TGIS

Thank God It's Summer

We have had a great couple of weekends! A nice long Fourth and last weekend just enjoying being in Chicago. Here are some photos and highlights for everyone.

Fourth of July Weekend - Friday Night Fireworks

We started out with a lovely trip to Promontory Point on Friday evening to watch the fireworks. It was FREEZING out, stiff cold wind coming off the lake cold. We packed a picnic, met our friends Ifayni and Jennifer and toughed it out. Doesn't get dark in these parts until around 10 pm so we kept Finn way up past bedtime. The catch! DUE to all the wind, they moved the fireworks inland so they happened to be directly behind a HUGE bank of trees. It was a sad scene. I would say about 300 people were watching from where we were...cold freezing children were crying...not good. We made the most of it. I was just glad that I didn't have a kid old enough to know how much of a bummer it was.

Hyde Park Fourth of July Parade
We have attended this event for the past 3 years..and it is just about as good as it gets!

Tons of people, families and dog's meet up to march in this adorable little parade. Last year Finnegan was just a wee little nugget but I took him anyway and this year he LOVED "pimping his ride" the stroller with balloons and streamers. It has become a tradition to spend the morning with our friends and neighbors Richard and Natalie and their daughter Jill. Even Wallace came along. Here are some pics of our little firecracker.

Moe and Jim's Fourth Party

Always a good time, you never want to miss this party. As always there is great food and great company. And large buckets of CANDY! Right Erin and Nick? :-) There was also some competitive bean bag tossing and everyone got in on the action.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer! It goes by TOO fast. I leave tomorrow morning for Annual Training. I will gone for TWO AND HALF WEEKS! - sob - it's gonna be rough. I'll have my computer with me and hope to blog my Army adventures along the way. Ta Ta for Now! I'm Fort Sill, Oklahoma Bound people!

This is for Jessica

So as you can see on the right hand side of my blog, I am listing the books that I am reading right now.

Lo and behold someone out there is taking them as serious considerations and also reading them. SO cool! But when talking to her (Jessica) I realized that I don't always LOVE every book, so maybe to tip her and others off to the really good one's I should blog about them.

So here goes, my first foray into reviewing books!

Personal Days by Ed Park - Work for me in the past month or so has been....we'll just say.... has been less then fun..... SO! I picked up this funny book about work/life/corporate culture situtations in attempt to lighten my mood about some things. And it did a pretty good job. This book is split in three sections: it's like reading an episode of The Office TV show. The first two sections were really funny, I enjoyed them. Third section.....not so much. It is a 20 page, unpunctuated narrative "email." It's so weird, and it totally ruined the book for me.

So! Like every good reviewer you need a thumbs up or thumbs down...so I give this a:

NOT SO MUCH - enjoyed the humor in the beginning and the rest was just bleh. And now you know!

Keaty Family Trip to The Cities

Two weekends ago, we packed up the car and drove to Minneapolis to have a nice long visit with Greta and Nate.

This was Nick and Finn's maiden voyage, while I have been lucky enough to visit a couple of times.

The trip was pretty easy, as we stopped for an overnight visit on the way up and back with Grandma and Grandpa E!

Finn got his FIRST ILLNESS right as we were to be leaving town (typical) a bad croupy cough, etc. Ended up getting PINK EYE on Saturday, got him some drops and we just kept on truckin'. He still did well, being ill away from home, not too fussy, and still slept well in his pack in play. He was trooper and we had a GREAT TIME.

Here were the highlights of the trip:

1) BEING ON THE RECEIVING END OF ALL OF THEIR COOKING POSTS

So readers of my blog, that also read my sisters blog, will KNOW what I'm talking about!How many nights do I sit down to read her blog, eating my own dinner of cold cereal or worse and think, MAN what I would GIVE to eat THAT!!?? Well, all of my dreams came true as Nate and Greta really turned it on and cooked just amazing meals for us all weekend long. (This photo is so random and does not even DO their cooking justice. really)

2) A TRIP TO WILD RUMPUS

Chickens, Ferrets, and Sleeping Cats, OH MY


Killer bookstore, I was obsessed with it. Tons of cool animals, roaming around...great book selection, super awesome decor. All of it, super cool.

3) CAN YOU GIVE ME A "C" FOR COTTON CANDY?

That is a Dairy Queen Blizzard people. And it's the flavor of the month in June. And Greta and I just happen to be obsessed with it. So that was great timing on our end. Extra bonus info! Dairy Queen was Greta's employer for most of high school!

4) GOTTA GET A RUN IN

With a little coercion I was able to convince Greta and the boys to leave the house at the butt crack of dawn so her and I could run a 5 mile race. We did really well! Running it in about 45 minutes. It was a beautiful course, a nice chilly morning and we enjoyed a free rubdown at the finish line.

5) THERE WILL BE TRICKS AND TREATS

Auntie "Tet-ta" as Finn calls her was quick to breeze in for three uninterrupted days of treats and tricks. A new caw ca caw ca cawing version of the Arrested Development chicken appeared...ALONG with a funny mocking "face" that Greta is now doing, and can really only duplicate. It was hilarious seeing Finn try to imitate. Finn had a SUCKER, he loved it.

6) GOOD QUALITY TIME

I must say the best part of our visit was just the amount of time we got to spend with both Greta and Nate. They are quite the couple! Perfect for one another in so many ways. It was really nice to share their home, yard and lives with them. It is so hard. The more time you spend, the harder it is to leave and the more you WISH WE LIVED CLOSER TOGETHER! But, such is life, and they have a great one together...so I am happy to take part in it when we can. Already looking forward to our next visit.

Still the Strongest Man I Know

I am long over due to update everyone on Nick's Strongman Contest season.

His big national competition was in Iowa this year, and unfortunately I had to miss it because it was the same weekend as Printers Row.

This was the biggest competition of the year, drawing 50 total competitors from all over the nation, 30 in his weight class.

Here is a recap of the events and how he did:

(Unfortunately some of Nick's buddies took pictures, and we have yet to see any of them!)

EVENT #1 - Press Medley

Nick had to clean and press the following over his head!

a 105 lb kettlebell, a 260 lb 8 inch log, a 290 lb 2 inch axle and a 330 lb 12 in log

He did this in 25 seconds, getting 1st place for this event.

EVENT #2 - Farmers Walk

Nick had to pick up a 325 lb weight implement in each hand and race a straight run of 80 feet head to head with another competitor with a 60 second time limit.

He did this is 15 seconds, getting 3rd place for this event.

EVENT #3 - Yoke Walk

Nick had to pick up an 850 lb yoke and race the straight run of 60 feet head to head with another competitor with a 60 second time limit.

Nick finished the course but said it was REALLY REALLY brutal, finishing 3rd to last.

EVENT #4 - The Deadlift

This deadlift event is a little about strategy. Each competitor chooses their starting weight, with the opportunity to attempt to lift it just once. If they fail, they are done, if they succeed, each person has a chance to lift another heavier chance.

Nick started at 650 lbs, did 750, 800, 850 and 900!!!! Missed the 950 lb. lift.

He placed 3rd in this event, 1 person deadlifted 1,000 pounds!

EVENT #5 - Atlas Stones

Nick had to load 5 stones onto a 48" platform with a 60 second time limit

The stones weighed: 275, 300, 330, 365, and 405 pounds

Usually a tough event for Nick, he popped the first 4 stones right up, but was unable to do the 405.

Overall Nick place 10th in the nation!!!

The yoke was the one event that really tripped him up this year, but besides that he did just amazing. If he would have had more points in that one event, he would have easily been in the top 5. Watching just a bit of a few videos that his friend took, I could totally tell that Nick was competing on a new level.

This weekend, I had the chance to see him compete finally! We drove to St. Anne for a small state competition. Nick WON, broke his own state record for the log press and the Farmers hold. The Keaty family owns another sword :-)

Here are some pictures and a video of Nick doing the stones.

(You can click on the photos to make them bigger)

Nick doing the Atlas Stones, this past weekend

Just missed that last one :-)

I am really proud of Nick. He trains SO hard...and deserves all of the rewards that come to him. He is such a humble competitor and truly talented at what he does. I can't wait to see what is in store for him in the coming year.

Finny Winny

Changing up my schedule a little bit!

Want to play around a little bit more with the videos from Nick's Competition before I do his post!

Sir Finnegan

Finn Moves - So so much more! He's got the crawling down, and is getting braver and braver every day. He can walk pretty well with just one of us holding his hand and last weekend and with Grandma Ekern as the witness took about 6 or 7 steps all by himself. This element of motion adds quite a bit to your day :-) I think we may have taken his contentedness to stay put forgranted. The other morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for work, Nick in the kitchen...and we were like "Is Finn in by you?" - No - "Is he in by you?!" NO! We made a mad dash, couldn't find him anywhere...he had crawled back on the other side of the bed where we couldn't find him. The adrenaline was flowing! Was picturing him trapped and surely suffocating somewhere. Good thing to practice how that felt so as to not duplicate that experience, oh say, DOWNTOWN, or in a MALL.

Finn Eats - more and more big people food - Here I think he is noshing on noodles. It is really fun to be able to take him out with us and have him just try what we are having! During our visit to MN, he has a lollipop, steak, a grilled cheese and a Cotton Candy Blizzard! What is NOT to love about getting older with more teeth? Speaking of teeth....holy smokes, he's getting them all at once. So that has made things interesting, but for the most part taking it in stride.

Finn Speaks - he is seriously good with the "c" sound - Not entirely sure what he was saying as I snapped this, but there is a 90% chance that he was saying CAR. It's his favorite word. He says it constantly. He also says, or makes the sounds for the words: clock, bus, water, doggie, train, plane, ball, and book. He says MAMA a TON now, breaks my heart. Tet-Ta was Greta this past weekend. He says PaPa, DaDa, and more! He is cracking us up with these long string of babbles. He'll just look right in your eyes and babble away, very serious tones mixed with light joking tones. I cannot WAIT to hear more about what this kid has to share with us.

Finn Sleeps - this update will be cancelled until he stops sleeping well. I don't want to rub it in too much to any moms out there that may NOT be getting enough :-)

Finn Looks - like a good mix people are saying now. He certainly doesn't look like a baby anymore. A little boy.......his curly hair is so cute in the heat, and it appears that he has Mama's olive complexion, he doesn't seem to be as sensitive in the sun as Daddy is.

Catching Up

So I realize I have been slacking.
And I have been posting about slacking. That is BORING.
So I am COMMITTED to blogging EVERY night this week to catch up on my OWN life!Here is what you have to look forward to reading about!
Wednesday night: Nick Update - Nationals in Iowa, 2nd Father's Day
Thursday night: Finnegan Update - Growing like a Weed
Friday night - Keaty Family Road Trip to Visit Auntie G and Uncle Nate
Saturday - Impending Doom or otherwise known as Annual Training
Sunday - The Runners Club

But right now! The Half Marathon and our Visit with the Samson Family
Memorial Day Weekend we had the wonderful pleasure of staying with my friend Emily and her family. Emily and I lived on the same floor my freshman year, same as Nick! We have always stayed close and it was just really special to share some time with her and her amazing family.

Emily's husband Dave is great, he cooked for us and tended to us all weekend. Her sons Theo and Emmett are amazing! They took such good care of us, making us feel more than at home. The boys played together really well, Wallace made the trip and hung out in their outdoor kennel. Emily also blogged our visit, you can read it here. She says it best; it was a very comfortable weekend, easy and just really really nice. I throughly enjoyed the time we spent with them. It is so wonderful to see someone that so totally embraces being a Mother. And Emily is a very good one. I can't wait for our next visit.

The Race!
I must admit I was a little nervous for the half marathon. I was REALLY feeling burnt out a couple of weeks before the race and I just stopped running! My knee was really bothering me and my body was just really tired. So I listened and took a break. I am glad I did as the race went really well.
I felt rested.....strong, and confident! We had quite the group of ladies and we started out fast and furious. I felt really strong! My friend Lauren struggled for a little bit and I doubled back a few times for her and ended up going it alone at the end. The last three miles were TOUGH, but when I found out that I was only a few minutes behind the original pack I felt better about my time. And Lauren finished a few minutes behind me. So all in all we did really well.
I finished in about 2:16 minutes. Not bad for an almost thirty year old Mom! My last race I was 2 months pregnant, so not shabby at all. I started back running seriously in January. As I look at the miles I have ahead of me for this full Marathon I am not sure what I have gotten myself in to, but am up for the challenge!
Here are some pictures from Race Day!