Woodury Days Half Marathon, rides and swimming with Family

I did my second half marathon since Harper was born 2 weeks ago in some EXTREMELY hot weather! The "race" was actually shortened in half due to the heat but I felt okay so I kept running and still did about 13 miles. I saw many other participants keep going as well...they must have been using it as a training run as well :) This half was the Woodbury Half Marathon which is part of Woodbury Days. I had done this one before and remembered it being pretty hilly but fun too because it went through parts of Woodbury I didn't know existed. So I was disappointed not only that it was shortened but also that the "pacers" weren't sure where they were going the whole time and that I didn't know it was shortened until about a half mile in when I heard it from another runner and noticed the pacers signs saying 9 min mile to finish in 1 hour 3 minutes. Oh well. My parents were still there to cheer me on at the end and then Chris came with girls around 10 so Linnea could do her lil race. I have some more pictures of her but of course need to get them on the computer first! I do have one of Linnea before her race and one of me after running the 7 miles before I went off and ran 5-6 more and Harper cheering with her milk :)

After the running events were completed we headed to Woodbury Days to put up with the heat for a few rides and some food. After about an hour we went to my parents to play in their little pool and eventually meet up with the siblings at a beach. 

We had hoped to go to the Woodbury Days Parade but no one wanted to sit and watch a parade in nearly 100degree weather. TOO HOT!

Our day at the beach, playing in gma and papas yard and cool basement and having a cookout was much more enjoyable!

Beaches and Music

I took the girls to Caponi Art Park Tuesday morning for Roe Family Singers who were very fun but it was a super warm day so we did one short short walk in the woods after Linnea went on this cool tree swing and then we hit up a new beach at Lebanon Hills Regional Park. That park is awesome...I want to go back and walk/hike/run/letterbox! We had a great girls day at the beach. I'm so glad Linnea has her puddle jumper and can swim independently with it and that Harper enjoys her floaty and the water. 

Pictures to come!

We had so much at the beach Tues we went again Wed. Only this time we went to St. Croix Beach near Afton with my friend Katie and her daughter. First we watched some of the neighborhood girls and then we met Katie and her girls briefly at a playground before heading to her house to change, lay her baby down and then we walked/rode bikes down to the beach.

Our day ended at Groovin in the Garden which is at Como Zoo by the Conservatory. We met some friends there and had a picnic of McDonalds!

Arboretum Day

I bought a pass for two for the price of one on LivingSocial to the MN Arboretum so we used that this past Sunday. Our friends Chuck and DeAnna and their baby Cora were able to meet us there. It was so fun to see them and see how much Cora had changed. A 10 week old looks much different than a 11 day old which is how old she was the last time we saw her. She was so good and even got a nice nap in. Linnea enjoyed the flowers, our picnic, riding on mommy's back/shoulders and of course seeing our friends. Harper remained awake and enjoyed herself as well.

More pics to come I hope!

GOOOO TWINS!!!

Harper at almost 11 months old survived her first trip to the Twins Game! We decided to take the Light Rail there this time and had so much fun. It was quite packed on the way home but Linnea sees the "train" zipping by sometimes and I always tell her we will ride that some day. Well that some day happened last Wednesday.

It was the main Twins Game I wanted to go to since Trampled by Turtles (A MN band I really like) was playing there in between innings. It also happened to be dollar dog day so that was a nice bonus :)

Too bad the Twins couldn't pull off a win. They were ahead and should have one but ended up losing in extra innings. We still had fun though. Harper slept a little, Linnea colored a little, we tried playing Twingo, had ice cream, hot dogs and popcorn and got our picture on the big gold glove :)

  The only thing missing was a win.

golden glove picture is coming :)

Dani's Run

Harper participated in her first 5k last Saturday morning! Chris is back on first shift as of the middle of August so he is around on the weekends which made doing this run much easier than I thought it would be when I signed up for it. I was thinking I'd be wearing Harper and pushing Linnea and getting out the door on time alone which is usually tricky for us.

This was a run for Dani whose life was sadly taken too soon because of domestic violence. As you may remember from previous posts, she is not the only woman I know of who is gone because of this horrible issue so this run was important to me. All the proceeds went to stopping domestic violence. I didn't know Dani but I do know her sister and from all the articles about her she was an amazing lady. So sad.

Anyways, Harper and I walked/jogged the course once with a friend and her daughter and then we ran around it once more. I signed up for the Mankato Marathon in October so I better get as many miles in as I can!

Harper and I visited GG afterwards which was fun and so much easier with just one child but I didn't manage to get a picture :(

That afternoon/evening turned out to be super busy...we met Chris' mom and sister one last time before her departure into the Army in South Carolina. She left last Monday! Allison wanted Jamba Juice one more time so we met there for smoothies and proceeded to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and then to the Drive In to see Turbo. 

I have wanted to go to the Drive In the last few summers so I am glad we finally got there! I'm just checking things off the summer to do list which feels good!

Summer Fun!

Well since I am way behind again and don't really know where to begin I'm doing an odds and ends post and then I will do a few posts devoted to events/activities with more pictures! We are having so much fun this summer and cannot believe its coming to an end :( Some of the things we have done which have been keeping me too busy to keep up with the blog (or housework for that matter) are:

Yoga in our living room...I set the girls up with a fort and coloring/play stuff. Linnea sometimes joins me during my Yoga DVD but then we do her own kid yoga that we found on Comcast On Demand.

We've been crafting and baking:

having picnics

we finally made it to the St. Paul Farmer's Market for breakfast, music and shopping

Yoga at the library

The last Discover Your Parks

Wading Pool Fun

A NPC swimming playdate

pic coming

$2 day at Como Pool date with Mommy

pic coming

Daddy and Linnea had a date to go see Monster's University while Mommy and Harper jogged/slept and then we all met for ice cream with some friends to meet their new baby. We like these "date" nights with our kids but are looking forward to our next one together too :)

Tumbling show, Menchie's and a Picnic

More Pictures/Videos to Come!

Linnea's tumbling for the summer has to come to end. She and her neighborhood buddies who were in her class put on a great show for us! We celebrated the end with frozen yogurt at Menchies! YUM! That evening we hoped to go to the Irish Fair but cheap me refused to pay $10 to park and then who knows how much on the food inside. SO after driving around a bit and getting pretty crabby we had a picnic at the choo-choo park.