American Ninja Warriors

Because my kids are awesome, they love to be active. We have watched this show called American Ninja Warriors all summer, and they love to re-enact the obstacles they have. Especially the little boys. JW's favorite is the Hook toss: hanging from the bunk beds, toss a Captain Hook hook; don't ask me what the point of the toss is, he just loves doing it. Mr S loves to do the climbing ones: we have a little opening on the stars with a few poles that he hangs from, about 5 feet in the air. Totally safe, right? Must be, since they have not fallen yet! The best part is that they also reenact the fails on the course: "I failed" is a commonly heard phrase.

So at the park, it is natural to see them do the same:

JW just hanging around

Mr S concurring the arch 

Kiwi race from end to end

Seven Evans

As Chad mentioned previously, we are expecting number five in February. With three boys and one girl, this was not going to be a surprise. Some of us need to be prepared for what is to come.

Our Little Peanut

Reach the Beach

Summer race number three and the hardest yet! I decided to run a second Ragnar in New Hampshire.
 Of course this was decided before I knew I was expecting. Instead of dropping out, I decided to run at 19 weeks pregnant. I did Foamfest at 6 weeks along and Spartan at 14 weeks. What could possible go wrong? As it turns out, nothing. The other van had runners dropping like flies. I was good to go and had a blast doing it. I had to walk a few steep hills during the 8 mile night run to keep my heart rate in check. I also have some awesome friends who take good care of me.

This was actually how it was. Crazy hills on this course!

The van is packed

The toes are painted

Who ordered the rain?!

Thanks for the memories ladies! I had a blast but now my running days are over for a while. I won't be running Cape Cod in May. I don't think people would appreciate a crying baby along for the ride!

School Starts Again? Say it isn't so!

After a very, very busy summer of fun, sun, and adventure (mixed with fighting, fatigue, and crazy), the school year finally gets underway. The After Labor Day Start still seems very late to me, but given that the summers are so amazingly nice (excluding the hot n humid days, of which there were very few this year), it is a nice perk. The kids are growing soooo fast, that we now have three in school (Mr S in 1st, Kiwi in 4th, and Gman in 7th). JW is going to have so much fun with Mom, and maybe, just maybe be bored of being home (somewhat) alone by the end that he is ready to go to Kinder.

Arizona Adventures

SPOILER ALERT: Read all the way to the end for all the surprises!

I am a crazy person. My dad and mom are finally retired from the rat race (that I have another XX years to get to the finish!), so my Dallas sister and I planned on a quick no-kids weekend to celebrate in AZ. She, being closer, was able to get flights during the waking hours. I, being the long distance one, had to manage with the very late Friday and overnight Sunday-Monday. Even better, I got to go to work after landing Monday morning, but not before being able to refresh at home since I got in so early. Things I learned:

• There are very few people in Sky Harbor at 10 PM at night.
• Conversely, there are no concession stands open for a snack.
• I am not as old as I thought, since I could not just sleep anywhere (like on a plane seat!).
• I am still young as I was able to go with only a couple hours of sleep and get through an entire day of work on Monday. Thankfully I take public trans so I was not a driving hazard.
• I love AZ Mexican food, and it just is not worth getting it in Boston.
• I can still do things that surprise the heck out of the family (see below)
• Don't buy suvies while waiting for a plan. But you have to when you don't plan well.

And the last item: this was the weekend that we shared the news with family: The Seven Evans are back! At least, when the fifth child comes in February.

Spartan Ladies

Race two of the summer, a Spartan Sprint. Luann joined Liz and Jill a second time for a more hardcore Obstacle Course Race. Luckily, team members could help one another. Anything you couldn't do required burpies. We finished the five mile race in a little over two hours. It could have been faster if we hadn't stopped to help others a few times. But what is the fun in that?

Pre-race: looking pretty tough!

There was a lot of mud involved, although I failed to get any pictures of it. Mud and cameras really don't mix!

Trekking On a Train

As part of the gift for JW, I had promised to take him and Mr S on the commuter rail and subway to downtown Boston. Now that I have to commute to work in the Seaport District, I am trying out the wonderful public transportation that I hear is third best in the US. We will see how this goes.

Anyway, the commuter rail was surprisingly busy for a Saturday afternoon, but the conductor was really nice, even giving them some old tickets he had previously collected, so the boys had some mementos from the trip.

Once we got downtown, we walked near to where I now work and had our snack. They were very unhappy to just walk around to see things, as they wanted to get right back on the trains and ride some more.

You couldn't ask for better kids!