IronKid Triathalon

Yes, this happened over a week ago.  Yes, I have been meaning to get this posted.  No, I just didn't find the time.  ;)

I am so proud of both of my boys.  They both tried their best and neither one stopped during the whole thing. They didn't place in the top three, and while they were upset they didn't get trophies, I was still so impressed they both finished. 

The race started with some swimming.  Brenner swam the width of the pool, while Owen had to swim the width of the pool twice.

After climbing out of the pool they had to race over to their bikes and put on socks, shoes, and their shirt with their race bib. They then biked just over a mile through town over to the 4-H park.

Once the got to the 4-H park they parked their bikes and took off running.  The route was just over 1/2 mile.  I got to run with Brenner for the biking and the running portion before circling back around to finish the run with Owen.  (I was one tired mama!)

All the participents recieved a medal for finishing. Their were over 100 kids that participated in the event this year! And we are already discussing training for next year's event! :)

After the race we interviewed with the paper (the boys had 2 articles covering their training and finish, including pictures!! They are famous!).  Then this exhausted mama took them home and made them play quietly so I could nap.  Did I mention I'd worked 3rd shift and come straight to their race?  Yeah, I'm just that awesome!  

Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

Ok, I'm behind again.  We have checked off quite a few things in the last few days, I just haven't had time to sit down and put them on this blog. 

Last Friday we went to the zoo.  We got there early since I worked 3rd shift that night and needed to get a nap in after the zoo and before work!  It started off chilly (who would have guessed!) and misty, but turned into a gorgeous day.

Owen insists he is a monkey, so first we had to stop and check out his monkey mom and dad.  He claims the monkey king is also his monkey dad.  Yeah, I know, he's a bit odd.  But he's cute. 

Everything after that is a bit of a blur.  I'm pretty sure that they were far more interested in riding the rides than seeing the animals.

The Fort Wayne zoo is one of our favorite places to visit in the summer.  It's so interactive and there is always plenty to do!!

Brenner's Mario Bros Birthday party!

My baby boy turned 6 this week.  So while I struggled with thought of having a 6 and 8 year old I also got to struggle to get things ready for his party this weekend.  Thank goodness my parents volunteered to have the party at their house so we could use the pool.  Unfortunately my stepmom didn't remember this and also planned their annual summer garage sale for this weekend.  Great.  I got to add the garage sale struggle to the ever growing pile for the week.  Did I mention that I worked last Saturday night, Monday and Tuesday day, and Wednesday evening?  No?  Yup, the week kept getting better and better.

So we got nothing done on our list this week.  I'm not even sure I had time to pee.  But everything came together and we had a fantastic party!

A lot of the ideas I found on Pinterest.  I adapted some to fit what I wanted to do and some I changed not at all. I picked everything that would be the simplest to do and give the best effect.  So we made chocolate mustaches and marshmallow mushroom pops, played pin the mustache on Mario, had sandwiches, pretzels, and Mario fruit snacks to eat, and had a green pipe cake with a pirahna plant decoration on it.  The goodie 'bags' were gold '?' boxes with bubble gum coins in them. I used solid color plates, napkins, cups, and plasticware. My stepmom provided the baskets and buckets.

I made the mustaches with candy melts and a couple of molds I got on ebay.  I used the extra sticks from that and stuck marshmallows on them.  I dipped those in red candy melts and dotted them with white chocolate the next day.  I found the gold boxes and bubble gum coins at Oriental Trading and just drew the question marks on with a sharpie. I adapted an idea I found here for the cake.  The cake itself is just 3 6in round cakes topped with an 8in round cake and covered in green tinted carmel buttercream (butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and carmel extract). 

The pin the mustache on Mario game was homemade.  I found a picture of Mario's face and copied it onto a piece of cardboard.  I then drew a mustache to fit onto another piece of cardboard and trace enough so each kid would have one chance. We used duct tape to stick them to the face. The birthday boy though it would be a lot more fun to throw the mustaches at the face, but we convinced him that wouldn't work nearly as well as walking up and placing it where he wanted it.

We had planned to do egg races using hard boiled eggs that my boys had drawn spots on with sharpie in the different yoshi colors (green, yellow, blue, and pink).  Unfortunately it was just too hot out and the kids were much happier in the pool anyway.  My husband used them to make a very large batch of egg salad today instead.

Everyone had a fantastic time, even this stressed out mom.  Because once I had things done and set up I let everyone else run the show and sat back with my camera and one of these. 

Michigan Vacation

I am lucky enough to have parents willing to drag my entire family on vacation with them.  This summer we headed to Upper Michigan.  Except my husband who had to work. Of course.  We took off early on Saturday and made it to the condo before 5. It is incredibly beautiful up there.  We spent a lot of time on the Lake Michigan beach, but squeezed in a few of the other sights before I left yesterday morning.

Beach time:

Beach time wore B out.





We also got to check out castle rock:

We hiked the Cut River Bridge trail:

And took a trip to Macinac Island:

And we are lucky enough to have a few days without kids since I left 2 days early!  Woo Hoo!  Before I left we got a few pics in Mackinaw City:

It was an awesome experience and I can't wait until we can go back!