First Day Of School

Do not ask me why. I do not know why I take pictures of kids from behind. I like to see their backpacks and how small/big they are. 

 Hard to believe Brandon is almost to my shoulder

Kyra was very excited to go, Brandon was on verge of tears a couple of times. I think he did not want to start routine and giving up "freedom".

Both liked the first day. Kyra's favorite part was lunch. Brandon broke down after he came home and started playing Wii, we had to tell him to stop playing because he was getting angry with the game, rude to Kyra and just acting badly. He cried upstairs for at least 15 min but after he got it out, he was fine.

3rd grade.. and 1st grade.. no babies anymore.

It Is All Her

Split

 How nicely this tooth is coming in!

Legos

No instructions guy

Dad?? Reading???

Kyra saw her Dad reading a book called "First 90 days". This book is about how many leaders fail in the first 90 days of being moved from a regular position to a position of a leader. I have to say I chuckled a little bit because I have never seen him read anything but a magazine in a bathroom :)

Kyra's reaction was:
- Are you not going to read it just like "On another side of the napkin"?

I was amazed for two reasons - first she remembered what another book was called and second she knew like I did that Jimmy never reads and here he was. Child's logic :)
So far I see him reading it :)

Jimmy's Promotion

Jimmy came home a week ago saying he got a promotion. On September 15th he would be responsible for the whole innovation strategy for the entire company, budget 1 million and 150 grand budget for rewards and recognition which would be part of HR.

He is sure nervous. It sounds like a big job. Hopefully he will have all the resources to succeed in it :)

Why? Because

- Brandon, why do you like me to lay with you before you fall asleep?
- Ummm... Because I like it..

Races Or No More?

Brandon did not want anything to do with me before I left to the race or after I came home. When I came home, the first thing he said was:
- I do not think you should do any more races. It does not fit you. It is not you. You are - when you sit at your laptop, read a book a drink coffee.

From a baby's mouth..

Big Houses and Other Thoughts

Kids now start to pay attention to big/small/pretty houses that their friends live in or just the houses we pass by. Brandon:
- All I want is to have my own bedroom and a pool in the backyard.
Me:
- Brandon, do you realize that swimming pool is one of the most expensive things for a house?
Kyra:
- So, the swimming pool is the most expensivEST thing? But what about the piano???
P.S. They think it is a mansion if it has a piano. If it does not, the house is little. I am not sure where it is coming from besides that may be from Batman series??

Passing houses on Ridge rd. Brandon:
- Oh, look, this house has a chimney.
Me:
- Do you know what it means if a house has a chimney?
Brandon and Kyra together:
Brandon:
- Yes, it means it has a fireplace.
Kyra:
- That Santa comes to them through a chimney. But wait.. How does he come to our house then? Does he use a credit card to get in the door?

I had no idea what she was talking about until I remembered that for a while our door was broken and it was possible to open the lock with a credit card, just slide it. It was not funny. But it was.

WARRIOR DASH!!! - Mud Is New Pink

This day finally came! We waited for like.. 4 months? Me and Lisa got up early, had good breakfast at the hotel and headed to pick up Michelle and Laura and Yvonne. Michelle had her hubby Adam with her so he could carry a backpack with our stuff. So nice of him!

We picked up Yvonne at exit 100 and here we went! The ride was pretty, driving along 81 north. I really enjoyed talking to all the ladies, we had a good laugh together.

We picked up our packets and were getting ready. Since I involved Renee, I wanted to wait for her and Ashton and Brett to start together. I am really glad I did.
MUSCLES!

Here we were writing with a Sharpie "Warrior" on our arms

Left to right: Michelle, Laura, Lisa, me, Yvonne. Right before the start

First mile - we ran majority of it. It had a couple of obstacles but nothing super hard - first one you needed to crawl under the barbed wire which had the net above it. After the wire, there were car tires you had to crawl through with a net above. (Storming Normandy)
My turn first

Lisa is showing how easy it is :)

There was a simple tunnel to crawl under - Trenches

Mud mounts - you had to slide down in the mud and then climb onto mud mountains. That was tricky because it was super slippery.

More climbing

Yes, he would be. Lisa, me and Yvonne

 Giant Cliffhanger. Me and Michelle

 Going down.

Hello there, on the top!

 Lisa is going with a style

On the go again

Pipeline. Me, Lisa and Michelle. This one was not hard but sort of uncomfortable. We got recommendation earlier to do it on our backs if our arms are strong. I did that. It was easier than on our knees but I got some scrapes on my back

Next one was fun. You climb up and while you are waiting to go down, you get sprayed with muddy water. Nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. Water was super cold. 

Me and Michelle going up

 Me, Lisa and Yvonne having fun :)

Warrior Roast (jumping over the fire) me and Lisa did together holding our hands.

You had to crawl under the wire but because it was so low to the ground, you basically had to crawl under it soldier style. You can not get lower

Me on the very left, getting out of the mud

A prince (Brett) just saved princess (Renee) from mean dragon (Ashton)

 Besties

 We did it! Ashton, Renee, Brett, Michelle, Laura, me, Lisa and Yvonne

Lots of funny signs at the obstacles. :) I liked the sign where they were checking IDs for later drinking since they we could have a complimentary beer.

Just like any race, this was a fundraiser for St. Jude Hospital. Many, many people donated their shoes in the end. Shoe pile was higher than an average person!

I was trying to remember if I had the least fav obstacle. I do not think so. What I can not comprehend is - my  fav obstacles were: mud in the end - Mud Mayhem (it was so thick that I was swimming breast stroke and then could not get up on my feet, Renee had to literally push me) and the climbing wall with ropes (Giant Cliffhanger). Never thought I had any upper body strength. Little did I know!

I loved the team work. That was amazing part. Time wise we could have done it twice faster if that was the issue but we just wanted to have fun together and we did. Oh we did! We helped each other, we cheered each other, we took pictures of each other. (Thanks to Yvonne for taking her camera that could take pics in mud).. We laughed together.. It was awesome!!

Hardest part was to wash up. There were water hoses but it was tricky to wash yourself - unless you sit, you can not really wash yourself. I have a picture of Lisa, Laura and Yvonne who looked like they did not take a shower although they did :)
Nightmare of washing

I took a shower when I got home and almost had a heart attack, how much dry mud I brought home.

How amazing that totally WD had more than 7,000 people! Sounds crazy! we were in about 6850. Fastest guy did it in 25 min. I can not run 3 miles this fast let alone do the obstacles in that time!

It was so hard to say good bye to Lisa, not knowing when we will see her again. On a good note, I met a very nice woman, Laura who I really liked. Lisa does have this way of connecting people.. I love her so much! Big, no, huge part of this experience is all.. because of her..

Lisa's Visit

I was soooooooo... excited for Lisa to come! I counted hours! I changed my schedule so we could spend Friday together. Jimmy came home earlier so I was able to drive to Hampton Inn on my own.

First thing we did when we got into the room? Right! We jumped on the beds! Never mind we are more than 30 years old. That never gets old :)

I am not sure why but she got me a few presents! One was chapstick she made by herself. Second was a bookmark that even had my KitKat name :))) And third one was a t-shirt from Walk in Love store. It is a gray t-shirt that has a little while mark on the bottom, that says "I have a secret". When you lift a t-shirt up, it says "I love you". I loved it. Have to check their website now!

We wanted to swim but Lisa realized she left her swim suit at home. So we talked, talked and talked until it was time to head out for dinner. We stopped at K-mart for the gloves for the race (never mind neither of us got to use them) and to get Rosa Regale for later.

Lisa craved Fish Tacos, so that is where we were eating - me, Lisa, Laura Geiter, Michelle Campbell, Jess Z and Lisa's two other friends - Lisa C and Beth. We had wonderful time! Lisa and me shared mushroom appetizer so by the time our main course arrived (her tacos and my salad), we were not really hungry.
I just wish we took pictures there. Everyone looked so pretty!

Evening followed by Wicker park movie and Rosa Regale on my laptop. Both were two things that we wanted to do while Lisa was still here and we never did them until now.

At night we tried to fall asleep but we kept talking and talking trying to find a name for me for tomorrow's race. Lisa came up with Russian rock. What a great idea!

What I never knew that my best friend sleeps with light on. She seemed to be embarrassed with it. Not sure why. We all have our own weird things :) and I would not even call hers weird. When I said it was bright, she said to put socks on my eyes. and then so I sleep in a draw if it is too bright. Really? :)))) She is "loved and forgiven" though :)

She also called me "You are such a booger" and she called herself "Knuckle head"  What was funny, when she was on the phone with Chris, he asked her: "Have you been drinking?". Her response was: "Yes, but no, but yes"... I figured what she meant was: "Yes, I have been drinking, but I am not drunk, but yes, I have been drinking".. She is so funny!

Meet And Greet

We all were so excited to go and check out the rooms and see who else is in the classes with kids. Some were very nice surprises! :)

Kyra really liked her teacher, Ms. Dentler. She is like 6'5, very young, teachers women's basketball in LVC, seems like with a lot of energy and seems very friendly, open, nice and on the kids down-to-earth level.

 I think Brandon will have a good year with Mrs. Weimer. She has been teaching Conewago for 30 years and imagine that, Mr. Gnall was in her class when she student taught. How cool! :) She seems very easy to communicate with, strict but funny. I am sure Brandon will enjoy being with her class. All I heard about her was always good.

It was so nice to see so many parents and their children and see how much they grew over the summer. I always like meet and greet. Always a great thing to start a school year with excitement! :)

Brandon will have in his class:
Alexis Geib, Julia Singster, Corbin Jockers, Corey Baker, Wesley Taggart, two new kids Stephen and Ethan, Trenton Klinger, Valerie Hevner, Liam Carver, Madison Deal.

Kyra will have in her class:
Emma Stephens, Matilda Carver, Lauren King, Matthew Foerster, Georgia Speck, Carter Burton, Owen Kissinger, Brady Hofsass, Winter Kimble, Alexia Gaeta, Aubrey Barker-Hewlett, Shyanna Hoffer, Hayden Bohensky, Ashlyn Menser and a new child Jayden.

Harrisburg Senators Game

I got free tickets from work and kids and I went. Such a nice night for it. Not hot, not cold. Not too crowded. Since we had time, we walked a little bit on the bridge. We all loved walking on it. You can see water through those holes. So cool!

I liked our seats very much. We were at the highest row of second section so there were not people behind us. I have to say even I had fun. There were no much action, just a few times everybody got excited. TONS of commercials on the screens. Balls were thrown up but neither of them were close to us, although Brandon would have loved it - he came with his blue baseball glove.

My boy

 

 My girl

I loved how much QT we had. We had a lot of hugs and tickles. We had long conversations and nobody argued about anything.

We all LOVED our outing. Brandon kept repeating how much he did not want to leave. Thank you for a great night, kids! I could care less about baseball but I had a great time with you!

10 YEARS

If I did not hear radio talk about NYC blackout that happened on August 14th, 2003, I would have never remembered that today is exactly 10 years since I came to the U.S. 

I still remember being met by Melissa and Stephanie, employees of Keystone Human Services and they drove me back to Harrisburg. 

We stopped at Applebees for lunch/dinner (do not remember) and while we were there we saw the news on  TV. We left NYC just in time. 

TEN freaking years. It is third of my entire life.. I just can not believe it..

Constant Learning

Kids do not have to learn only in classrooms. When we are on the go, I always look at the names of the roads, streets, towns. There are things to learn when I see an interesting name.

The other day when we drove to Tower City, we talked about blind spot for a driver, about how moss grows on a north side, about if you have enough money to buy a car, you still need money to pay for registration (what is it?), to pay for inspection (what is it?), and car insurance (why do I need it?)

I love how innocently they learn, sort of like "by the way"...

Boxcar Rocks

It was the 4th time this summer we headed 81 North. What a beautiful view! I LOVE passing all those mountains. If you are with me in the car, you will hear me exclaim it the entire time "uhh, look at this", "ohh, look at those".. I always appreciated the nature. People who live in certain areas (mountains, lakes, even like Chocolate World or Hershey Park), we are so used to it that we do not even notice it. 

I have to say I do love state of Pennsylvania. It is amazingly beautiful state! 

The road to Tower City did not take us too long but finding the right trail did. Internet really did not provide us with reliable directions and of course, who heard about cell phone reception so high in the mountains?? When we finally found the road, I was amazed again. The road went up and up and up and so windy, almost 360 degrees at some parts. Crazy! 

We kept going until we thought what was supposed to be the right trail and parked. We were supposed to walk for about 1/4 of a mile and then see clearing on the right and turn there. We walked for about half of a mile and tried to walk what looked like a clearing. No luck. 

Surprisingly, kids were okay. Nobody whined or complained. Initially, before we left Kyra kept complaining that she can't climb, that she can't walk too far, that her legs would get tired, you name it. But she did not express much of complains here. 

She had fun with her walking sticks. 

Brandon said it looked like belly button, I agree :) it would have been a funny belly button but it is only moss

At some point we just decided to drive back and start all over from Tower city itself but Brandon saved us. He saw a parking lot with a gate before the trail. It was so far on the road, I did not see it. It happened to be the one. We did not know it was until we walked and walked looking for clearing. "Is that a clearing?" "Oh is that?". When we saw it, we knew, we had the right way.

On this picture you can not see but I noticed how in the row those evergreen trees were, like someone planted them on purpose.

 Me? and not climb??

 Both kids had fun posing the entire time, which is not like them. "Hi there!"

 Awesome view! That is how it looked!

My silly kings of the jungle :)

 Another one

 Why not?

"I want to try!"

 "I have to try since my brother tried"

 "I am that high"

 Can see how trees look below. Itching/scratching time :)

My wild man

 Both kids, actually, relaxed :)

 I think that is where I scratched my knee (our only injury for 3 of us). Brandon took a pic

 Cute one!

 Kyra developed an appetite for photos this time :)

 So did Brandon

 Love this shot with green in the background

Like a photo model :)

 I am telling you, she is enjoying it!

 One of my fav!  "Kyra touched the butt"..

 "It's a biiiiiig butt!"

 "Hey, there!" :)

 Beauty Nature

 "I am thinking over here"

 Love having both kids on the different levels :)

 Next three were our finale

 Running to the car to see who was the fastest when I said I would beat them all. I lost.

 Love, love love the view of our travels

When I asked the kids if it was worth coming in, they said VERY worth. Even whiny Kyra did not complain a bit when we got there. So fun! very unusual workout, being in the nature, see the beauty.. Priceless. 

When first we could not find the right trail, I told the kids that because they did not cry, complain, fuss or fight, they deserved Sweet frog treat. I am sure they would have been okay without it but it seemed like a good idea after hot workout on the trails. We enjoyed every single bit of it :) 

Life can be hard. But if you see and take plain pleasures - just being out there and enjoy quiet natural surroundings instead of cars roars.. I would take it anytime.