October Adventures

A fun trip to the zoo with the Coopers.

The airfest held in conjunction with Mommy's 5k.

Luke's birthday party and Greer's first real Monkey Joe's playtime.



A visit to the pumpkin patch...and some fall festival fun.

Greer's party. Beautiful weather and great family and friends.

5k

I've been frustrated with the lack of motivation and opportunity to exercise since having Greer. Something just always seems to come up. A month or two ago, I talked to my friend and neighbor (a professional runner :)) about getting together with her to run. Now, she is a resident doc and has crazy work hours, but she told me she would love for me to join her for her daily runs.

At 4:30am.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I don't need to tell many of you how much I hate mornings...and how much I love late nights. However, I am amazed to tell you that it has been working out wonderfully! We love each other's company and it has become a part of my day that I look forward to. And her schedule changes with each rotation, so for now we are able to go in the 5 o'clock hour, which has never seemed so late!

This past weekend, we ran a race. You see, Jen has done a few of these in her time. Running track and cross country at Bucknell prepared her well for the occasional 5k race. This past month or two, she has taught me a lot about training and preparing and improving in the sport of running. Time to put it all to a test. I felt like completing the race was a good enough goal for me, but decided to push myself to try to finish in under 30min with Jen's encouragement.

We started the night before with a good pasta dinner...in cute Anthropologie bowls, I must add.

Putting on my first ever race number. Okay, the funny story here is that Jen told me to "grab some pens/pins" from the table and I scooped up a handful of ink pens instead of the safety pins needed to secure my bib number. Don't you always see runners carrying ink pens? Oh, I do have a lot to learn!

FINISHING! In 26.57!!! I was beyond thrilled! All credit goes to the coach!

The best part about crossing the finish line...my sweet family waiting at the end with flowers and all!

Coach and (tired) student.

Jen won overall and I actually won the women's 30-34 age group (not a lot of folks running in that group!). That makes me laugh out loud to even think about! I can see how my girls, Emil & Heather are addicted to this running/racing stuff...it was fun! Here Jen and I are with our prizes.

Then, the best part of all...Jenn Link cooked a celebratory brunch for us afterwards. YUM! Great friends celebrate even small accomplishments for each other. It made me feel like a million bucks.

Watch out Boston, here we come! :)

On Turning One

Technically we don't have a baby in the house anymore. Greer turned 1 today!

Gehrig couldn't wait to go get the birthday girl this morning! "Mom, I can't believe Greer is one!" :)

Where did these kids get their happy morning faces?

This is what a one year old looks like.

Birthdays mean you get to do special things like watch movies in the car just to drive across town.

And visit the toy store...just to play! Greer LOVES necklaces.

"Are you okay, baby? (Now that I'm a big girl, I can take care of you.)"

She could've played in the kitchen area all day.

Gehrig had fun playing with all the big boy stuff too.

Greer's first taste of cupcake...her birthday lunch with the fam. Yum.


Her sheer delight at the balloons left by the Links' while we were gone!


Ending the fun day off right...at Bruster's!

This turning 1 stuff is fun! Let's do it all again tomorrow...