Summer's a brewin'...

With temps consistently in the 80's, it's safe to say summer is here!!! And we're excited about it. Lots of change going on in our lives this summer but one thing will remain the same: we'll enjoy the heck out of the weather. Sprinklers, kiddie pools, nature walks, oh my! This weekend we had hopes of visiting the track for pole day; however, we opted to stay home when the temps neared 90 (as the temps on the track are usually 10 degrees warmer!). So instead we turned the hose on. Hours of fun, I tell ya.

New princess swim suits from Roo

Monkey see...

Monkey do.

Laney adores Sammy and this picture captures it perfectly.

Our neighbors told us they discovered a new trail that leads to a different part of Cool Creek and we just had to check it out. Can't believe this is just across the street from our house:

Quite the independent little girl these days

And Bug of course picked rocks the entire time. She also tried to skip rocks like her daddy...which turned out to be just a lot of rock throwing without any skipping.

Searching for rocks and shells. Believe it or not the creek has shells. Who knew?

Father and son skipping rocks

My girlfriends and I ran in a 5k race on Saturday to honor a young gal injured in the Suga.rland concert collapse last summer. Read Bri's recap of the race here. We three had a great time and kept asking ourselves, "Why don't we do fun runs like this more often?" Now we know there's fun to be had whilst racing (aka pushing 60 pound jogging strollers in 80 degree heat).

Think this is the only photo we have of us and our littles all together. I love it.

Mini Marathon 2012, Perfect Stranger Style

May in Indianapolis is all about racing. Road racing with the Mini Marathon and car racing with the Indy 500. Yes, please. Most of the Perfect Strangers were in attendance and we had to sport our matching tanks. We're proud like that.

I had one of the worst half marathon times in my career. Wasn't very proud of my performance. And I have no excuse. I could say it was the weather (hot and humid), but I don't really think that was it. Some days we have good runs and others we don't. It happens. Midway through the race I got down on myself about how horribly I was running (slash walking). Until I had a moment of clarity; I was out here running 13 miles while many people were still in bed. I was doing it. My legs were moving and my heart was pumping. I'm out here and healthy. I made a conscious effort to change my attitude and be happy. And it certainly made the rest of the race (and day) so much better. Fun, even. Who cares what time I got. I did it.

Before the race:

The Mini course is not very pretty as it runs through some tough parts of town. But miles 6-8ish are around the Indpls Motor Speedway. Pretty cool. The one thing I do love most about this race and the reason I have run it year after year is the fans. The community comes out in droves and ring their cowbells with pride. I see so many friends along the course that it keeps me going. My friend, co-worker and carpool-mate Brenna came out to watch her sister accomplish her first half marathon and surprised me with this awesome sign (she knows me too well!):

Post race in the beer garden. Perfect reward. We ran into our pal Karie:

And snapped photo after photo. Because that's what we do.

These are girls after my own heart. Meggie said, "Human pyramid anyone?" And we were instantly forming a 6-man stunt. Be still my heart.

April Happenings...

These pictures are in  no particular order...I just did a large phone dump of last month's pics and thought I'd share. The Fridays I have off the girls and I usually hit up Du.nkin' Donuts for a treat before school:

For Mike's birthday we went to see Daniel Tosh (date night on a school night - gasp!). We had a great time and laughed so hard; he's one of our favorite comedians.

One random Sunday we had to be out of the house for a showing so we all tagged along to Mike's haircut appointment. The girls are exactly 6 inches apart...yet miles apart in personalities!

Easter egg hunt at the neighbors' house:

The Carmel Marathon was in April (I only ran the half marathon). One of our gals, Bri, was injured and unable to race...huge bummer after all those months of training. So even though she wasn't going to be with us running, we thought we'd keep her a part of us by wearing little signs for her. Jaime did the art work and I did the tutu sewing. My home ec teacher would be so proud.

Our house falls directly on the 13 mile marker for the full (and 5.5 mile marker for the half). So since this sign was at the end of our driveway...

...I had to make sure this sign was also there to cheer on my girls. Mike, Iz & Lane were perched out there cheering us all on.

Perfect Strangers at the finish:

Had dinner with our friends, the Millers, and the night ended with some Dance Dance Revolution. Pretty sure we had a blast and that I'm asking for this for xmas. No lie.

You may have noticed already, but Laney's hair is finally long enough for piggies. So stinkin'.

A big thanks to the Teany twins for handing down their mini bike to Laney. She loves it!

Family bike rides up and down the street. Never gets old.

Jaime, Bri and I attended the annual Ve.ra Bradley outlet sale. Was a day full of long lines, lots of patterns, major bargains and girl time!

And there you have it: April in a nutshell.

Mother's Day Weekend 2012

Mother's Day weekend was quite the adventure for me this year. Started off with the girls' last day of school on Friday. They're staying home with nanny Natalie for the next 13 weeks and boy, are they excited. Change up their routine, their surroundings and their activities...everyone's happy. Here they are with their self-chosen outfits:

Friday afternoon I left town with a few of my running buddies to head down to Nashville (Indiana). Meggie, Christi & Meghan were running in an Ultra Marathon the next day and I wanted to be there to cheer them on. Nanny Natalie's parents own a beautiful house down there and were generous enough to let us all stay there.

Inside the Calverts had laid out the red carpet with champagne for us girls, so sweet and thoughtful. Their house was incredible.

Saturday morning we woke up very early to get the girls off to their race (50k/31 mile race through a very hilly state park). If you'd like to read the full recap of my adventure, I guest blogged here with a complete play-by-play. We cheerleaders had a fun day tracking down the girls and enjoying the beautiful state park and weather.

Meggie's husband Josh and Meghan's boyfriend Jake

Mile 12 overlooking the park

At the finish with my girls. Never have I been more proud to call them my friends. Ever.

Mike brought the girls down on Saturday afternoon to join me in Nashville. It was our 8 year anniversary and we thought this would be the best way to celebrate: together as a family in a serene setting. This is the view from the backyard:

We spent Saturday evening exploring downtown Nashville and Saturday morning we explored the park.

We stopped at several lookouts and then decided on a trail to attempt with the girls. Think we "hiked" for 30 minutes or so until it lost its luster with Iz & Lane. Was so much fun to celebrate both Mother's Day and our anniversary in such a beautiful place.