Checking these big six marathons off the list one at a time! First Boston and this past weekend Chicago Marathon. New York will be the last major in the US. We arrived in Chicago Friday evening & went directly to Camille & Connor's place in the city. The girls were so excited, it's been a while sine we've been to Chicago. Camille's neighborhood was so cute!

Saturday morning we were up & ready to head downtown for the day. Not the girls first time on the train, but the first that they can remember. They did great. Lots of excitement & of course Maeve was a little anxious but she did great.

Once we got downtown we walked to meet the Veraghen crew & did a little shopping/sightseeing. Kids loved the bean, we spent a lot of time there taking pics.

Beautiful day in the city. We also made a stop at Maggie Daley park... the biggest, best park ever according to Maeve. The sunshine felt amazing.

A quick train ride north back to Camille's hood & a stop for mural pics. 

Margaux loves a good wall mural.

Sunday morning we were up early & headed to Wrigleyville to catch Gary at mile 8 of the marathon. Quick Starbucks stop & as soon as we got to our spot on the sidewalk Gary was coming thru. As soon as he ran by we jumped on the closest train to head down to the park for the finish. So excited to see him at the end. 

Too many people to hold up the signs the kids made for him but we got them in the pic of our crew at the end. Another gorgeous day & a great run for Gary. 

Probably because he had this amazing support crew!!! xoxo

Another Cross Country season in the books! This one was definitely unique, the girls only had 4 out of 10ish meets due to rain. Lots and lots of rain! This late summer/fall has been nothing but rain which has caused a lot of flooding & created unsafe running trails. Most of the meets were cancelled & could not be rescheduled. Thankfully they were able to get a couple in, definitely better than nothing. Here are the 5th grade girls before their first meet...

Marin & her middle school crew after their second meet...

Lots of rain also meant lots of MUD! I spent so much time washing their clothes & scrubbing shoes. Margaux's brand new expensive shoes were just trashed after every meet. Not much she could do. Marin fortunately had a good pair of running shoes  that still fit from last year so she didn't ruin her new ones. Margaux, Hayden & Rylie had their end of year banquet last night. They were little stinkers & didn't want to take pics with their awards. This is what I got! 

Marin's season went a little longer & she still had one meet tonight. Rocked it too! 

Even with so many cancelled meets, both girls improved so much this season. Love that they enjoy running. We're hoping the treadmill will help them keep up with it this winter so they are ready for track in the spring. Also hoping it is much drier!!! Proud of our runners!!! xoxo

Happy Birthday to Fitz... a few weeks early. With Acre arriving in a few weeks, Katie was worried about him not getting a good party so she decided to do it a little early. Even hired a face painter! Dino face painting for everyone... except GG, she chose a GB Packer design & rocked it! Look how cute these little faces are! I missed the birthday boy though...

A few weeks ago I found this big blow up T-rex & I couldn't leave the store without it. During his party Gary went to the car & put the dino on to surprise everyone. Super fun & the kids were all really excited.

Big Gary Dino & little Fitz Gary 

He loves his uncle Gary so much & I love this picture of them. Happy Birthday little guy! xoxo

It's finally apple picking season!
Always a quick trip too. The kids are so great & dive right in as soon as we find the cortland trees. The love finding the little red apples because they are the perfect size for their lunch boxes. Fitz was pretty entertaining this year. He was all about feeding his dino apples & Marin is definitely a mama bear with him. 

These two are the little apple queens. They love them in their lunch every day. I had to stop them from picking more littles & tell them that we could also use some bigger ones for apple crisp & maybe a pie! We'll see if I can attempt that !

Love these girls so much... our little apple pickers.

And I love this crew... can't wait to add little Acre to our bunch. We love him so much already.

And we have a hard enough time right now getting these 5 to smile & look.. imagine adding another! 

Fun morning! The girls are ready to head to grandma & grandpa's now to dehydrate apples. Also their favorite. Hoping to be back to pick windfall apples, Margaux needs enough dehydrated apples for a year! xoxo

HUGE bucket list check mark for this girl right here... I spent the last 3 days in NYC with my dear friend Holly. We had so much fun together & are already planning our next trip back to NYC. We flew out to NY for Peloton. That stationary bike that goes nowhere has been an amazing purchase for me. Worth.every.penny! My workouts are so ridiculously fun... so why not witness that fun live in the studio?!?! On Monday when we arrived we spent the day doing a little sightseeing. Beautiful fall day.

By the late afternoon we headed back to the hotel to rest for a hot minute before we walked to the studio for our first class. I was so darn excited!!! Monday night hip hop ride was also a monument ride for me. 500 rides!!! 

So much fun at the studio that night & during all the classes. Over the course of 3 days we took 6 classes. Our legs were cashed but we sure had fun. I can not wait to do it again. Fun to see the instructors in person (they are so tiny!) and great to experience the rides live in the studio. It was blazing hot too. Hopefully the new studio will have better ventilation. 

Aside from the studio we had quite a bit of fun time too. So many great meals, shopping, a lot of walking & even a Broadway show. We decided to see Mean Girls & scored 5th row orchestra seats day of the show too. Great seats & a really great show. So glad we found time to fit it in & our legs really enjoyed sitting for a few hours.

More sightseeing pics from our time walking around the city...

We took a cab from the airport to the hotel upon arrival, but other than that we 100% walked around the city for 3 days. That on top of the rides... we were really wiped when we crawled into bed each night. I think it will take my legs days to recover! 

Our hotel was located in the flower district of the city. We had no idea until we stepped out of our cab. I will definitely stay there again. The plant filled sidewalks throughout the entire block were so beautiful. Not to mention the smell as soon as we walked out the front door. Even the restaurants around the area were beautifully decorated with fresh flowers. I wish I could have flew some home with me.

Such a fun three days & great to spend them with Holly who I don't see as often as I'd like with living hours away from each other. Looking forward to our 2020 visit to NYC. xoxo

Finally a night out with Gary. With the crazy summer & all busy weekends it is hard to find time to go out without the kiddos. Thankful for our time together & we really had a great summer full of amazing memories.... BUT it is always nice to get out & have some fun with adults.
Last night there was no shortage of fun with Wendy & Travis at the Eric Church concert.

So many laughs! Not one clear or photo of us all looking normal because we were all laughing so hard. Show was amazing but also pretty great people watching. Feeling it today. We had a little too much fun. xo

Gary's dreams of becoming a race director came true this weekend, he planned & we hosted the 1st Annual Moose Creek Marathon. The girls were great helpers. They made signs, painted a start/finish line & hosted a bake sale for charity.

Gary was up early prepping the garage, cooking brats/burgers & getting the drinks on ice. We had a sound system & a darn porta-potty! Now that is a party. There was a full marathon {3 runners} a half marathon {about 6 runners} and a mini 2.6 mile run that had close to 50 participants! Great turnout for a first time event. The girls also crafted a finisher backdrop for pics after the race. We taped it to the best place possible... the porta-potty! 

Gary was the official full marathon winner. Ten 2.6 mile laps through the neighborhood. He's nuts but he enjoyed every step of it. So fun to have neighbors out with water stations & cheering on all the runners. 

I think it's safe to say there will definitely be a 2nd annual race next year. Great excuse to get everyone together & have a "block party" with exercise as an added bonus. Gary, Chris & Jeremy did a great job planning the event. xoxo

We've had record rainfall this year... it feels like all we see is rain outside lately. For the second year in a row I got smart & we had a mock first day of school last night. Great way to make sure the outfits all fit & there are not major issues in the morning. Added bonus, not raining last night & this morning it was down pouring!!! Margaux was ready first... no surprise. I am sure she will be the first ready all school year long. Looking adorable in her romper & ready for 5th grade! 

Surprisingly Maeve was the second one ready. In Marin's defense, she was ready next but we didn't agree on her outfit so back into the house she went to change. haha Maeve also sported a new romper for the first day of school. It's definitely the trend, I am not sure how it works when it's time to use the bathroom! She also looked cute as ever & ready for 3rd grade.

And Marin in a dress ready for her first day of middle school. This was the first outfit she chose but decided she wasn't sure about it. The replacement was just okay, so back to plan A & it looked perfect. She is definitely going to chance at least 3 times before school every morning this year. I can see it already.

The Veraghen's came up for a quick pic together. All 7 kiddos in 3 different schools this year. They may not have their siblings in the same schools but at least they have each other... 

They do smile & pose well together occasionally! Why are they getting so big???!!!

And here are a few photos from this morning. Not raining when Marin left for school, but an hour later it was chaos. So.much.rain! Luckily we got a quick photo of them all before the hard rain hit. They all got on the buses soaked. Such a bummer. Thankfully the big kids escaped it being that it was also picture day for them.

As always, I can't wait to see them all get off the bus & hear how their first days went. I enjoyed a quiet day at home getting a few things done. Two weeks until I start another long term subbing job at Marg's school. 5th grade math, soon I'll be the math expert {not Gary!}. xoxo

The countdown to school is winding down, yet we managed to sneak in one more summer bucket list item yesterday... The farm in Door County. We've visited Door County with the kids many times in the past few years & this was a place I always wanted to check out but it has never worked out. {Usually chasing Gary running or enjoying a brewery with friends!} 
Margaux finally got to see the pigs & that was the main reason I wanted to visit. There are other farms with similar farm-like settings but the pigs are always off limits to touch & interact with. Not here & Margaux was all smiles in little piggy heaven! I wanted her to pick one up but they were squirmy. Even Gary had a hard time holding the little guy for a quick picture.

All three girls really enjoyed feeding the baby goats with the tiny bottles of milk. They were just so darn cute. Only Marin had the guts to pick one up & snuggle him.

Maeve enjoyed the farm, but the highlight of the visit for her was definitely the kittens. She could have sat & held them the entire morning, so cute & fluffy.

Family pic in the corn field & the cousins on the wishing well.

After the farm we headed to the harbor for a picnic lunch & some time near the water.

And then a quick pit stop at the art gallery building before heading home. It's probably been 4 years since our last visit there & we were happy to see that someone left paint behind so the girls were able to add their names to the building. Margaux was busy on the side without us & made us laugh with the size of her name. She went all in & was so excited to see her name on the building.

Maeve picked a spot & needed a little help. Mostly because she was worried about getting pain on her sweatshirt.

And a quick pic of the Brown 5.

We made a pit stop at our friends house before heading home. Super fun day & more end of summer memories. We all slept great last night after the long/fun day...Today it's last min prep & tomorrow it's time for school!!!! xoxo

It's rare for us to have a Saturday night free where we are not running kids or have plans. Tonight was one of those nights, so we decided to take the kiddos to Titletown for some night time fun on the playground & to check out the traveling lighted ring art display. My parents, Katie/Mike & Veraghens all joined us. Cocktails for the adults, play time for the kids... everyone wins!

Another Lambeau/Titletown view that never gets old. Just like the shot in the stadium from the game the other night. I take a photo that looks the same every time we visit. Definitely a fun area.

The kids & the adults enjoyed the lit up ring display. The rings had seats in them were you were able to pull the lever back & forth to make the art inside the rings spin fast or slow. Something new and fun, happy we checked it out. Turned into a great evening, although now I am ready for bed! xoxo

Tonight the little girls attended their first Packer game. Maeve & I joined Eva & Erica for the game. Margaux had a date with Grandpa but we met up for a bit before the game. The girls were so happy & very excited to get inside Lambeau. We've been to the stadium plenty of times for various runs, family night, etc. but they'd never been to an actual game. For once, they were all actually happy to pose for some pics & looked so darn cute in their packer gear.

LOVE this picture that Erica snapped of us. Wishing we had the rest of our crew there for the fun! 

My dad got a good laugh out of Margaux. He brought two stadium seats for the two of them & Margaux was quick to call dibs on the one with the seat back! Smart little girl wanting the more comfortable seat.

The sunset was so pretty in the stadium. It was a great night for a game. I don't think it would have been nearly as enjoyable for them had it been blazing hot or freezing cold. 

Thankful to have a night with Maeve on her own too. It is so nice to do things with them one on one every so often. We definitely had a great night together & Margaux loved her Grandpa time. Fingers crossed for a great GBP season! Go Pack Go! xoxo