End of Summer

Lots happening in the final weeks of summer. Business travel, fun personal travel and lots of pool time.

Spent a few days in Chicago for our quarterly Nike meeting. This is my Womens' Team: Ellen & Sarah.

The girls spent a week with their grandparents while we had all this work and personal travel so that meant I got to spend some time at the gym. Wind in my hair and hard core training = happy!

Our coach (Jared) of two years has moved on to open his own gym and it was hard saying goodbye to him. Taught us all a lot.

Spent the entire weekend at the gym while Mike was on his baseball trip.

Mike and Jason on their way to Chicago...stopping at Lake Michigan along the way.

Cousin Steve

Some of the boys at Wrigley

As soon as the girls got back they had to start school. It wasn't much of a change of pace for us, as they went to summer camp. So there weren't any tears or change of schedules. Just business as usual for us. Laney started at Izzy's school and she made the switch seamless. Love that Bug.

Izzy and I were able to spend a day together while Laney had her first day. We painted pottery and did some back to school shopping.

Lovies! They're getting so big!

Rainy Saturday = indoor play time

...and some shopping at my favorite store in town

We had one final bike bar crawl

Our neighbors have become close friends

Linny, Jess & Jenny

We took our annual trip to Michigan to run the Crim with my family. This was the first year I didn't run (been struggling with some hamstring issues) but I did still walk the 5k with Anna, Kim & the girls.

Fellow Perfect Stranger, Bri, ran the 10 miler and I was able to see her at the finish line. Her parents are actually building a house 3 doors down from my parents. Small world!

Start line selfies

Little bit of fun along the course.

Dad's old house...where I grew up

Mike and Dad golfed at the club while the girls hit the pool after the race.

Swimming with Grandpa Tom

Celebrating Laney's birthday

Aunt Carla gave Izzy some art supplies, which she loves. Izzy coins herself "art smart."

At meet-the-teacher night I saw a self portrait of Izzy. She colored in her missing tooth and all 4 of her silver teeth. She also knows her fractions; Izzy says she is 6 and 2/3 years old. Her shirt says "Mom's Girl." And that she has "bond" hair. Love her!

Laney Bug turned 5 years old...I can hardly stand how fast these past 5 years have flown. She's so grown up! We keep a growth chart on the inside of our pantry door and Laney has grown almost 2 inches in the last year and is almost exactly the same height Izzy was at 5 years old.

Laney had her choice for her birthday dinner and she chose BoomBozz pizza. We all shared a large cookie a la mode. Yummmmm.

We had lots of boxes of presents to open when we got back home. Here are a few of her favorite things...

Frozen doll and pink cowboy boots.

Izzy has been spending four hours a week at the gym and she never ceases to amaze me at her strength and agility. Here's a look at her new gym; the girls are holding planks while I walk laps around the indoor track. Love that they let us watch practice. Her old gym had 'closed' practice. Boo.

Izzy & Caroline post practice

Speaking of gymnastics, a friend of mine and I hit up one of the best & largest gyms in the area for a gymnastics CrossFit class. We worked on freestanding handstands, weighted pistols, and muscle ups. After class the instructor and I were goofing around and started tumbling. I threw my first back tuck in almost 20 years! Then I did some stunting, which was the highlight for me. I was always a little too big to do partner stunts in college...now that I'm more fit than I've ever been in my life I was able to stunt. Smiled from ear to ear the entire time.

Jen C and I at Three Kings CF

Just a few short weeks ago Izzy had  both of her front teeth...

After lots and lots of wiggling and tears, she finally was able to pull the first one out in the tub. Her excited reaction was "my mouth is so happy now!"

And as previously blogged about, Izzy lost her 2nd front tooth at Laney's party. She has big kid teeth growing in fast. But in the meantime? I keep making her say words with "s"'s in them because I can't get enough of her lisp!

Sassy Pants

Thankfully our pool is still open for a few more weeks as the weather is sweltering. Soaking  up the last of our pool days!