Great Strides

On Saturday we headed to SD to walk in the Great Strides walk which benefits Cystic Fibrosis.  We walked in honor of our nephew who is Ben's age.  I was glad to finally make it for the first time because it is the third walk!  Justin and Ben made it two years ago and last year we missed it.   After thinking about it I think this is the first time I have done a walk like this since I was really young and my town had a bike-a-thon for diabetes.  During the years that happened, me and my brother and sister all won the kids division during our qualifying years and we all won a red Radio Flyer wagon.  So we had three Radio Flyers when I was a kid! 

 

The route for the walk was three miles.  I think I am in good shape because I go to the gym and everything but apparently my regimen isn't very tough because I got sore from this walk.  I will blame it on the extra weight of pregnancy.  Yep, that's why. When I was studying abroad my classmates and I didn't have any cars and our school was a mile from our dorm so we walked at least two miles a day and almost always more because we did other things besides go to school.  My legs were hard as rocks when I got home from that trip.  Maybe I should consider becoming a mall walker.  They get teased but I think they are on to something. 

 

The walk was a festive occasion.  There was a short downpour that left everyone kind of wet but the wind dried us off pretty quick.  There were lots of kids strolling along with the group and to my relief ours were happy to ride and not run all over like maniacs. 

 

 

After the walk we all hung out in the park.  As you can see the sun came out. 

 

The older kids rode their bikes along the route and Tessa was really interested in "riding" her cousin's bike after we were done. 



Hopefully we can make it again next year! 

We drove home that afternoon and on Sunday we continued with our landscaping project.  On Friday before we left for South Dakota I went to Justin's co-worker's house to obtain some new day lilies for our yard.  We had some at our old house and they seem to be un-killable which is good.  We (Justin) planted them in the flower beds around the house. 

This is the side of the house before, with scraggly and unattractive bushes and lots of volunteer sapling bushes along the foundation. 

 

Here is the after photo. 

 

 

Those are lilies.  They don't look very happy but hopefully they will make it through the summer.  The woman who gave them to us said they might not look very healthy this year and most likely they won't bloom but they should be nice for next summer. 

 

 

Here is the front of the house which I shared last week with newly planted lilies.  I really wish they would bloom this year since we received a fun variety in addition to the very common yellow flowers. 

Disclaimer:  These following photos are from the internet, not our yard.  That is why they are all wacky sizes.  I tried to fix it but I couldn't.  This one is called "Root Beer". 



This one is called "Strutter's Ball".



This one is called "James Marsh".




And my favorite, "Kitten's Paw"!



There are 11 different types so no two will be the same. 

It has been really hot today and yesterday (real hot, 90's, not the 75 that feels hot after ND spring) and I am glad to say that the planters of annuals are still looking healthy after 1.5 weeks.  I'm still nervous but