Halling Go To Alaska

Oh, how sad I was that I didn't make time to participate in last week's You Capture.  I took a ton of "down low" pictures, but I just never made the time to upload pictures and post them while on our vacation in Maine.  It was lovely.  Family reunion.  Tons of fun.  Lots of laughter.  But Maine.  Have you ever seen Maine? It's green.  I knew I had to pick "green" out of the three choices Beth gave last week.  Granted I did have opportunity for "chair" and even "hand" but my greens were so green.  So without any more babble.  My green from over the last week. There was the sun shining through the trees next to the balcony. There was the moss growing in this crevice that was supposed to have a waterfall. It was a much harder hike than we expected to get to this point.   The trail guide said "kid friendly." It was not.  Steep inclines, boulders in the path, lots of slippery leaves on the ground.  Sweet Pea hiked it in a ...

There were cousin drinks. and drinks for Snowy (she's kind of a lush when it comes to margaritas) And homemade balloon hats And tiki torches and duck-lip kazoos I have so many more pictures. I'm going to do my best to condense to 2 more posts.  But it may be 3 more. 

So last week, starting on the 19th, we headed to Maine for my dad's family reunion.  This is an every other year occurrence.  In 2012 it will be somewhere in the Seattle area.  Should be a blast!!  I have so many pictures I want to share.  So much was packed into these 7 days.  But to start off with I will share some water pictures from Sunday.  Two houses were rented and the one we stayed in was called the Lightship.  It was on the lake.  We had our own dock with access to kayaks, paddle boats, and a rowboat. Joint kayaking! SmartyPants kayaking on her own.  She was really good at it...until the spiders started coming out.   Which lead to hysterical crying that we had no control over.  T, my cousin, and I were laughing hysterically at her hysterical crying.  I'm not a fan of spiders, but I'm still not sure what we were supposed to do to help.  Even Sass mastered the kayak.  I was so proud of her!! And then, beca...

June 20 The view of Moose Pond from the dock at dusk.  June 21 This is 3 generations of Sweet Pea's.   Well not really, but Granny just turned 89, my cousin is 19, and my Sweet Pea is 4.  The younger ones were named after the eldest.   June 22 One of the many damselflies that we saw everywhere we went. June 23 Iconic (to me) housing in Kennebunkport, ME June 24 We never did see a moose.  :( June 25 Full moon reflecting on Moose Pond.  Last night of the reunion.  June 26 (zip. nada. zilch)

June 13 An old time band at a local civil-war time frame reenactment. June 14 (slacker) June 15 Sweet Pea wearing my sunglasses and making goofy faces. June 16 My puppy (insert sad face).   She was eating a carrot, one of her favorite treats.  June 17 Took the girls on a hike in the hills behind our house.  Sass was our lizard hunter.  I never saw one first.  This was just one of them.   June 18 Bags packed and ready to go! June 19 Safety briefing on the way to Manchester.

I will be leaving tomorrow and not coming home for 13 days.  That's the longest I've been gone for...well a long time.  The whole family is heading to Maine tomorrow for my dad's family reunion.  It's always a ton of fun.  I get to see my cousins and my dad's siblings (he's one of 7).  I'm looking forward to rest and relaxation...and some running and hiking and canoeing and maybe fishing.  I will be taking a ton of pictures.  I will have internet, but I'm not sure if I will make the time for blogging.  I'm sure I'll be on Twitter - because I'm a little addicted like that.  Then on the 27th I fly with my little family to Chicago where they will leave me and head home.  I get to stay in Chicago until the 1st for a conference.  And as I mentioned in a previous post, before the conference I get to have a little meet up with Bari (and maybe Allyson ?).  I'm really excited about meeting them.  Bari is going to show me Chicago b...

Grace.  When we picked her up she was 18 pounds.  She smelled of puppy.  One month after she took over our home, T went on a 6-week TDY.  She was lonely.  Our rottie didn't having mothering instincts.  I allowed the 20-pound baby to sleep on the bed.  Oops.  We didn't buy her her own bed until she was 5.   This sweet puppy was a great "starter kid".  We spent more on the vet in her first year of life than we did on SmartyPant's first year.  It's good we love our pets! Over the years she grew and loved our girls.  She has been a fixture...sometimes a little neglected due to the crazy of life.  But she's my baby.  Always will be.   RIP Gracie dog.  You'll be missed. Say hi to Jazz, Emma, and Sammy after you cross the Rainbow Bridge. 

I haven't done a free write in so long. I kind of missed it.  All my writing is done on the blog, and I try to amuse at least myself, so I'm constructing in my brain.  Thanks, Jade, for having this challenge.  Sitting here drinking coffee on a quiet morning in June makes me think of all the things I need to accomplish today and whether or not I will get them all done in the hours I have to get them done in.  I have a brown puppy next to me that I unfortunately am going to be making a call to the vet about today.  You know the call? "That call."  And it makes me sad and I want to cry, but I don't know what other options I have that won't break the bank account or my sweet first baby's heart.  It's sad. And I hate this part of pet ownership.  It really sucks.  But I'm going to be strong and cry because my girls need to know it's okay to say goodbye and it's okay to cry and you can still be an awesome woman even if you cry.  I have a run t...

Sunday C'est moi.  I think this is about mile 5. I was starting to slow down at this point,  but I wasn't going to *not* smile for my close-up! (photo courtesy of Coach Joe English) Monday Look at me all official and shit on a stage in a skirt.  (picture taken courtesy of T) Tuesday Sweet Pea swinging at the park. I love this look on her face.   It's 100% her personality shining through. Wednesday (no excuses. The day got away from me.) Thursday Mexican food with margaritas.  Friday T and Sweet Pea on top of a fake climbing rock at the park.  Love, so much, when they are goofy together. Saturday And you're wondering what the hell this is, right? The summer reading program kicked off at the library with a pancake breakfast.  It was cold. The syrup was essentially frozen. It was like taffy. Unspreadable. Almost unmovable. 

How pathetic is that? I am. I love my family and I'm surrounded by them every day.  But after a weekend like last weekend in San Diego, surrounded by some awesome women, it's hard not to feel a little bit of a loss. It's blueberry vodka drinks post race.  Serious rawking out at a post-race par-tay.  I miss these ladies soo much.  We have bonded like I never thought possible through literally thousands of emails and twitter and blogs.  They are true blue friends who I know I can count on.  And you know what? I will be seeing them again, I'm positive.  And I can't wait.  But I'm thankful. Because one of my non-TNT teammates was there for my weekend.  And he'll continue to be there for more race weekends to come. 

Did somebody say fun?  Yep, Beth did.  And boy, did Team Shrinking Jeans have some fun in San Diego! One of my favorite times was watching (and participating) Coach Joe and Coach Dean film some of their videos for their blog/site.   It was a hoot to finally meet both of them as I've been watching their videos this year since I started with Team In Training. Here they are talking about socks.  Love the fact that Coach Dean has worn these unicorn socks while running.  And this one? With Christy ? There wasn't a dry eye in the place.  Serious laughter.  Along with a few moments of heart-stopping "what did he just say?" What fun did you capture this weekend?