Zach's 12th Birthday!

When did this child grow up from underneath me?  At age 12, Zach is 5'6", weighs 170 lbs, & wears a size 14 men's shoe.  It's crazy!  Along with that BIG body, Zach has quite the personality! 

12 Things about Zach on his 12th Birthday:

1.  He is a gentle giant & kind to others - always sticking up for the "underdog"

2.  He has a great sense of humor

3.  Is a great story teller & a great speaker (you should hear his speeches he gives in school)

4.  An amazing athlete & has a true passion for sports

5.  Is a hard worker & motivated easily

6.  Is always willing to help when Jim & I ask

7.  Loves animals & is best friends with Libby

8.  Loves the outdoors & could spend every waking minute outside if we allowed it

9.  Is always hot & hence I have to argue with him to wear a coat in the winter

10.  He eats us out of house & home (eats breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, 2nd lunch, & so on...)

11.  He idolizes his Dad so much & it is super sweet! 

12.  He is my favorite middle child! 

This year for Zach's 12th birthday we started off the day by decorating his bedroom door.  He was surprised when he woke up:

Off to school:

Zach chose to order in for his birthday meal.  We got his favorite - a double cheeseburger from 5 Guys & a Burger AND mac-n-cheese from Noodles & Co. 

And I had to make his favorite cupcakes

After dinner, Zach had to run off to basketball practice.  But after his practice, we all went to pick him up & headed to the movie theater to see Hugo.  It was a fun, packed day!

My grown 12 year old boy:

To finish up Zach's birthday celebration, our family will be going to the Vikings/Saints game on Sunday.  Drew Brees is Zach's all time favorite player.  So he plans to wear his Saints jersey & cheer for the other team.  He's super excited!  

Halloween 2011

This fall was such a busy time of year between kids activities, traveling, & my marathons.  We never were able to find a time to make it to the pumpkin patch.  And this year the kids didn't even care to carve the pumpkins I had taken the time to buy from Cub.  So no home-made pumpking seeds for me this year.  But, they were still all about dressing up & running around on Halloween night.  Sean wanted to make his own costume this year.  He went as a Zombie.   

Zach didn't really dress up, but instead ripped some clothes & painted his face in camouflage.  Then he climbed our front tree so that he would be ready to scare the kids coming around trick-or-treating.  I tell you, Zach has such a fun personality!  He comes up with the craziest things!

Lauryn enjoyed going to the school dance & then running around with her friends.  She was Bat Girl. 

Marathons #12 & 13

What a journey running all these marathons has been.  As I get older & suffer more body pain, I am finding that I am switching my goals from running a fast marathon to running multiple marathons in a year.  I have found it works wonderful to have 1 training season but then to run 2-3 marathons.  And, I get to add traveling to my marathons, which is always so much fun.  It has brought me to some fun places!  As of now, my total stands - 13 marathons completed & 7 different states.  

This fall I ran 2 marathons back to back.  I started with the Twin Cities marathon, which I always love.  It's a great time of year & I always have a number of friends who like to run it as well and so there is always someone to train with.  

  

 A few Twin Cities Friends at the finish:

Pam, Troy, Me, Carol, Todd

Jim's such a sport.  He's had to retire from running until his full knee replacement surgery.  And I know it's tough for him to see me out there.  He just aches to join in.  Yet, he's always there to support me!  He's truly my inspiration, since he's the one who ran a marathon first (to just cross it off his bucket list) & get me interested in trying one out myself.  He's amazing every year at Twin Cities...  cheering at miles 4, 11, 13, 17, 20, & the finish.   

Shortly after Twin Cities, we traveled to St. Louis with the Conrad's to run another marathon.  We had such a fun time, just running for fun.  We traveled with our families & really enjoyed the area.  St. Louis is a great city for a long weekend! 

"We are a drinking group with a running problem" 

My faithful family, out there cheering us on

At the finish, with the Arch in the background

Finishers: Me, Todd, Carol

It ended up being a HOT day!

Fall Sports

I love Fall!  It is one of my favorite times of year.  I love the weather change, pulling out those comfortable jeans & sweatshirts, no jackets yet, the fall colors, and SPORTS!  I love the start of a new school year and volleyball and football starting up.  We had a blast watching Sean start his first year of tackle football.  I was worried about what he'd think since he hates being "tossed around" by Zach.  But he LOVED it.  He's just like Zach when he says he likes the idea of being able to "hit" someone & not get in trouble for it.  And Sean did great.  He even scored a touchdown this first year.  He's working hard to not gain 5 lbs this whole year so that next year he won't be red-striped.  Once you hit a certain weight, you get red-striped and can no longer carry the ball.  That doesn't sit well with Sean.  

Sean, stretching before the game

Ready to "hit" hard

Zach loves football!  He's in the heavy weight league, so everyone gets to carry the ball because they're all big kids.  He's the go to guy for those short touchdown passes.  He loves it.  Zach had a little set back this year, separating his shoulder during a football game.  Unfortunately he was not able to play in the play-offs after his injury.  And then to rub salt in the wound, his undefeated team ended up losing the championship game.  Zach was pretty disappointed.  Luckily he's still young & has many years of football left!

   

Touchdown!

Sacking the quarterback (he's #93)

And Lauryn enjoyed her last year of volleyball before high school by playing on a school team and a Champlin league.  The fun part was that the Champlin team was all St. Vincent friends.  So basically she got to play with school friends on both teams.  The Champlin team had a wonderful season.  They were undefeated through the season as well.  But unfortunately they lost a game during the play-offs & didn't win the championship either.  She's excited to start volleyball at Totino Grace next year though! 

Ready...

Spike

First Day of School 2011

Another year & another summer down.  I tell you, I feel like I just keep posting first day of school pictures.  It's so hard to comprehend that another year has flown by.  And as I write this, it is already December & this school year is close to being half done.  This is Lauryn's last year of Junior High.  Next year she will be in High School.  That just amazes me.  Zach is in 6th grade this year.  He's loving the fact that he is finally old enough to also be on the school's sports teams.  And Sean...  3rd grade already.  I love my kids ages & the fact that they are little people that we can enjoy.   

First Day of School

Zach, Lauryn, & Sean

Iron Girl

Where to begin with my story of Iron Girl?  I decided to register for this race since a lot of my friends were doing it.  I had just gotten a nice tri bike for Christmas last year & figured it should get put to good use!  But still, I had not taken the time to go out for one bike ride to train for the biking portion.  So the morning of, we are unloading my bike and hear a hiss.  It occurs to me that it sounds like air leaking.  Sure enough, my front tire was flat.  Jim had brought all the tools to blow it up again, but nothing was fixing that wheel.  Thankfully Iron Girl had bike repair men that took a look at it & totally replaced my tube in the tire (& for FREE!).  I was so thankful.  So I walk my bike to the transition area & just in that short amount of time it took me to walk, my front tire was flat AGAIN!  So I stand in line again and they replace the tire again & do a good inspection of the tire to make sure there is nothing in there that is popping the tube.  This time it works & I am relieved (however, I am still nervous that I'll get in to transition after my run portion & it will be flat again).  The race starts and my wonderful friend Carol & I decide we're going to do it together!  So we run our first leg of the race & come in transition to start our bike portion.  And "Amen", the wheel is good to go.  So we set out for the 22 mile bike race & we're going strong.  Just after seeing mile marker 15, I run something over with my bike & feel it pop out from under the tire.  Within a minute, all of a sudden I get a whoosh of air & my back tire is flat.  Now how can one person have THREE flat tires in one day?!?!  Thankfully a volunteer radioed in for the bike repair men to come out but they said it was going to be awhile.  So, Carol (who I owe huge) decides to stay with me.  And then she suggests we start running & let the repair men come up on us.  That way we'll save time & still be moving & making some distance.  Well, we ended up running over FOUR miles WITH OUR BIKES!  By the time they got to us, we were pretty much the last few bikers coming in from the bike portion of the race.  And now that we've run these additional miles, we now have to finish up with another portion of running again.  Although I was pretty disappointed about the circumstances, Carol & I sure had a great time laughing about the situation.  And I'm pretty proud of us for sticking with it & finishing!  And I have Carol to thank for staying with me & keeping me going.  I will always remember this race, that's for sure! 

 Thank you so much Repair Man!

 Before the race - Carol & Todd and Jim & I

 We thought we were going good on the bikes...

 We are Two Tough Cookies! 

Yes, this bike, these wheels...



Our Crazy Group

Canning with my sister!

My sister & I kept with our tradition to can again this year.  Well, I really should say I canned with my sister and her husband, Pat... because Pat does A LOT of the work for us!  This year we decided to also can spaghetti sauce and I am in love with it!  I don't think I'll ever buy another jar in the store again.  It's such a fun time to spend with my sister and the whole family enjoys salsa & now spaghetti sauce for the year!  Can't wait to continue the tradition again next year. 

Alaska!

We just returned home from the most amazing vacation in Alaska!  There was not one day that went by where I was not thankful to have this opportunity, breathe in the beauty, & get to experience all that we did.  We took a family vote & this was all 5's favorite vacation ever!!!

We started off with a week on land where we toured Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, & Seward.  Our highlights were walking the farmers market in Anchorage, seeing a moose walking right in the city of Anchorage, taking a dome train ride through the mountain range & seeing Mount McKinley (only 3% of tourists actually get to see it - you need a clear day), touring Denali National Park & seeing all the wildlife.  Once we got to Seward, that is where we boarded the cruise.

Next we spent a week on the Celebrity Millennium Cruise Ship.  While on the cruise we cruised by Hubbard Glacier and ported in Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan, & ended in Vancouver.  We did some amazing excursions during our ports.  In Juneau we went on a whale watching excursion where we saw breaching humpback whales & a pod of orca whales.  While in Skagway, we took a helicopter ride up on top of a glacier, got out & went dog sledding, & then took the helicopter ride back down.  In Ketchikan, we went on a bear excursion & got to experience a momma bear protect her 2 cubs from another bear that wanted to share food.  Then once we landed in Vancouver, we stayed an extra day & enjoyed Grouse Mountain, walked one of the largest suspension bridges over Capilano Canyon (450 ft long & 230 ft high), walked the Cliffwalk over the canyon as well, & hiked through the rain forest.  Vancouver is absolutely breath taking!

We took 971 pictures while on this vacation & yet none of them truly capture the "aw" of the moment.  And now I sit, trying to figure out which pictures to post & what are the best stories to share.  I could obviously go on & on, as we just had the most amazing time ever.  So, I am going to do my best to try to limit the amount of pictures posted, but here are my favorites:

 We saw this moose on the outskirts of Anchorage while taking a trolley ride through the city

 We took this picture while on the train ride, Mount McKinley is way out there

 Denali National Park

 We saw 13 caribou

 Our family in Denali National Park

 We saw 6 Grizzly Bear while in Denali National Park

 Bon Voyage!

 While on the cruise, we sailed near Hubbard Glacier

 Our family in front of the Glacier

 The kids on formal night

 Our family in Juneau

 Our whale watching excursion - we saw Humpback whales

 And we saw tons & tons of seals

 And we saw a pod of Orca whales

 In Skagway, we first took a helicopter ride on top of a glacier

 Then we went dog sledding

 In Ketchikan, we went on a bear excursion.  We were on a boat that brought us to many streams, where the bears feed.  Notice the bear in the back ground?

 Here's the Momma bear & her cubs.  We ended up seeing 16 black bear!

 Our family, on the cruise

 Docking in Vancouver

 The top of Grouse Mountain, notice the blue mountains in the middle of this picture?  I love it!

We walked the Capilano Suspension Bridge, over a canyon

 And we walked the cliff walk over the canyon

And time to head home.  We had 13 bags of luggage, all full to the 50 lb. max. weight limit!  

It was bittersweet as the vacation came to an end. On one hand, we were all having the times of our lives. The boys loved that they could eat pizza & ice cream at any time of the day, all day long. Lauryn & I were enjoying the shows & night life. Jim loved not stressing about work. Yet, we were all ready to get home after being gone so long & we all couldn't wait to see the dogs. And it was time for us all to try to get back on schedule before school starts up. Alaska is 3 hours earlier than MN, so we were eating dinner at 7:00 (10:00 here), going to bed at midnight (3:00AM here), and waking up at 9:00 (noon here). So we've been having lazy days at our house since returning!