Bellin Run 2011

Another successful and exciting Bellin run this year...

Originally I was not able to do the run, as we had a wedding to attend that Mario was standing up for in Chicago. I was supposed to leave at about 8am that day, but we (my good friend, Sara and I) decided to change plans to leave at 11:45 which would still give us enough time to make the wedding. After deciding this officially the week of the Bellin, I registered for the Bellin on Wednesday (and withheld that from my dad so I could surprise him Saturday morning).

Ben was also not going to be able to run this year due to his work schedule, but ended up calling me at 7:30 on Friday night asking what time he could register until and still run on Saturday. I looked it up and it turned out to be 8pm... Since he was still working and online registration was closed, I darted across town to Astor park and got him registered for Saturday's run with about 5 min to spare!

Erin & Ryan (and Owen) came up to stay with us Friday night and also to join in the running festivities. So, Saturday morning, we surprised our Dad with the news that both Ben and I were actually running the Bellin. : ) He was pretty excited to have his 3 kids running with him.

We all ran a great race. I was just glad to finish - after fighting off a side stitch the entire race. Thankfully I was able to keep up with Ben (or he slowed down to my level: either one), but we finished the race together at 52.39. One minute slower than last year, but I was still happy with it.

This is an after race picture. BIG Thank you to Lynn, Ben's girlfriend, who watched Audrey and Owen during the run for us. She's a keeper.

P.S. Your monitor is not dirty; this picture is blurry. Our camera does this every so often and with no rhyme or reason. We'll be investing in a new camera very soon.

After the Bellin, it was shower, pack, and off to Chicago to see our friend, Jason Nault, get married. Mario went with our good friend, Jed on Friday night and Sara & I drove down on Saturday. We had a GREAT time, but drank a bit too much wine. Wine hangovers are not fun.

Breakfast on the farm...

Last week Sunday we went to our first Breakfast on the Farm. - I had heard about it through a coworker, and decided it might be fun to take Audrey to. We went right away in the morning and were shocked to see what a HUGE event it was! There were probably 3000 people there.

This is not a normal type of event us Nannas would attend, but we were really impressed. We ate an AMAZINGly huge breakfast with phenomenal food, then got to see about 30+ tractors that Audrey could climb on and some she could ride on, saw and toured about 5 fire trucks, played kid games, jumped in bouncy houses, went through a petting zoo (our favorite part), enjoyed ice cream sundaes, and got a horse led wagon ride around the farm. We were amazed at the organization of the event and had a great time.

Below is Audrey petting a horse.

Here she is with a little 5 week old puppy. We both loved the puppies, and she loved holding him. Maybe someday... but after Baxter, we could use a little more time.
We also got to pet bunnies, a calf, horses, and some ducklings.


Here's Audrey on one of the bigger tractors. She was excited to be able to climb up there on her own. (Mario is spotting her so she didn't fall).

Hug, Kiss and a High Five...

Audrey's got this ritual she does with us every night before bed, when we say good-bye when we drop her off for daycare or for anything: hug, kiss and a high five.... and always in that order.

It's just so cute and makes me smile every time to add a high five after every hug/kiss combo. : )

Thankful for summer...

Last weekend we took my brother, Ben, out fishing to see if we could get him his first muskie. It was a slower day as the weather warmed up and so had the water temperature, and we caught just one - Ben had a great time reeling in his 44" first muskie.

May

We had a crazy busy, yet very fun May. We had two baby showers: Beth Jones & Kristin Laursen's. Both of them are due on July 4th, and we're looking forward to meeting their new little ones. We celebrated a few birthdays (Ben's & mine) and had a fantastic Mother's Day. I've been busy with planting / working Humana's associate garden I helped start, and have enjoyed being able to get out on the boat with Audrey and doing some fishing. Memorial Day weekend was the opening of muskie season & Audrey & I went with Mario on Monday...I caught a gigantic 50" muskie, and was pretty ecstatic about it. This is my first time holding a fish this big. : ) This definitely makes you want to stay out of the Fox River/Bay. : ) I also caught a 42" that day.

Here are some cute pictures of Audrey & Daddy out on the boat.

The pictures below are from our friend, Beth's shower. Audrey and our friend Tony & Kristen's daughter, Harper, and they found more little girls to play with. (Sara & Jed's little guy, Braylon, was there too, but he wasn't ready to get out and play yet - he was just 8 weeks at the time). The girls had so much fun playing with the balloons. The theme of the shower was ice cream. Yum!