We had one of the most exciting Octobers in the Weatherspoon Family history of Octobers. First of all, Joe and I ran a Ragnar-type race in North Carolina, called the Tuna Run. It was a 203.8 mile relay from Raleigh to the Coast, Atlantic Beach, NC. Joe's sister Leah captained the whole race and got Grant, Ross, Joe, Jenny - my sister- and Me to run it. There were a few others and some last minute strangers that added on to our team because Aaron and his army buddies who were supposed to run it had some mandatory training the very weekend of the race. They found out just before the race that they couldn't run it, so that meant I had been training for 15 miles total...and it turned out to be 23 miles I think. We all had to pick up extra mileage because we didn't have a full team. Joe, Leah, Jenny, and I all agree that added to how fun that race really was.
Good sports, these two. Aunty Rachel babysat our kids so we could run the race together- she was awesome! It took us 30 hours to run it- so she had them for a couple of days!
Leah was our first leg- this was the starting line.
We all got tattoos with the directions of our routes. This was really exciting for me!!
Spent a lot of bonding hours in a 15 passenger van with these guys...
The name of our team was SPOON PLATOON
Joe had socks with super man capes on them. Yes he did.
Ross handing off to Joe in the rain.. We had lots of rain. Especially during our middle of the night runs for some reason.
I love this picture of Grant and Ross at the almost-finish-line. They are waiting to cheer Joe in!
Of course Joe went swimming.
The full team! Lots of us are already signed up to do one in Chicago with Captain Jenny.
There were so many memories made- This was such an inadequate and brief summary of what we did over the course of the race, it was one of the most challenging and rewarding races I've ever done, and by far the funnest event I've participated in as an adult. I'm so glad my sister did it with me, and also that I got to run it with Joe. I remember Joe asking me if I would run it when I was about ready to burst with BO, and I couldn't even wrap my head around the idea. I had to have a healthy baby and recover from a c-section, but we still signed up. I'm so glad I did because I certainly had a reason to be motivated once I was able to start running. It is a peculiar thing to feel your body progress and improve from barely being able to blow your nose your muscles are so depleted from pregnancy and surgery to gradually building up to the point where you can go out and run a 203.8 mile relay.
The weather was so mild this fall- we spent so much time outdoors soaking up the beauty before winter set in. This was on a nature walk along the Payette River. We were actually looking for a bike trail we had heard about- but ended up ditching the bikes on this trail and adventuring instead. Kid bikes don't handle off roading very well.
The following week we did find the bike trail. I love how it is almost completely covered in fall leaves. And that Rosy is still in shorts!
Down the street from our house a produce barn did hayrides out to a pumpkin patch. The kids and I had a good time picking out pumpkins!
Next to Grandma's house we went to one of our favorite pumpkin patches that has a jump house, onion launcher, corn maze, tire swings and petting zoo. Rosy is showing off her snazzy boots from aunty Jenny.
One night Daddy, Rocky, and mom went on a Rocky-date back to the corn maze on the only fridgid, freezing fall day that we had. It was still fun! Mostly because Rocky makes almost anything fun.
We have never played in so many fall leaves as we did this year.
The last pumpkin patch that we went to had some new attractions that the other ones didn't- between them all we made some great memories.
On Halloween night we all dressed up as super heroes, I am wearing a wonder-woman t-shirt, but somebody had to take the picture!
For mutual, my friend Christina let me borrow her fancy vintage dress, and we all dressed up! I was proud of us because not many leaders dressed up.
On pumpkin carving night we also had our last meal outside before it got to chilly too do that- we love eating outside. We are fortunate to live in such a pleasant setting with the grove of trees behind us.
Pretty creepy, right?