The Beards

Well now that we are officially into school and summer is almost over I figured I would update everyone on what we did this summer to keep us busy. Most of you know about the trip to Bora Bora and our week in North Carolina but here is what I have not blogged about yet.

The Warrior Dash

In June, Jennie and some of her family members ran in the Warrior Dash alongside some friends. It is a 3.10 mile obstacle course filled with water, mud, fire, trails and obstacles. They do these races all over the United States and she would recommend you participating if you ever get the chance. There are thousands of people who participate in these races and provides for a really good time. This is what you can expect to look like after the race.

Here is Jennie at the finish line jumping over a trail of fire.

This was obviously before they started the race. Jennie heard it was a good idea to wear some type of eye protection when going thru the water and mud. This was all that she could find around the house. The funny thing is that it wen right along with the theme of the race. The idea is to dress up in the most bizarre outfit you can imagine and run the race in that. They award prizes for the best costumes at the end of the day.

Cleveland Indians Game

We managed to catch a couple of Indians games this year which was a lot of fun for the kids. Thanks to Mitch Talbot and his wife, a pitcher for the Indians, we got to go down on the field and watch batting practice before the game. It was a cool way to see the players and I was probably more excited that the kids to be at that level. We got to sit with some of the players families and there was a very cool fireworks show right after the game which surprisingly enough the kids enjoyed. Our kids don't always do that well with fireworks.

Nolan along with the Indians mascot, Slider.

Down on the field with the boys during the Indians batting practice. Most times the stadium doesn't even open up in time to see the Indians hit batting practice so we felt extra special to watch while everyone had to wait outside of the gates.

Grady Sizemore and Sandy Alomar during batting practice.

The Cleveland Corporate Challenge

Jennie had the opportunity to participate in the Cleveland Corporate Challenge of behalf of PNC Bank. She was discovered a couple of years ago and has been a staple ever since. The event is a month long Olympic style competition that faces the different corporations in Cleveland against each other in a series of 15 or 20 different events. Most teams are always lacking girls so once they find an athletic one, insert Jennie, they usually all upon them many times to help in various events. This year Jennie got to do kickball (above picture), dodgeball, volleyball, basketball, tug of war & the obstacle course. She helped PNC Bank to capture its 6th consecutive Corporate Challenge Cup.

A little action from the sand volleyball court. They actually finished third in this event with a pretty poor team. Personally this looks like an attempt at the Michael Jordan pose.

The African Safari

For Payton's 3rd birthday we took the kids to an African Safari off the coast of Lake Erie. We got a good price on the tickets and went along with Tacie and her kids as well as Liz and her girls. It was very cool because you got to drive your own car through the preserve and could find the wildlife from the inside of you own car. I would say from the comfort of your own car but there were some times when you didn't feel all that comfortable. There were giraffes, elk, deer, llamas, water buffalo, bison, alpacas and steer looking animals all waiting for some pellets or carrots. This is a great shot of Maddux feeding a giraffe through the sunroof of the car. It was also nice because you could drive through as many times as you wanted for the one price.

I am not sure what these animals are but they had some massive horns attached to their heads. We tended to keep the windows up when driving by these guys as we were not all that excited to have them hanging around. One car actually lost a windshield to this animal a little earlier in the day. It was shaking its head to get the flies away and hit some poor guys windshield in the process. The crazy thing is that the guy had the whole thing on video as he was recording them feeding the animals. Of course there is a huge sign upon entrance into the preserve that states they are not responsible for anything damage that happens to you or your car.

Here are all the kids that went that day.

Maddux and Nolan riding the ponies that we on hand. They also had camels that you could ride and I think that Payton was the only one who would not get on that.

Strongsville Carnival

Every August the city of Strongsville puts on its Homecoming Days and a carnival comes to town. The kids love going up and riding the smaller rides and playing the different games. It wasn't until last year that I got the three oldest kids to try all the rides and figure out that they loved them. Nolan will go on anything as he has no fear but the other kids usually require quite a bit of persuasion before they get on. The crazy thing is that once they get on they love it and want to go over and over again.

This was one of the weaker rides as you can tell by Brooklyn's enthusiasm and the boys fake smiles.

This is the favorite ride of the carnival : the Mummy Ride. It took a couple of hours to get Brooklyn on and once she did it the first time she had to do it over and over and over again. With there being no line I be they rode this ride over 30 times in a row. I just love Nolan's expression and he was the only one who would raise his arms up on the ride.

Summer Fun

As in the past, the trampoline got a lot of use this summer. Some of the kids have gotten a little more daring and started trying different degrees of difficulty while on. Maddux has gotten quite good at back flips and front flips; not sure where he picked those up from.