Camping with the Mills 2013

 At the beginning of July we went camping with Sheldon's family for a night. This was the first time we had gone camping in a tent since Tucker was a little baby. We had some bad experiences when Tucker was little and hadn't been brave enough to attempt it since, but in spite of everything that happened it turned out to be a good trip. Before we even got up into the mountains, Halle fractured her leg playing at the playground while we were packing up the car. It was just a tiny fracture and they gave her a boot not because her foot needed it to heal, but just to keep her from walking on it a little bit more. The next day she was trying to walk around and we had a very difficult time trying to keep her from walking on it. I'm grateful it wasn't very serious and healed up just fine. We also had pouring rain at night! It really seemed like Murphy's law came true. In spite of the rain, the kids slept ok in the tent and nobody got wet inside the tent. The greatest thing we did was give them glow sticks to sleep with. It gave them just a little bit of light so they weren't afraid of the dark.

 The next day we decided to hike to Stewart Falls. Halle rode in our backpack the whole time so she didn't have to hike on her foot and we took turns carrying Finn. Sheldon won the strongest hiker award: at one point he had Halle in the backpack, Tucker on his shoulders, and carried Claytin in his arms.

 It's not a real camping trip without marshmallows!

 Love this crazy face on Finn. 

 Halle found a ladybug and don't you love how dirty she is? It is amazing how dirty kids can get while camping. Overall it was a great trip and I'm glad the Mills planned it and let us come along!

The Spartan Race

On June 29th, Sheldon completed the Spartan Beast, which is a half marathon with over 25 obstacles. Because a half marathon isn't hard enough, they had to add in some obstacles! Sheldon trained very hard for this race, as most of the obstacles take a lot of upper body strength. Some of the obstacles were rope climbs, dragging tires, dragging sandbags, throwing a javelin, a rock wall, and the final obstacle was rolling under barbed wire in the mud for several hundred yards. Sounds like so much fun, right? Sheldon actually said it was a lot more fun than a regular race, but it sounds a little questionable to me. He is trying to convince me to participate in the race next year because it's only eight miles.

 Sheldon's clean, before the race photo. Finn was there too, just parked in his stroller off to the side.

 It was a really hot day, but the kids did really well waiting for Sheldon at the finish line. Thank you ipad! I didn't get any good pictures of Sheldon crossing the finish line, because we were waiting a little bit away from the line in some shade and when everyone is covered in mud they all look the same. So I didn't spot him until he was right at the finish line. 

 Sheldon all muddy and finished with a great time! Halle was a little nervous to see him so muddy.

So proud of you Sheldon, way to go!