CURRY FARMS: 2015

We did the bulk of our party prep and cleaning yesterday (including pressure washing the carport, which was apparently bad for my back, but it looks SO MUCH BETTER), so today we headed over the river to Curry Farms for our annual pumpkin patch afternoon.

Had to snap a picture of their new Halloween shirts in our "Haunted Photobooth" before we left

James declined to go any higher than halfway, but Cora scaled this thing 3 separate times

In addition to the tire climbing wall, they also added "hamster wheel" races and a life-size Foosball game (pictured further below) that James especially loved. Cora did not like the hamster wheels as much (she's easy to knock over though, much like when she was itty-bitty and James and Eli had a fun time pushing her around in a gym barrel... of course, she liked it back then) She was especially mad when daddy took her for a big spin. And then she was DONE with it. She came right over to tattle on him too!

We totally beat daddy and Cora in the race...

Jay got off his buggy, tweaked it a bit, then got back on and zipped past me. No idea what he did to "fix" it, but I was not pleased to be moseying along while everyone else was flying...

All that racing hurt his back though, so maybe it was better that I was moseying...

(Hey Bacons, what does THIS pose remind you of?!)

Don't worry, I stayed off the bounce pillow. So did Jay...

Finally got one past daddy! He LOVED playing Foosball "soccer" with his daddy. Even more fun than the hay barn "vine" swinging!

James and daddy swung the tunnel pipes for what seemed like forever while Cora crawled back and forth, and back and forth. For some reason, she could get in and out of one side without issue, but the other side was perhaps a bigger drop to the ground because she continually begged them to stop swinging and "get me out of here!"

  

We tried (ineffectively) to take a family selfie laying among the pumpkins. I'll spare you the view straight up Jay's nose. James was a good sport about trying though.

We need 5 pumpkins this year, for a party decor idea...

The hay ride family selfie turned out much better than the pumpkin patch attempt...

The corn maze was extra cool this year. It was bigger/longer and contained storyboards throughout that told the tale of Spookley the Square Pumpkin. We had fun (and trouble) trying to find them all (in order), and were super impressed that James was able to read them to us, even the big/tricky words. I'm starting to think there's nothing he can't read these days... (I taught him the trick of covering up half a word if it looks too long/intimidating, and just sounding out each half, then putting them together - it's worked wonders for his confidence in working through the bigger words.)

Once mama and daddy started to peter-out (it was hot, and we'd had a pretty busy weekend already between the race and soccer and Cora's sickness and all the party prep), the kids went back and forth from the corn bin, grinding corn to feed the animals, over to the laGOATa Inn and chicken pen, while we just sat and watched.

There really is no better family adventure than heading to a place where you can just PLAY with each other and be silly and run wild! Curry Farms does such a great job at providing a rule-free (or at least, rule-minimized) family atmosphere, filled with more activities than you might have time to complete!

Before we left, James wanted a picture of himself hugging the smallest Christmas tree he could find. Dang that boy is cute...

HALLOWEEN ART

"I love mommy and bats and ghosts and frankensteins"

This is probably my most favorite piece of artwork by James yet. What's not to like?! A green moon, bats, a vampire, a ghost, Frankenstein, the Womping Willow, and Halloween candy. Not to mention, he says he loves me. This will be a framer for my office, for sure.

EARLY MORNING

6:40am wake-ups on a Sunday are not cool.

Luckily, the temperature was, so I recruited the kids to walk Buster with me in the hopes that daddy could snooze a bit longer. Didn't work, but at least I tried! (Those are their fire engines that they're driving around, by the way.)

Sick sissy should have slept in, but I'll be the first to admit that we can't always control her, and controlling her sleep has never ever worked, so there's that (she currently goes to bed with a pile of books and a nightlight, and we have no idea how long she lays there reading before she crashes). Must have been feeling better already?

STREPPED SISSY

During James' game last week, I kept catching Jay eyeing a folding "players bench" that another team had. As soon as the game ended, he walked over to me with his index finger raised and I just knew he was going to ask for one for his players. Wish granted, coach daddy.

Cora had awoken at 4am with an "almost fever" (100.something) and a scratchy throat. Jay tended to her, since I was due to get up and race in a couple hours. I didn't hear anything more about it, and apparently she was fine through James' game and Home Depot and lunch. But when I arrived at the fields for her game, she was looking a little lackluster... She played through the first 3 quarters, then came over and crawled in my lap (instead of sitting on the players bench). She told me her throat hurt, and when I took a look I just knew it was strep. (It's usually strep or croup with these kids.) I consulted Nurse Grambot for confirmation, then quickly started making calls to find an open Saturday clinic (so we could avoid the ER copay - why do sicknesses always manifest on weekends?) We ended up having to drive over to Clinton, and there was quite a wait to be seen, but it was still better than going to the ER.

They staff there was very nice though, and once we were back in the exam room, we had our diagnosis and prescription really quick. They told her they were very impressed that she played soccer being so sick, so she was feeling pretty tough.

Sore throats deserve lollipops and milkshakes...

We finally arrived home at 4pm, showered, slipped into our jammies, and settled on the couch with the boys to watch Star Wars Episode 6 (we're prepping the kids for the upcoming release of Episode 7). So, we didn't get any cleaning or party prep done today, and it's always a bummer when one of the kids doesn't feel well, but it still ended up being a pretty nice day (and I will never ever complain about getting extra snuggles from my Baby Doll!)

HD KID CRAFT: FIRE ENGINES

While mama was racing (and partying), the kids attended the Home Depot fire engine kid craft event with daddy (between soccer games). There were police cruisers and an ambulance and fire truck to check out before putting hammer to nail though.

The kids reportedly really liked this project. As usual, James followed the suggested colors for painting his engine, while Cora made hers red and PINK. It turned out pretty cute. They had to take them home to dry before they could add the stickers.

Just a little bit cool out there in the parking lot...

OVER THE RIVER RUN 2015

The race started a little further onto the bridge this year (which was nice because it kept the line of people from spilling into the street and also cut off about 0.05 worth of hill climbing at the finish). There was a drone flying around most of the morning, but this was honestly the best shot they took of the starting line  (down at the gate instead of under the walkway you see in the background):

 

They had a photographer on the bridge, as usual, so here I am near the finish, pretending not to see the camera, yet kinda smiling and trying to look like I'm running hard (lots of race photos make people look like they're just out for a stroll). Instead, I'm heel striking and over-rotating my arms and shoulders (energy wasted!) Such bad form. Oh well, at this point I was trying to gain some ground before I hit the hill...

I ran as part of a corporate team again this year. We were missing a few of our Super Moms from last year, so we named ourselves "Lost the Pace", which is fitting because we all have a hard time maintaining a consistent pace during training runs, let alone races. (I find that if I get to run my "happy pace", I can be pretty consistent, but if I'm running with friends or racing, I'm all over the place.) My team members were Dawn, Gaurav, and Megan (and Michelle, but extenuating circumstances pulled her from the race at the last minute).

I had been training with Gaurav all through the spring and early summer, but hadn't run with him much since June (because it's been too hot to run at work either at lunch or after work, so I've been sticking to my early morning runs when it's dark and slightly cooler, even though the humidity is a killer at that time of day). I knew I couldn't keep pace with him during the race (his 5K PR is 1-2 minutes faster than mine), but I was at least hoping to keep him in sight, since I'd been able to hang with him at my tempo pace on multiple occasions. That only lasted until the turnaround though. He set himself a new course/distance PR today, as did most of us. It was a good day for a race! Cool enough, not too humid, overcast (hooray for no sun in the eyes on the return!), and breezy. We even needed light jackets after the race to not shiver in our sweaty tanks while partying along the river.

Christina and I hung together for the entire morning: through the warm-up, race, cool down, and after party. I loved getting to race side-by-side with her and I was happy that my pre-race peppiness stressed her out just enough to make her suitably nervous and pump some adrenaline into her system (she usually runs races, not races them, so it was exciting to watch her work hard - and she helped me work hard too!) We obviously didn't talk during the race (other than me calling out splits a few times and encouraging each other), but her presence was enough to keep the friendly competition alive ;-)

As usual, the after party did not disappoint. And since we already missed the 9am soccer games and the guys didn't necessarily need us at the Home Depot Kid Craft, we actually got to enjoy it all this year. We stayed for hours, enjoying the free pizza (delivered straight to our table!) and beer (2 hours of partying = enough time for 2 free beers, and it wasn't Bud Light, so major bonus there), and hanging out with our local running buddies. Good times!

When they finally tallied the results and started awards, we were on the edge of our seats. We didn't expect anything, but we were hopeful. I came close last year (taking 4th in my age group), so I knew there was a chance. I ran hard and pulled a 1:02 PR, which ended up earning me 2nd place in my age group, so I was literally squealing and skipping my way to the "stage" to stand proudly next to Ashley. I've spent the past 8 weeks training with Ashley... I am nowhere near as fast as her (she was 3 minutes ahead of me in this race, which is quite a lot over the 5-mile distance), so she is very gracious to pace me during my tempo runs, and I owe her big time (because it's really hard to get out the door at 4:45am, let alone at the prospect of running 7 hard miles before work). I've actually been VERY lucky this training cycle to have had to complete very few runs by myself. Between Ashley, Gaurav, and Christina, I seem to always find someone willing to run my prescribed pace and mileage. Thanks for that you guys! Hopefully I can keep it up for another 8 weeks and pull a PR at my goal fall half marathon. (No marathon plans for the rest of 2015, or even 2016. For now, anyway. I'm waiting to see how my back handles the bigger miles coming up this training cycle before I commit to anything more.)

I was just a wee bit excited that Ashley, myself, and Christina took our age group by storm...

(Our ERDC team came in 6th place, which was pretty cool, since there are some SPEEDY teams in this town. And some all-male teams in the line-up, which are especially hard to beat.)

Since I LOVE this race more than any other local race and will keep running every year that I'm able to, I have to go ahead and record my yearly time comparison. And also because it just feels SO GOOD to see evidence that all the interval and tempo training and long runs really are improving my speed and endurance. I may never be as fast as I was back in high school, but I know I can keep dropping these splits if I keep working at it!

2013 Splits: 8:14, 8:29, 8:33, 8:56, 8:40 (42:52)

2014 Splits: 8:06, 8:22, 8:35, 9:24, 8:55 (43:19)

2015 Splits: 8:02, 8:13, 8:22, 8:45, 8:19 (41:50)

 Official results here.

(Yeah, I blew up a bit at mile 4, as usual. In my defense, that's where the hill is located to get back on the bridge, and almost nobody negative splits this course because of it. I was honestly just very proud of myself for not walking a single step this year... I tend to go out too fast in shorter races and then just can't hold it. I tried really hard to pace myself better today, and since I was aiming for 8:20/mile and I managed to hit that twice, I'll call it a win. Plus, I pulled it together for that last mile and ran my fastest split there yet, regardless of the slight decrease in length of the final hill to the finish chute.)

SKELETON JAMMIES

80s DANCER

Vintage 80s dance costume courtesy of mama's friend Keri. She INSISTED on wearing it to ballet the next day, and daddy says she was peppered with compliments from her instructors and the other girls and moms there - she was still beaming when I picked her up an hour later...

RIVERPOINTE'S OPEN HOUSE

RiverPointe hosted an Open House for their new studio this afternoon so families could come by to see the space and little dancers could get acquainted with their new class rooms. They've been there until 8-10pm every night for the past week (and I heard they were there until 2:30am last night!) getting things prepared to start classes ASAP after the contractors finished. I went by for a few hours yesterday to help clean and paint the cubbies (each studio room has a cubby similar to school classrooms - they got them from an old, closed down school - where the dancers can store their bags), sweep and vacuum the floors, and take some time to ooh and ahh over the new space. It is truly an incredible place. It has a real lobby, bathrooms accessible by dads and brothers (AKA not through the dressing room), two more bathrooms just for the dancers inside their new large dressing room (no more tiny stalls!), long and wide hallways, double glass doors into the main studios, a mini "kitchen" area with a fridge, and a big storage area at the back with a dozen racks of costumes. It's HUGE! The two main dance studios are 2-3 times as large as their old dance studios. There is a large room devoted solely to Acro classes, and a separate yoga studio were they'll offer strength and conditioning classes as well as yoga for us parents (and the dancers). While we've become more cramped and crowded at the old studio, especially over the past couple of months while they juggled their expanding classes, I had no idea Bridgett and Holly were creating THIS MUCH new space. They've worked hard, they are adored by their students (and their parents), and they deserve every moment of glory they received today. I really believe that RiverPointe has placed itself in the position of Premier Dance Studio in Vicksburg, and I'm awfully proud to be a part of it! (Even though we never thought we'd be dance parents, Cora loves it more each semester and she has talent, so I expect us to be spending a lot of time here over the coming years!)

Ms. Bridgett's studio (the Black room)

They had music playing from their Peter Pan recital and older girls leading dances for the younger girls (and plenty of brothers along for the ride - or run).

The Acro studio (the White room) still needs the dance flooring "jumped out". Cora is taking an interest in Acro (which I'm hesitant to start, since she's already quite committed time-wise with ballet, tap, soccer, Junior Lego League, and soon Daisy Scouts), but they're already full this semester, so we'll revisit the idea in January. I think part of the draw is that a lot of her friends do it, though I'll admit, the girl has some serious core strength and fearlessness that probably translates well to acrobatics and gymnastics - another idea she's been hinting at lately...

Ms. Holly's studio (the Pink room) to the left (it's just as big as Ms. Bridgett's studio up front) and the Acro studio to the right. I just can't get over how much space there is here!

SIMPLE MACHINES

The goal at Junior FIRST Lego League today (after choosing two new team names and letting the kids self divide into teams - James, Cora, and Will are all on the Master Builders team now) was to learn about simple machines (levers, pulleys, ramps, etc.) The reason is because their competition "robot" will need to contain one simple machine and one motor (among whatever else these creative kiddos come up with). We started with a lesson and discussion, then the kids got to work!

 James' machine was an axle that rotated "water" around at the water cleaning plant and Cora created a giant fan (also an axle) that spun around to recycle jewels from one basket to another.

FRENEMIES

They're still not friends (or, at least, they pretend not to be when we're around), but we've found them sleeping within a couch cushion of each other lately and this morning they both wanted Jay's attention and tolerated each other long enough for pictures. By the way, Cannon turned ONE sometime last month and we're coming up on the anniversary of his adoption. He might not become the giant cat we thought he'd be, since he's still very lithe, but he's definitely lengthy!

SOCCER GIRL

One bummer about the new, big fields that James plays on is that they're big and thus James is further from my camera and harder to take pictures of... Plus it was dark and overcast this morning, which didn't help (and cold, so Cora and I were cuddled tight under a blanket, and I didn't feel like risking exposure of a camera-holding hand to the windy, cold air). By the time Cora's game started though, the skies were brighter and our little spitfire kept me on my toes with the camera...

BIKING AND CHALKING

James drew the Watermelon Classic logo ;-)

James decided scootering with Cora was too slow... after she and daddy went to soccer, we did our chores, then went for a 2.5 mile bike ride around the neighborhood in the dusk/dark with headlamps on, which he loved (and so did I). I'm really loving my one-on-one evenings this soccer season!

POPCORN SALES SCOUT

You knew it was coming! Let me introduce the Boy Scout's fall popcorn catalog!

You can place orders with me via phone, text, email, or mail (and online too, once we figure out how to register). James will be participating in a few local sales events, and might even go door-to-door (with our supervision, obviously). Additionally, I'll keep the order form with me at all times, even at work, for our amazing coworkers and local friends. 

As you can see from the flyer, over 73% of sales go directly to scouting (and is used to purchase badges and belt loops, sponsor camp attendance, and even set aside funds for your scout's college savings account!) Even if you don't like popcorn (or prefer to pop your own), you can participate in this fundraiser by purchasing one of the Military Packages ($30 or $50), which sends popcorn directly to our troops! Personally, we are planning to donate the $50 Military Package and purchase some Chocolatey Caramel Crunch for ourselves (since we like to pop our own corn at home). 

This fundraiser will run throughout the month of October, but James' next Pack Meeting is October 19th, and he'd love to be able to get up in front of his fellow scouts and report his sales, so don't hesitate to send us your orders sooner than later ;-)

(This is the Cobra Den Leader, dressed up for the Popcorn Kickoff at James' last Pack Meeting)

Thank you so much for reading along and advance thanks to anyone willing to order some popcorn!