I thought I’d let you in on our latest adventure.

Monday morning Jayden wanted to get into the snack cooler I had packed for our trip on Thursday.  I said no, and he was mad.  Five minutes later I jumped in the shower to get ready for class.  When I got out of the shower, my mom had just arrived (she takes care of the kids while I’m at class) and asked where Jayden was.  I said he was mad at me and that he was probably in his room.  I went to check on him, but he wasn’t there.  I asked Josie, “Where is Jayden?” She replied, “He went for a run.” Then mom chimed in, “The front door was open when we got here.” *!^@#%$.

I walked out to the sidewalk and looked both ways.  There was no sign of him.  I started out towards the left because that’s the direction Audi and I go when we run.  Halfway down I spotted a utility truck checking meters.  I asked her if she had seen a little boy running.  She said she had and he had gone the other direction so I turned around and started to jog.  He couldn’t have gotten far in five minutes, right?  Wrong.  I got another three blocks down before the utility truck slowed down with him in the car.  The woman had drove down to where she had seen him and got him to come back.  Honestly, that was the scariest thing about the whole situation.  While the woman was very nice and extremely helpful, I was worried (once I had calmed down) that he had gotten into the truck.  We had a conversation about what happened.  It’s so sweet because he, and I quote,  ”just wanted to exercise and circulate his body.”  (Thanks, School House Rock.) He wanted to go for a run like Mommy and Daddy do.  He even had his running outfit on complete with matching headband (to catch the sweat).  He now knows that (a) he has to tell an adult where he is going, (b) if he is alone, he can run on our block only - go to the corner, turn around, repeat, and (c) you never get into a vehicle with strangers. If the person says mommy is coming, stay there until mommy comes.

It was quite an ordeal.  Thankful everything was fine.  After I got back from class that evening, we took a walk so he could show me where he ran that morning.  He did turn left first like we do and ran down our street until he got to the main road and then crossed over to the other side of our street to run back down towards our house.  He passed our house and ran all the way down to Jared’s before he didn’t recognize any of the houses so he stopped and turned around to come back home.  ”It was a long run, Mama.”  No kidding.  He crossed a total of six intersections (thankfully, we don’t get much traffic) and ran over 3/4 of a mile.  Plus, I learned my lesson as well.  ALWAYS set the door alarm before taking a shower.

Summer A Term is almost over.  I took a final today, and have two final projects left to turn in.  We head for our Cincinnati Zoo/Coco Key Resort/Newport Aquarium trip tomorrow morning so I’ll finish up when I get back.  I’m sure we’ll have plenty of photos to upload as well!

Colorado was awesome!  Let me back up to the day before so I can tell it in order.

Audi and I ran our first 5K on Thursday, June 25th at 8:30pm in Tawawa Park.  I had no expectations going into the race except that I was going to run the whole thing.  During one of my practice runs, I had completed a 5K within my time limit for the day in 39 minutes so I knew I could run it.  I had a good time.  (Who has a good time running a 5K, honestly?  It’s so bizarre.)  Audi and I didn’t run together - he runs way faster than I do - so he came back to meet me at like the 3 mile mark.  Jayden came with him, and we ran in together for a time of 35:36.  Not impressive, but I was smiling!

We said good bye to the kids who stayed with Tod and Pam during our trip, and I cried the way home.  We’ve never been anywhere for any duration of time over a few hours without the kids.  We went to bed and got up at 3am to make it to the airport in time for our 6am flight to Denver.  The flight went well, and Cory picked us up and drove back to Colorado Springs.  Later that day we hiked up Mt. Culter, a hike for people who don’t hike, which was more like an inclined nature walk.  It was cool.  That night we went out to dinner for my birthday, which was a bust, but we got to met Breanna, Cory’s girlfriend, who is very cool and personable.  :)  We had a good time talking and gettting to know each other when the boys weren’t around.

The next day we hiked Mt. Rosa after an hour of driving half way up the mountain and deciphering incorrect directions to the trail head.  We started at 10,000 ft. and hiked to 11,500 ft.  I’m not sure how long it took us, but I didn’t slow the gang down too much.  It was quite an accomplishment for me, and I know Audi was psyched about it also.  He got some great pictures up there, and we signed the register before we came back down, which took us significantly less time.  Imagine that?  We were almost to the cars when it started sprinkling, then raining, then hailing.  It was cool, but only because we had just climbed a mountain and were on the way home.  That night we ordered pizza (delicious) and bought a chocolate cake, which was sooo good to celebrate my birthday since the restaurant the day before didn’t pan out.  We played euchre and hung out and had a great time.

Sunday we got up early and drove south to go white water rafting.  It was amazing.  I had such a good time and didn’t fall out of the boat.  Yeah!  We’d definitely  do it again sometime.  Afterwards, we went to Chile’s for lunch - a first for us - and chowed down.  Good food.  I was exhausted by the time we got back to Cory’s so we ate some more chocolate cake and popped in a movie to relax.  That night I had a major meltdown I’ll attribute to stress (I hadn’t done any homework during the trip) and anxiety (I missed the kids).  It was completely embarrassing, but what can you do?  I went to bed and felt much better after sleeping in.

The next morning Audi and Cory went on a hike, and I (once I forced myself out of bed) went about the apartment cleaning and tidying and packing.  It was nice to have the apartment to myself and do some chores that made me feel at home.  I’m such a crab (astrologically, speaking - a homebody).  We packed up the car, got some ice cream and went to the movies (Star Trek - legendary!) before our flight left that night.

It’s good to be home and back in the swing of things.  I’ve got two more weeks of class for A term and then we’re off to the Cincinnati Zoo, Newport Aquarium, and CoCo Key Water Resort for the weekend to unwind with the kids.  Then, it’s back to the grindstone for B term and 15 credit hours.  Wish me luck!

View from Mt Rosa