We love our family!

Way back in April, we took a quick trip to TN for Jeremy's first 1/2 marathon and to visit with his mom & dad, sister and family.  It is always fun to go up there.  The kids have a blast with their cousins and enjoy every moment they spend with their grand parents.  It's great fun!

Jumping on the hotel bed will be a long standing  family tradition

 I asked Nathan to pack a small bag with items to play with on the long car ride.  He chose a Nerf gun, a puzzle, and set of badmitten rackets.

The view from Grammy & Gramps' home is beautiful.

 The kids, and Jeremy, always look forward to four wheeling around the property

 Oh- these cousins LOVE each other!  This is the traditional Grammy tea party

 I love this picture of them climbing around on the four wheeler...so cute.  They were busy pretending for quite some time.

This is a cool, after marathon picture with Jeremy and his dad.

Here they all are!  What cuties!!!

 Ranked by age.

 We celebrated Hannah's 7th birthday.  The wait staff shoved whipped cream all over her face.  It was really weird.

 Hannah and Suzy are sweet buddies.

James is my little selfie-buddy.  This is how we bond.

 I caught Hannah playing with George.  She was giving him toys and playing with him.  It was super cute.

To become runners

Last summer Jeremy ran a 5K with some friends in Tampa.  Over the course of the next few months he continued running off and on, however when he started the business running became an outlet of stress for him.  Earlier this year he decided to run a 1/2 marathon in Nashville.  So, a few months later, we headed for Tennessee to visit family and watch him run 13.1 miles.

Jason & Jeremy- picking up their Bibs and registration

This was the start of a new hobby for our family.

early morning stretches

 As we were waiting for the 1/2 to start, we watched the participants in the 5K run by, including a lot of children.  Nicole and Hannah started to wonder if they could run as well.

approx 1.5 miles into the race

For the moment though, we just enjoyed cheering Jeremy on at several check points.

about 9 miles

It was a perfect morning for a long run, and a long wait.  Overcast, but not rainy...cool, but not cold.  In a beautiful and fun city in the South.

 I really liked Nashville.

After the race, the girls decided they wanted to sign up for a race.  Nicole signed up for a 5K and Hannah for a 1 mile race.  I volunteered to run with Hannah.  She beat me by at least 45 second.

This was after a 4 mile run....they just had fun together.

Then running bug had bit our family.  Nicole rocked her first 5K and wanted to do more.

Although this run only last a few moments...it was cute to see the three of them taking off together.

  I knew that I would have to start running to enter races with her.  So, over the next few months I woke up early in the morning and started a running program.

an early morning mommy/daughter run

We ran together as a family in the evenings and prepared for our next 5K on July 4th up in Lutz with our old friends in Tampa.

ran my first non-stop mile

1.7 miles with these girls

It was a fun morning.  Jeremy made a Personal Record and beat his goal time.

Lutz 4th of July 5K with friends from church: John, Shaun, Shannon, Rob, Amy, Rachel, and us.

Hannah finishing her 1 mile run with daddy

Nicole ran the 5K in 32 minutes (and I forget how many seconds) and came in first in her age catagory.  She even got a trophy!

1st place in her age catagory, 9 and under.

I finished the race....about 6 minutes after Nicole.  Hahaha.  At this point, I realized I am now running for ME and not for Her.  I may never be able to keep up.

Running is a battle of the mind and of the body.  I struggle with disappointment over my speed and endurance, however I also see that I have come a long way in a short amount of time!  Nicole has enjoyed up to 4 mile runs with her daddy, and waking with me to run occasionally in the mornings.

We've been running with a running club twice a week as well.  It's been an all around fun family activity.

To add to our running, the kids have been particpating in Summer Run for Fun, a track program that runs once a week during the summer.  They have been able to try out field events like long jump, shot put, and discuss; and to race in track events like 100m, 1 mile, and 800m.  It's been fun to watch them grow and enjoy being active with us.

The girls also particpated in a kid's triathlon in June.  It was a .5 mile run, 2 mile bike ride, and 400m swim (in the lazy river!).  It was so much fun to watch!