31 miles

I remember the first time I almost ran 100 miles in a month. It was November 2010 and I ran 99 miles. I was so annoyed I missed 100 miles by one mile. Since then I always check my monthly mileage with a few days to go each month. For the past 18 months I have run well over 100 miles each month. That all changed this month.  I knew there was no reason to look.

Despite a hip injury in May and June I still ran well. In June I broke my toe and still ran well. But, with my toe not healing I barely ran in July. In fact, according to Daily Mile I ran just 7 days. 7 days!! In 7 days I ran 31 miles. It is a little strange to run so little, but I know I needed the rest.

The time off worked to some degree. My toe is healed. It is stiff when I finish running, but there is no pain when I run!!!  Unfortunately I tweaked my hip doing water aerobics.  Yeah,  water aerobics.  I am stretching and taking my steroids to ward off any inflammation.  I am praying with low mileage weeks and no speed work that my hip heals. I really don't want to take any more time off. I miss running and experiencing the feeling of total freedom when I am running.

So 31 miles is going to be worth it....right?  It is frustrating when the body does not do what you want it to do.  

Going to the beach

Last week we made a day out of going to the beach.  First the kids went on another ferry ride on another super windy day.  They just love it!  Then we went to Fort Macon.  Fort Macon was built prior to the Civil War and is just very cool.  It is right on the water and has great views of the Atlantic Ocean.

There is an indoor museum with different displays of medicine from the Civil War era which is very neat.  There is also lots of displays about ocean life and the kids like that part the most.  The nerdy adults like the history stuff.  All of the inside stuff is fun, but the real treat is the fort.  It is a huge hole in the ground with rooms.  It is just amazing.  It is also a little unsafe because there are no railings so it makes this momma a little nervous.  Thankfully we all left injury free!

Looking down several doorways 

All the kiddos and Meghan

After a little history lesson it was time to play and play the kids did.  We arrived at the beach around 10:30 and some of them had to be told to eat.  That never happens!  It was a rough day...a yellow flag day at the beach so the waves were bigger than normal and it was rough overall.   That meant the kids were not allowed to go out very far, but they did not care.  The waves were breaking close to shore and there was still lots of fun to be had.

Drew and Elena...she hated the water last year and loved it this year

Emma 

Jonah and Maya

Hanna, Maya, and Jonah

Emma and Maya

Samuel 

Jonah and Hanna...these two were in the water all day!

Drew and Jonah

Drew and Samuel

The rough waters

In addition to "body surfing" there was a lot of playing in the sand.  I love the beach, but I do not like to  be covered in sand.  The kids LOVED to be covered in sand.  Five of them were buried in sand!

Leah 

The little girls playing with Meghan

Emma buried

Leah

Elena

The little girls loved chasing the sea gulls.  It was so funny to watch.  To give them some help we dropped crumbs so the birds would come close to them.  Elena and Leah were just giddy.

After several hours of playing in the sun and sand it was time to go home.  Everyone was a little tired...especially sweet Leah!  Until next year Atlantic Beach....

Carolina Olympics

Since the Olympics are occurring right now Kelsey and I decided to have an Olympics of our own.  We created a simplified and fun version for the kids.  There are seven kids so we decided upon seven events so everyone could go first once.  The super special part of our Olympics was a no competition element.  Everyone competed against themselves so there would be no tears!

To prepare for our Carolina Olympics we made signs (thanks MomSwimBikeRun).  I love simple crafts and this one was simple.  Cups dipped in paint and placed on poster board making Olympic Rings.  The kids loved making the signs.  We used three for the opening ceremony and cut the rest for our event signs.

My foggy picture of the Opening Ceremony signs

Sample event signs

We lined up the kids and marched them in while playing the Olympic music.  Megan, my cousin, was our torch bearer.

All lined up and ready to go 

Let the Games begin

We rotated through all seven events with a different child going first at each event.  We simplified our events so that Elena and Leah could participate.  They are two.  We also wanted it to be fun enough for Emma, who is 9, to enjoy the Games as well.

Our events were the Bean Bag Toss, Kicking Soccer Goals, Cycling, 50 meter dash, Baseball, Archery, and the Long Jump.  My favorite was the 50 meter dash.  The little girls ran a shorter distance, but ran their little legs to the finish line.  It was just precious!  Enjoy the pictures.

Jonah kicking the soccer ball

Emma preparing for the bean bag toss

Hanna kicking the soccer ball

Elena trying to kick the ball

Leah hitting the baseball

Maya swinging at the ball 

 All the kids started the 50 meter dash from "starting block position" and I use that term loosely!

Leah running strong to the finish...GO GIRL!

Our archery event was nothing like archery.  The kids used water bottles and squirted the water into a cup. The goal was to get a ping pong ball to float.  The littlest three...Elena, Leah, and Samuel...just had to get the ball to float.  The oldest four....Emma, Maya, Jonah, and Hanna....had to get the ball to the top of the cup.

Our last two events were the long jump which was very funny.  Emma and her long legs jumped the farthest at 55 inches.  She landed standing up.  I think everyone else fell after jumping.  Elena and Leah jumped barely, but they had fun trying!

All lined up for the cycling event.  The little girls pushed strollers!

Elena and Leah pushing their strollers

Everyone had lots of fun!  It was a very hot and humid day so we celebrated with homemade yogurt pops.  See you in four years!