I have been waiting/training for this weekend for the last several months!  On Sunday, I will run in my first half marathon!  As of last November, I hadn't run 13.1 miles in as many years let alone inside of 2 hours.  That's right...turns out... girl is fast!  Well, faster than a 34 year old who just picked up running should be anyway!  I will be running The Blueberry Cove Half Marathon at 7:30 Sunday morning!  By the time the Catholics have taken communion I will have been running beside my cousin (who is also my running coach/mentor) for more than one hundred and twenty-one thousand feet!  Only one problem, my hip has been giving me the slightest bit of trouble...it's not an injury...yet!  I am going to stretch, massage and baby this freaking hip to a degree that will surely annoy my family but I don't care!  I must run this sucker!  Stay tuned!  My goal is to average eight and a half minute miles but this may be a bit ambitious...we shall see!

Well, it was a successful day of racing for my girl and me!  She came in first for the one mile fun run and I came in second for my age group in the 5K.  The weather was gorgeous and we were surrounded by great friends.  The theme of the day has been racing, as we then raced home to get ready for my in law's 40th anniversary party.  I have been trying to follow the debate team's progress throughout the day.  It's almost over...I'm going to be ready for school to start just to have a break!  Thanks for all the support.

Up too late...

This will be just a quick update for my classmates who are following our summer and trying to work on the debate.  I have been researching unique angles and re-watching RIP A remix Manifesto tonight.  I am consulting lawyer friends regarding patent law and copyright law and my brain is spinning.  Like several of you, I have decided to double up on classes this term and am paying the price right now.  On my way home tonight as my husband was driving, I checked my Lesley email only to find a message from my fall course's professor saying "we begin".  Whaaaaaaaat?!?!?  Yup, and assignments and everything.  Assignments that I am late for already.  How can this be?  I checked and Fall Term 1 doesn't even start until September 3rd!!  I checked twice!  I have emailed the professor and am certain there is a mix up but as it stands right now, I got an email Wednesday saying that this was week 1 and our first assignments were due this weekend.

I must get to bed as I am running in a 5k bright and early and Soph will be running in the 1 mile fun run.  I will write a post tomorrow and include pictures of our little race.  Thanks 2.0 folks for being so good to her and commenting on her updates.  I will try to get her to reply tomorrow.  By the way, Sully is my almost four year old son, Sullivan.

A note from Soph

As I mentioned earlier, our family is busy.  Crazy busy!  All with good things, happy things, summer things but just plain busy!  I asked Soph to fit in a blog post and as you can see "fit" it in she did.  It's not her best writing or her longest piece but there are a few lines, I just love.  I love that she uses the word lug.  I think it illustrates the outing perfectly.  I also love her last sentence.  While it could use some work I love what she was trying to do there and it has great voice.  So please forgive the short, error filled post and know that it was written by a little girl who is having the most amazing summer and still took the time to jot down a moment in time for her mom.

Hi! This is Sophie,

A while ago my my grampa came over .And what we do every time he comes over my dad,Sully,grampa and I go to his land on the tractor. But this trip was different because after we had driven at least 4.1/2 miles the tractor broke down! So we had to WALK about 5 miles back to our house AND Sully decided not to wear shoes to the woods so we also had to lug him up hills and rocks.Well that is the end of the beginning of the start to our adventures.

    TYPE TO YOU LATER!

SOPHIE

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

To say I am overwhelmed at this point is an understatement.  Taking two grad courses this summer may not have been my best decision ever.  That being said, finishing my masters in June will be GLORIOUS and I will be so glad I had to work so hard this summer so I can hopefully take a breath next year.  Between work, grad work, extra projects and family I am completely overextended.  Those of you that are in my grad class with LH know that I have a project I am working on to complete15 parent education videos.  Let's just say, I have 2 done and they have taken me a significant amount of time to produce.  Please don't misunderstand, I am so happy and every single thing I'm working so hard on right now are such positive things.  I'm just approaching empty on the tank.  Oh yeah, and I'm trying to train for a 13.1 mile run in 16 days.  Yikes!  Please send any spare energy you have my way.  Thanks!  Soph will have another post this weekend.

Katahdin Hike

So, there was a hike up Katahdin but it wasn't the family hike/camping trip we had planned.  Due to poor weather conditions the trip had to be cancelled and my girlfriend Julie and I had to make a day trip.  While I was disappointed that we didn't get to climb the highest point in Maine together as a family, I loved the opportunity to spend time with one of the people I hold most dear.  We had perfect weather and made incredible time up and down the mountain!  

On a side note:  Last year when I climbed Katahdin I was in MUCH different shape.  I was a bit heavier and much less active.  In January, I was dangerously close to being diagnosed with type two diabetes and have had to make diet and exercise changes as a result.  I am now more fit than I ever have been and am amazed everyday at how my body has responded to this positive attention in the form of food and sweat!  

Since this is a blog for my daughter and I to connect and share our connection I think it is important to share how much getting fit means to our relationship.  I am so glad she will grow up with an active mom and one who values health!  I hope she takes care of her body always and respects it by working it hard and fueling it well!  

Wow!  Life has been as busy as it ever has been for my little tribe!  I feel like I haven't even laid eyes on Soph let alone have the time to sit down to blog together.  We are finally home together today and had the opportunity to spend some time finishing up our last posts.  Her post was started weeks ago now and she will have much more to share soon but I wanted to share her second post straight away.

Hi it is Sophie!

Today it was the most beautiful day at the campground!...Birds singing sun shining and water gleaming! Today my friends Jack and Owen and I went to a island and dove through the waves.We also tried fishing but all we caught were chubs but one of them was like 16 inches long which are usually only 5 inches long!Then we all swam and played job interviews and one of the ones was for a police , (I was interviewing my 3 year old brother) anyway I asked him what he would do if I was speeding and he said...I would police you! I don’t think he knows what a police officer is or does.Then the most cool part was the 4 hour boat trip... That my mom and her friend drove 7 miles on a boat, all the girls in one boat and all the boys in the other boat.So it took the GIRLS 2 hours to get across 2 lakes! And it was very scary for me because MY MOTHER was driving an 8 horsepower motor boat over up to 3.1/2 foot waves!

Then as soon as we got back to the camp ground we all collapsed on the ground because we were so so tired!

TYPE TO YOU LATER!

-Sophie

Bad weather= no hiking/camping trip!

Well, I'm disappointed to report that Mother Nature didn't cooperate with our camping/hiking plans for the weekend.  We have had to postpone our trip and are feeling pretty disappointed.

Soph is working on her next post, so stay tuned!  She has been busy this last week at gymnastics camp.  We had a big discussion about attention seeking behaviors when she came home with her wrist wrapped with pre wrap for...a BLISTER!  My husband and I were both pleased with her behavior as we talked to her about all the experiences we have had with students who always "liked" to be injured.  Do you remember being 10 and wanting to get attention for injuries?  Fake injuries?  I do.  And I really hope my kid finds other ways to get attention.  Or did you avoid attention?  Any advice on handling this well?

While Soph is away at gymnastics camp and I pack for our second annual hike up Mt. Katadin I wanted to share this photo of the two of us at the top of Baxter Peak, the end of the Appalachian Trail, one year ago.  I can't put into words how special this day was to the two of us.  It was a hike that took 12 hours to complete and was classified on the State Park's website as "very strenuous".  It was such a bonding experience and we are taking it to a whole new level this summer.  We have invited my husband along and we will camp for 3 nights at Baxter State Park.  Wish us luck and check out the trails.  We plan to hike up Helon Taylor, across the Knife's Edge and down Abol to where our camper and a home cooked meal will be waiting.  I just can't wait!

Before Soph posts her next blog entry, I wanted to help paint the picture of who you are dealing with here.  She is not typical.  She is extraordinary.  She will do amazing and beautiful things with this world.  This Mother's Day Card illustrates just how deep and profound my kid is.  I love that she still asks for my opinion when struggling with a social issue at school and that she actually takes my advice.  We have a connection, one that I hope holds strong through the next few years as she shuffles her way through puberty and increased independence.

I am going to use this blog not only as an outlet for her writing but also to capture just how unique of a girl she is.  I will write those posts and add pictures when possible.  Thanks for your interest and support as she shares her "voice".  I just loved reading her replies to each of you...she just cracks me up!

The Maiden Post

Ok, so here it is!  Her very first writing that was intended for the blogosphere!  I have left it unedited so you can see her stream of conscious and so that we can measure growth.  Both she and I would be thrilled to have feedback and I think she would love ideas for future topics.  Also note that even though she has a techie for a mom, she rarely finds herself in front of a screen so this amount of typing was pretty significant and pretty clean considering.  So proud of my girl.  Thanks for supporting both of us!  Without further adieu...

Hi! My name is Sophie,

I am going to tell you a little bit about my self, then about what I have been doing throughout the corse of my summer...At least all of the very interesting parts of it.So the first thing about me is,that I absolutely L-O-V-E (love) chickens , and yes I know you are chuckling and thinking (what 10 year old girl would love chickens .Because at school every body would call me the chicken girl and other things like that but I AM a chicken girl and to me there is NOTHING wrong with that.Any way the next thing that is important (but sort of funny) about me is that I am very very clumsy ask my friends at school because I at least fall every 3 hours for example in stead of walking gracefully out of bed I fell out if bed and woke the whole family up.And the last thing about me is I have the best family in the whole entire world because they love me they take me camping and they feed me warm delicious food well most of the time some times they give me fried worms (okay fine all the time they feed me good food.

Next, like I told you in the beginning of my Blog was the interesting parts of my summer, so I am going to talk about the first day of camping at Rangeley lake state park witch is today any way the first thing that I did (after I fell out of bed) I took my little brother for a ride in the wagon for about a 3^rd of a mile down to the lake then we came back (another 3^rd of a mile then we did that about 5 more times.Then because we all were sweaty we took showers but sadly when my 3 year old brother Sully split his chin and his lip so he is going to have a tough week camping.and now as I am typing my friends just got here so ...TYPE TO YOU LATER!

SOPHIE  

Good idea then...why not now?

Oh my gosh!!! You guys!! I just logged into Blogger to create a new blog and I found I already had an account!! Not just an account...but an existing blog! Three years ago, I started a blog and never published it but it was the BEST.IDEA.EVER! I am going to go with it as I love the vision and think it is even more important now. Here is the draft post that I had started back in 2010:

My idea is this…get my seven year old daughter a blog. I read the terms and conditions and found this is not acceptable use. Therefore, I (much older than 13) will manage the site and ask her to write the posts. I may find out that this too is unacceptable and if so…see you in six years.

She has a gift. The gift of wit and humor. She also loves to write but has limited opportunity outside of school. I LOVE blogs but am not confident enough to start my own. Hence, I will pawn it off on her. It will also encourage her to journal her life experiences, help to share with family, those life experiences and build her confidence in her own writing so at to not be like me!
*****
I’m obsessed with blogs with witty names and think I hit it out of the park with my name…bloggerinthemaking! How creative…right?

So, I will feature my now 10 year old’s writings, musings and creations and possibly begin to add my three year old son’s beginning adventures as a writer and a maker.

I’m so eager to hear what you think. I can’t wait to remind my daughter of this project that we started so long ago. I think it will be a great summer project and one that may take root and last for quite some time.

Stay tuned for her maiden blog post!