I Suck At Blog Post Titles

Friday was a big holiday in our house. July 11th...(7/11)....Free Slurpee Day down at the 7-11! Unfortunately, free slurpees ended at 7pm and we did not arrive until 7:14pm. And despite the fact that I was obviously pregnant (sympathy card!) and toting a stroller full of expectant children looking eagerly forward to enjoying a free slurpee, the stingy 7-11 man refused to bend the rules by a lousy 15 minutes. And I had to pay for three slurpees. On free slurpee day. I was not very happy. It kind of killed the mood.

The only reason I actually like 7-11's are because they remind me of my favorite law school professor. He came to America as a dirt poor adult and worked at a 7-11. Can't remember the vital part of his history regarding how he made the jump to a Contracts Professor, but I remember it was impressive. As a professor, he would shape his fingers into fake guns and pretended to shoot his students when they answered incorrectly. That was before the administration made him stop. He explained the concept of consideration to his students through a popular Janet Jackson son ("What have you done for me lately.") I miss that guy.

Anyway, the kids enjoyed their NOT-FREE SLURPEES.

 

On Saturday I ran another 5K. There was a walk and a run. There wasn't a gigantic number of participants (nowhere near the 700 people who ran in my last race) but it was a beautiful and fun course. At the start line, I picked out a girl in a fancy running shirt as a potential challenger. At the start of the race she took off at a really fast pace and I let her get ahead of me. I'm pretty good about running a consistent pace and not giving into the urge to go all out at the beginning when things still seem easy.

 

Racing belly

 

 

Less than a mile into the race, I easily passed the girl. I looked at the runners ahead of me and realized that none of them were women. It immediately became my goal to hold out in this spot and finish first for women. As the race progressed, it became clear that there was very little chance of any other women catching me.

 

Luckily there was a high school boy not too far ahead of me. If he hadn't been there, always just within reach egging me on, I would have been tempted to ease up and wouldn't have had such a great run. My goal going into the race had been to finish at 22-something minutes. I was blown away when I crossed the finish line at 21:39 (as the first woman finisher too)! That was like a 7:20 minute pace! This race totally jazzed me up and put me in an amazing mood for the rest of the day. And gave me a valid excuse to eat a donut for breakfast.

 

Happy and exhausted and enjoying a much-deserved runner's high

 

 

After the race, we dropped the kids off at my husband's parents' house and enjoyed a local beer festival. Obviously, I was limited to just sneaking sips of my husband's beer samplers. Oh, and being gawked at everywhere I went. Is my belly that weird-looking?

 

25 weeks

 

 

It was insanely hot (90 degrees) and I was pretty miserable. The folds under my butt cheeks were dripping sweat. And I was so paranoid about having butt-sweat marks on my dress. We eventually escaped the heat by walking down to the new restaurant that opened up two blocks from our house. The food was great, the air was cool, it overlooked our local waterfront park, and we are big fans of the short two-block walk.

 

Date night

 

 

Sunday we went to a family reunion for my husband's side of the family. They are so amazing and I love them so much. I'm so lucky to have married into such a wonderful family.

 

Obligatory family photo

 

 

Jacob was one of the oldest grandkids and was so very sweet and gentle with the younger kids. He made sure no one jumped too high near the little ones on the trampoline. He helped the babies make baskets in the little basketball hoop. In general, he watched out for them and it made my heart melt.

 

My favorite Jacob story from the day was when someone asked Jacob what he wants to be when he grows up. He quickly responded, "I want to be a policeman. I'm going to find all the drunk people, ask them where their homes are, and drive them home." Everyone cracked up and I did too. I knew exactly where this is coming from. On Thursday, we came home to find a man passed out drunk on the curb in front of our house. I called the police because I was worried he'd get hit by a car. Jacob was very concerned and watched intently as the police man showed up, got some information from me, and then escorted the man home. I love that he looks up to police men. Police men are the closest thing there is to real-life superheroes. And they look damn sexy in those uniforms.....