I officially have a teenager!  And I’m already officially exhausted!  Let’s go back to Thursday and I will touch on some highlights since then.

THURSDAY

On Thursday, I had to ride into work with Steven since my van was in the shop.  He goes into work super early, so I knew I would be unable to get my run in before work   After work, Steven drove me to the shop to pick up my van and then I had to head straight to Gabby’s swim meet.  Pappy, Grammy, Aunt Becky, and her friend, Jason all came by at one point or another to watch her swim.  That means the world to Gabby and she says she loves having all the support 🙂  She swam another great meet, improving her IM time.  She came in 2nd place in IM, 7th in free, and 5th in breast.  She also managed to talk Pappy into giving her a foot massage in between events.

After Gabby completed her last event, I went to the gym to get my treadmill run in. I got there a little earlier this time…around 8:15.  On a side note, I will be so glad to get another treadmill.  I loved having one in the basement to use when the weather was not cooperating.  The gym is not far from my house, but I would still rather stay at home and get my run in.  My old treadmill finally died a couple of months ago.  It wasn’t a big deal at that point because the weather was pretty mild, but now with the heat and humidity, I really miss it.  I must find one soon!  Anyway, Sam did meet me at the gym so at least I had someone to talk to on my run 🙂  I got my 3.5 miles in and headed home.

FRIDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKAYLA!!  We celebrated Makayla’s 13th birthday by going to Kings Dominion!  We headed out around 8:00 with the girls and stopped to pick up Makayla’s friend, Gianna on the way.  We had a blast!!  We hadn’t been in 2 years, and Makayla was a little braver this year.  She doesn’t enjoy the big thrill rides, but she did ride the ricochet, avalanche, log ride, and white water canyon, along with some other milder rides that she has rode in the past.

Gabby enjoys the more thrilling rides.  She loved the Volcano and the older wooden coasters, but I didn’t get any pictures of those.  We were too busy holding on tight!  We took pictures with a couple of our old friends and also hit the water park for a couple of hours.

We had a fun, but tiring day!  We left the park at 10:00 when it closed.  While I didn’t get an official workout in, I sure did do a LOT of walking!!  I could not keep my eyes open on the ride home.  Thank goodness Steven had his father to talk to.  We got home after midnight and went straight to bed.  We knew we were in for another long day the next day.

SATURDAY

On Saturday, we continued celebrating Makayla’s 13th birthday with her birthday/slumber party.  The party didn’t start until 4 and since Makayla didn’t want much in the way of decorations, etc, we figured we had plenty of time to get it all done.  Boy, did we underestimate how much time we needed!  We tried waking up at 7:30, but after the long day at Kings Dominion, we just couldn’t get out of bed.  Finally around 8:30, we got up and got moving.  I was still considering taking my Body Pump class at this time, but quickly realized I was going to need to skip it in order to have everything ready.  Steven cut the grass, while I went shopping for the chips, drinks, snacks, etc.  Afterwards, Steven continued his list of chores, while I continued mine.  A bit of decorating, picking up the cake from Maw Maw’s house, putting together the volleyball set, etc.  Before I knew it, it was 3:30 and we had literally been working non-stop up until then.

I had been so worried about the weather!  I had no idea what we would do with 20+ kids if it started storming.  Steven set up his DJ equipment in the living room and just placed the speakers at the windows because it was starting to sprinkle at that time.  Thank goodness, the rain held out and a while later, the sun was shining brightly!  Perfect weather for a pool party.  It seemed like the kids were having a great time.  We ordered Papa Johns pizza (Thanks to Uncle Joe for running to pick them up).  They ate, played pool volleyball, danced a little, posed at the “photo booth” and some of the kids did some cheerleading stunts in the pool.

Around 7:00, we decided it was time for cake.  Maw Maw made her cake again this year, because she makes the best cakes EVER!  She did not disappoint!

After cake, Makayla decided to open her presents.  She was really spoiled with all the wonderful gifts she got.  A lot of the kids were being picked up at 9:00, so around 8:45, we headed to the front yard to do sparklers because, well…sparklers are always fun!

Some of the girls were invited to spend the night so after the boys and some of the girls went home, the party continued in our basement.  We set them up with popcorn, candy, and drinks and a scary movie and we headed up to bed around 11:00.  Surprisingly, we didn’t hear them all night.  I expected to be awoken a few times during the night.  Apparently, some of them didn’t go to bed until close to 5:00 in the morning!!

SUNDAY

I can’t believe Sunday evening has come so soon.  We had a busy morning, cleaning up from the party and then a more relaxed afternoon/evening.  We slept in late and then I finally went downstairs to find 8 girls sprawled out in various places in the basement and 1 girl upstairs in Gabby’s bedroom (Gabby spent the night with her cousin at her Great Aunts house after the party was over).  Yes, I did take pictures of them sleeping because they were hilarious but my daughter would kill me if I posted them 🙂  The girls started being picked up around 10, but most were still sleeping at that point.  They were finally up and moving a little later and by noon, the majority of the girls had been picked up.  A few stayed for the afternoon because they decided to watch another scary movie (The Ring).

Today was very hot and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a run in outside.  I finally decided to head to the gym around 3:00, but got stuck watching The Ring with the girls so didn’t actually leave the house until almost 5:00.  I did manage to get my 5 miles in though!  Woot woot!  I was a little worried because I was NOT feeling a run.  Luckily, I realized Season 4 of Scandal is available on Netflix (I’m always a season behind) so I had Olivia Pope to get me through the run.  I certainly didn’t break any of my running records, but I got it in.  With everything we had going on this week, I am really happy that I only missed one workout (Body Pump on Saturday).

Next week, we don’t have so much excitement going on so my posts will probably be more fitness related.  I hope to get in the following workouts:

• Monday – yoga and possibly swim
• Tuesday – 4 mile run
• Wednesday – Body Pump
• Thursday – 3.5 mile run
• Friday – possibly swim or rest day
• Saturday – Body Pump
• Sunday – 5.5 mile run

This week has been very exciting and very exhausting.  Looking forward to a slightly more low key week next week.  Hopefully I will be checking in on Wednesday 🙂

Now onto the question of the day!  What is your all-time favorite theme park ride?