#loveofmylife

My little boy and his nightly routine of snuggling with me as we fall asleep together♡

#weekend fun #full life # loveandbeauty #favorite pics

The sound of the wind howling adds a melancholy feel to my dark Monday morning, making me wish I could stay curled up with my babies all day, book in hand and fireplace glowing. 

It seems impossible the weekend has passed already, I swear it lasted a blink.   

Moments of the Days

The Superhero's of my Life. 

Yes I know, a little late but I figured as long as I had their costumes out, I might as well follow through with my intention to get a great picture of them wearing their superhero capes.  One hour and one pack of hot dogs, and a lot of mud later, I didn't get the epic shot I wanted, but I did get moderately acceptable shots.  I was more than ok with the lowering of this standard by then.

Fall's fading moments

Return to the trails! 
It seems impossible that I have not been on the trails since July.  Being able to be out there with my super girl Ellie was the most amazing start to my day. The smell, the sounds, the feel beneath my (slowly moving) feet....heaven! 

Sunday Funday
And finally ending the weekend with a hot bowl of chili, football and some laughter! 

#chillybliss #campingwithmyboy #soloretreat

camping... 15 feet from Lake Michigan. Isolated. Beautiful. Bliss. My boy and me. 

The chilly temps are worth it to have an entire shoreline with not another soul in sight for miles. 

Traveling into a hurricane #punt #

What do you do when the trip you have planned for months is suddenly threatened by Hurricane Florence?  Let me tell you:

• you spend the 4 days before you leave tracking the weather obsessively, monitoring the changes and repeatedly assessing whether you are likely to make it through the mountain pass before heavy rains close the roads and create flash floods and mudslides.
• you brave driving in the traffic in Atlanta, all 16 lanes of craziness so you can land far west enough of the hurricane to get somewhat close to your destination. 
  
• you tune out the endless stream of messages telling you how crazy you are and all the reasons you should stay home.
• you continuously assess all the things you cannot possibly control, and focus only on the things you can. 
• you arrive exhausted and road dirty after 12 hours of traveling and consider Domino's pizza for dinner because you are too exhausted to do anything else.  In the end you decide maybe going hungry is better than Domino's. 
• you go for a walk in the morning and focus on being grateful for the view and who you are with rather than not being able to run.
  
• you decide to explore a waterfall even if the route may not meet your surgeons approval
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• you spend the next day in constant gratitude for the blue sky's and sunshine while you get to explore an amazingly beautiful national park. 

• you see a hundred places on the mountain road that you would love to run, if you weren't 5 weeks post knee surgery and vow to come back again, just to run
  
  
  
  
• you get ready for the concert that you have been excited about for months, knowing that as soon as your old friend plays the first note, he will be speaking directly to your soul.
• you remind yourself again about what you can't control and how many things you can be grateful for when the show gets cancelled at the last minute.
• you spend 2 hours on the phone with Delta trying to figure out the best flight to switch too because if you stay for the entire time you planned you are likely not going to be able to drive back through the mountain pass for at least a week. 
• you vow to find a way to make up the missed show and settle for the promise of another chance at sharing this experience.
• you spend the next morning sad and melancholy and plan another walk through the park. When you arrive and see that the Blue Ridge Parkway is already shut down and the park is going to close, you decide that maybe a few extra hours at the Atlanta airport inst so bad.  
  
• You arrive at hell... aka Atlanta, 5 hours before the one you are scheduled on, and 35 minutes before the next Milwaukee  bound flight.  You decide to chance it and try to make it through rental car return, check in and security along with the train to the terminal, all in 35 minutes or less. 
• you arrive at the gate as sweaty as if you had just taught a spinning class, with under 5 minutes to spare. 
• you arrive in Wisconsin and experience the most love you could possibly experience with this greeting!
  
   

week 3 update #gnatstamina #adjustingsucks

Week three has arrived and it has brought plenty of other things into my life. 

#day9

Day 9 and my acceptance is long gone.  About 6 days gone.
I'm crabby and sick of being limited and tired and barely moving.
Today was the first day I have been able to actually try walking, although its questionable if my hobbling limp fits the actual definition of walking
My goal was to get 5000 steps and although I did it literally took me all day to do it.
I'm really trying to practice grace, but it seems to be an impossible goal right now.
I will continue to set goals in that area along with my steps.

#feelingthelove

Feeling crabby along with feeling blessed and grateful. I am crabby just because of this,  this thing I'm in middle of. AND feeling so grateful for my babies who continue to take turns by me, friends who got me out of the house for a bit tonight, and grateful for the surprise message last night and the surprise delivery today. It gives me huge incentive to be moving strong and well in the next three weeks! Xoxo

#restandrecovery

I finally made it outside anyway....having to rest and sit is driving me insane...but reality is that moving from my living room to deck wore me out

#healingpowers

My crew taking turns snuggling and healing with love.

Sunrise beach walk Love

#hhi #myboylove

Ok so I have over a thousand pictures from this amazing epic week.  I have decided to break them down into "chapters" to help me sort them.  I have so many pictures and so many amazing memories of this week and I am so grateful.  From the amazing villa on the beach (thank you! ) to the beach and having my boy(s) with me, and being able to bring my Mama....so crazy cool.  So here is me and my boy.  He finally got brave enough for the waves by the time we were leaving.