sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero: Labor Day Weekend & Running Through Wine Country

The last weekend of the summer...Labor Day Weekend. We made our way down to McMinnville on Friday night after work and traffic died down. When we do it that way it only takes about 3 and a half hours to get there and the boys are mostly quiet cause they are so sleepy. Although neither of them sleeps great in the car anymore! Friday was also a special day cause it was Caden's actual birthday...

So on Saturday Caden got to blow out his candles on a cake that Grandma Ferg made for him. He even made us sing Happy Birthday again.

And now he will say, "I'm this many!" with 4 fingers up instead of 3! I still can't believe it.

Even though it wasn't super warm out he just wanted to hang out outside. He climbed and rocked and then we headed to the playground down the street.

He loves the two big slides that are there. So much joy when he heads down them.

And he feels like such a big boy when he climbs the rock wall.

One last swing before we head back for dinner.

Sunday morning came WAY too fast! The whole reason we headed down to OR was so Mandy and I could run in the Oregon Wine Country Half-Marathon as a team. We each ran a part of the race so we basically ran close to a 10k each. We trained for about 4-5 weeks and didn't know if we were ready...but we were and did great! The run was beautiful and pretty flat, we think we might try doing the half-marathon next year.

The unofficial mascot of the races. This guy did the relay with his friend the green grapes. Running 7 miles in that costume can't be fun...but they made it work.

The babies hanging out at the finish line.

Mandy and I finished in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Not bad for having a transition in the middle. We were proud of our time!

At the end of the race they hand you a medal and a wine glass. There were about 27 Carlton and McMinnville wineries there with free tastings for race participants. Pinot Noir was flowing freely. It was a great way to spend the morning, but boy did we need a nap when we got home.

Enjoying our first taste of Pinot Noir.

Caden holding on to my cork!

Blakey was happy to see me. We had to be at the race at 6:30am. It was an early, chilly start!

Enjoying a some lunch and treats. Caden wanted a green sugary, icy treat.

Blake thought the watermelon was silly, but then he decided to open wide and eat it. Yum! Thanks Auntie Mandy for sharing your lunch.

While Mandy and I enjoyed the local wineries the boys found plenty to do. They jumped and played in the gravel.

They danced the music playing in the background.

Caden was dancing so much that we had to get closer to the stage so he could boogie with the rest of the children.

And they bonded with daddy! Thanks to my husband for taking care of the boys so I could run and enjoy myself, but also for supporting my training schedule these past few weeks so that I could really prepare for this race. Him and the boys cheered me on all the way!