She's a stinker - watch this morning's video ...

Fall in Colorado

We went a little roadtrip with our friends, the Noskers, to check out the fall colors -- nothing like the colors out east -- but better than, say, Texas or Arizona :) The girls were so cute -- hiking along a trail at Mueller State Park.

Brinlie and Kate

Tailgate - Air Force Falcons

We went to our first tailgate this season ... with our friends the Bracks who live up in Denver. Gene used to fly hercs with Dave in Tucson. There are always parachuters (who land right on the football field) and neat-o airplanes that fly over right before the game starts. Some of the parachuters have smoke 'streamers' -- which you'll see in one of the pics below.

Kate & Mommy go to Maryland!

Uncle Craig moved to Maryland with his fiancee, Alicia, a few months ago, and we decided to be the FIRST family members to go visit! We just went for a long weekend, and the weather was absolutely fabulous! We visited many beautiful areas close to Craig & Alicia's house -- Point Lookout State Park (purdy, but GIGANTUAN scary bugs!), Solomons Island, Leonardtown, St. George Island, and we also ventured over to the DC area one afternoon to visit the National Harbor and meet up with Carolyn's friend, Tricia! Whew! So much to do & see, and so little time as always. You'll see someone missing from the pics below -- Alicia :( Darnit, she had to work all weekend out in Ft. Worth :( Sorry we missed you, Alicia! We hope you'll come out to CO and see us!!!

More visitors! ... The Dandies!

Suddenly, it's the summer of visitors! Carolyn's sister, Mandy, and her husband and baby boy decided they'd come out for Labor Day weekend. Gene hadn't met baby Jude (now 3 months old) yet, so this was great! As you'll see from the pics below, we had a jam-packed weekend.
~We went to the Colorado Balloon Classic, and saw many neat-o hot air balloons
~Gene, Dandies, and Jude went up the Incline (the old cog railway trail...see pics...eek!). Carolyn and Kate stayed home since Carolyn's race was the next day.
~Carolyn ran a half-marathon! Mandy ran the last 2 miles with her (thankfully! cuz that REALLY helped at the end). Kate ate a giant burrito on the sidelines and cheered on Mommy with the rest of the fam
~We spent a lil relax time at the pool after the race.
~We ate wild game :) in Manitou Springs
WHEW!

CHECK IT! Carolyn ran a 1/2 marathon!

TEAM BBBS AT 5:30 IN THE MORNING!!!

Hey everybody! Guess what?? I DID IT! I ran the local, American Discovery Trail Half Marathon on Monday and survived [remember, I was just a 3-miler 2 months ago, I never ran more than that -- and running had been a pretty non-existent exercise since I had Kate ... but I did some training, and hey, I did it!]. I ran it in 2hours and 11min.

I "ran for kids' sake", and our team raised well over $2500 for Big Brothers Big Sisters. I was slower going than I wanted to be, but somehow I did run the whole darn thing. I averaged 9-10 minute miles and had 2 quick pit stops (man I cannot stand that 'energy goo / goop' whatever they call it; I nearly yacked). I was 20th (out of 47) in my age group. Anyhoo, not bad for only training for 4-5 weeks, huh?

Gene and Kate cheered me on at the 3-mile mark (which was also near the 11 mile mark), since we went up & back down the same trail). And the great thing was that my sister, her husband, and their new baby also came out for the long weekend and were also there to cheer me on! My sis even ran the last couple miles with me (and whoo-ee those are the hardest!).

I got a purdy medal at the finish line (everybody who finished got one). You could always look me up on the 30-34 year old females (if fyou don't believe me -- hee hee) at: http://pprrun.org/results/2009_results/2009_adtm_half_marathon.htm

Thanks to EVERYONE for your support, your prayers, your happy thoughts and your donations. YOU are awesome, and I truly truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart...

Carolyn

Carolyn & her nephew

Carolyn & her sis, Mandy

You can also go to the "fotojack" webpage to see an 'action' shot of me -- if you like:
http://www.fotojack.com/photo/?race=1195&sid=b6361c170e29d01438f16177435ec222&pg=1&val=mccallister&submit.x=0&submit.y=0