park

Time To Retire It and Simple Things

It makes me so happy to see Sadie enjoy books and reading. Lately, she will just sit on her own and look through some of her books while I do things around the house or yard. 

Toddler reading

I can’t turn my back too long because one of her books ended up in her water table the other day 😉

We went to the park again and it was just as glorious as last time! 

Toddler in swing at park

We’ve even settled into a little routine where we play and then we walk back to the car and sit on the curb for a snack and drink. Sitting side-by-side on the curb is so simple, but it’s definietly one of my favorite things lately. 

Toddler eating baby food pouch from Aldi

Another simple but fun thing has been just playing outside! I got out our sidewalk chalk and made circles and squares for us to hop from shape to shape and then drew lines in some and we put sticks and rocks and leaves in them. 

I think she had more fun with that than she does with her toys. I guess that’s the way it goes! I took a video and had to laugh at her saying “no, no, no” to Niva’s #2 in the yard. Sadie knows not to go near that, haha. 

Toddler playing with sidewalk chalk

I did some grilling while we were outside. I guess it’s time to retire your grill when you can see straight through to the ground when you open it and only a few of the burners work, huh?

Gas grill with rusted out bottom

Niva will be so sad not to lick up all the tasty drippings when we get a new grill someday. It worked well enough to make pork, though! 

Grilled pork strips

I made up a super fancy recipe. I cut pork chops into strips, marinated them in garlic, lemon juice, ginger, and spices, and grilled them for a few minutes on each side. Totally gourmet 😉

Do you have any appliances that should be retired?

What’s your favorite simple thing lately?

Aquathlon

I had been training specifically for this race for about five weeks but I was still nervous and kind of dreaded it when race day rolled around.I trained for the aquathlon by practicing running, swimming, and then running all in one workout once a week for the weeks leading up to the race. I even managed to practice at a local lake/park: I swam about 1,000 yards and then ran 6 miles around the park.

All of my stuff laid out to practice swimming + running. I also managed to lay in the sun and have lunch at the lake too 🙂

I think I dreaded the race because I had never done an aquathlon before and 48 hours before the race I was under anesthesia, with a tube in my throat and stomach (but that’s for a different post altogether).  Once I got there and warmed up a little with my sister, who ran the 5k, I felt a lot better.

Photos from the race:My 5k time: 21:56 (7:03 pace)Hannah’s 5k time: 26:37 (8:35 pace)I felt pretty great throughout the whole race and managed to pass the most people during the swim. I just kept looking at the sky and all the greenery around me while I was running and just thinking how beautiful God made the earth (<— I’m so dorky sometimes!).

I ended up placing second in the whole race and first for women.

The full results can be viewed here

The race benefited Habitat for Humanity and the awards were so cute!

My first aquathlon ended up being really fun and I’m so glad I did it!

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I feel like I haven’t posted in forever and I have a lot to say! Some upcoming posts include: recent eats, how my endoscopy went, what else I was up to this past weekend, and some other fun things!

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Bible verse of the day:  “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8