Being Brave

Good Job Gina for being so brave, your arm will be good in no time. Abby had so much fun running through the sprinkler with you, we'll have to do it again when your arm is all better.
We love you to pieces girl.

Night

Sometimes I want to put something on here but everything that comes in my head seems dumb, boring, or just not real.
Have a good night, hope you dream sweet.

Abby Ballerina

Thanks Court for doing Abby's hair. She kept making everyone feel how "crispy" it was. Good thing she has Courtney as the bun I would have attempted would not have stayed in!!

We're so proud of you Angelina, Abby and Rae- you were fantastic!!

I can't think of a better 100th post than this. We are so proud of you Abby, you did such a great job!! I tried to load the actual video of the performance, it is soooo sweet, but apparently it is too big for blogger, bummer. So we had been complaining a bit about this recital, how it was such a big deal, rehearsal's, all serious, etc. but Sunday it was worth it to see her up on stage all confident and having fun. One of those moments as parents that make you feel totally "full."

This week

Our one day of sun lately.... freezing here.. when is summer coming??

A lovely bike ride in Dungeness

Sequim Bay

Abby, Cole, and Rae at the Saturday Market

Abby and Luke wrestling, Luke's favorite game

Me trying to get a few laughs out of sweet Liam boy

Abs riding "Dream," with her Grandma Carolyn

Father's Day

Summer Solstice

DID YOU KNOW....The month for Love.

The first (or only) full moon in June is called the Honey Moon. Tradition holds that this is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.
This time of year, between the planting and harvesting of the crops, was the traditional month for weddings. This is because many ancient peoples believed that the "grand [sexual] union" of the Goddess and God occurred in early May at Beltaine. Since it was unlucky to compete with the deities, many couples delayed their weddings until June. June remains a favorite month for marriage today. In some traditions, "newly wed couples were fed dishes and beverages that featured honey for the first month of their married life to encourage love and fertility. The surviving vestige of this tradition lives on in the name given to the holiday immediately after the ceremony: The Honeymoon."

Ancient Germanic, Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe: Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. "It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames..." It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire's power, "...maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished." Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun's energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest.

Happy Summer Solstice on Friday- may everyone step outside and feel the earth under your feet.

Happy Father's Day!

Thank you Joe for being such a great Papa. Thank you for being patient, for your singing, your wrestling matches, and all the kisses and hugs. Thank you for loving us so much. Love you... Love you.

The Remnant

This is coming out tomorrow, the last chemo/cancer thing left in my body. It shouldn't be a big deal, done in the surgeon's office. No one has given any advice on this staying in or out. The oncologist says, some people keep them for years just in case and some have them out as soon as possible. Maybe mine has been in longer than necessary but so far I have had that feeling of "what if" and that maybe I would jinx this "remission" if I had it out too soon. I guess it just took me this long to be ready. I am a little nervous to have it gone but at the same time I feel safe, like I'm filled up with faith.

Sunday- the Half

So this felt pretty amazing. Yesterday I was wiped out from the run, the adrenaline, and the emotion. Today, I feel totally jacked that we did this. If you are wondering about the tie dye- it was the Friday night carb dinner idea of Staci Jo and Court that all the supporters wear tie dye so we could see each other and because really who doesn't like tie dye? So that was the project for Friday night and I'll say they all turned out pretty good.
Something about this run that I didn't expect- Talking about running and since doing the run, quite a few people are thinking of doing it next time, either walking or running it. How cool is it that you can help people believe in themselves by doing something that you feel you are doing for you? The ripple effect. The collective energy of that many runners in one place was pretty exciting when the race started off. My word for it: buzzing!

There is already talk of the next..... Victoria in October and a training schedule in my inbox on Monday from trainer Tess?? I think a week off first. :)

Saturday- The Kid's Race

Mostly we walked the 1.2 mile kids race but the kids did run some. Abby decided to take off like a shot in this one.






Abby and her buddy Jobe did the race together.


Abs and I at the end of the race. In the car getting there she said, " Momma, I just have to be either running or skipping over the finish line, I can't walk."












Abby was sooo proud of her shirt and ribbon she got!!

The Road Update

Just a quick entry to let everyone know the ankle and I made it through the half marathon!! wa-hoo. It was super exciting and truly fun most of the way except for the last three miles- when it got tough, but I did it. The day was perfect, cloudy, cool, no rain only a bit of wind at the end- which i was cursing because it was when i was soooo done. But anyway, thank you all for all the support, you are amazing and I absolutely couldn't have done it without you. I feel super proud of us for deciding to do this, for doing all those runs these last months and for my ankle for hanging in there with me. Will post some pics when i get them up. Now off to take some tylenol/ibu mix, more water, sleep and hope I can actually walk in the morning!!

Road Update

The granola is in the oven and I'm starting to make my play list for the run on Sunday, 4 days!! My ankle is hanging in there, feels ok while I'm running, had to stop a few times and walk on last weekend's run because of it but mostly it is just sore after..... like the next day. I haven't tried to run more than 6 miles on it though since i did it so we'll see. I'm as ready as i'm going to be for this. It is going to be hard for me but I think I'll feel great at the end. This running adventure has been strange for me confidence wise. I am usually a pretty confident person, feel like if I decide I want to do something that I will be able to do it. This however, has not been that way. As we've been running, whenever we are going to go longer I always doubt myself, unsure if I can do it, if my legs will hold out, or my lungs. Tessa likes to bring up that in the beginning when she would suggest doing Palo Alto (uphill) the whole way I would laugh and say- yeah right, or swear. :) But then after awhile I stopped doing that and just said sure, knowing it would be hard but doable. The side effect of doing all this running is that physically I feel pretty good (sans ankle) and in the back of my head feel like I'm doing something proactive about making my cancer not come back. I forget the statistic exactly but regular exercise decreases my recurrence rate by maybe 20%- pretty significant. Soooo...... if my body can hold out I want to keep running after this race for myself.... for Joe and Abs. So thank you, thank you Tess for asking me on that first run, for being a great motivator, trainer, and friend- you are awesome!! Ok, I'm off to pick 2 1/2 hours of music- wa-hoo.

Long story short, the pony went back to Shannon's and this is what I found when I went out to give Sage her grain. I guess Abs felt like Sage might be lonely and needed a buddy.







A weekend of yard work and some fun, too. Campfires both nights, can't beat that.

Abs and I planting our pumpkins. Wonder if we'll have orange ones this year or green? Oh well, it is still fun to watch them grow.