 month old being attacked by wasps is not one I will soon forget.

The Ugly is what happened in the days to come.

Sophia woke up a little swollen and red, but seemed to be okay. In fact, her stings didn't seem to be bothering her at all.

My hand was perfectly fine, too. It was the first time I had ever been stung by a bee or a wasp, so I was glad to know we all seemed to escape that nasty allergy.

However, by Wednesday evening my hand started to swell and had a large red splotch around the site of the sting.

I woke up several times that night finding myself scraching my hand in my sleep. By the time morning came, my hand was huge.

Sophia was also much more swollen the next day.

I felt like maybe I was having an allergic reaction, but it happened two days after the sting. I could barely move my hand, so the two of us went to the doctor to see if there was anything that could be done.

She determined that most likely the sting on my hand had gotten infected. My palm was burning up and the red splotch was spreading to the other side of my hand. She prescribed antibiotics and steroids. I spent one miserable day with ice on my hand, trying to relieve the itching, stinging, and swelling. Sophia's stings looked okay, so we bought Children's Claritin so that she could continue to get antihistamines during the day. (Benedryl knocks her out.)  By Friday the swelling had almost completely gone down and my hand had returned to its normal color. It still itches from time to time, but otherwise has completely healed.

We are now very much on guard for wasps and will avoid them like the plague, but I am so thankful that Sophia is okay and didn't react too badly to the attack.

We have one more week of summer before I go back to work. I'm hoping for a week of good!

The Faster You Run, the Quicker You're Done

That's the phrase that went through my head when the alarm went off at 6 this morning.

Saturday is my long run day. The training plan I'm following has me doing three short runs during the week, ranging in length from 3 to 5 miles, and then a long run on the weekend. The long run started at 4 miles and increases by a mile each week. Today was the 8 mile day.

Before starting this half marathon training the farthest distance I had ever run was just shy of 7 miles. That means that every long run from today on out will be the longest run I've ever done.

Since these runs are now taking over an hour to complete, I decided I needed to make some changes to my running gear. Before today, my usual running apparel consisted of shorts, a t-shirt, a good pair of running shoes, and a small running belt where I keep my iPhone. The iPhone provides music or an audio book (more on that later), as well as the GPS app that tracks my route and time.

One thing I needed to start doing was hydrating during the run. For some reason, Mike and the girls didn't want to drive around town setting up various hydration stations for me on my route, so I went shopping for a hydration belt. They look something like this.

All of the belts I saw seemed so big and bulky. I didn't really want to add that much bulk to my belt. So I came up with a seemingly brilliant plan. I bought this little hand-held water bottle, and it only cost $15!

I planned to loop in onto my belt like so.

Genius, right? Not so much. As soon as I started my run I knew it was not going to work. Sure it felt fine when I tested it in the store. That's when there wasn't any water in it. Once I filled it with water, it bounced up and down with every step I took, banging against my side. I tried adjusting it around into various positions, all during the first half mile of my run, and nothing helped. I ended up using it how it was intended, as a hand-held water bottle.

Surprisingly, I really didn't think about it for most of the run. I switched hands a few times, but it was really nice to be able to take the occassional drink of water without having to unloop it from my belt.

Another thing I thought I would start trying was some kind of energy replacement gel. I had snagged some free Gu Gels from my last race, but I hadn't tried them yet because I didn't feel like I needed them for runs that lasted under an hour. Since 8 miles was going to take me well over an hour, I thought I should refuel on carbs and electrolytes midway through the run.

I used my last Gu packet today. My grocery store didn't carry that brand, so I'll try these ones out next.

I had planned on taking it around mile 5 or 6, but I happened to pass a trash can somewhere around 4.5 miles, so I took the opportunity to eat the Gu and get rid of the trash. I was glad to not have to stuff the used wrapper back in my belt. I washed it down with some water and managed not to really lose any time!

Mike and I had discussed my route at dinner the night before. There are two things I hate on the long runs. One is what happened to me last week. I ended up near my house at 6.5 miles and still had half a mile to go, so I had to run around the neighborhood for the final leg of the run. The other thing I try to avoid is running back the same way I went out. I try to make it a loop instead of running 4 miles and turning around and running back the same 4 miles.

Because Mike bikes quite a bit, I like to get his opinion on the distances of various routes around our neighborhood. We decided on a route that would take me on the bike trail until it ends on the other side of town. We thought it would be about 5 miles. Then the plan was to take roads back to the house, which we thought would be about 3 miles.

We were pretty dead-on when it came to the length of the bike trail. The part we misjudged was how many miles it would take to get back home from there. I ended up hitting the 8 mile mark somewhere along Main Street. Of course, I could have stopped and walked the rest of the way home, but that phrase was still in my head.

The faster you run, the quicker you're done.

I ended up running 9.05 miles. It took 1:25:38 at a 9:27 minute mile.

I don't know how I would have felt without the Gu, but I felt strong on the whole run. If it helped prevent burnout or cramps, or if it gave me a little more energy throughout the run, great!

A few other things I wanted to add about today's run....

I am not one of those people who gets done with a run and look amazing. (Do those people exist?) I am sweaty, red, shiny, etc. I bought a visor because no matter how early I manage to get out on Saturday (and today it was 6:30), I seem to end up running with the sun beating right into my face.

Awkward bathroom mirror pic

Seriously, the best $20 I've ever spent. The sun wasn't in my eyes, and it was great at keeping the sweat off of my face. I mean, I'm sure my hat got sweaty, which is gross, but my face stayed dry. I am not leaving home without my visor from now on!

The last thing I have to say is that I've gotten into the habit of listening to audio books while running. It is a great distraction. Currently, I'm listening to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. However, as most of you know, I live in Colorado. To say we are having a rough summer is an understatement. Multiple wildfires have devestated our beloved mountains. Then, just yesterday, we made National news again when a gunman slaughtered so many innocent people at a movie theater. I wasn't in a very vampire slaying kind of  mood.

I turned on my MercyMe Pandora station on my phone and worshipped my Father during the run. I love worship music. I love singing loudly while I'm cleaning my house, or driving in the car. And today, worshipping while running seemed like the perfect fit. There is evil in this world. Isn't it great to know that God will overcome all evil and rise up victorious? Isn't it amazing to know that in times of grief and fear, we can put our faith and trust in God? It is so fitting that, while pushing my body, I could thank God for giving me that body and this beautiful earth in the first place.

Praise God for a great run!

Livin' in a Small Town

This year we sold our first house.

We loved this house. We lived here for five years, brought two babies home, and made many happy memories. We were a young married couple when we bought this house, and had grown into a family of four, plus one large, energetic dog. It was time to look for something a little bigger.

The one thing we didn't want to lose was the yard.

Houses in the Loveland/Fort Collins area where we live don't often have yards of this size, and we had gotten pretty used to the space.

So when this house came on the market a day or so after ours went under contract, we acted quickly.

The pictures of our new house are from the listing, hence the time stamp and lack of toys in the yard.

This house added the square footage we wanted and actually increased our lot size. It was the very first house we saw and we knew it was our next home. (We went ahead and toured two more houses, but our mind was already on the offer we were going to be putting on this house. It felt just like we were on an episode of House Hunters.)

Large areas of grass all around the back.

A garden and separate fenced in dog run.

A big patio where the kids ride their bikes. Eventually we'll get some patio furniture or a table back there.

A large "wooded" area where Mike is building a playhouse for the girls.

The catch was that this house wasn't in Loveland or Fort Collins, but the small town of Windsor. I knew a little bit about Windsor because it's where I did my student teaching. I liked the school, but I didn't know anything else about the town.

We decided that small town living was for us, and by May we were moved in. This was one of the best decisions we've ever made.

Almost immediately we discovered that the location of our new house is perfect. We are right in the center of the town, and within walking distance of everything. Just behind our house is a bike trail that runs the length of the town. It is on open space with lots of ponds and gorgeous views. Between Mike and myself, we have put tons of miles on that trail already.

We are a couple blocks away from the library, which has excellent events and story times for the kids.

Not to mention, tiny computers to listen to stories and play games.

Windsor also has weekly concerts at a park right on Windsor Lake. Last night's concert also included the Taste of Windsor. Okay, I've been to Taste of's before, including the Taste of Chicago, and this one was laughably small. But the plus side is we didn't have to wait in line for anything, and the crowds weren't bad at all!

Great food!

And free games! Mike and the girls gear up for a sweet game of water tag.

Go get 'em!

Well played, you two.

Sophia got in on the action, too.

We are so happy to be living in this small town, and we definitely feel at home here. What a great place to raise a family!