September Events

Well, it has been one month to the day since my last post.  It seems like we have something going on almost every day.  We are still in the middle of football and soccer for Owen and Gracie.  Gracie has also started dance and tumbling at a dance studio here in Columbia.  We have managed to fit a few other activities in, too.  We took an afternoon to go fishing at our neighbor's and the kids each caught a fish, which was pretty exciting.

I was shocked that Gracie wanted to hold her fish.

Owen has a wind up for his cast.

Here we are at the Mizzou game against Georgia.  It was another night game, so we didn't stay for the whole thing.  We were ahead going into the 4th quarter, so I thought we would pull it off, but ended up losing by one. Bummer.

School pictures!

Gracie's soccer game

Gracie has been learning a lot more about soccer and the different positions played.  I still think it's kind of weird that all the kids meet on Saturday mornings and they divide them up into teams to play "games."  Oh well.  She has her last game on Saturday this week, then doesn't have anything except dance until January when basketball starts.

Owen scored!  This was the first time he scored this year.  He caught a pass and ran for the touchdown.  However, he gets more excited about pulling other kids' flags off.  Owen has two more weekends of games this year, then we will start wrestling in November.

MU Southfarm Fall Showcase

We went to an event not too far from our house that showed a lot of AG related experiences sponsored by the University.  We didn't even know about it until we drove by and decided to stop.  So glad we did!  The kids had a great time getting to see all the animals and exhibits.

Owen got to milk a real cow

Gracie got to put her hand inside the cow's stomach.  She was not very impressed with this concept, but I'm glad she was willing to try.  Owen did not want to put his hand in there, but looked into the cow for a couple seconds.

MU Forestry had an exhibit that both kids tried with their dad.  

Other things on show were horses, pigs, birds, and reptiles.  The had a day old calf and a foal parade for kids to watch.  They showed honeybees and let kids put on the gear that they use to collect honey.  There was a demonstration of draft horses pulling a plow to till up the ground, as well as wagon rides pulled by both horses and tractors.  There were more exhibits to go to, but we ran out of time.

The next day, River visited us and went to Owen's game with us. The kids loved having him here and I think River was pretty entertained by Gracie and Owen.

Gracie kept him busy during Owen's football game.

Owen's Camping Weekend with Boy Scouts

Owen had his first real outing as a boy scout, camping for two nights with the rest of his Tiger Pack.  He and Nick spent the weekend at Camp Takimina, just north of Columbia.  They participated in their boat races, hiked, and Nick said Owen played football for about 3 hours with some of the older boys during their free time.  Owen placed third for his "Leonardo" boat design.  I guess he gets to go to districts now.  He didn't win the actual race, though.

Owen competing in the Raingutter Regatta.  I had not idea what this was before arriving to watch.

Owen showing off his boat that he built.

A riding day!

Nick finally let the kids ride Sonita.  Gracie was so happy to be on a big horse again.  She hadn't ridden since Bullseye at the end of July.  She's getting too big or Dancer.  However, Owen is content with being led around on dancer for very long periods of time.  She's not the easiest to lead, as she likes to frequently stop to eat grass, and is a bit stubborn.

Owen with Dancer

Oh, yes.  We had an anniversary in there.

Nick informed me that the Dahlia is the official flower for 14 years of marriage.  So he found a florist in Columbia who carried them.  I've planted these before, but mine never grew this big or pretty.  When we took River back to the lake, we had my mom watch the kids for the evening and enjoyed dinner by ourselves.  It was kind of nice.

A Family Pumpkin Run

The kids wanted to sign up for the Pumpkin Run on October 1.  They finished the whole 1.5 miles around a lake on the south side of Columbia.I was so proud of both of them!  Nick chose to be the designated picture taker instead of running.  

This is a picture of the start of the race.

Here they are at the finish

Getting ready to start

Owen was so excited to see TJ there!

Gracie running with mom

Owen almost at the finish

This was the start of our super busy 1st day of October.  I started with my long run in preparation for the half marathon coming up, then we did this race.  Following the race and a quick McDonald's breakfast, we went to Gracie's soccer game.  After the soccer game was the Southfarm Showcase.  I got to spend the afternoon at Les Bourgeois winery with a friend, doing wine tasting and enjoying the views over the Katy Trail and Missouri River.  We ended the day with a bonfire and s'mores back at our house.  Not bad for a Saturday!

It seems like most weekends are non-stop activities, even without throwing a Mizzou football game in.  Gracie and I went to a Mizzou softball game on Friday night last week, which she LOVED!  We stayed for the whole game, since it was on a Friday night.  Then on Sunday we watched volleyball in the afternoon for a couple hours, after watching Owen play football and before going back home to ride horses.  I had a pretty good weekend with Ms. Gracie while the boys were away camping.  We even got to do a little shopping, and she rode her bike with me while I ran on Sunday morning.  I'm starting to have to run pretty hard to keep up with her on her bike.  She let me ride for about a 1/4 mile while she jogged, but then wanted her bike back. 

This week will be more of the same.  I have my first trail 1/2 marathon on Saturday morning.  So I hope that goes well.  It's finally getting a little cooler at night, so that should be helpful.  Then Sunday we have another event for Boy Scouts, as Owen has started his popcorn sales to raise money for all of their events and activities.  So if anyone who is reading this wants to help out by buying overpriced popcorn, let me know!  I haven't looked very far past the next week or so, but I think Nick is planning a hayride at the end of this month!  Looking forward to that!  Hopefully we'll get a good turnout our first year here.