Where have we been?

When I started this blog, I had every intention of trying to post every few days to keep everyone up to date on what we are doing. This summer has been really busy and I haven't been as good about posting as I would have hoped. Here's a re-cap of what we've been up to so far this summer.

July 4th - We spent the 4th of July with the Gissel clan (my mom's family) in Waldport. It was fun times with almost all of the family getting together. I have fond memories of growing up and spending the 4th at my grandparents house in Waldport and going down to the bay to watch the fireworks, building a bonfire and having smores! We didn't make it to the fireworks, but all of us cousins did make it down to the beach for a bonfire.

July 12th - Ben and Gavin's birthday. We got to help the Secrest twins celebrate their 2nd birthday. Merrick always enjoys getting together with all of the boys and burning off some energy! The party was "Bob the Builder" themed and we even got to have dirt cake!

July 19-20th- Micah's Birthday. We made a trip to Seattle with Poppa and Grammy to see cousins Micah and Quin. Micah turned two! For Merrick's birthday, his cousins got him a Kitty Keyboard, which he loves, but Mama and Dada don't always care for. The keyboard has a "meow" key that has all different meows. Plus it purrs when you don't play with it. Needless to say... we had to find something good for Micah's birthday. Merrick and I went to Toys 'R Us and we picked out an inflatable Pirate Ship, that is big enough for the kids to climb into, plus it plays music! We decided to inflate the ship on Saturday night, thanks to Kira and Erik's neighbors air compressor, and the kids loved it! I haven't had a chance to check in with Kira and Erik and seeif they are enjoying it as much as Trav and I enjoy the Kitty Keyboard!

July 26th - WCC Picnic. My company does an amazing job with their company picnic and this year was no exception. I was really excited about it this year because Merrick was big enough to know what was going on. The picnic was carnival themed and they had a huge carousel bounce house, carnival games, a balloon artist, face painters, a magician and lots of food, ice cream and snow cones. We all had a blast and came home exhausted.

August 2 - 3 - Rafting/Camping Trip. Travis and I went on a rafting/camping trip with a group of his co-workers. We left Merrick at home with Nana and Papa T. Travis and I had fun getting away for the weekend and ended up having a gorgeous weather in Maupin, while it was raining in Portland.

August 9 - MG2 Picnic. Travis' company picnic was at a large park near Battle Ground,WA. Merrick's favorite part was getting to see the fire truck and seeing what the firemen carry in their truck. He discovered they carry a SLOW/STOP sign and I'm guessing he's probably the only kid who has gotten excited about a sign. Travis' luck at the MG2 events continued and he won a $100 gift certificate to Higgins Restaurant. For those of you who don't know, he won a flat screen TV at their Christmas party. I don't know if he'll ever be able to top that!

August 10 - Grandpa Dick's 80th Birthday party. We headed to Aumsville to help Grandpa Dick celebrate his 80th birthday. It was fun to get to see all of the family from my dad's side. Most of my cousins were there and Merrick enjoyed exploring.

Did I mention we've been busy? Here's what's coming up next...

August 22- 23 - Travis will be doing Hood to Coast
August 29 -30 - A trip to visit Grandpa Brad and Grandma Karen
August 31 -Sara Sitter's Annual Kick Ball Party
September 6 -Fagan Family Reunion
September 6-7 - Travis plays in a softball tournament
September 20 - Counting Crows/Maroon 5 Concert
September 25- 29- Travis goes to visit his brother Jeff in Alabama

Gut Check

For those of you who don't know... I am training for a marathon in October. I've been very fortunate to have some great running partners to join me while I log some serious miles. This past weekend was no different. We knew that it was going to be a warm day, so we started out at 7 am for our 18 mile run. We had decided earlier in the week to run up Terwilliger all the way into Lake Oswego and back. For those of you who aren't familiar with Terwilliger... it's got some nice hills and once we got into Lake Oswego, I realized those hills were going to seem even bigger on the way back.

I've been running with Susan, Bhavna and Kevin for years and one of the things that I appreciate about them is that we have this unspoken agreement, that we can run our own pace. I was struggling a bit on my way back up Terwilliger heading out of LO and let the group get ahead of me. With about 6.5 miles left, they all decided to head off to a nature center to use the facilities. I was having a rough time and knew that if I got off course, even for a little bit, I wasn't going to make it, so I went ahead of them. This run was probably one of the hardest I have done, especially for a training run. It was a serious gut check for me. I was emotionally, mentally and physically drained by the time I finished. But the key thing is I finished.

It was a good practice run for what I will go through in October. Probably the hardest thing for me about doing that race is that I won't have the support of family and friends that I would have if I were running in Portland.

I am continuously grateful for my family and friends and all the support they give me! I owe a huge thank you to my running friends who have made those long runs a little easier!