Halloween

Parker dressed up like......

.....a pre-teen!

Grayson dressed up like.....
... Indiana Jones!



Halle dressed up like.....

....a little teapot!

We attended our second annual trick-or-treating party at the Larson's joined by the other Harris'. A good time was had by all!

The Pumpkin Patch

We had a tradition when we lived in Texas to hit the Flower Mound pumpkin patch at some point in October. I'm not sure how it happened, but our first fall in Wheaton did not result in a trip to the patch. My sentence for not making it happen was to endure questions ALL YEAR long about why we didn't go to the pumpkin patch and could we be sure to go this year?

Since we have such beautiful falls, there was no shortage of pumpkin patches. Only, I learned that a lot of the pumpkin farms are also apple orchards. Unfortunately, by the time we had a free weekend to hit the patch (soccer eats up most of our October weekends), the apple-pickin' time was over. So, we settled for the pumpkins only and have decided to go earlier next year so we could pick apples.

I remember complaining that in Texas it was always too warm on pumpkin patch day. I would dress the kids all up in their fall sweaters and they would be sweltering by the time we were finished. They were also always "squinty" because the sun was so bright! What I've learned about Illinois pumpkin patch days is that you don't have to worry about the squinty eyes, but since you have to wear heavy jackets to keep warm, you can't see the fall sweaters. I think I need to create a simulated indoor pumpkin patch for the picture taking!

The kids had a great time wandering through the corn maze.

Although at times, they were stumped on which way to go!

Amber requested some fall foliage picks. Amber this one's for you!

They each picked out the perfect pumpkin....


.....and even got to wash it at the pumpkin washing station.

...To be continued next year. Look for apple pickin' pics!

The Marathon

Autumn, Janda and I--contemplating the map of the course on October 18. Wow! That's a lot of miles!

On October 20 we stood in front of the same map VICTORIOUS!

Can you say 26.2 AND bust? Bust is what Autumn and I did to our knees as we both ran on injured IT bands. Stinkin' IT bands. You can't run with 'em and you can't run without 'em! After the marathon we were reduced to not moving and icing! It is weird that just hours before we were on our feet running a marathon and by that evening we couldn't have even run around the block!

All in all the marathon was a success. Since I entered the race injured, my goal was to finish. I am happy to report that I achieved my goal. Unfortunately the competitor in me wants a re-do because I'm not happy with my time. In August, uninjured, I ran a 2:06 half-marathon. My time for the full marathon was over 6 hours! I don't know how we endured SIX hours out there, but we did it! But I would love to run the same course healthy and see how I could do.

If I can get my IT bands to cooperate, I think I might run Chicago in 2009 and attempt to beat my pitiful PR (personal record) in 2010. That shouldn't be too hard! And to think I thought that I'd run only ONE marathon......

Time to RUN LIKE A GIRL!

Janda, Autumn and I arrived in sunny San Francisco today!

Niketown has the name of EVERY runner on their window! Here I am by mine!

Looks like we have a challenge in front of us, but WE WILL CONQUER!