because 26.3 would be crazy ...

this weekend stacey ran the chicago marathon

his friend, and coworker, pete had run twin cities last weekend
but decided he was up for a challenge and ran along side stacey in chicago as well



although i wasn't sure at first
and went back and forth for the past 2 weeks
about whether or not to make the drive
i apologize to anyone who had to listen 
to my hours of contemplating
i decided around 11 on saturday morning that i should just do it

i decided that stacey could use the support
and the alternative was sitting at drew's football game in the rain
sorry, drew.

ben, alex, and i packed up quickly
and got to chicago on saturday night

sunday morning we hit the streets of chicago
along with 40,230 runners

stacey's brother
2 of his kids
my sister (who was 37 weeks pregnant)
her husband
their 1.5 year old
and ben, alex and i
were cheering machines

we met stacey at mile 4

 which was the perfect spot because the kids had a place to play

 

 

we took a break at the park
while stacey ran 7 more miles

saw some crazy runners like this guy
who was running the marathon
WHILE DRIBBLING TWO BASKETBALLS ...
at a sub 8 min mile pace!!!

 and then set ourselves up to catch stacey at mile 11 

it didn't take long before the kids
and troy
were the highlight of the block

even owen was giving high-fives

people were cutting across from the other side of the street
just to go through our high five line

i loved seeing them make so many people happy

especially when it was stacey and pete

stacey had a GREAT run!
the second half of his race was phenomenal
which ended up causing us to miss him at mile 20 ...
BUT
in the end it didn't matter
he felt great from mile 20-26
and finished really strong
with a time of 4:15

way to go, stacey!!

we are all so proud of you!!

date with ben

last night drew had hunters safety
alex was at a birthday party
and
stacey was in chicago prepping for the marathon

SO ...
ben and i set up a date night

he chose to go to chili's for dinner
followed up by yogurt sundae for dessert



thanks for the fun night, ben

 

i love you too!

3 on 3 champions

all summer long
ben and 2 friends, sam and carson, have been playing in 3 on 3 touraments
their most recent,
and final tournament for this year because basketball is starting,
was in forest lake.

we spent sunday nights in september building up our seed
and then the final night was a final tournament
we had only one loss in the 'regular season'
but ended up beating that team
in a very close game
for the final championship



first place
champions
and
they deserved it 

 

i am SO excited that the basketball season is here
but have to admit i will miss 3 on 3 a bit
these boys play SO well together
and it was a really fun run!

zoo fun

today i went with alex's class to como zoo



thankfully it was a BEAUTIFUL day
and the warm temperatures stuck around for us to get in our field trip

i had 4 boys in my group

and we spent our day making our way around the zoo

 

we got to meet a bird named turkey

  

we visited the japanese garden
where temporarily peace and tranquility were nowhere to be found

 

we watched the baby orangutan play with a box
yes ... he is STILL my favorite animal at the zoo

and we saw the tiger taking a swim
which is a first for me

thanks for letting me tag along, alex

you have a very fun class

and it was a very fun day

coffee & cowbells

although stacey doesn't run until next weekend
his friend, pete, is running BOTH chicago AND twin cities
and we thought it would be fun to go cheer him on



it ended up being a little rainy
but we dropped drew off at church to volunteer
and made our way down -
it was nothing that a little caribou
and a few cowbells couldn't fix

we recycled last years sign ;)

and made as much noise as possible

 

 

maybe someday i'll run one ...
but for now ...
drinking coffee and being a cheerleader works for me

BHS youth night 2013

 

 

 

just another night ...

fair weather fan

last saturday was NOT a nice day to have 3 football games

it was raining
horizontally



the boys all toughed it out

BUT
for most of alex's team
this was the first game in not so nice weather
and by halftime i am pretty sure they were ready to be done ;)

we were too.

THANKFULLY ...
tuesday night brought a beautiful night
which was great for the players
and for us fans

we fought hard

a little too hard at times
facemasking ... #90 ...
 thankfully no one saw it ;)

and had a great game

too bad it's looking like the rain is coming back for this weekend

genius marketing

how thoughtful of disney
to send us a personalized list
 of when OUR upcoming school breaks are



almost makes me want to book a trip -
for when we aren't on break

jaunt 2013

last week i got to walk with the boys on their jefferson jaunt -
one of the fundraisers that their school does

i started out the morning walking with alex's class

 

 

 

 

 

and spent the afternoon with ben's class

 

 

 

when everyone was done walking
the top money raisers
got to throw water balloons at a few teachers ...

 

 

 

 

what good sports!!