We took the kids on a bike ride around Mantua reservoir one afternoon which was pretty fun. It's about a 5 mile loop
Hailey saved up all her school store money until the end of the year to buy the grand prize which was a snow cone machine. So she set that up and did it for the happy neighborhood kids
Taking the kids to first dam for some kayaking fun
Technically these are one person kayaks but since the kids are little we get away with them sharing :)
Scott was invited with his best friend David and his dad and brothers to have a fun day playing at Boondocks.
So funny thing. I wrote this blogpost about how I couldn't run anymore and how I've found healing in weight lifting and such. As soon as I posted that back in April, I was able to run for like 4 miles without any knee pain which was amazing considering for 6 years I've only been able to run 2-3. I don't know if it was the release of saying that out loud or what, lol. But probably the logical explanation is that I've been building up my leg strength lifting weights for the past year which might have helped my knees too. So I didn't push it but every few weeks I was able to add on a few miles and on summer vacation I was running about 8 so my sister talked me into training for the half marathon in August. I trained really hard in the gym and only ran 3 days a week so that I didn't cause too much inflammation in my knee. So the race was in August and I was so nervous. Last time I ran the 1/2 marathon was after I had Arianna back in 2010. My time was about 2 hours 20 minutes then. So of course I really wanted to beat that time and I was really hoping to get it under 2 hours but that was a huge thing to shoot for! I decided to try and stick with the 1:55 pace runner and at one point I lost her so I got worried. I came in at 1:58. I was sooooo excited and proud of myself!!
Fresh at about mile 4
Mile 12 and feeling it! LOL
Kevin and the kids came and cheered me on about mile 11 or so. It was so fun to see them and get a little boost
Hailey and Ari made me a cake and decorated it :)
Speaking of crushing goals, Scott is doing so awesome with scouts. Here he is getting his STAR rank. He'll be getting his LIFE in November and then he'll just be one project away from having his eagle.
Looking good with all those badges!
He's still been loving rockclimbing so naturally he wanted to get that merit badge. Here's some pics of him with the counselor.
Scott also had his MRI and checkup with the oncologist in August. For the most part his tumor has been pretty consistent with previous years. Maybe a tiny increase each year but it's really hard to be subjective when measuring a shape that isn't perfectly round. When I asked the oncologist if we could go longer between MRIs (currently every year) she did say the reason they are still watching him so closely is because never before has she or her colleagues seen a tumor that gets biopsied and then sits there. Apparently that always makes the tumor angry and it grows from there. So they are all scratching their heads. I told Scott those doctors just don't know how to explain miracles and tender mercies. I do take a picture of Scott by superman every time he has a checkup at Primarys. And I always make the newest picture my screensaver on my phone. It helps me to think positive and to always remember how lucky and blessed we are. I pulled up the very first picture since we hit the 5 year mark this past checkup. He's gotten so big!! LOVE it! And I LOVE this kid so much!
