Fall Soccer

So fall in CT means beauty, and chilly Saturday mornings - EVERY Saturday morning - from 8:30 until around 1 pm usually - at the soccer fields . . . I've been remiss about taking Garrett's photo at soccer, but we still have three weeks for him.
Alaina loves the socialness of soccer. She always tells me about the new friends she made on the other teams - and the old ones that she got to see playing . . .

Wwwhat Mom!?! What's wrong with talking to my friends at soccer?

The trees are just amazing - blurry since we took it while driving - but it seems that's all we have time for these days. At least I'm enjoying it while it's flying by, right?

13.1

I did it!!

But I couldn't have done it without these ladies - and Cara (not pictured). Last year Cara cheered on her sister who ran the Hartford Half Marathon and said that she wanted to run it next year - I said, "Me too!" So - a year later here we are!

Tanjua was so supportive, she told me how to treat shin splints, drove me to the race, ran with me until I had to walk, and said she'd egg my house if I wimped out.

Terri also gave me advice on shin splints and helped me believe I could get over it and keep training - then was happy and excited that morning instead of scard and jittery, like I was :). Cara's excitement that morning was soothing for me too - thank you everyone!!!

I finished! I walked a little of each mile (my plan to keep my shins from hurting) and still finished a half an hour ahead of the pace I thought I'd keep.

It was amazing. Good to set a goal and not let it slip away like so many others . . . Gregg and the kids gave me these roses later that day. He was there at the finish line with Kat and Becca - it was sooo good to see them. During the race I had set up a text message to show them where I was on the course. Knowning they knew how fast I was going and when I would finish helped me keep pushing .

My cool shirt that I haven't worn yet - I really want to, but don't really like how it looks on me - vanity, vanity . . .

I was really beat and hurting after, but it felt so good! I hope to run one marathon, once. Only once. Maybe three years from now when Becca is in school all day . . . but for now, I'm happy to have finished this :)!! Can't wait to go back to running only 13-15 miles a week!

Picking Apples with Becca

Rebecca's preschool had their annual apple picking field trip recently. I have been to 5 of these with my kids - I can't believe this was the last one.

The apples were so yummy. The weather was beautiful - much warmer than last year . . .

Rebecca, as always, had so much fun with her preschool class.

They ran through the pumpkins, picked apples, drank apple juice and ate graham crackers, rode on a trailer behind a big green tractor - fun stuff!!

Reaching way up high to get the red apples - she didn't want to pick any golden delicious - greenish-yellow didn't look so delicious to her I guess.



This is Becca's haul - too heavy to hold up! You can see the one golden delicious apple I managed to sneak in there if you look closely . . .


Almost the whole class - impossible to get them all to look at the camera at the same time of course . . . Rebecca didn't look once (on purpose).

The beautiful view!

Sunny days mean closed eye photos ;) But aren't they cute anyway? So fun! I can't believe how big she is. She's smart, sweet, has an opinion on everything, knows how to get her way, and still shows us all how much she loves us everyday with her hugs and snuggles and comments. Love you Becca! Keep growing up so well - just slow down a little, please?

Fall in CT

The colors are a little muted this year because we haven't had much rain - but it's that time of year again and there are still gorgeous views in our little town!

Our Last Camping Trip

We recently enjoyed our last camping trip of the season, and maybe for longer than that . . . As we pulled into the campground, we wrecked the camper. clipped the front driver's side corner on the overhang of the ranger building's roof. This is the inside damage. I don't have photos on my camera of the outside - Not a fun way to start the weekend.
Oh well, the rest of the trip was fun.

Pretending to feed the ducks so they'll come up close (we're mean I know).

They really got attached to these ducks. They spent a whole 20 minutes with them. But they named them all, told stories about them for days afterwards, and had a hard time going back to the campsite after this encounter.

Beautiful lake!

Great big fire! Really! I just forgot to turn off the flash. Don't know why I didn't take another right after without the flash.

Amazing how something so real and big and tall can be invisible in the light.

Looking at the photos she took of the camper damage . . .

Finally! First Day of School for Becca

Ok - it's been awhile since these things happened - but here is Rebecca's first day of school . . . She was so patient waiting until after the big kids had their first days, and then after camping and then Finally it was her first day! She's so happy! She loves her teacher! This is her second year in her class and it's amazing how happy she is to go every day. She was really confused during summer and kept asking when it was going to be a school day again . . .

Ready to go!