Things are looking up! Last week, after a couple rounds of massage therapy and lots of foam rolling and stretching, my back started to loosen up but I’m still being cautious and easing my way back into my running schedule. I was able to complete 3 runs last week, up from 2 the week before but not quite the 4 I’m supposed to be running at this point. I also cut my mid-week runs down a couple of miles each just to be safe.
Tuesday’s run
and Wednesday’s run. Pretty happy with those! Saturday’s run was 9 miles and I completed that without any issue as well…win! Feeling better wasn’t the only thing we were celebrating at our house last week, Wednesday was Grace’s 15th birthday!
I feel so blessed to have such an amazing, sweet, smart and beautiful daughter 😀 . The kids always get to choose their birthday dinner as well as the cake that they want. This year Grace chose Sriracha noodles with zucchini and shrimp.
Your lips are nice and tingly after this dish, let me tell you, but it’s a definite family favourite. For her cake, Grace chose cannoli poke cake which is just as amazing as it sounds. The frosting is actually the filling of a traditional cannoli.
We always have the family come over for cake and Grace was super excited when her uncle Eric and aunt Katie Face Timed her from Ottawa during the festivities. They even joined in the singing of Happy Birthday. You know sometimes it’s the little things that make us the happiest isn’t it? Thursday we took the kids on an overnight trip to Kalahari Waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio. We also brought along their cousin Indica and Ev’s good buddy Jeff. If you’re dong the math that’s 4 teenagers and Bryan and I in one room!! Let me say that for the 2 hours it took to drive there, Bryan and I understood very little of what the kids were talking about! Youtube shows? What happened to t.v.?? They may as well have been speaking another language.
Ev didn’t get the “smile” memo I guess. If you’ve never been, Kalahari is an amazing place. It’s America’s largest indoor waterpark and the hotel reminds me of a Vegas hotel as far as its size. They also have live animals outside and an arcade complete with 5-pin bowling and virtual reality simulators. This year they’ve also added some amazing outdoor slides. We haven’t been in a couple years and in the past Grace has been reluctant to try the bigger slides with her brother and cousin so Bryan has always been her sliding buddy. Not anymore! Bryan and I hardly saw the kids which was kind of weird. They would check in every once in a while but they basically went around together and had an absolute blast. By the time evening rolled around, they were exhausted…not too tired to blow some money in the arcade though. At one point the boys came to show us how many tickets they had won on just 1 game…
1 game! When all was said and done the four kids pooled all of their winnings together and bought a humongous box of Nerds (my favourite, thanks guys!), and they each bought a small stuffy ( I knew there were still little kids in there somewhere 😉 ). It was a great trip but it definitely showed me just how much they’ve grown up. Speaking of growing up, we started the process of gathering dorm supplies this weekend.
In just a few short weeks we will be moving my baby boy into his dorm 2 hours away from home. It seems like yesterday when he was a baby and I would carry him in the laundry basket with the laundry and now I’m filling a laundry basket with everything he will need to live on his own. I’m so proud of the young man he has grown into and I’m super excited for him to start down the path he’s been dreaming about for so long BUT I’m going to miss him terribly. Sometimes I wish I could hit rewind and go back to when the kids were little but I know that’s not how it works and I know that it’s time to start a new season of life. God has truly blessed us richly and I can’t wait to see what He has in store as we begin this new season.
P.S. Check out my friend Shauna’s blog where she talks all about the season of life her family is in with 3 young boys. She mixes humour with brutal honesty that will leave you tearing up and cracking up all within the same post! teamskinner5.wordpress.com
Does your family have a favourite place you like to travel to?
Homemade birthday cake or store bought?
Judy says
Happy birthday, Grace!!
Shauna says
Always homemade cake. That cannoli cake sounds amazing. Do you take orders? Lol