Hey now! Hey now! My boyfriend's back!

Yes, it's official! 16 weeks of radiology rotations is officially complete, which means we get our Adam back. No more days or weeks of him being gone, just one more interview in December. I'll take that. Anyway, along with my awesome husband, I also get my computer back (almost as exciting as having my husband back). So that means lots of stuff to blog. I've decided to limit myself to October today in hopes that something gets published.

We flew out to Detroit to reunite with Adam in the beginning of October to stay with my sister, Amberly. Jane, Audrey, and their cousin Mikey loved pulling each other around in the wagon.

The big thing to do in the fall in these parts is to visit an orchard, complete with hayrides, petting zoos, playgrounds, fresh apple cider, and donuts. Jane liked feeding the sheep.

Audrey just enjoyed quacking at all the animals.

We went with Eric's preschool to another farm where we got to pick our own apples and a pumpkin.

We stopped in New York City for the afternoon when we dropped off Adam for his two week rotation in the Bronx. We happened to be in Little Italy in the Bronx, so we got some really yummy authentic pizza. Jane and Audrey were a little wiped, so they napped in the stroller while we walked around the neighborhood.

After we dropped Adam off I went up to Boston to my brother's house (he was out of town). Adam came up for the weekend, and we walked the Freedom Trail in downtown Boston. This is in the courtyard near the Old North Church (from the story of Paul Revere).

So Kurt lives near Cambridge, and we happened to be there the weekend of the Head of the Charles Regatta (largest rowing competition in the world - think of those guys in Social Network). Anyway, we went down to the river to watch and it turned out to be a big festival. Here's Jane on an obstacle course (Adam had to help her up the rest of the way).

On the river with some racers in the background.

The cousins came back for our second week in Boston.

Another fall farm. This one had a haunted hayride.

When Jane heard her cousins excitedly talking about the scarey things on the ride, she got a little too scared. She kept her eyes covered for the first five minutes until I threatened not to let her get any candy corn at the end if she didn't open her eyes.

On our way back from Boston we stopped at Palmyra, NY and went to the Smith farmhouse and the Sacred Grove.

Back in Detroit with Amberly, we enjoyed Halloween. Jane wanted to be a princess, but I had already decided they would be gypsies, so we told her she was a gypsy princess and she was pretty happy. Gypsy costume = tunics from Morroco (thanks Karl), belly dancing skirts from Turkey, headscarves from Russia, and the icing on the cake, gypsy skirts made by Grandma Maggie. Besides, we've pretty much felt like gypsies this year, so it seemed appropriate.

The true meaning of Halloween.

Going door-to-door with her big cousin Sam. Even Audrey got into it once she realized the people behind the doors put candy in your bucket.

Playing in the leaves. Being in Detroit for the fall was awesome for this very reason.

There you go! An action packed October. I have to acknowledge Amberly/Ivan and Kurt/Jenn for letting us invade their houses and their lives this month. It's not always convenient to have extra people in your house, but we loved every minute of it, and Jane and Audrey loved having their cousins for playmates.

Play Time!

So, I really wanted to send Adam some videos of Jane and Audrey, but I don't know how to compress them enough to email them, so I'm posting them here.

Audrey loves those cheerios for breakfast.

Jane got to wear panties for a few days, and I think she looked so cute!

Jane was very proud that she could walk in heels.

We made chocolate chip cookies for Family Home Evening and decided to eat them outside. The chickens came over and tried to steal them from us (and succeeded a bit), but overall it was lots of fun.

Notice the flour all over Jane's face. Yep, she was very helpful making the cookies!

Audrey just enjoyed eating the cookies.

These last two are of Audrey trying to get her drink of milk from a cup. The quality turned out pretty poor - not sure why...

Happy Father's Day!

So I tried to get a video of Jane singing "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home" (and it's really cute when she sings it), but instead I got a medley of Mary Poppins songs. So here's a Mary Poppins tribute to the world's greatest dad!

Happy Father's Day to all those dads in our lives!

Surprise! Half-Marathon!

Yes, you read that right. I ran a half marathon on Saturday in 2:00:48 (so close to the two hour mark - and yet so far). A month ago, I did not plan on ever running a race longer than a 10k and a week ago I thought maybe I'd run a half marathon at the end of the summer to keep me motivated to run after the Ragnar in June. My brother (who trained for and ran a marathon with only a handful of people knowing beforehand) suggested on Monday that I run it with him, so with my hubby's encouragement we signed up on Wednesday. And that was that.

My only previous experience running a race was a free 5k that I didn't actually run, so I was really nervous about this (I was so nervous I had to push back the tears as the start neared - and one pushed it's way out anyway). I wasn't quite sure what to expect for my overall time. I knew that 13 miles is a very long way, so I decided to take it easy for the first few miles, then I progressively increased my intensity until I neared the end. I thought I could make it in under 2 hours if I kept up the intensity, but around mile 10 I got sick of running and thought I'd distract myself by running faster. I quickly realized that starting your final push 3 miles before the finish line is a bad idea and by 12 miles I was dead. Because I started out easy and sped up as the race went on, nobody passed me from about mile 4 until mile 11.5. It felt great effortlessly passing by all those runners, but not so great watching a huge pack pass me one by one the last half mile as I struggled in vain to find the determination and the energy to pick up the pace and stick with them. Either way I was really pleased with my time and averaged 9:02 the second half and 9:13 overall.

My computer is dead, so I can't download my pictures, but I'll post some when the computer fiasco calms down.

Prescott - Part 3

I can't believe our Prescott time is over! We always knew we were only there temporarily, but it's still hard to say goodbye. Anyway, I never got a picture of our street! Oopsies. But luckily I know that we will visit Prescott again soon, so we can go get a picture then if we want. So here's the last installment of our favorite places in Prescott.

Ken Lindley Park was the closest park with slides to our house, so we like to go there on walks sometimes.

Carter is one of Jane's friends, and he lives just a couple blocks away.

Giving each other a hug. They actually fight most of the time. Jane used to grab him like that and tackle him when they were fighting over a toy, but now she just screams.

There was a Whataburger down the street from our house, and Adam swore he would eat there before we left Arizona, so we went there after the kitchen was packed up. Notice Jane getting at that shake with two straws.

Believe me, she gets her eating habits from her dad.

A great helper for me while I packed.

Prescott - Part 2 (and some other stuff)

Okay, so I forgot to take the camera with me most of this week, so I only have one Prescott place to show off, but I have a few more fun pictures:

At the mall! We love to play at the mall, especially when it's too cold to go on a walk after dinner. This is an older picture.

Audrey is just barely getting agile enough to play on the equipment. Sorry Jane's head is cut off.

Crawling through the log tunnel.

And here's an Easter picture. Audrey got to watch the Easter bunny hide the eggs.

Jane was super proud of her spoils.

 So today after church, Jane got two pieces of bread with peanut butter on them for lunch. She started giggling, and Adam looked over to find one of them placed peanut butter-side-down squarely on Jane's head. She probably thought it would make a great hat. The other one was nowhere to be found, so we assumed she had eaten it and forgot about it. After lunch was over I got Jane down, and as she ran off to play I discovered that she hadn't eaten her other piece of bread:

This girl cracks me up! (And yes, Audrey is pulling herself up on things now.)

Last year on Easter, Jane got into an egg without us noticing and tried her first chocolate. This year she's enjoying it just as much. Notice the peanut butter in her hair.

Peanut butter makes a nice sculpting oil.

Anyway, I hope you had a great Easter and have a great week.

Prescott - Part 1

So, we've been in Prescott for about 10 months now, and we're already moving in less than 2 weeks. We knew all along that we weren't going to be here long, but we're still sad to go. I don't want to forget all the great spots in Prescott, so I've been trying to get some pictures. Here are some pictures of three of our favorite places - Acker Park, Watson Lake, and the Square:

Acker Park is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from our place. There aren't any slides, but there's this fun hill you can climb up to and see all of Prescott. You can see Thumb Butte in the background. It's a central landmark of Prescott.

There's a little open grassy spot just down from the top of the hill.

We also love Watson Lake. It's about 10 minutes up the road from us. It's pretty small but quite beautiful.

Jane touching the water on the boat ramp.

The best part of the lake is - of course - the playground. Jane and Audrey love to swing next to each other.

The courthouse square is about a half mile from our apartment, so we like to walk there on sunny days and warm evenings. The square is the main gathering place in Prescott. During the summer, there's something going on there almost every night, with street markets most weekends. Jane's favorite part is the fountain.

 

We set out Friday to take some pictures of the square and happened upon a Tea Party rally. At first I thought the guy conducting was John McCain, but it turned out not to be. I guess it would have been more crowded if he had been there. Anyway, Jane loves to climb up and down the steps of the courthouse.

 

The square is lined with shops and restaurants as you can see in the background. This is downtown Prescott, folks!

And for good measure, two happy sisters!

 Stay tuned for more pictures of our favorite spots!