Spartan Race

On Sunday, Micah and two friends completed a Spartan Race (the 5K Sprint event which has 20 obstacles along the route) down in Colorado Springs. One of the other boys' dads drove them all down and wonderfully managed to take a bunch of pictures for those of us who didn't make the drive...

It sounds like they had a fabulous time! One of the friends ran on his own and apparently won their heat. Micah and the other friend stuck together and were rejoined by the other friend at the end. According to Micah's text to me afterward, "the obstacles were awesome...i need to start doing cardio." LOL.

And here they are after the race...

Yes, they were filthy. They also got sunburned. (According to Micah, they thought they'd be getting all muddy and wet and it would wash off any sunscreen so didn't put any on. As it turned out, those obstacles came later in the race so there was plenty of time where sunscreen would have helped. When Micah left the house, he'd been telling me that he was going to wear long sleeves and long pants because of barbed wire and such, so I didn't think to remind him about sunscreen. Oh well. Micah's a bit red but claims he's nowhere near as bad as his friends.)

And now they have plans to complete more races...

Birthday/Mother's Day celebration

Continuing in my catching up...

You may remember that I decided we'd celebrate Mother's and Father's Day here at the same time as my birthday and Nathan's this summer. Well, last Tuesday was my birthday. :) Many thanks to all of you who extended birthday wishes!! Actually on the day, though, we were in the middle of our bathroom projects (more on that later) and Asher and Nathan were working. So, my guys took me to dinner and a movie that night, and we opted to more fully celebrate on Friday instead. 

To start, I got some group pictures...

This was my favorite and reminded me of this one that we took for Mother's Day in 2016...

Weren't they cute? :) And we got one with all five of us...

And then we drove up to Estes Park and enjoyed the Open Air ropes course:

Given that we couldn't take phones up with us, these are mostly just of me after Nathan and the boys had exited the course. (Yes, I was the last of us off. I wanted to try a few of the routes on the first level that I'd missed at the start.) We had a terrific time trying the different routes! 

After that, we took a break and went into town for lunch before returning for the scheduled axe throwing portion of our package.

This was also fantastic fun! Boys tried a number of different methods (both figuring things out and just for fun) and Micah even managed to throw all three axes at once and stick them all. Along the way, we realized that we all make certain faces as we throw. Most of us pursed our lips (or sometimes a tongue came out). Asher tended to exhale, though, which was entertaining (and probably better form, lol). 

And then we went back into Estes for our traditional ice cream (we always go to the same place).

These pictures are while waiting for our table at lunch, a family of geese floating the river (hard to see but there are six goslings between the parents there), and enjoying our ice cream (strangely, all three boys got the same thing).

And then we drove home. It was a good day. :) 

Catching up...

Yikes. I got a bit behind. Lots to share. I'll start with the miscellaneous stuff...

1. Asher's summer job. Asher's working at Mountain Kids this summer, leading summer camp and "normal" ninja classes. It seems a good fit for him--with his experience with karate, parkour and gymnastics--and he's having fun.

2. Summer cooking. I haven't taken any pictures, but this summer we decided to add cooking dinner to Micah and Asher's "chores." It's just once every other week for each boy and they've mostly been feeding themselves for years anyhow, but it seemed a good skill to work on this summer. So far, we've enjoyed some tasty meals!

3. Karate. With Asher home for the summer and restrictions lifting, we've been enjoying the resumption of monthly promotions at karate. Continually thankful for the relationships the boys have built through karate! (This is Marshall and Micah waiting to perform...pleased with themselves for finding somewhere to sit, lol.)

4. Summer shows. We've been enjoying some summer shows all together (Noah's joined us, too). We binge watched season 4 of Stranger Things...and went back and rewatched the first three seasons, too, lol. (It's such fun discussing everything...from the plot to the 80's fashion!) We went to see the new Top Gun movie then watched the original at home. (Awesome!) And we finally streamed the latest Fantastic Beasts movie, which has prompted revisiting all of the Harry Potter movies. Amid all of that, Nathan and the boys and subsets of boys continue to watch a variety of anime shows.  

5. Peonies. The Colorado weather has been predictably unpredictable. The cooler weather in May kept my peonies from blooming as early as they usually do. With the warmer weather now in June, they've been putting on a show...

Okay, that's a start. More to come... 

Thankful Thursday

Time for another Thankful Thursday! Feels like things are calming down again a bit here now that school's out and graduation's over and all that. Working our way into new summer routines. :) I'm sure there will be more about that later. In the meantime, here are five random things that I haven't had a chance to mention sooner...

1. Outside workouts. You may recall that the pandemic caused boot camp to move to Zoom. We're still going strong that way and I'm definitely so thankful for boot camp altogether...the exercise and the camaraderie. Alongside that, Lynne and I have gotten together on Saturday mornings for years now to do some additional working out...at the gym (pre-pandemic), in our basements (over the phone during most of the pandemic), and outside (when it's warm enough since the pandemic started). The start of May finally saw us able to meet up outside again for this year and it was beautiful. We meet half-way between our homes and run intervals. It's not fun but we strangely enjoy it and know it's good for us. :) 

2. Mother's Day margaritas. Speaking of Lynne, even though I wasn't celebrating Mother's Day actually on the day, Lynne had her traditional Mother's Day margs. She invited a bunch of women from different parts of her life and we stopped in throughout the afternoon to enjoy raspberry margaritas on her back patio. It was a lovely break. Thanks, Lynne!

3. Portable steamer. Confession. We don't own an iron here. For years, this has not been an issue at all. I just don't buy clothes that need to be ironed. :) Micah getting a suit for prom changed that, though, lol. I suddenly realized the situation a bit before prom. My solution was to buy a portable steamer. Guys. Portable steamers are awesome! I steamed Micah's suit and dress shirts. Voila! And then I realized how handy it was for Noah's graduation gown and stole. Perfect. Yay! Thankful for my new tool.

4. This picture. While grandparents were here, I caught this picture of Micah sharing a meal with one of our squirrels. It was hilarious and adorable...

This was a rare moment. Usually when Micah stands at the door and watches squirrels, he tries to intimidate them, lol. 

5. Anime. Noah's back at his apartment now that grandparents are gone and graduation is over and all. While all three boys were home, though, they had a good time bonding and reconnecting over anime shows. I love that even though they're all separated during the school year, they can get together and watch a show together...some that they've been watching together and only resume when they're all together, some that one recommends and the other two have started, some that they've all watched on their own and just want to talk about. I don't personally watch anime but am thankful for it.

Okay, that's all for now. Continually thankful for this life I have.

Grandparent visit

Okay, almost caught up...

Thankful this Thursday that Nathan's parents were able to spend time with us this past weekend! They joined us for Noah's Honors Recognition ceremony and graduation...we played plenty of pinochle...we ate good food. :) On Sunday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather to play some croquet...

...and to watch Nathan and the boys play some volleyball. 

We hosed them off and cleaned them up and even remembered to take a few pictures... 

And a good time was had by all!

After that, John & Nancy spent a couple days in Estes Park while we attended to things like dentist appointments and oral surgeon consults and work. They returned to spend Wednesday night with us before getting back on the road this morning, heading for home. Hoping they have safe travels and so very appreciative of our time together!