First Day of Autumn :)

Anyone who knows me knows that today is quite possibly my favorite day of the year :) Autumn is by far my favorite season - and why not! The colors, the crisp air, apple cider/pie/dumplings, pumpkin spice lattes/pie/bars; the smells, the sights, the sounds. Rustling, brilliant leaves, the requirement of a big, comfy sweatshirt for afternoon walks, and the comfort of a warm house with cider or hot chocolate waiting at home at the end of a long day :)

Tomorrow marks Mark and I's 3rd anniversary! When I think back over the past 3 years, I realize just exactly how much has happened, and then it seems like 3 years. However, the time has just flown by, and I have a tough time recalling what life was like before then. We plan to celebrate with a nice lunch at home, hopefully a walk after work, and supper at Brian's Supper Club in Fulda. Thursday, we plan to take a half day at work and head up to Redwood Falls for a fun, relaxing day walking the trails and seeing all the beautiful trees start to change color :)

We look forward to settling into the cool autumn months, even in the midst of all the hustle and bustle to come! This next weekend is our last "free" weekend for the next month. While Mark will be busy helping his Dad in the field through much of October and November, I will be busy at a bachelorette party, then a bridal shower, and then a wedding for the first part of October. BUSY, but a good busy :)

After our two big road trips of the year, we're looking forward to spending the holidays close by this year, and being able to relax at home a little more! We've been blessed to be able to see most all our family this year, and look forward to Josh and Tiffany's wedding in December so we can see even more! God is so good, and I am in awe of the beauty of his creation :) I am excited about what is to come the remainder of this year!

Turkey Day 10K Results

Well, I didn't do anywhere near as well as I wanted to, but I did finish the race, which is most important.
My overall time was around 69 minutes, with an 11:03 pace. Disappointing to say the least, but at least it was a finish!
I made it to mile 3.5 before being so fatigued by the heat that I had to stop, at which point the joint pain in my legs behind my knees really set in. I really struggled the rest of the race to keep running, and I walked a LOT in short spurts. I was glad to have at least kept an 11ish minute pace, but hope to be able to focus on speed a little more (and endurance, even in the heat) now that the pressure is off for the race season.

Road Trip Day 9 - Race Day / Mackinac Island

After a restless night, Mark and I were up early, and decided to take an earlier ferry over to the island. We were going to grab some breakfast on our way over to the island, but apparently the continental breakfast at our hotel didn't open until 7:30 (kinda late, doncha think?!), so we grabbed a couple nutri-grain bars from the hotel room, and went over to the island without much in our tummies.

We both did well on the race (I finished in 87:57, Mark in 80:19), and I ran back quick to get the camera from the locker so we could have some sort of proof that we actually ran the race lol We downed about half a dozen oranges between the two of us, as well as a handful of bananas and quite a bit of water lol Hey - we'd just ran 8 miles with only a nutri-grain bar in our tums!!

By the time I got back and we found our times in the hotel activity center (and freshening up secretly in the Mission Point restrooms), we walked downtown (again) and had lunch at the Irish Pub - Mark having a chicken sandwich and I a wrap. I wasn't feeling very well (dehydrated and sleep-deprived), so after lunch, we walked to the nearby park and attempted a nap on the lawn, making sure to pick a spot without any bird poo, since the seagulls were abundant.

After an hour or so, we walked down to Kilwin's for another Mackinac Island Mud Fudge cone and relaxed in the little shopping center around the corner. When I finally started feeling more back to normal, we found a bike rental place right next to the ferry dock and rented a couple bikes. We took a nice, relaxing bike ride around the island before catching the ferry back to the mainland.

Once back at our hotel room and showered up, we picked up a pizza from B&C's Pizza and enjoyed a relaxing night in, watching the NASCAR race and pigging out after a long, active day. It felt so fantastic to be done with all the vigorous training for the big race, and we were looking forward to being home the next day :)

Mackinac Island 8 Mile Race Results!

I finished in 87:57!! Met my race goals:

1. 1st: Run the first 6 miles without stopping


2. 2nd: Finish in 90 minutes or under


3. 3rd: Walk no more than half a mile

It was a beautiful day for the race, nice and cool to start, and the first part of the race was almost entirely in the shade. For the first time in a race EVER, I didn't think I was about to die after the first mile. In fact, fatigue didn't start setting in until around mile 5, which means my training must have done at least some good :) I walked a bit when I reached mile 6, and it kinda went downhill from there. It was really hot on the last 2 mile stretch around the east side of the island, and with hardly any shade, it was really tough to keep up my pace, and to not walk a lot. I pulled it out at the end, even evoking a, "Wow - way to finish strong!" from a lady cheering on he sidelines. Pretty impressive, if I may say so myself. We didn't exactly have any breakfast, so we took our wrath out on the oranges, bananas and water at the finish line. I think I ate 4 oranges alone! BAD IDEA, though - please don't ever try that, 'cause I ended up very dehydrated (felt like puking for a while after lunch), and wasted a few hours of my day feeling very sickly. Feeling great now, though!

So it's done :) Now just the Turkey Day 10K next weekend! Official results will be posted on http://www.runmackinac.com/ in a few days :) Turkey Day 10K info is available at http://www.turkeyday10k.com/

Road Trip Day 8 - Mackinac Island...again!

We slept in again (this is becoming a trend, I think lol), then checked out around 10am, and headed down to sit on the adirondak chairs down on the green for an hour before we decided to play that game of mini-golf we had passed on the night before. The course was still pretty damp, but we had fun anyway. We also were very excited to have a real crane (the bird) hanging out on the course with us. We had the paparazzi on our trail, or rather the crane's trail lol

After golfing, we made our way down to Mary's Bistro for lunch, and had a great lunch on the deck by the docks, eating and filling out a few postcards. After lunch, we mailed the postcards, then slowly made our way up, past the Missionary Bark Chapel, to Fort Mackinac. We made it up just in time for the canon firing demonstration, and continued to explore around a bit, also taking in a gun firing demonstration. Such an interesting place, but our feet were certainly dragging, and we were feeling the need for a nap, so we finished up seeing what we wanted to see, and then headed back down the island to catch a ferry over to the mainland - Mackinaw City - for the night. We relaxed for a while, then headed downtown to Cunningham's for a yummy spaghetti supper before cashing in early - we needed our rest for the race!

Road Trip Day 7 - Mackinac Island

We slept in until 8am, then, while Mark caught up on a little emailing and facebooking, I took my book and a cup of coffee out to the white adirondak porch swing and read for a while. We went for a short, brutal 4-mile run around the east side of the island around 10:15, which, with all the walking we did, didn't put us home until noon. However, in our defense, we also climbed what seemed like 200 steps up to view the Arch Rock, which was really beautiful! We decided it was a good idea to get that climb out of the way while we were already hot and sweaty lol

After a shower and getting ready for the day, we walked back downtown for lunch at Goodfellows, where we had some pretty fantastic wings. We sat there a while, still trying to recoup from the morning run, then decided to rest a bit longer by taking a carriage tour around the island. It was nice to just sit there and let the horses do all the work for a couple hours, and also neat to hear about the history of the island, as well as a few made-up stories by the carriage driver (whatever they're called). After the carriage ride, we stopped at Kilwin's for some ice cream, then headed back near the hotel, where we sat in the adirondak chairs facing the shoreline for a couple hours.

When we were good and rested, we walked to the Bistro on the Green for supper. Mark had a good bacon burger while I had a Southwest Chicken Sandwich. Both were delicious! We thought about put-putting, but decided to save it for the next day, as it was getting dark already, and the course had no lights.

Instead, we headed back up to the lodge to sit by the fireplace for an hour or so - Mark computering-it-up, Amy plugging away at her novel, before heading to bed again. A wonderful and exhausting day on Mackinac, which left us feeling much more nervous about the race with our disaster of a run, but still such a relaxing day!

Road Trip Day 6 - Kalamazoo to MACKINAC ISLAND!! :)

We woke up in time for breakfast at the hotel, then relaxed a bit before packing our things up again. We were on the road by 11am on our way to meet up with my cousin, Katy, and her little guy, Berrit in Byron Center, MI. It was so good to see them - Berrit getting to be SO BIG (and yet so small)!

After lunch, we were back on the road, driving most of the way straight through to the island, with only one side trip to McDonald's for a necessary ice cream cone.

We arrived in Mackinaw City around 5pm, and after driving around a bit, we pulled in to the Shepler's ferry docks and unloaded our luggage. We barely made the 5 o'clock ferry, and 20 minutes later, we were docking on the island! Such a beautiful view!! We hopped on a horse-drawn "taxi" to take us up to our hotel - the Mission Point Resort, about 10 minutes by foot (or horse). We were so excited to be there, and the hotel was really wonderful! The view from our room was beautiful, however we quickly realized that we didn't have any air conditioning, so we were hoping for mild temperatures for the next couple days!

We walked down to find some supper at a little pizzeria on the island - Sarducci's. Mark had the spaghetti, and I had the vegetarian lasagna. Both were really great, although if we had only walked a little further, we would've found some much better places, but oh well :) We walked down to the far end of main street afterwards, catching a beautiful sunset just a ways from the bridge. We made our way back to the hotel, and spent some time relaxing in the rustic lodge by the fireplace before heading upstairs to bed. After a long day of driving, we also had to get some rest for the next couple days of sightseeing and exploring ahead!

Road Trip Day 5 - Indiana to Michigan

We woke up early, got ready, packed our things, ate some breakfast, and then headed over to Dan and Sarah's in time to say goodbye to everyone, and to watch Eli and Hannah while Sarah took Jacob to his first day of preschool. It was nice to have some snuggle time with the newest little Ropte, and we were able to say "bye bye" to Hannah, who was sound asleep when we stopped by the night before.

We were on our way to Warsaw shortly before 10am, and made it there in time for lunch with an old friend of mine from high school - Shawna (Jackson) Harshman and her little man, Owen. We lunched at Penguin Point (where I worked for a month shortly before we moved to Iowa in 1998). After lunch, we went over to Center Lake park for a while so Owen could play on the equipment. Was so great to catch up with Shawna after so many years!!

We drove around a while after the park to see a few sights in the area, but needed to find some wireless internet to check our route for the next leg of the trip, so we made a trip to my old favorite place in the world - Courthouse Coffee :) We spent a good hour there, me enjoying a yummy white-chocolate hazelnut latte; Mark enjoying a junky conversation with Jamie about hunting and fishing.

After the coffee shop, we drove down by my old house growing up, checked out the old neighborhood, and went for walk down to the tressel. Of course, we were living dangerously by walking on the train tracks, and were warned by the little train truck guy that this was "not a smart move", but we pressed on anyway. Of course, it was drizzling by the time we got to the tressel, and we were being eaten alive by mosquitos, so we gave up and walked back to the car.

We drove around the block a time or two, down to Kelly Park, back around by the schools, and then out to our old church out in the middle of nowhere before a short stop at Kohl's on our way up to Middlebury for supper at Das Dutchen Essenhaus. It was so delicious!!!! We ate entirely way too much and had to take our dessert with us.

We checked into our hotel in Kalamazoo around 8:30pm, and hurried to get our workout clothes on and down to the fitness center down the road to log our 5 mile run for the night. Treadmill running is pretty awful, and I am not at all looking forward to the winter months of running inside :( We got back, gave away half our dessert to the girl at the front desk, and split the other one, then showered, and off to bed.

Was a wonderful day, and fun to see all the changes in Warsaw, and fun to experience a bit of the Amish countryside - passed a couple horse-drawn buggies. Beautiful trip all around, and cannot wait for tomorrow to make the final leg of our journey up to Mackinac Island...and lunch with my cousin and her little guy :)

Road Trip Day 4 - Another day in Noblesville

We were up, had breakfast and were to Dan and Sarah’s around 10:30 on Labor Day. We visited for a while, then Mark, Dan and I took the kids to the park to give Sarah a little more time with baby Eli. The kids had a great time climbing around and throwing their little balls around. Hannah really enjoyed the swing. Dan and Mark tossed around the football a little bit.

After the park, we headed home for some sandwiches for lunch, and took a little nap afterwards. Mark and I went for our long run from Sunday that we missed, which was a pretty rough one. It was pretty hot and humid out, and we should have probably gone earlier in the day. If we made it 4 miles, I’d be shocked, and with all the walking we did, it wasn’t very impressive. Hopefully we do better on our BIG run, less than a week away!

We got back and visited with Dan while the kids napped and Sarah was busy with Eli. It was fun reminiscing about days back at our old house in Warsaw, which we found was actually up for sale! Mark and I toyed with the idea of calling to see if we could get a showing for the next day, but decided against it.

Mark and I headed back to our hotel around 4:45 to get showered up and ready for supper with some old friends of Amy’s from high school in Warsaw. We stopped at the mall in Castleton for a few minutes before we met at Buca di Beppo with Mel and Joe, Karen, and some of Karen’s good friends from her college days. We had a wonderful time catching up, and hope it’s not FIVE more years inbetween visits again!

After supper, we stopped back at the mall to Dick’s Sporting Goods and picked up a couple clearance tubes and rafts for next summer on the lake! We then went back over to Dan and Sarah’s to visit a bit more, and decided to come back the next morning to help watch Eli and Hannah while Sarah took Jacob to his first day of preschool.

We had such a nice visit in Noblesville, but are also looking forward to a fun day in Warsaw, and the rest of the week up in northern Michigan at Mackinac Island!

Road Trip Day 3 - Lazy Day in Noblesville

After sleeping in a bit, we got up, had some breakfast, and then relaxed a bit before heading over to Dan and Sarah's for the day. We stopped at the store on the way over there to pick up supplies for meatloaf for lunch, and I put it together and in the oven when we got there. While it was baking, we visited with Dan and played with the kids for a while. We all enjoyed lunch together (Jacob even ate all his meatloaf!), and then took turns taking naps for the afternoon lol What can I say - traveling and parenting is hard work!

After naptime (which everyone except Jacob participated in), we visited a while before deciding on some Little Caesar's for supper. I went to go pick the pizza up, and we gobbled it all down pretty quickly (napping apparently also makes us hungry), then visited somemore before getting the kids ready for bed. I read some stories to Hannah and put her to bed, then Mark and I went for a walk while Dan and Sarah got the other 2 kiddos off to bed. We visited for a couple more hours before heading back to our hotel for the night. It was a nice, relaxing day to get caught up after two long days on the road. We're so looking forward to another day with the family, and supper at Buca with some of my friends from Warsaw days!

Road Trip Day 2 - Iowa to Indiana

We were up by 6:30am and on our way an hour later, looking forward to an early arrival in Indy. We arrived at our hotel in Castleton around 1:30pm, checked in, and relaxed a bit before finding some lunch, then heading to Dan and Sarah's in Noblesville, where we met Sarah and Eli. We drove Sarah up to Winona Lake for the night and met Dan there, as they had a wedding to attend. While they were at the wedding, Mark and I took their other car and I showed Mark around Winona Lake a bit, before we had supper at the Boathouse Restaurant. Mark had the California Sandwich (or something like that), and I had the fish tacos. YUM!! I'd highly recommend it!

After supper, we looked around a bit at the shoppes down there, found a couple things, and stopped at a little ice cream shop where Mark had an ice cream cone and I had a vanilla creme latte. We took a short little walk around the area a bit, then got back in the car and headed back for Indy. Of course, I had to show Mark where I grew up on Ra-mar Drive (what a change!!), and crazy enough, the house I grew up in was for sale! Hmmm...wonder if I could convince Mark we should buy it and move back?! lol (jk) We also drove by my elementary, middle and high school on our way out of town. It was getting kinda dark, so it was hard to see anyways, but we'll be back there on Tuesday, so we can see it a bit better in the daylight then :)

All in all, a great day, albeit very long! We're so excited to spend more time with Dan, Sarah and the kids tomorrow :) But for now...off to bed!

Road Trip Day 1 - Windom, MN to Bettendorf, IA

Mark and I went in to work from 7-11am, then came home, finished off some leftovers for lunch, watered the plants, then were on our way! We arrived in Humboldt around 2pm for a quick visit with Mom, Aunt Nancy, Amanda, Michael and precious little Caleb! We hit the road again around 3:15 on our way to Cedar Falls to meet up with Jason and have a very belated birthday supper with him. We arrived around 5:30, and after checking out his dorm room, we went for supper at HuHot Mongolian BBQ (yum!!). We enjoyed food and conversation, then went back to Jason’s dorm and took a short walk about halfway to where he has classes. We were back on the road to Bettendorf around 7:15, with a couple hours’ drive ahead of us. We got in our scheduled early Saturday morning run on Friday night instead, and then headed for bed. A very long day, but looking forward to tomorrow, seeing Dan, Sarah, Eli, and being able to explore Amy’s hometown a bit!

Productive Summer in Windom

After a busy day at the office yesterday (it always is when the boss-man is out of the office), I collapsed on the couch visiting with my Mom for a few minutes. It's always so good to hear her voice and her gradual physical improvement on her new Parkinsons medication. Seems like forever between trips down to Humboldt to see her, as well as the rest of my family down there. I can't even imagine how much bigger little Caleb has gotten, much less all my other nephews and my niece! I had a nice conversation with Mom, and then decided I should probably get busy working on supper.

We grilled out for supper, and then started working on a few little projects I've had on my to-do list for quite some time. We edged our little flower section in the back yard and re-planted grass in a bunch of different places where it really needed it! Our yard is really starting to come alive - our little tree is even growing quite a bit, although it looks kinda funny to have a tiny little tree like that with full-sized leaves. We may just have to invest in a better rake this year to rake up all those leaves ;)

After our yardwork, we took a quick walk around the neighborhood, then made it back in time for the Twins and Vikings games - they both won! While Mark was deeply enthralled in the games, I went downstairs and started working on invite ideas for Tiffany's shower, and I am SO excited with how they turned out!

It looks like my goal of catching up on digital scrapbooking before our trip is probably not going to happen, but it has been so fun looking back on the past year so far and seeing all the good times we've had so far! But even more - there is SO much more to come this year! In fact, I don't think I'll get the chance to catch my breath until November this year lol

We leave this Friday on a 9-day roadtrip out to Indiana for Labor Day Weekend, and then up through Michigan to Mackinac Island via Warsaw and Kalamazoo - a much-needed vacation after our busy schedule this summer! (Also a much-needed breather BEFORE it gets even more crazy!) In case you missed out on probably a gazillion status updates from the past year so far, Mark and I have been training for an 8-mile race around Mackinac Island, which we'll be running on September 12!

We'll be heading back to Windom on the 13th, after a day of relaxing in Mackinac City, and another whole week of fun will begin! Mark's cousins Drew and Megan will be in Minnesota for a couple weeks, so Wednesday (tentatively) will be game night in Windom (OH YEAH!), followed by another race, the Turkey Day 10K, in Worthington on the 19th! Also in September, Mark and I will be celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary on the 23rd!! Of course, the day before (the 22nd) marks the beginning of my FAVORITE season - Autumn :)

October starts out with a bang, celebrating with a friend in Minneapolis for her bachelorette party, then the weekend after, a bridal shower for my STB new sister-in-law, Tiffany (YAY!!), along with hopefully a chance to get to the Apple Orchard and have a fun baking day at the farm! I'll be standing up for one of my BFFs, Rachel in her wedding the weekend after Tiff's shower. And then...then...*sigh*...enjoying the sheer beauty of the season :)

Okay, that's a lie, perhaps...because THEN...I may or may not be running a half marathon in Minneapolis on Halloween Day! (If I still have any fun money left after September and October lol)

I have to constantly remind myself to stop and thank the Lord for all the friends and family I have who keep my life so busy and interesting! I am so grateful that I am not sad, lonely, depressed or sick, and that even if I were, I know I'd have a wonderful support system that will lift me up! So THANK YOU for all your support this summer through all the rigorous training and I can't wait for what's to come!! :)