August 2012 Recap

In a Nutshell...

We had a fun, NICE and cool, yet fairly uneventful August, which was a nice wind down after a busy scorching hot July. We started out the month celebrating Mark's birthday with a fun weekend away in Sioux Falls, spent some time down in Worthington (as usual), made a trip to Mankato to pick out a new front door for our house, and ended the month with a long weekend trip to Omaha to celebrate Mark's sister's birthday with her.

We've been continuing our 10K training, but growing very very weary of it.

Weekend Getaway for Mark's Birthday (August 3-4)

We celebrated Mark's birthday with a fun weekend in Sioux Falls as a family. We stayed overnight Friday night at the Sheraton and did a little shopping, some eating out, hung out at the pool, and a little car research. It was a fun weekend to spend together :)

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Okabena Walk (August 5)

Mark and I decided to head down to Worthington for church the Sunday after our Sioux Falls overnight, and enjoyed visiting with family for the afternoon. While Grandpa and Grandma watched Cashel, Mark and I got away for a nice long walk around Lake Okabena.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Centennial Park (August 10)

After meeting Grandpa and Aunt Jess at the Worthington fair, Mark headed out to the farm to help get the auger fixed up for harvest and Cashel and I had a date to Centennial Park for the afternoon.

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Omaha Trip (August 24-27)

Mark and I headed down to Omaha to visit his sister the last weekend in August. We brought Mark's Mom with us, and enjoyed our weekend visiting and catching up with Sarah and Johannes, seeing their new (to them) home, and, of course, did a little shopping and eating out.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Omaha Trip (August 24-27)

Mark, Cashel and I, along with Mark's Mom, took a long weekend trip down to Omaha to see Mark's younger sister, Sarah and her husband Johannes. We decided the weekend just after Sarah's 31st birthday would be most fitting for the trip, so we made our way down after work on the 24th.

The trip was pretty uneventful, and that evening was also fairly uneventful, as it was getting late, and Cashel needed to get to bed. Mark's Mom stayed with Sarah and Johannes, so they came over to our hotel to pick her up (we were staying in Council Bluffs, and they live smack dab between Council Bluffs and Bellevue), and we called it a night.

Saturday: Lunch at Qdoba, Shopping, Papa John's and Visiting

Saturday morning was a rough one for Mark and I, as Cashel had a rough night in a new place, and we both had to tackle our 4.5 mile 10K training run on a treadmill. Needless to say, neither of us had good runs (I didn't even finish, stopping at 4.1 miles, and Mark didn't have an impressive time either). It put us back a ways for the day, but we finally got ourselves together and over to Sarah and Johannes's home a little after 1pm.

We made short order of getting out to find some lunch, and settled on Qdoba (YUM!).

Cashel and Grandma were both Qdoba "virgins", so we had to break them in. (Well, Grandma anyway, since Cashel isn't really eating anything that isn't pureed to a bloody pulp yet).

Shopping and such

After lunch, we made our way over to the west suburbs of Omaha to do a little shopping at the Westroads Mall. We all went our separate ways for a while before meeting back together and deciding where to go from there. We decided to get some Papa John's for supper (YUM!) and picked it up on the way back to Sarah and Johannes' home.

We called it an earlier night (as is the trend when you have a 7 month old with an 8pm bedtime) and headed back to the hotel to get the little guy to bed.

Sunday: Church, lunch at the Botha's, swimming at the hotel, pedestrian bridge and supper at Spaghetti Works

Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge

Before heading to supper in the Old Market area, we made a short trek to the pedestrian bridge to check out what all the hype was about. Pretty stinkin cool! To read more about it, check out this link.

Old Market / Spaghetti Works

After exploring the bridge, we made our way to Old Market for a yummy pasta dinner at Spaghetti Works, which I've been wanting to try for a long time. If you haven't been (and love good pasta), GO! It's such a fun atmosphere, and their eggplant parmesan is to DIE for! We really wish we had more time to explore the Old Market area, but we'll have to reserve that for another trip. We were running out of time, and Cashel was up WAY past his bedtime, so we had to get going.

Goodbyes and Goodnights

With it being so late, we didn't have much time to say goodbye, but we still managed to get in a few fun pictures and some good-bye hugs.

It was a fun weekend and nice to see Sarah and Johannes :) Of course, the drive home was a long one with the little guy, but we made it :)

Okabena Walk (Aug 5)

Nehemiah 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

This past weekend was glorious, and Mark and I weren't about to let it go to waste! After a fun-filled Friday and Saturday in Sioux Falls (post will be coming once I unload photos off the DSLR camera), we decided to venture down to Worthington for church and the day. We ended up rushing to get out the door to church, since we hadn't realized their time had changed from 10:30 to 9:30, but the rest of the day was pretty restful and relaxing. We had lunch at Pizza Hut with Mark's Dad, Step-Mom and the kids, then visited for a while before leaving the wee one behind with Grandpa and Grandma and going for a nice walk around Lake Okabena.

It has been a long time since we've had a long walk like that by ourselves to talk, walk and just enjoy the time. It's not that we can't do it, it's just that we're usually at the mercy of the wee one, so it was a welcome change for a couple hours. It really makes us nervous for the impending 10K on September 15, as it is 4/5 of the route, but it felt good to once again tackle the lake.

It reminds me of a simpler time in life, where we were allowed to be selfish with our time and do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted: When the biggest thing for us was race training and vacation planning. It's good sometimes to remind ourselves of those times in the midst of learning about this parenthood stuff - especially after six months of very, very little sleep. But we absolutely wouldn't want to be in any other stage of our lives, even if we look back on those days fondly.

Mark's 33rd Birthday Weekend (Aug 4-5)

My hubby turned 33 on August 1st! He started out the day with blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and snuggles with Mr. Cashel, but with his birthday falling on a Wednesday this year, the celebration had to be cut short so we could get to work, and get Cashel off to daycare. Mark and I enjoyed lunch at Godfather's to celebrate more on the day, but reserved the true celebration for the weekend.

We decided to get a room at the Sheraton for Friday night in Sioux Falls to celebrate, and we had a wonderful time! We spent Friday night and Saturday flipping between relaxing, swimming, shopping, eating out, visiting with some friends, more relaxing, more swimming, more eating out, and more shopping. It was a great weekend, and a fun way to get away and celebrate Mark's birthday.

Here are a few pics from the weekend :)

His birthday presents arrived just a few days late, but now he is all set with new running gear for the big Turkey Day 10K race on September 15!

Happy Birthday, Mark! Cashel and I love you so very very much :) May year #34 be as sweet (or sweeter) than 33!

July 2012 Recap

Wild Water West and B-Dubs (July 3)

On a whim, we accepted our friends' invitation to venture to Sioux Falls the Tuesday night before the 4th of July to enjoy an evening at Wild Water West. We left Cashel with Grandma and Grandpa in Worthington and made our way over for the evening.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Independence Day (July 4)

We joined the Johnsons down in Worthington for the 4th of July. A big thanks again to Dean and Barb for hosting everyone at their home and for the warm hospitality :)

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Des Moines Trip (July 5-7)

My "baby" brother Jason moved to Des Moines for his first big job after college, so we made our way down to visit him and help him get a little more settled into his apartment there.

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Softball, Softball and More Softball!

While Mark cut back on the amount of softball he was playing this year, he still played on the church league down in Worthington. Unfortunately, with Cashel in tow this year, it was more difficult to make it to the games, but we were able to make it to a couple of them :)

Jetski Date Afternoon (July 20)

Mark and I took an afternoon off from work on the 20th and had a date afternoon out on the water jet skiing. It was such a nice break from the norm :)

10K Training / 5K (July 21)

Mark and I finally transitioned over to the 10K training off the 5K schedule after completing a mock 5K around our neighborhood on Saturday the 21st. It was a beastly day, so our times suffered, but we both finished, which is a testament to our training, since these 95-100 degree temps have been ridiculous.

Click here for a recap of our 10K training.

Click here for a full 5k recap with pictures!

Since the 5K, we've delved into the 10K training schedule, which now also incorporates weight training and cross training. We've been slowly noticing a difference in how our clothes are fitting, although we both have quite a ways to go. To be continued...

A Break from the Heat (July 26)

With it being an insanely hot summer so far, we hadn't been able to get outside too much. We were thrilled that on the 26th we finally got a day where we could get out for a family walk without fear that we would roast our little man.

Family Date Day in Spirit Lake (July 28)

With the weather cooling down finally, we decided to head down to Spirit Lake for lunch and to enjoy the day. Unfortunately, it ended up raining on us, so we had to cut it short, but boy were we ever grateful for the rain!

Click here for a full recap with pictures!