BLAH DAYS

It's been rainy for several days now...very dark, very gray, very cold, very ugly days. Tomorrow they are predicting SNOW! I wanna be on a very warm, sunny island right now! Cruise anyone? I really believe I have that weather disorder thing...you know where the weather affects your moods. Some people think it's a bunch of crap, but I don't know...I can see a direct correlation in my life...or at least today anyway. Hmmmmm...maybe if I can't go on the cruise (Mr. Heather has been heckling me lately as I'm only person on the planet who isn't seriously worried about the economy b/c I keep making plans to SPEND money instead of SAVE it!) I'm just DREAMING! Cut me some slack here! Ok, so no cruise might be equivalent to tanning bed. And don't you all start writing me about the hazards of the tanning bed either because I'm as white as ghost right now. Guess that's fitting for Halloween. Now the tanning bed is out..so on to self-tanning lotion....Far cry from a cruise. Enough....it's time for a long bath and then bed! I'm beat! Tonight I'm going to dream about white sand beaches and teal-colored water.....

Back to Jogging

Mr. Heather & I started jogging together again. It was time. Unfortunately, it wasn't in time! I stepped on the scale this morning and I hit that magic number....my MAXIMUM weight. I'm not one of those people who is unrealistic about this number. For my height, there is a healthy range to be at and right now I'm at the tip-top. That's the bad news. The good news is that we started out with 1.5 miles and we only walked for two one-minute sessions during that entire time. Here we go! Cheer me on!

Weezbot!

Hey, if you get a chance, leave a comment on Weezbot's Blog....she's my niece and would love it if she could prove that someone's reading her blog. Ummmmm...by the way, same goes for her aunt! Tee hee!

October 13th

My cousin Chad and I at a school district that we both serve in different capacities. We both presented that morning. He gave Child Abuse Training to K-6 teachers and I spoke to 7-12 teachers regarding local report card and curriculum issues. This pic was taken by my cell phone so it isn't very good, but I want to share it with my grandmother...who would've ever guessed we'd grow up to work together!

Cousins!

Samantha and Zoe just adore their baby cousin Andrew! They loved chasing him around and playing together. Andrew loved their train table, especially the bridge! We all enjoyed the time we were able to spend together. He's a cutie!

Bowling Green State University

The old Alma Mater.....
I had a workshop in Wood County, so decided to walk the fall campus afterwards...
in heels...which my feet protested later!

This is the seal of BGSU that Robert & I stood on after my graduation ceremony!

Met my friend Shelley for dinner that night at Max & Erma's. We had so much fun, laughing, talking, and catching up. We haven't had a night like that in way too long! The phone calls or visits with the kids underfoot just isn't the same as having our own girl time! What a great visit! The waitress decided we should try to get together more often because we were having so much fun together! She's right! Love you, Shelley!

Here she is with her new beau!

More Garage Fun

I've been working on the garage...that's been our goal off an on for...well, hmmmmm...ever since we moved in!?! It'll be two years this Christmas! Changing jobs didn't help because I had to move all my personal belongings out and brought it...you guessed it...straight to the garage! I finally have it organized and put away with the exception of 3 SMALL boxes! I'm pretty pleased with that. Maybe today I'll finish! The goal is to get the cars back into the garage for the winter weather. Fun blog today, huh?

CHICAGO

Jennie & Bruce ran the Chicago Marathon...all 50 states were represented and over 100 countries. Pretty mind-boggling when you think about it. Robert & I left the girls with grandparents and headed off the to the Windy City. I enjoyed the trip immensely! Here are some of my favorite pictures!

WICKED was in Chicago! Brought back fun memories!

These pictures are not in chronological order, or any order for that matter!
Here we all are after the race! (Don't we look exhausted after watching them run?)
No one made any plans to meet up, but we actually were able to find each other (Jennie borrowed someone's cell phone!) We are so proud of you both! Way to go!

The Guys

This is me having fun with my camera!

Jennie with her folks who are super fun, super sweet people!
We love hanging out with them!

You know you're in the big city when crowds gather around the horses on patrol!
They were beautiful creature and very well taken care of with bright shiny clean coats.

If I were to run a marathon, I think it would fun to dress up as Wonder Woman...this group was a trip! They had Super Man, Batman & Robin, Cat Woman, The Joker, and more!?!

The Duo Running Machines!

Jennie's Family Bar in Chicago...awesome food, great fun atmosphere!
We highly recommend it!

Did you know there are moose in Chicago?

At the American Girl store...this tree house is $250.
Who wants to get me one for Christmas?

Driving into Town....

Family Fun Fest for Fall!

Our church puts on the best family fun day a kid could ask for: pony rides, bouncy gyms, huge inflatable slides, trampoline jumps (with holsters), train rides, hay rides, cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs, live music, face painting, and MORE! Everything is FREE, which is awesome because who likes to spend an astronomical fee for one day of fun and/or tell your kids no? However, with all this fun stuff planned, our kids looked longingly at the playground as we passed it on our hay ride. This is so ridiculous because they both go to "school" with great playgrounds but this definitely topped their list of fun for the day and right up there with the snow cones! We take them to this park periodically for picnics and a day at the park and they LOVE it!

Noah's Ark Bean Bag Toss
(The bean bags were actually animals, how cute is that?)

Apple Fall Festival

Sammy finds an apple in the orchard!

Sammy wants things to go her way....
she's pouting because she wanted to walk in the road instead of the grass.
Papa finally talked her into action by offering her a ride!

Zoe climbing trees! Good old fashioned fun!

After the festival, we headed to Bluffton...a beautiful little college town....
we took the girls to the Grammy's old playground...Mommy & Uncle Tim used to play there too when we were little with our cousins.

Andrew joined us for our weekly hike!
He had great news for us; he's going to be a big brother!

More hiking!

Grandma, Grammy, Uncle Tim, Aunt Wendi, and Sammy enjoy the nice autumn day!

Father & Son

Sammy thought Great Grandma's goose was the neatest thing!

My mom is young at heart!
My dad and I followed this up with a game of tetherball!
We had a blast!

Fall Fun!

Zoe took this picture!

Sisters!

I signed the family up for a weekly hike each Saturday morning for 8 weeks. We can't make it to all of them, but we've done several. The girls love it! Grandma joined us from Day 1! Mr. Heather has only joined us once and that was enough for him! He ended up carrying both girls at times!