"Down by the lakewalk"

Today I took the kids to SHS to finish getting my room picked up so the custodians can pull out everything in order to redo the floors. My goal is to get back in August an do some organizing and cleaning before the school year starts. When we were at school I was talking to a counsler I carpool on occasion. She mentioned something about renewing her license. When she said that I had a sudden pit in my stomach. I remembered that mine was also due. This was not a surprise to me. In fact before I went to Kentucky I had my fingerprints taken, must do this if you live out of state, and I had also ordered my transcript to show I completed my 6 credits. I had intended when I got back from Kentucky I was going to put everything together. I obviously spaced that whole plan. I was able to get in the mail today (it had to be postmarked by the 30th)

In the afternoon we took the kids down to the lakewalk because it was so hot in Duluth yes we hit the mid 80s. This was Lexi's first time(we think or at least with us) in the water. She did great and loved the water. Beware there are a lot of pictures of the dogs shaiking off the H2O.

Ilee's B-day

We had a good week. It started with going to The Edge waterpark on Tuesday and finished with Ilee's kids birthday on Friday with a trip to the zoo in the middle.

On Tuesday the family went to the "The Edge" waterpark. Sorry no pics. On occasion the The Edge sends out emails with discounted rooms. I think it is there attempt to bring in patrons when they're not full. We had a great time going in the pool and water slides. The Edge is small when you compare it some of the waterparks at Wisconsin Dells, but is a perfect size for our kids.
Will and Ilee went down the waterslides with tubes. Will even went down by himself!!!! Much better then the running race last week.

On Thursday I had all day training at the Board office for Inspiration software. I will be getting an active board for my room this summer. The active board is like a smart board, basically same product different brand

Kim took the kids to the Lake Superior zoo while I was in training. After I heard about the zoo day I asked if she took any pictures for the family blog? Sorry no camera made it to the zoo which means no pictures



Needed to finish this entry. Below are the pictures from Ilee's birthday she had at Country Lanes Bowling alley. She had five friends attend. They all seemed to have a fun time bowling and eating cake. Speaking of cake. Kim decided to be very adventures and make a Belle cake. Check out the pictures. I think she did a great job!!!! You can order your own Princes cake for your birthday. I have to thank my sister Kristi for suggesting to post pictures from Picasa to share more pictures. Below are some pictures from Ilee's family birthday. Ilee had really wanted a Belle dress. In the pictures you can see a Belle dress she is holding and then trying on. The dress was made by Ilee's grandma. We had a great time with family that night. Played Wizard, Trivia, and a practice round or so of Catch Phrase. Ilee is happy to be 5 now. Very easy to hold up 5 fingers to say how old you are when asked.

Running Weekend

Big running weekend, Grandma's marathon. On Friday afternoon there was the whipper snapper race for kids down at BayFront. Both Ilee and Will raced. Both had some hesitation and apprehension but both did well. Will was on his own and was a little more nervous as the picture shows.

We picked up our race packets and Cade's dad full marathon packet after the race. The D.E.C.C. was crazy busy. Got home about 4:00 and practiced baseball with Will. He had a game at 5:30-6:30. Cades dad met us at the game. Will had a good game and actually had a ball hit to him that he stopped. After the game we all went to Bulldog for dinner. All you can eat spaghetti, which was good. The 75 cent meatballs were a little overrated.

On Saturday the half marathon started at 6:30 and the full marathon started at 7:30. I got up at 4:20 and was at UMD at 5:00a.m. to catch the bus up to the starting line. Weather wise it was a good day to run low 60s at the start. I was very happy with my run. My goal was to finish under 2 hours. Right from the beginning my right knee was sore. This is the knee I had scoped last year. I think there might be some more cartilage that needs to cleaned out. My training runs had been at a 9 minute pace which would put me a few minutes under 2 hours. As the run proceeded my pace was actually faster than 9:00 minutes. I figured I would try and build up a cushion for the end when I would be slower. I finished with a 1:52 time which I was very happy with. Kim and the kids came down to cheer me on. After finishing the race we watched the winner of the full marathon run by. Notice the similar running style between me and Lamech Mokono. The crazy thing is he needed only about 22 more minutes to run 26.2 miles compared to my 13.1 miles.

The Smith family then went to wait for Cades dad finish the full. Unfortunately we did not communicate what he would be wearing and ended up missing him go by. We ended up running into him walking back to the car. Will post some other marathon pictures on Monday.

First blog

Well here we go. This is is our first family blog. My APUSH blog has been such a success (for my two subscribers) I thought I would create a family blog to let our friends and family know what is going on with our family. For us the summer started this week. We officially got out of school on the 12th, but Kyle had to go back to school on Friday to finish grades and Kim had ACT tests to organize for the Saturday test she was in charge of.

Ilee finished her 1st year of pre school with her new teacher Mrs. Peller and Mrs. Hill. She had a great year. Ilee will be attending KinderCorner next year again.

Will finished his first year as a kindergartner. He had a great year and loved school. He will be in 1st grade next year. Will has been playing T-ball. It has been fun watching him learn the game. We have been starting to practice more in the yard since during the game he will get two times to bat and rarely does the ball make it past the pitcher's mound.

This picture is from Will's Sunday school concert.

The first few days this week we have been working on our new garden. Last fall Will went to his friends Hunter's house who had a garden. All winter and spring Will has been talking about building our own garden. So after several trips to Menards and Home Depot and three days of working out back this week we now have a garden. Will had been growing cucumbers, carrots, mini pumpkins and peppers inside. We also have a strawberry and a raspberry bush. Will was so excited to have a garden he invited out neighbors over to see it. Stay tuned for updates in the garden.

Tomorrow is a big day. Kyle is running Grandma's Half Marathon. Cade's mom and dad are coming up to run as well. Cade's Dad is running the full and Cade's mom is running the half. Kyle is hoping to stay up with Cade's mom and finish in 1:50 or so. Just as long as it is under 2:00