Aug. 7th weekend

I have a lot of updating to do - we've been busy! I'll start with the most recent stuff.


On Thursday, we were "Creek Explorers" for a library class. Katie and her group found crayfish, fish, and tons of insect larvae. They had such fun tromping around the Paint Creek!


On Saturday we "ran" the AdvoKate race. Chris ran the 10k, and I walked the 5k with the girls. Here we are before the race. It benefits St. Jude's Hospital in memory of a little girl, Kate Marie, who died of a rare brain cancer. She is buried in Sarah's cemetery and we've met her parents several times. It's such a good cause and a fun race!


Here's Chris lapping us...he ran twice as long as us, but still passed us waaay before the finish line.

We finished with a time of 1 hour...because the girls walked much of the way. Katie walked the whole way (except a two-minute ride in the stroller). Megan and Jess walked the first 1/2 mile and the last 1/2 mile, which was great, except they have very short legs and very short attention spans. It was a slow walk, but I didn't mind.

After the race the girls got balloon animals and hit the craft table. It's such a kid-friendly event.

Then we came home, showered, and waited for our VIP guests - Grandma and Grandpa Christensen! It was Grandma's birthday, and we invited her up to our house to celebrate. We took them to Papa Joe's, because you know Mom loves to drink wine while shopping. Then we took them to an art fair in Rochester Hills, and Mom got to pick out a birthday present at Williams Sonoma.

Then we cooked her a yummy dinner - BBQ chicken, grilled veggies, sweet corn, broccoli slaw, cukes, garlic bread, and iced green tea.

We made the birthday cake that she asked for - chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was sooo yummy!

The fire marshall didn't allow us to have 61 candles, so she only had to blow out four. Lucky! She got her wish! After cake, the girls treated Grandma to a special choreographed dance in the front yard, which was full of cartwheels and somersaults.

They couldn't stay the night, so after they went home, we decided we hadn't had enough exercise so we went on a long bike ride! It was the first time we've taken Jess out in the baby seat, and it was the first time Megan's gone far. We made it 3+ miles, which is not a bad start! We look forward to biking more often.

Today we weeded/cleaned out our veggie gardens. Here's Katie in front of the girls' garden. It is full of their favorite things - chives, basil, parsley, and tomatoes.

Here is our garden. The tomatoes behind Chris had gotten out of control, so he cleaned up all the straggler branches. We pulled out the huge sunflower and old lettuce, spinach, and onions. Now we have room for a new round of lettuce and spinach!

We have huge basil again this year. See cute little Jessi peeking in?

I tried three new veggies this year, courtesy of Erica - from left to right - parsnips, swiss chard, and kale. They LOVE it in our garden! We will definitely grow these again!

Swiss chard for dinner tonight!

We have more big plans for today...we are going ice skating! Yep, it's 90, and we're going ice skating! This will be Jessi's first time, and my first time in a LONG time. Wish us luck!