Last year we went to watch the finish of the Twin Cities Marathon. That was when I reiterated that I would NEVER run a marathon, and Colleen and I said we would run a 1/2 marathon together. Neither one of those statements ended up being true last year 🙂 I ran my marathon, but Colleen and I completed a 10-mile race instead. The marathon goes from Minneapolis to St. Paul, but takes an indirect route. We ran the “shortcut to the capital” which goes straight from Minneapolis to St. Paul and finishes on the marathon route. It starts an hour before the marathon so crowds are starting to come out and the atmosphere is fantastic. Tons of fun. We ran and laughed and talked and had a great time. Here’s what we had for breakfast before the race 😉 (not a good idea to go to the largest candy store in Minnesota the day before running our race!)
And here we are at the finish. This was a great course and awesome crowds. It is a lottery to get into the 10-mile race so not yet sure if we’ll do it again next year, but maybe we’ll be up for it! Colleen did amazing for her first race of this distance!!! And I loved doing it with her! So cool!!!
First day of school for all of the kids. This year they are all at different schools. Three different bus times in morning and night. Three chances to miss the bus! One of them got rid of braces, one added braces, and one still needs braces!
Colleen (upper left in front) is helping to lead her dance team onto the field at half-time!
Wow does it seem like she grew up fast! It’s been a fun year for her on the dance team. And so fun to watch. Go Eagles!
Football. Grrrr. Create the lane!
What goes up…must come down! Head it Megs!
Erik raved about Amazon Prime so I gave it a shot. Wow does it make it sooooo easy to think of something and then order it instantly. One such purchase was light-up badminton birdies. Megan and I go outside most nights before bedtime and play for 10-20 minutes. It’s been a ton of fun playing in pitch darkness. Here is the camera on a tripod with the shutter open for 30 seconds watching the path of the birdie 🙂
Anyone can go to the apple orchard to pick apples. We go to play a round of one-handed catch with the apples 🙂
We had some friends come up from Illinois so they could check out several colleges along the way, and, of course, see Beth’s lab with their daughter. It was a really fun weekend catching up on old times and hanging out by the camp fire as our stew cooked on the open flames.
Where’s Waldo? Can you even guess which kid this is? Megan is somewhere in both pictures.
Colleen and I did a color run at the high school this year. Most of the color runs cost tons of money (and then you read how dishonest many of the organizers are), but this is a local race that’s been going on for years that switched this year to making it a color run. Perfect for us! Unfortunately it was the same night as the homecoming dance for Colleen, so she was a little colored in spots still while wearing her fancy dress 🙂 I met up with a few of our neighbors at the start and ran with one of them the whole way. Colleen wore a hat to help protect her hair, which also made it SOOOO easy to find her.
Ya know how they say that most accidents happen within a few miles of your home? Beth was a mile away from home, dropping Colleen off at school in the morning, when an inattentive driver rushing to work decided she couldn’t wait for Beth to completely clear the 4-way stop intersection. Grrrr. Wake up lady. Pay attention. 4-way stops aren’t that hard to figure out. We got the estimate today and unfortunately will be without that car for maybe 10 days. No one was hurt. Life goes on.
And, finally, it’s time to carve the great pumpkin. We rolled it onto a tarp and dragged it into the front yard. Megan has had a blast all day watching the expressions on just about every driver as they go past our house. Mouths agape and thumbs up signs. We weren’t sure what we’d find inside. The shell was about 6-7″ thick, but otherwise was easy to carve through. It’s been a fun spring, summer, and fall watching that thing get bigger and bigger!!!
Meant to comment on your last entry, but didn’t get around to it. Always enjoy the pics from Grand Marais. Hope Chris got all the books back to the library on time.
Also, always enjoy pics of your young students at beginning of the year. Hard to believe how much they have grown and matured. Good to see them enjoying outside activities as well. Looks like Colleen is really enjoying the dance team. Glad all her hard work enabled that dream to be fulfilled. Looks like Chris is holding his own on the gridiron. I remember when he was just starting and had a hard time fitting into the uniform. Megan always has a determined look on her face, whether in soccer, karate or other activities. She really does seem to have a green thumb. Glad she enjoys gardening and has had such success.
Leaf pics remind me of what I’ve been up to the past few weeks. We’re just about at the end of the leaf raking. The 17 barrels they picked up today made 75 so far. I filled another 10 after they emptied the barrels today. Maybe this week will be it for the year. Still need to get the pond ready for winter. Still have one frog in the pond. Thought it would have hopped back to the woods by now.
Sounds like you and Colleen will be doing more running together in the next few months. Congratulations on being accepted by the Samaritans for the Boston Marathon. That was great news. I know your work in raising awareness of mental illness, depression and suicide is touching many lives and will continue to do so. I imagine the monetary commitment may seem a little daunting now, but I’m sure you will far exceed that goal. CONGRATS again and good luck.