Weekend Recaps and Good Morning

I think I went to bed close to 10 pm last night, a small miracle.  So I feel a smidgen less tired this morning.  Don't think that means I won't sleep in a few minutes, I just might be a but more coherent while writing this.  Except I just tried to spell writing with two t's in the last sentence (auto correct wouldn't let me though), so maybe I am less coherent than I think.

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday.  It was my niece's bday so my sister had to volunteer at her preschool, which meant the daycare was closed.  So I worked from home in the morning and then took the afternoon off.  You will be shocked to know what I did in the afternoon.  Put your seat belts on or you will be blown away!  I went for a run!!  I know, pretty monumental, right.  And not just a five minute run down the street...nope, I did a full 5.5 miles.  Amazing, right?!?!  I took two and a half months off completely and then last week I did a three mile run and a four mile run and then I managed to get a five and a half mile run in without falling over.  And it was hilly!  My legs were tired but I made it.  We'll see what I feel like today but hopefully I will recover.  I will admit my recovery fuel was not stellar...some chips and frozen yogurt...but I will try and work on that.  I have today off and then I will try and do four tomorrow.  I'm not sure it't the brightest idea to jump right into the middle of my training plan pretending that I have been running for the past few months, but I'm not sure what other options I have...the half marathon is a short five weeks away!

These past few weekends have been lots of fun but I was busy posting delayed holiday posts so I will tell you about them now.  Last weekend we actually did something fun and this weekend we didn't, but for some reason it was still a good weekend in my eyes.  Last weekend we FINALLY used our membership to the aquarium.  We got it for Evan's birthday because we thought it would be a fun activity to do in the winter but then with the move and the holidays we never made it downtown.  However last weekend we went with some friends and it was a lot of fun.  I'm not sure who liked it more, Evan or Ivan! 

It's hard to make us out but there we are in front of the Amazonian mangroves.  My parents and I actually went on a mangrove tour in Honduras and it was amazing, so this was fun to look at.  That tour seems like years ago, and actually it was seven and a half years ago so I guess it was years ago.

Our attempt at a family selfie

One of my favorite parts of the aquarium is the rainforest.  You get to walk through it and I think it's so fun.  I guess it might seem odd since it's not underwater, but I like it anyway.  We saw a sloth sitting on a tree which was fun, although I have seen a sloth in Costa Rica in the wild so this was a little less amazing.  Ivan wasn't a fan of the rainforest exhibit because it was hot and by the time we left the rainforest he was drenched in sweat.  I made him pose for one more family photo though.

His favorite thing was the sharks, of course.

We didn't see everything so we want to go back soon, maybe next weekend or the weekend after.  Since it's free with our membership all we pay for is parking.

This weekend we went shopping for some rugs to put in the house but were unsuccessful.  We ended up going to Kohl's and JCPenney's but Kohl's was way too expensive and JCPenney's didn't have many in the store, so we ended up buying one online.  We still need on to put in the dining room and kitchen because it's just too loud with the dog and Evan that we are afraid the neighbors will complain.  I wasn't willing to shell out $100 bucks so we only bought one, and the one we bought is for the living room.  We needed one to put in front of the couch so when Ivan puts his boots on he doesn't stain the carpet.  It's really annoying renting sometimes - you have to constantly think about what the place is going to look like when you move out...and dirt stains on the carpet can be a problem.

On Sunday we tried to go to church but failed miserably.  Evan is just so talkative that it was a nightmare.  Everyone kept giving us the Look and even though I tried to be strong and kept telling myself that the Catholic church is against abortion and birth control and that children are the future of the church and they should be welcome...Ivan still ended up spending 98% of the time in the hallway with him.  We may not go back for a while.  Then we went to Panera and ate chocolate chip bagels and coffee and played on the mall playground.  They have a little play area inside and during mall hours it is crazy with kids jumping wild and large kids (who are too big for the playground anyway) pushing the little kids, etc.  However, the mall hadn't opened yet so there were only a few other kids playing around.  Evan loved it.

We went to the playground by our house yesterday too and no one was there so Evan had a blast walking from one play thing to the next.

He loves these cars but there are two so you put him in one and then he points to the other.

So then you put him in that one and then he wants the other one.

And then he just wonders off (that's the dog's leash in the bottom of the photo, in case you were wondering). 

After my run we went and got Evan's haircut.  It's very cute.  We had the same woman who cuts Ivan's hair cut Evan's and she did a good job.  He was so well-behaved and just sat there the entire time...completely unlike church.  Then we headed to my sister's for cake and ice cream to celebrate my niece's birthday.

Now it's back to the bus and work.  And my nap!