The Accidental Boilermaker

 Sunday we left to go camping at Turkey Run state park. Nate and I had camped with friends from church back when we lived in West Lafayette and I really wanted to go back. It’s a great state park for Mimi to meet us at because it’s only 2 hours from Decatur. I particularly remember Turkey Run being great for hiking so we arrived earlier than my family in order to check out at least one trail.  We did a fun 2 mile hike and then meet up with everyone at the Inn where Mimi and Oma stayed. I didn’t go up to their room but I heard it was very nice.  Not every campsite we stay at has good trees for the hammock but this time we got lucky. As always, spending time in the hammock is a favorite activity.  We tried a new meal for dinner - foil packets with chicken (tofu for Grandpa), green beans, potatoes and onions. It turned out really good. For dessert Evelyn helped Grandpa make a s’more skillet. Then we just relaxed and enjoyed our campfire. 

Today was global running day and Fleet Feet held a free, just for fun 5K. Evelyn and Jameson said it sounded like fun so we signed up. It was a very nice race with about 200 runners. We all ran together for the first mile and then Jameson just took off and Evelyn either couldn’t or didn’t care to keep up. Since it was a simple out and back course on the greenway and I could still him ahead of us, I decided it was better to let him run his race.  Evelyn and I finished in 31:11 and I just guessed that Jameson was about a minute ahead of us. But that was a huge improvement over their girls on the run 5K time. 

 Well I guess it’s officially summer. The pool in New Haven where we take swim lessons opened today, so we went since it was going to be a hot day. We got there right when it opened and we did have to wait in line, but we got in and it didn’t feel crowded. After the first rest break though, it felt crowded. We stayed for two hours and then left to go home and get ready for soccer.  Jameson is doing a 3 day soccer skills camp at church. It is a nice, relaxed format. They do scrimmage at the end which is Jameson’s favorite part, but it’s important for him to practice the basics too. 

 Another 5K weekend. This was a super small race in a super small town southwest of Fort Wayne. The only reason we did it was my friend Tamber told me about it and it was cheap. Tamber runs it because it is only 5 minutes from her house. Evelyn and Jameson ran the 1 mile fun run. Last year Natalya won because she was the only kid. At least this year there was a little competition. Evelyn took 2nd and Jameson took 3rd. Tamber and I ran the 5K.  We had a good race and finished in 25:01. We basically finished together but the race organizers decided I was ahead of her, so I took second place female and she took third. A high schooler took first and she was way ahead of us. But there were only 8 other females in the whole race, so a very small race. 

 We saw the butterflies at the botanical gardens with Bella and Millie today. The butterflies were so active, flying around and landing on people. It wasn’t uncommon for one of the kids to have three or four butterflies on them.  The butterflies are so pretty, it’s hard to capture their beauty on camera. 

 We did it! Another successful school year completed. Evelyn of course was in tears getting off the bus because she is going to miss her friends and teacher. Jameson has been ready for school to be out for about a week.  Evelyn’s class won a guac-off fiesta by earning the most participating/listening points in Spanish class. So this morning we had to make some guacamole. Finally a last picture from the GOTR 5K.

 Girls on the Run is officially over. The final 5K was today. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to coach a team of nineteen 3rd through 5th grade girls at the elementary school. The two other coaches were awesome ladies and I really enjoyed making two new friends. All the girls on our team were so sweet and fun too. At the 5K I helped out with the happy hair station where girls could get temporary hair coloring. Evelyn picked purple and Jameson got green. Evelyn also got her face painted.  Nate and the kids got a nice picture at the photo booth.  We had arrived two hours early to be helpful and there was lots of fun stuff to do but Jameson was maybe over it all by the time the 5K was ready to start.  I was a little nervous too. At the beginning of the program, Evelyn and Jameson were really into running laps with the team, which was why I signed them up for the 5K. But as time went on, it was more fun to play on the playground with other kids their age. S...