Summer Fun

It's hard to believe summer is in full swing. Jackson's been saving his money that Grammy Linda gives him each week and he decided to spend it on a slip & slide that everyone can use. Although they made quite the mud slide in Grammy's yard, they had a blast.

Field Trip

Yesterday we traveled to Leechburg, PA (kinda between Indiana and Pittsbugh) to visit our friend, Bethany, and her family's turkey farm. I met Bethany @ SFU through our OT program - she just graduated from our program in May and is moving towards Philly in a few weeks to work as a pediatric OT!
It was an amazing day filled with all kinds of adventures, fun and learning. When we arrived, we played in the field and then hiked up the hill to the turkey coops. Along the walk, Jude managed to find several barns with some pretty awesome tractors hiding inside. We made it to the turkey barn and saw hundreds of poults (baby turkeys) - they just hatched on Tuesday, so they were less than a week old. They boys loved chasing them and picking them up. We also visited the older turkeys - they were so cute - the boys would shout, "Gobble, gobble, gobble!" and while they were shouting, the turkeys were silent but would then respond to the boys with their gobbles.
We got to visit the farm store and see how the turkeys are processed (none were being processed, but we got to see the equipment). We also got to take a dip in the pool before we headed home. It was a really fun trip and one that we'll never forget.

Mini-Vacation

We went to Deep Creek Lake, MD this weekend for a little start-of-summer vacation. We had a really great time - it is so beautiful in Deep Creek and so much to do. We ate at some really cool places, had fun @ Funland (imagine something like a Chuk E. Cheese's with games, tickets, and chaos), swam at the state park beach.

Saturday evening we walked over to Wisp Mountain Resort and watched a snowboarding competition - yes, SNOW (machine-made, of course). I think it inspired Jackson to try something new! Sunday afternoon, I took Jackson on a ski lift ride to the top of Wisp Mountain. We got up there, walked around, watched the white water rafters at the adventure course, and rode back down the mountain. Later that evening, Jeremy took Jackson on the mountain coaster - a highlight of the weekend for both of them.

We discovered Deep Creek from my friend, Kerri and I'm so thankful she shared this great place with us! This time we went with my sister and Nate and I think we all had a blast (even though little Jude man got sick :( I highly recommend DCL for a weekend or even week get-a-way. There's so much to do no matter what season you'd go.

Runner's High

And now I know why people run; it's best feeling in the world. I've never been the super-athletic type, but in my quest to loose weight, I've found that running accelerates the process and so I'm fair game!

In early April, I printed off the registration form for the Cresson Area Heritage Days 5K run, filled it out, and started training.

My first run was about 1.5-2 miles in length and I thought I was going to die - my lungs burned, my stomach ached, my head pounded, my eyes bulged. I gave myself a 1 day break and did it all over again (and was pretty much in the same shape as the first run). Since those first couple of runs (and recoveries), I've discovered that running is an amazing form of exercise and that it's brought out the athlete in me.

On Sunday, I ran in my first 5K race!

It was my experiment/test to see how I'd do. I learned a lot, mostly what not to do - like don't base my body temperature comfort level on others' ideas (I was way too cold the entire time) and if I just push a little harder, it can make a big difference (I was so close to coming in under 30:00).

My goal was two fold: finish in under 32:00 and don't be the last one across the line. I accomplished both goals. My time was 30:03 (not too shabby) and the best surprise of all was that I won a 3rd place medal for female 31-35 age group!

This whole running thing has been an eye-opener for me: If I can do this, anyone can! Also, I'm healthier now than, well, ever!

I've officially caught the running bug and I'm already planning and plotting my next race with new expectations, new goals, and maybe even new/more running partners.

Me before the race- just got registered and numbered (my lucky number happens to be 32, but 31 turned out to be my buddy that day).

Last leg of the race. I typically run in the afternoon, so a morning race was a real wake-up call for me - I was dehydrated and didn't feel very good for about the last 1/2 mile. I could see the finish line from here and boy was I glad!

CROSSING THE FINISH LINE!

My tee shirt and medal!

The entire reason for my existence - my guys (gotta get them into running:)!

For Grammy Linda

Grammy Linda asked for more photos, so here are a bunch in random order.

Taking Jude for a little hike around the lake (I realize I look like a boy on here).

This was just a few weeks ago.

Meeting Curious George @ Barnes and Noble

St. Patty's Day fun @ Target

Jackson's rendition of Einstein

Breakfast @ Tom & Joe's - best place in the world!

A moustached sippy cup

Boys prior to a hair cut

My guys in front of the Green Harvest Company (in Bedford)

A moustached boy!

I'm Downloading

The other evening I sat in front of the computer for what seemed like centuries (although it ended up being about 2&1/2-3 hours) downloading the 876 photos off of our 2 cameras, sorting, and organizing them into folders. Photos dated back to Thanksgiving weekend (what?!?!?). Since Thanksgiving, I've just been downloading a few here and there to put up on the blog, but this was the big download event. It was fun looking through all of them and reminiscing about all the fun we've had over the past several months. Just thought I'd share some random photos.

Jude with a pretzel on every finger (January)

Gettin' ready to head out into the winter cold (February)

I'd rather just forget about this day (February)

Mr. Exploration (February)

Oh yes! This was the "I can take my clothes off all by myself!" stage -we went out for Grammy Linda's birthday, so yes, this was in public! (February)

Hangin' at the cafe in Target (March)

Someday he'll fit into these shoes:( (March)

David Gray concert in Pittsburgh - we got to meet him (he's in the middle - we went with our friends Tracey and Jim Donovan)!!! (March)

The zoo! (April)

We watched as a diver cleaned the glass in the shark tank @ the zoo (April)

Dinner with our good friends before they moved (Herb, Bethany, Jackson, Theresa, Jude, and Shaun) (May)

Jude's attempt at being a make-up artist for a role in The Jungle Book. We took the kids to see the play and Jude wanted so badly to be part of it, so he took matters into his own hands.

So you can see we've been busy the past couple of months. I made a promise to myself to not let that many photos collect on the cameras again!

Reading Clinic Closing Ceremony

Jackson finished up his semester at the SFU Reading Clinic on Saturday! I'm so into this because he is so into it! He loved every minute of this experience. He got up every Saturday (willingly and voluntarily) to go and read for an hour &1/2. Saturday's closing ceremony culminated with the group of readers performing/reading the story they wrote about the Easter Bunny. Congrats, Jack - you're a great reader!

Jackson with Fran (Dr. Boyd)!

This was the piece of cake that we brought home from the celebration. Sometime through the day, I walked past the counter and found a big chunk taken out of the middle of it with an 'IOU' note in it - I wonder how that happened?