The Dells

The end of Brian's 3rd year of med school and advent of his final year was celebrated in June by a week long vacation. We spent most of that in Wisconsin, for fun family time with Brian's brother David's family and best friend Justus, at Wisconsin Dells "the waterpark capital of the world," and a wedding for one of Brian's good med school friends a few hours away from the Dells. Thanks for going with us David, Lizz, Saffi, Schafer, Violet, Justus, and newly-announced teeny-weeny-Cheney-baby! (Congrats to David and Lizz, NOT us!) Morning sick Lizz was a good sport in having a good time and hiding the nausea.

Nothing's more fun than fun with cousins. Can these kids get ANY cuter?!?

We stayed in a gorgeous 2-bedroom condo, with a HUGE jacuzzi tub

Ethan's most often repeated phrase this trip: "Dad, I don't know how to swim by myself, don't let go", but this little slide was perfect for his confidence level...

Sunglasses make everyone feel super cool

Back on the Wagon PART II

In a repeat of two years ago (see HERE), I have again started running.
For the past two years, I have set a meager New Year's Resolution of running a 5k. 2 years ago: Completed. 1 year ago: Failed (I WAS pregnant for 10 of those months...). So, this year, I again set the goal: "Run a 5k," but to be honest, I was secretly hoping I could get tough enough to run a 10k.
I probably would have failed again this year, but thanks to some good friends, Tawnya and Sara, I got talked into training for a half marathon. Though this has been my hope/goal-but-not-ready-to-commit-since-really-I'm-a-wimp-when-it-comes-to-discomfort/pain ever since I first watched Brian run his first marathon and observed the demographics of the participants (many 2-3 times as old and 2-3 times as heavy), I thought "Hey, I could do that!"

Luckily, the stars aligned for me and this race:

• Brian is training for a marathon
• I'm not pregnant
• We just got a FREE double stroller (Thanks Mills!)
• We can run as a family
  
• I have friends to run with
• I have had a less busy schedule lately
• Gavin started sleeping through the night the week I started running again
• Brian is on the least busy work/school schedule he will probably ever have until retirement, so he can be home with the kids while I run
  

So, 4 times a week I am running. By myself. Or with my hub and 2 kids (I can keep up with him only because of the extra 85 pounds he pushes). Or with friends. I've been surprised how much I actually enjoyed working my way up in mileage...
I repeat to myself "I can do hard things". And then there's some runs when I say "Chelsea, you are an idiot. Why would someone CHOOSE to do this?" Regardless. Watch out Iowa. Though I'm slow as molasses, I will finish those 13.1 miles when September comes...