As our summer days come to an end I let the kids choose what they want to do as much as possible.

Cannon choose the “tunnels” park for our morning play.

I am not sure who is going to miss Cannon more when he is at school all day and we don’t get to have lunch with him.

We have been experimenting with skipping naps for Emmy but lately she seems to need one, she fell asleep in my lap while I was reading her a story, I am not going to complain!

We enjoyed dinner outside.

Then played on the waterslide way past our bedtimes.

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What are you doing to celebrate the end of summer?

We spent the morning going to Cannon’s school and getting to meet his Kindergarten teacher.

He is excited that this year he gets to play on the “big” playground.

Emmy was excited to come along for support.

It was fun to see Cannon already easily making friends and getting to see his classroom.

Cannon is also pretty excited about getting to eat lunch at school.

Emmy is excited she gets to come home and eat lunch with me!

I am so proud of him!

Americans at the 2021 Boston Marathon: Molly Huddle and Jordan Hasay Join 2018 Champ Des Linden

In other news now that the Olympics are over I am so looking forward to Boston and the line up of big names! It’s weird to think about Boston running in October but I will be following!

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Are you excited about any upcoming races?

We started our day at the park with friends, so nice to see our friends before all the “big kids” are back in school.

After our play date we went to Target to pick up some school items we needed. The kids are constantly asking to get toys (no surprise) so we are already taking photos to send to Santa. Somehow taking the picture to remember satisfies them.

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Cory’s coworker gave us some fun games for the kids’ tablets, Cannon is obsessed with the math game.

I am finishing up the kids’ back to school bins.

I really LOVE these back to school cookies from the Target bakery.

These chalk boards from Chalk full of Design

Lastly I am loving Emmy’s new Nikes! I know they will get dirty quickly but she loves them. We got both of these at Kohl’s.

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We are getting close to being ready, just a couple more things.

Are you ready for back to school?

With the air quality in question for most of the country and especially the West this seems to be our new norm. We now have to consider if our morning run could cause permanent damage to our lungs.

This article gives some great information and guidelines:

https://www.oiselle.com/blogs/oiselle-blog/the-risk-of-a-smoky-run?fbclid=IwAR3FOJtv6gFhDfhfvBYwlaWJMc_6JB5AVF2ONiAppz5l1jOHgSKGk15M6Y8

Are you dealing with bad air where you live?

Sadly on Saturday a massive smoke plume blew in from the West and settled over Colorado. We made the most of our day but the smoggy air made us sad. All these fires are so devastating.

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/08/06/wildfire-smoke-colorado-air-quality-alert/

We enjoyed our morning in camp.

Then drove down to Twin Lakes to take a short hike.

The smoke made the views a little less spectacular.

We were thinking of taking the boats out on the lake but it was chilly and cold so we had a picnic lunch and drove to the Fish Hatchery.

We have driven by this place many times and never stopped, I even ran a marathon past it never knowing it was so cool! It was fun to see all the tanks with fish. Then we went on the nature hike.

It was beautiful and very fun!

In the afternoon Emmy caught a quick nap and we headed back to the lake for a bit.

Then we went into town for dinner.

It was a long wait to get a table but worth it to share a delicious dinner with my favorite people. Then back to Kermit for a way too late bed time!

It was a great weekend get up and into the mountains. We spent Friday hanging out in our campsite enjoying the slow life then went over to Turquoise Lake.

We ate lunch lake side then enjoyed some time on our paddle board and kayak.

This lake is one of my favorites.

After paddling we went on a little hike to a beautiful overlook.

Then it was time to head into town to find some ice cream.

I love Leadville, it is a very authentic Victorian mountain town.

The only sad part of the day was that our favorite coffee shop was closed.

open, open, open.

Then we went back to our campsite to make dinner and relax.

Up high in the mountains in the woods just like we should be.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

And we are off……one last camping trip before the school year starts (the plan is to still camp during the school year but it will be shorter/closer trips).

I am so excited to spend the weekend in Leadville as it’s one of my favorite places!

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This video gives an amazing feel of visiting Leadville:

Only thing is that they didn’t visit Turquoise lake and that is a must do for me!

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What are you up to this weekend?

This little space has been conspicuously running light lately. It’s a little hard to talk about because I miss it SO much. I am still trying to heal from another injury and I feel very impatient. I have spent a few weeks hoping that resting it will help (and it has…..a little). But now I have decided to change course and hit recovery hard with all the things I can think of to do.

https://blog.mapmyrun.com/12-ways-to-make-a-comeback-with-runners-knee/

Meanwhile, these two are loving morning snuggles.

We spent the morning getting ready for our camping trip.

Then we had some friends over for a play date.

The kids helped me put together this snack board and were very excited to share it with their friends.

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Anyone come back from runner’s knee? All advice appreciated!

My day was full with these nuts

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I have completely lost the habit of taking pictures throughout the day and always wish I had taken more, so now I need to slow down and take more pics. Part of the issue right now is that Emmy is rarely wearing pants, she is a new potty trainer and it’s often easier just to let her run around in undies.

We did our usual playground with friends in the morning, this one included a splash pad so that was good.

We then grabbed ice cream and met Cory at his work. The kids have been missing him so much now that he is at the office so much. We drove by where he works on our way to the playground and Emmy said “that’s where daddy lives”.

While visiting Cory one of his coworkers mentioned how bad the air was and that she never exercises outside when the AQI is above 120. She is a very good athlete so I figure it’s a good rule to follow.

She shared that she uses purple air which I will be using to monitor our air quality.

We spent the afternoon camped out at the pool, squeezing all the summer we can into what’s left!

Dinner at home then the bedtime hustle which is always too late and we REALLY need to improve on before school starts!

Reading with Cannon is one of my greatest joys.

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How is your air this summer?