October blows in

I can’t believe I haven’t shared with you all about Mike’s marathon yet. What kind of blogger am I anyway? I’ll tell ya…the kind that has three kids and likes to help with church, school, and Girl Scouts! Sorry about that. I know you all understand though.

Well, Mike ran his marathon and survived, even if just barely! No, really he did great and made it in under 4 hours. He was in the top third of the runners, maybe even the top quarter overall.

When we got to Portland we spent the afternoon driving around and trying to see the route where Mike would run. Once we got to the hotel the girls went swimming. At dinner Kelby started complaining of a headache and ended up with a pretty good fever and sore throat. That messed things up a bit. The next morning Debbie ended up staying at the hotel with the girls while George and I chased Michael around town to take pictures and give him his necessary nourishment. They have food and drinks on the course, but he had special crackers he wanted. I’m so thankful that George and Debbie came down. I would have been in trouble there on my own!

They sent the runners off in waves, so we would watch for the pace runner (one person that was running only half the race and keeping at a certain pace) in his division, then we’d try to get pictures. Then off we’d go to another part of town to see if we could catch him again.

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At the finish line we were a little worried, because he wasn’t in his pace division any longer. He had dropped back a bit, but if you saw that hill he had to run about mile 17, you would know why!

We were happy to see him come in and he was wiped out. I don’t know if he’ll try that again any time soon. He is still keeping up his running, but more like 5 to 10 miles at a time instead up 20! We might be getting a treadmill so he can stay out of the elements this winter…and I might even give it a go then. You definitely won’t find me out running in the dark and rain!

Michael limped around the rest of the weekend, but we enjoyed our last night at the hotel. Kelby even started feeling better enough to jump in the pool and we enjoyed eating out to celebrate.

The next weekend was my vacation! I got to pack up my scrapbooking supplies and enjoy 48 hours on the mountain with some other ladies. They fed us and had beds for us to rest in. The weather was beautiful. I have attended this crop for three years now. It is so relaxing and cozy, plus I got some scrapbooking projects done. I am now caught up on the girls’ school albums and a few other projects.

I’m proud of myself that I already have the girls costumes done. They made it really easy on me this year. You can’t really tell in this picture, but they are bats! They let us use the old “cat” costume hoods and I only had to sew up some black sleeves that are attached to their wings. They’ve already been flying around the neighborhood. They never waste their costumes!

Here they are doing their homework which has really been the bane of my existence since school started. Fifth grade is a whole new world and it has been challenging for Kelby and I. They have a lot of work to do and send a note home on Friday that lists everything that is missing. If she missed a lot, then she had to make that up AND get her current homework done. She is finally getting to be more responsible in getting her name on her work and getting it turned in. I hear that fifth grade is a transition year.

Here’s the other thing that has been taking up my time, but I LOVE it! This is my Girl Scout troop. I am so excited about it. We have had two real meetings so far. I think the girls are enjoying it and so am I. It takes awhile to get things planned and organized for it, but it is so rewarding. The best compliment is that my girls like me as their leader!

So, I guess that is October so far. The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are finally falling. I haven’t slowed down however, so I’m hoping for some of that soon! Mama bear wants to hibernate for the winter.