Marathon: check! Mackinac: check! Halloween: check!

Well, he did it!  After months and months of getting up before the sun to train, John finished the Detroit marathon along with Jose!  It was a gorgeous day in Detroit, and we had a lot of fun watching and being in the race atmosphere.  My dad came with Sarah, Alex and I down to Detroit early on Sunday to cheer the guys on.  We made it just in time to see them take off on their 26.2 mile journey!  Of course, we didn't get a picture of this because Sarah's camera had no SD card and my camera had no battery (insert shocked face here).  We quickly remedied the situation by switching Sarah's battery to my camera and snapped some pictures of the starting line.  It was the best we could do with the circumstance =]

Then, off we went in search of coffee because, frankly, 7:00 was way to early to be up and moving around on a Sunday morning.  Marathons are tough work for spectators.  We found said coffee, and started our trek to mile 9.5 where the guys came back to America through the Detroit-Winsdor tunnel.  We almost missed them, but both guys were looking great at that point!  We then hurried on over to mile 13 where we missed Jose but caught John just in time (we were making a habit of arriving in the knick of time).  We knew we wouldn't be able to see them again until the finish, so we took a break and got some breakfast on Woodward.  After our quick re-fuel, we were off to the finish line to meet up with John's parents who came up from Ohio to see him finish!

Waiting at the finish line felt like an eternity!  It was probably the most stressed I have been in a long time (I can't imagine how John and Jose were feeling).  John came in at 5:04 after suffering from leg cramps starting around mile 12.  He powered through the last 14.2 miles even though he was stuck run/walking the whole time.  Jose came in at 4:05. We are very proud of their accomplishment! He and Jose are already looking forward to marathon #2 in Cincinnati, where I will also be running the 26.2!

Pre-marathon rest                                               Ready to go!                                             Starting line!

Mile 9.5                                                                            Mile 13

They did it!!!

It was rough for spectators, too!

After the marathon, we spent the week in Michigan.  It was so nice to be able to spend some time with Sarah, Jose, my mom and my dad.  Alex got some quality time in with everybody =]  On Thursday, we headed over to Rockford to have dinner with Katie and Sean.  It was great to be able to see them, even though it was a brief visit.  It is always wonderful catching up =]  While we were in Rockford, I went and got my hair dyed dark for the first time in my life.  I was getting pretty tired of maintaining the blonde highlights so I decided to go back to my natural color, which I was shocked to find out is actually brown now!  I am loving it and I think I will stick with it for a little while =]

Next stop on our journey was Mackinac Island!  It was Alex's first time to the island (apart from being in my belly last year).  We stayed at The Murray Hotel on Main St and of all the places we have stayed on Mackinac, this was the most accommodating.  Five minutes post room arrival (we were showed to our room BTW), there was a knock on our door!  Upgraded to a king suite, BOOM!  Thanks to our giant stroller for making that happen.  I'm pretty sure they moved us to their nicest room.  We had a great weekend on the island overall.  We hiked, we walked, we shopped, we ate and I ran 5.7 miles and got a sweet medal.  Success.  Oh, and don't forget the fudge.  Yum!

It felt great to get home after 10 days away.  My mom was nice enough to come down for part of the week while John traveled to Pittsburgh.  Alex spent his first Halloween dressed as Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter and helped mommy and grandma pass out candy.

Fall Fun!

Last weekend was the big Reineke Family Run in Findlay, OH!  It was a dark and cold start, but John finished his half marathon in 1:54:31!  I ran the marathon relay with Lauren and we rocked our leg of the race!  It was a lot of fun seeing everybody (especially both sets of grandparents and Aunt Julie)!  John's dad ran his first half marathon and he did awesome!  Vannessa and Julie took the baton awful bracelet from Lauren and I and finished their leg of the race!  A big thanks to my parents for coming all the way down to watch Alex so we could run =]

Next weekend is the big one (Detroit Marathon) for John and Jose!  We can't wait to root you guys on!  We will be spending the week in Michigan after the marathon.  First to hang out with family, then off to see friends on the west side and then the three of us head up to Mackinac Island for my 5.7 mile race!  It's going to be a busy but fun filled week.

Daddy's biggest fan!

This week Alex and I went to a picnic with a group of moms and he went in a swing for the first time!  He had a blast!

We had a great visit this weekend with my parents!  John and my dad had a very productive couple of days.  They fixed our leaky outdoor faucet, put a ceiling fan up in our bedroom and replaced the fan in the living room!  We even got some hostas planted that my parents split from their garden, thanks for everything, mom and dad!

We took Alex to his first pumpkin patch this afternoon!  Okay, so, it is actually just the local farm market and they happen to have a ton of pumpkins.  It was fun nonetheless! John took the little guy through is first haystack maze and he even got to go in the tunnel!  I can't promise we won't be hitting up Spicer's in Hartland when we are up in Michigan next week =]  I just love their donuts too much!

Life in Pictures!

Since I haven't posted in a month, I'll save you from reading my babble (just this time though) and give you some pictures!  These are in no particular order =]

6 months old!

I'm sorry for slacking so bad! Yesterday was Alex's half birthday! I can hardly believe we have had this little dude in our lives for 6 months! He makes us laugh everyday and today we decided he will never sit still ever again!

He's army crawling all around and I can no longer leave him unattended as he can get across the room in the blink of an eye! He's sitting up now which he seems to enjoy until he tips over =]. He'll get it soon enough!

We can't believe how fast he is growing! I swear he looks bigger every morning.

Will be back with a bunch of pictures!

Open for business!

Well, after a lot of hard work this past week, my Etsy shop is finally open again!  I'm actually a little nervous, not sure why!  I'm loving all the things I have been able to create though.

Check it out!
www.etsy.com/shop/teensytoppers

My little crochet helper!

Will be back with details of our first camping trip over Labor Day!

Alex eats cereal & avocado!

I can hardly believe that our little nugget is already eating baby food!  He can hardly believe that he has to eat mush while mommy and daddy get new delicious food every night!  The faces he makes every bite he takes is hilarious.  So far avocado > cereal.  Next I think we will try sweet potatoes!  Yay for orange food!

"I'm not sure about this stuff!"

"Thank goodness that's over!"

2nd attempt...still not really sure

Yummy avocado!

Back to belly!

Alex rolled from his back to his belly today (twice!). His arm gets stuck under him though, so he can't prop himself up. It's slightly amusing =]