Happy Halloween!

I don't think we've had a better year for Halloween! 60 degrees and sunny all day! The boys had off with me in the afternoon, and we were outside from 2:00 until 6:00. And a good year for Andy to decide that he wanted to be a swimmer! He wore his goggles and oxygen tank for awhile in the afternoon, but by the time we went out trick or treating at 4:30, he was just in his swimmer shirt, swimsuit, "wet suit bottoms (fleece pants), and swimmer shoes. Good enough and he was proud of his swimmer outfit! Jack was happy in is kangaroo costume and slept for most of the trick or treating from 4:30 until 6:00. He got a lot of "how cute!" comments though!

Andy did great - walked for the first 10 houses or so, and then rode in the stroller the rest of the time. He picked out the houses with the lights on to go to, and said "Trick or treat" and "Thank you!" very well. He was a little scared of some of the realistic witch and monster costumes that some adults were wearing. But he loved seeing any dogs at the houses! We filled up his pumpkin - including 4 full size candy bars!! So much candy... We also went to the park this afternoon and played outside for a long time. Jack is now ready for bed, and Andy should be getting off of his sugar high fairly soon, I would think. All in all, a great trick or treating time :)

Andy's a soccer player and Jack's feeling better

Yesterday evening, Andy was outside watching Chris mow the lawn, when our slightly older neighbor boys (7-8 years old I would guess) were playing around. They were very nice to Andy and started playing soccer with him. He was thrilled! They encouraged him and made him feel like he was playing like a super star. Unfortunately, the game ended as I feared it might, with Andy tripping on our concrete driveway and scuffing up his hands. Nothing that a few kisses and an icepack can't fix - and I think Andy was still glad that he played!!
Dribble the ball Andy!

Going for the goal!

Andy loves being close to Jack (sometimes a little too close for Jack's comfort) - here he is helping Jack start the music on his toy

Jack wasn't feeling too hot for a few days. Starting on Sunday afternoon when we got back from our trip, Jack had a little touch of the stomach flu. But now today, he seems to be back to his happy self. His appetite is coming back, and he hasn't thrown up for about 24 hours now. You don't appreciate a healthy, happy baby, until you've got one who can't keep anything down and isn't sleeping as well as normal!

Here's Jack sitting up on his own!

And here he is using only one hand for stability!
I think about 5 seconds after this picture, he started leaning more and more forward until his body was folded in half and his nose was touching the floor. He's so flexible! But he isn't quite able to sit up for extended periods of time yet!
He loves to roll himself from his back to his tummy! He likes to be able see what's going on around him.
Jack knows to smile for the camera now. Whenever he sees it, he just starts grinning and looking at it!
And, at dinner tonight (around 6:45) after Jack had finished his bananas, he literally fell asleep sitting in the high chair. Here he is with some very heavy eyes...

And here's Jack totally asleep, head nodding... don't worry, we changed his diaper, got him into p.j.'s and into his crib within 10 minutes of this picture...

Next post will probably be Halloween - Trick or Treat!! We'll see how it goes :)

Fall 50 Relay

This weekend, Chris and I participated in the Door County Fall 50 Relay Race. It's a run that starts in Gill's Rock and heads all the way down to Sturgeon Bay (50 miles). We had 5 team members: Chris, me, Stacey, Colin, and Eric. Stacey is a good friend of mine from work, Colin is her husband, and Eric is Annie's fiance, Annie being a friend of Chris's from work. So - we put together a 5 person team, split up the miles by how much each person thought they could handle and we all met up on Friday night for dinner. Our team also included Annie (our cheering section and time keeper) Ellie (Stacey's 9 month old daughter), Andy, and Jack.

Saturday morning was race day - starting at 9 - we had 3 vehicles going from one hand-off point to the next. It was a logistical challenge to say the least, but I'd have to say it was a VERY fun and successful day. All 3 kids were fantastic - really no tears at all. We overall as a team ran 8:00 mile average pace, where I think we had submitted an estimate of 9:00 mile pace when entering the race. So we exceeded our own expectations! We were always ready for each hand-off, with the right runner ready to go. Chris ran 3 legs (1,7,10 for a total of 14.4 miles) and I ran a long leg through Peninsula State Park (Leg 4, 7.4 miles) It was a blast! We were done by 3:45 and pigged out at the post-race pizza party. We got race medals - which Andy really enjoyed wearing. In the evening, Stacey and I took Ellie and Andy swimming, which was lots of fun. The weather was pretty good - 40-50 degrees, cloudy, but windy. Unfortunately, we did not get a team photo - the kids were ready to get back to the hotel by the end of the race. We'll get a team photo next year!! The photos I have start at the end of Leg 3 where I joined up with the team. Most of the photos I've got have Andy enjoying each of the hand-off point locations (they were at a lot of park areas). Oh - and Andy REFUSED to wear his hat most of the time - so when you see him in the pics without it, know that we really tried. It wasn't TOO cold outside, and we kept getting back in the van to warm up. They haven't posted the results yet, so we don't know how we did compared to the other mixed relay division teams. There were some crazy, impressive people running the whole 50 miles on their own - or doing a pairs relay. WOW! Maybe that'll be Chris and I some day! Or maybe, Andy, Jack, Chris, and I will run it in about 20 years :)

I think everyone was exhausted that night, so we all went to sleep early. In the morning, Andy and I went swimming again before heading home. Chris unfortanately forgot his swimsuit, but he and Jack got to spend some nice time together while we were at the pool. Andy had some fun taking pictures of us at the hotel and in the car - I probably deleted about 50, but he did get a few lucky good ones! We checked out around 10:45, and by the end of the trip home had 2 sleeping boys in the backseat.

Family Fitness Fest

A week or two ago, K-C held a "Family Fitness Fest" in the evening. The highlight for Andy was that there was a firetruck, police car, and SWAT truck there for the kids to ride in. Andy was excited to ride in all of the vehicles and had lots of fun! He even got to meet a real K9 police dog, named Jess, and McGruff. After we had visited all of the vehicles, we did the 1/2 mile hike around the pond to get tickets for a chance to win prizes. Andy was our Pokey Little Puppy, and was not so happy about this part of the evening. We had also forgotten the stroller, so we got to carry Jack around the entire time in our arms... strollers are a great invention - you realize that when you don't have yours handy. Anyways, Andy got his second wind once we got inside the KC fitness center and he got to run around the gym kicking the big fitness balls around with the other kids! Andy won a cool basketball nightlight which he picked out on his own. Next year, Jack will have lots of fun at this event too!