A game of catch-up

I remember thinking at one time that I was looking forward to the fall when I would be home more. Ha! I managed to be the busiest stay-at-home mom last year and now I am the busiest part time working, part time at home mom! Here is a little catch up of what I have been doing lately... I had to just do them all in one blog or else they would never get done.

A couple of weekends ago I went on my first solo trip without Corbin since he was born! Becky organized a girls weekend in Victoria BC that coincided with the Victoria Marathon, half marathon, and 8 km race. So a bunch of us girls went over to the island for some girl time, food, and exercise! We stayed at this super funky bed and breakfast near down town. The food was amazing though!

It was good to be away from Corbin. I missed him terribly but we both survived. I made the mistake of calling on Saturday night and as soon as he heard my voice he said "mama? mama! mama :-) mama? MAMA!! MAAAMMAA!" which then developed into a screaming cry. Oh my heart! Adam had to hang up because we were both crying and no one was able to understand anyone. So then I felt horrible because in my mind he didn't understand that I was coming back because he didn't have anything to base it on. Adam said he calmed down and went to bed fine after that. He is still nursing once at night and he did ok with not nursing for 2 nights. I wondered if he would still want to nurse when I got back. He did. We are coming to an end but not quite yet. He was kind of flat when I came home but then he wouldn't let me put him down. We were both glad to have me be home again :-)

The half marathoners (Jill snuck into this picture even though she ended up walking the 8 km with me because she is expecting and stoped her training)! I got a pretty cool shirt too.

Our fun for the day was all buying hats! And then having dinner in town.

Jill, Aimee and I walked the 8 km in 1 hour and 18 minutes (with a pee break). I though that was pretty good. We have a picture of us at the finish line and one after but it's on Jill's camera.

Waiting to cheer on the half marathoners! There were so many runners. It was a gorgeous fall day out an the course was super beautiful along the water with the Cascades and Olympic mountains in the back ground.

First course of our after race meal. Spiced apple juice, coffee, maple ginger cookie, apple strudel, vanilla custard, cheese, and fruit.

Course number two, Black bean soup with cheese, squash roll, turkey, and cranberry sauce. Mmmm good!

It was a great weekend. We decided it might need to be a tradition.

Melissa always takes cute photos of the boys when they play. They are still loving her and doing well with us back at work. We are super lucky to have her!

Then this last weekend I went down to Bend to see my parents. We didn't make it down there this summer, so I promised them I would come this fall. It was my mom's 60th birthday last week too. I didnt' want to do the drive by myself so I managed to get my friend Aimee who has a friend in Bend to come with me. The catch...we both have one year olds and it's an 8 hour drive to Bend!

We split up the drive on the way down and left after dinner on Thursday night and drove to Portland and stayed with my friends Sam and Ali. The boys decided it was way to cool to sit next to your friend in the back seat and didn't go to sleep until after 9 pm. Woke up as we got off the highway in Portland and were up till we finally got all settled in at 11:40 pm. Alden was awake at 6:30, Corbin at 7:15 the next morning. After breakfast with Aimee's friend we headed east of the mountains. We had a pit stop at the base of Mt. Hood and then made it all the way to Bend. Again the boys didn't nap. Luckily they did once we got there. Aimee went her way to be with her friend and I hung with my parents.

For my mom's 60th birthday, I had friends from all over the country send her card of well wishes without signing them. She got cards almost every day 30 days before her birthday. And they are still coming! She had fun trying to guess who was sending them. She didn't even know it was me who organized it :-) Here is a picture of some of the cards.

On Sunday we went for a hike in the Badlands. It's a flat hike about 5 miles round trip out in the sage brush desert. My parents thought it would be a good hike to take Corbin on because he could walk part of it. He had sooo much fun! He walked for probably 1/4 of the way. He had fun stomping on the sage bushes in the trail, stepping on and over sticks, and riding on Bupa's sholders! He has officially named my dad (and maybe Grandpa Mark too) Bupa. It's so cute :-)

After he got tired he rode on my dad's sholders and then in the Ergo on my back. We stopped for lunch next to Castle rock and then climbed up to the top for the view.

Mt. Bachelor in the background.

He slept in the Ergo on the hike back to the car. We wore him out though because when we went out to dinner at one of the Breweries he stayed in his seat, content, for almost an hour and a half! Through a round or nachos, beer, dinner, and more beer. I guess that is how I get him to sit still, have him walk a mile before hand!!

On Monday Aimee and I headed back to Bham in the car for a big 8 hour trip! The boys did great for riding in the car for 8 hours! We took a couple of pit stops, lunch, a run in a truck stop parking lot, and then some last minute try to make sure you go to sleep stops. It was tiring though! They needed almost constant attention. One of us was basically doing book patrol, song signing, food giving, face making, etc the whole time! Corbin didn't end up falling asleep until Bellevue and only slept for just over an hour. Oh well! I was impressed!

So now we are home for two weekends before we venture out again to Denver to visit Jed and Kara! Oh the life!