Photos rediscovered

My parents uploaded a bunch of pictures onto my memory stick the last time we were over for dinner. I just wanted the pictures they had taken from the 5K. Turns out, they had more pictures that I didn't even know existed!!!

These ones are from when we were away in Paris. It's amazing to me how much he's grown and changed even since then -- and it was only a little over a month ago!

I'll add some video they sent me too in a later post -- once I get them edited. So keep your eyes peeled!

I did IT!!

On Thursday, I ran my first 5k -- the St. Ben's Run for the Hungry -- an event which kicked off GermanFest in Milwaukee.

And, I am proud to say.....I DID IT!!!

It definitely wasn't easy, but when all was said and done, it was fun. I ran it with the Maxes and my parents. Big Max and my mom took off running at the get-go, determined to come in with a competitive time. Big Max finished in 27 something. My mom finished in 29 something! Way to go!

As for me, my time goal was to finish in under 40 mins. My dad offered to run with me (and push the stroller) to keep me company and motivate me. Well, he motivated me enough to run a 9:48 mile for the first mile! (It kicked my butt though). After that, he was defintiely more annoying than motivating. But, I made it across the finish line, so I guess he did his job!

So, I bet you're waiting to hear what time I finished in....



34:28!!!


Not bad for my first 5K -- it averages out to ~10.8 min miles. I'm pretty proud of it, and it leaves me a lot of room for improvement if I do it again.

That's a big if....

I'm just happy it's over! MAYBE I'll sign up for another one....MAYBE.....

Here are some photos of the big event!


Grumps and Max right before the run


YAH! It's done! Max was pretty worn out too! :)




There's nothing more motivating than a cold beer right across the finish line...

Randomness

A few random photos of our life lately...

4th of July fun

Zoo Visit!

Back in June (yeah, yeah...I'm catching up!) we went to the Milwaukee County Zoo for Family Free Night with our friend Laura and her daughter Nina.

It was nice to be able to walk around the zoo when it wasn't so crowded (it was a member's only event, and seeing as I work there and all....)

This summer, the special exhibit is the 'birds down under', and fun exhibit where the birds are free to fly around and you can feed them millet seed on a stick. I had a feeling that my animal loving, bird FANATIC son would enjoy this. I wasn't disappointed!


When we first entered the exhibit, he was truly amazed that we were in this room with ALL of these birds. I think he was stunned!


Then, he started pointing to all the birds and SHOUTING 'bird! bird!'.




He was really trying to figure this thing out -- but the look of joy on his face was just awesome!


Daddy got a millet seed stick and enticed a bird over -- Max was in H.E.A.V.E.N!


Here's a video!


He was so happy afterwards, he just had to give me a hug! :)


And, no trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the train! We thought it was fun to make Max kiss Nina -- we're just trying to get all the embarrassing pictures we can right now!

Strawberry Picking

Note to Self:

Next time, don't dress a 20 month old in a white shirt to go strawberry picking.

NOT a smart choice, MOM....

Thank goodness SHOUT really works....

Father's Day

I realize this is late...but better late than never right?

We ventured out to the Boerner Botanical Gardens on Father's Day with our friends Steph and Max and their son, Jack. It was a kids PARADISE -- lots of open space to run, and plants to see and birds to listen to! Max had a blast! So did we!

Maxisms Today

These days, lil guy is ALL personality. And I am LOVING every little snippet of it (well, MOST of it...).

I would say right now the thing that he does that most stands out to me is that he has really taken to bossing us around lately. Some of his favorite things to tell us to do are:

Sit Down -- to be said as 'sit DOWN' -- this statement is 99.9% of the time emphasized with a firm slap to whatever surface we should be sitting on...the floor, the couch, a chair. "Sit Down" is also another way to say "Lay Down".

Dada! - to be said as 'daDAAAAAA!' -- this statement usually indicates that mom and lil Max are doing something and he would like dad to be included. Commonly occurs in the bathroom while we are brushing our teeth in the morning. In this instance, daDAAAA is followed by "teef".

Night Night -- this is said whenever Max wants you to lay down with him...on the floor, on the couch or on our bed. It usually indicates that he wants to a)snuggle or b) tackle you. He also uses this to tell us when he wants to go to bed.

Nemo -- to be said as 'NEEMOOO!' I blame this one solely on my parents -- as they got him addicted to watching Finding Nemo while we were in Paris.

Ball, Bubble -- said to either identify a ball or bubbles or to indicate that this is what he would like you to do.

Max's vocabulary has exploded and he can identify most things by name, or say what he wants. This has dramatically decreased the number of temper tantrums and explosions. He loves to tell us when he wants 'milk' or a 'cracker', or even a tickle!

Max can identify his colors by name now, whereas before he would just point them out. His favorite color to say is yellow -- his favorite color of toy appears to be blue (daddy is sighing a breath of relief that it is no longer pink).

We're up to 11 teeth now, with the latest addition being his lower right lateral incisor. Still a little slow, but we've heard that means less of a possibility of orthodontia for his future!

I'm sure there is much MUCH more that I am forgetting. This kid is a TRIP -- he is just full of JOY and LIFE and LAUGHTER. He makes every day better for me just by being in it!

Here he is, practicing his French moves... :)

June Fitness Challenge Summary

June was a busy month, and I struggled for most of it to fit in my fitness challenge. Some of the exercises were easy to fit in during my normal routine -- others were more difficult -- like pushups.

Overall, I met all of my goals for the month, and even exceeded some. Except for those darn pushups -- I was 150 short!

Here is the summary:

Situps: 1700 (1500 goal) = 113%
Pushups: 750 (900 goal) = 83%
Squats: 1550 (1500 goal) = 103%
Lunges: 1700 (1500 goal) - 113%
Miles (walk or run): 85 miles -- which breaks down to about 2.83 miles a day.

Not bad. I would have liked to have met my goal for pushups, and to increase the miles to at least 3 miles a day, but I'll take it.

The last half of the month I was playing catch-up to make up for my time 'off' while in Paris -- which made it more stressful and less fun. But, I did discover that my 30 day shred workout will knock off major numbers in all of these categories -- so that helped me out in the end!

Goals will stay the same for next month, and this time I'm going to add a little cardio move to the mix -- plank jumping jacks -- and I'll start with 30/day and reassess next month if necessary.

So: July Fitness Goals
Situps = 1550
Pushups = 930
Squats (with shoulder press) = 1550
Lunges (with bicep curl) = 1550
Plank Jacks = 930

Wish me luck!

Paris Day 6

Wow -- can't believe it took me this long to post the final day of the France trip. Life has been busy!!

For our last day in France, we decided we would go into the Hotel d'Invalides to see Napolean's coffin and to the Musee d'Rodin which is right across the street. We weren't disappointed -- it was all so BEAUTIFUL!

We walked by this every morning and evening on the way to or from the train station. It smelled delicious -- and we would often stop in for a fresh treat:



Today we got on the RER



and got off the the Invalides stop



The stop put us out right in front of the Hotel d'Invalides, and there was a bunch of military walking around ... with fun shoulder decorations:



The dome on the church is unmistakeable, and beautiful



Once inside, you are amazed at just how beautiful the INSIDE of the dome also is!



The church has the coffins for Napolean's brothers and other noted military figures:





A view of Napolean's from above:



A view from the bottom floor...the thing was freaking HUGE! Especially if you consider how small Napolean was!



The church itself was also beautiful



Afterwards, we walked next door to see the Musee d'Rodin -- and we just paid to walk around the beautiful gardens.





This famous statue is there:



A view of the museum (once mansion). The structure in front of the building is a stage that is being set up for catwalks -- fashion week was starting in Paris!



We headed home afterwards and found this wonderful restaurant where we ate dinner, and celebrated my birthday:



The trip to France was outstanding, wonderful, relaxing. I hope we get to go back soon!