Happy(er) feet

Now that I'm pretty deep into my half marathon training, I'm discovering some of the terrible things distance running can do to the body. I ran 10 miles last weekend and ended up with considerable pain around my right bunion, blisters on the sides of my feet and toes, and horrible chafing all along the seams of my sports bra. What?! My legs seem to be holding up okay. I've had a little bit of pain in my knees and shins, but with careful stretching and preparation, I can keep that at bay. But my poor, poor feet have just taken a beating over the past couple of months.

I've been wearing a bunion regulator at night to try and get my toes back in alignment, a bunion cushion during the day to relieve the pressure, and whenever possible, putting healing balm on my feet to address the blisters. I was starting to worry that my foot issues would keep me from being able to complete this race.

Thankfully, my mom offered to hook me up with a new pair of running shoes to help get me through the rest of my training. I got my feet mapped and analyzed at Road Runner Sports and ended up with custom molded shoe inserts for my arches and a pair of red Mizunos that have been the answer to all of my prayers. These things are a full size larger than the shoes I normally wear, they're light as a feather, and have almost no stitching or structure on the side where my bunion lives. I love them.

My new sole mates

I wore my new shoes for a 7.5-mile run on Saturday, 4 miles this morning, and my feet are feeling fine! If it does indeed turn out that I've solved my bunion problem, I think I should be in good shape for the half marathon in September. Let's hope nothing else pops up before then!

Beach bums

I don't remember summer being this nice last year. We have had an awesome stretch of sunny, beautiful weather the last week and a half or so. It almost feels like we're on vacation with the weather being so nice and us living so close to the beach. Too bad there's always yard work to bring us back to reality!

Part of my good cheer is probably the result of having an extra day off work last week. I had to take Molly to the doctor for her 4-year appointment right in the middle of the day on Thursday, so ended up having to take the whole day off. The system is not designed for working moms! But it was nice to have some free time in the middle of the week. I started the day with a leisurely run, took Molly to her appt (32.5 lbs, 38.8 in, and 3 shots for those who are interested), picked up some groceries, and then spent an hour with my girl at the beach. I need more days like that! I even got a head start on my chores for the weekend, so had more free time on Sat and Sun to...hit the beach.

Here are a few pics from our lazy weekend:

My little beach beauty

Molly loves digging in the sand

Her favorite thing is to make a little swimming hole for naked Barbie

We're also enjoying these gorgeous summer nights with friends out on the porch

Mountain time

If you're wondering why I'm so obsessed with Colorado, here are a few of my favorite pics from this last trip up in the mountains. I know I'm over a week late, but better late than never!

Action shots of the cousins having fun on a train in Idaho Springs

Little bears

Breckenridge Summer Fun Park -- a rare family pic!

View from the chair lift

Alpine slide. Molly and Jason caught up and heckled me for going too slow

Camping in Frisco

Cute cousins

Having fun with their new flashlights

S'mores.

Molly using her binoculars to check out the other campers across the lake

It was this beautiful almost everywhere we looked

Will and Jeremy in the Frisco Fourth of July parade

Molly and Jason

Hoping to catch some candy

A huge thank you to Uncle Roger and Aunt Sue for letting us enjoy your mountain home for a few days. And to Jeremy and Megan for hosting us in Denver and joining us in all of the fun in the mountains. When can we go back??

Birthday (continued)

We're officially finished celebrating Molly's birthday now. Year four festivities included a family party in Denver, cake at home on the big day, birthday push-up pops and gift bags at school, and a big birthday bash last weekend at the playground and beach. What?! We didn't mean to drag out Molly's birthday so much. It just kind of happened.

The birthday celebration at school was a little anti-climactic. I felt bad not including her school friends in the weekend party, but there were just too many kids to invite and I didn't want to leave anyone out. It was fun to see her class at snack time, but I made a mistake with the gift bags. The cute Sofia the First and Spider Man markers I included weren't washable. Molly colored with them when we got home and made a total mess on her hands. I hope the other parents aren't annoyed!

Passing out stickers and gift bags at school

I think we had our biggest success with the birthday party at Evanston Lighthouse playground and beach. It just couldn't have gone any better. The day before the party, it rained cats and dogs. Jason and I were a little nervous because we didn't exactly have a back-up plan for 35 people. But we totally lucked out with the weather and the day of the party was absolutely gorgeous, warm and sunny with low humidity. We ended up with a great turnout. All the kids played well together at the park. And then a big group of us also hit the beach after lunch for a little sand play and fun splashing around in the lake.

Kylie, we missed you and Nick, but Lainey sure had fun!

Mark was the master of the tire swing and had all the kids giggling like crazy

Even the little kids got into the fun -- Lucy and James had a blast swinging with Grandpa

Can't go wrong with pizza and cupcakes. Happy fourth birthday, Molly!

Four years and fancy free

Happy fourth birthday to the Molls! We had a small, post-swim class celebration this evening with my parents. Jason and I didn't even have time to wrap the presents, but Molly didn't care. She got a pink soccer ball, a cupcake game that she's been eyeing for weeks, and a pretty awesome art box.

So far, I think age four is pretty great. Molly has been super sweet, super silly, and even semi confident lately. She jumped in the pool from the side today and went under. I'm proud of her. Time to download a new timeline for the blog counting down to age 5!

Per Molly's request, we celebrated with a pink cake with My Little Pony decorations and a #4 candle. Thanks to Grandma for making the cake and bailing out a working mom!

Mud bath

We're officially back from vacation, and, although I have many wonderful pictures to post, they will have to wait until we settle back in and deal with our latest home disaster -- the mud bath. It appears our contractor left a hole in the wall of our basement where the old pipe used to be. The Chicagoland area was hit with a huuuge storm while we were on vacation and the mud just flowed on into our basement through the hole. 

Fortunately, my mother discovered the mud when she was over using my sewing machine. She alerted us to the problem, cleaned up the laundry room floor, and helped get a contractor over to plug the hole. 

Unfortunately, the damage is even worse than she initially thought. Jason started ripping up the carpet after work this evening and discovered that the mud went almost everywhere. It destroyed a bunch of Jason's art stuff and sketch books. It flowed into our storage room and ruined a box of Jason's childhood memorabilia. It also soaked through the box holding our wedding pictures. Thankfully, the pictures were sitting on plastic bubble wrap and don't appear to be damaged. 

What a pain in the rear end! The bright spot in all of this is that we get to officially celebrate Molly's 4th birthday tomorrow :) Happier news to come in posts later this week!

Laundry room floor

Hole in the wall -- behind the copper pipe