An Active Anniversary

Sunday, October 2nd was our 7th wedding anniversary.

Haven't I heard that the 7th year is supposed to be one of the hardest for some statistical reason? Hmm... Well, I would definitely say we've had more challenges and hardships this past year than we've ever had to deal with before (job loss, financial strain, on-going family tension)... testing our relationship more than in the past. But that is the stuff that really shows you what you're made of. We are still in love - but I don't think it's the "in love" part that cements the relationship for the long haul. It's seeing how each other responds - separately and together - when the going gets tough. Keeping the foundation stable and building upward anyway, in good times and in bad. I've learned a lot about myself and about life this past year and I'm stronger for it.

Happy Anniversary, Craig! Here's to an easier 8th year and many more to come. I LOVE YOU!

So our anniversary day was VERY low key. Nothing fancy or romantic - just casual and fun. And at no point during this whole day, did I look remotely attractive. LOL Just a pony tail, a make up free face and clothes to be active in. ;-)

I was up with the kids in the morning, had breakfast and took a walk through the neighborhood with them (Will rode his bike, Soph rode in the stroller). Then, around lunch time, Craig took over daddy duty while I went with my mom and grandma to meet up with a huge group of friends and family for the ALS fundraiser walk. We were walking in honor of Tim Brooks, and in honor and memory of several other members of the Brooks family who have suffered from this horrible, debilitating, neurodegenerative disease. Tim (pushed in a wheelchair by his daughter) lead our group of ~150 people on our 2.5 mile walk. There were lots of other organized groups like ours on this walk, but we were the "Brooks' Crew".

The walk started at 1:00, so I left the kids home with Craig for a nap, but my sister and cousin brought their little ones out for the event and they were troopers! Left to right: me holding Stella, Casey holding Mya, my cousin Andrea holding Kate, my cousin Brianne holding Archie the dog and my cousin Brittany carrying Baby Surprise in her belly!
Andrea and I are 2nd cousins and just a few months apart in age. She, however, looks like she actually had a shower this morning... unlike me. :) Don't worry - I did take a shower at the end of this active day before snuggling up with Craig to watch a movie that night.

After the walk, my cousin Brianne rode home with me and stayed with the kids while Craig and I drove out to Jermaine Park in Toledo to ride their new-ish mountain bike trail. Mountain biking is something we used to do together a lot more before we had kids and now it's almost never that we get out to do it. It's nice that it's something active we can do on a semi-equal skill level. He's still better than me, but I can mostly keep up with him and I love the challenge. :) There's not many sports that I can say that about... besides running, but Craig is just not a distance runner.

Hmm... not sure why this one is still side ways?

Craig - unloading his Cannondale and my Trek. Did I mention he sold his Jeep and bought this truck? It's a GMC Sierra and he loves having a truck again. Plus, it's so nice for transporting our bikes instead of a bike rack.

The trail is nearly 4 miles with several up and downhills, lots of tree roots, rocks and other obstacles in the way, a few optional jumps and sharp turns at awkward angles... on an up or downhill. It's awesome. This trail was enough of a challenge without being too hard for riders out of practice for so long.

It was a beautiful day for a ride.

Pausing after a long stretch of zig-zagging uphill... getting ready to head down.

I miss doing this! I want to go again soon!

It felt great to be out there and it was an awesome workout.

Getting loaded back up again.

Craig really wanted to order pizza for dinner. So romantic - huh? Haha. But it was a nice cap off to our active day. We ate with the kids and then did bedtime as usual before settling in (post shower) to watch Bridesmaids and laugh our butts off.

Good times. :)