Bikes, Runs, Rocks,Mud(??) and Luau's

 There's been a lot going on the past week. 

That said, when a non-runner/non-blogger family member visits, I try to be respectful of that and be discrete. 

Here's a peek of some of the fun we've been up to -

We ended up having to hike into the bike track since the road was gated shut. We drove to the other end through a neighborhood and I knew where there was about  1/4 mile trail to take to the track. Grandma was a trooper, despite the heat (80's).  That's her back there in the chair.

(there's a ton of pics in this post, I'm not gonna make them big, but you can click on them to make them bigger if you wish)

 The girls really wanted to learn how to knit from Grandma, both picked it up pretty easily.

 Brian and I snuck out early last Saturday to get in a 7miler behind our house.  Lots of turkeys out and about.

 We had a luau.

 We took Grandma to Borgess Ranch.

 We also went to Rock City. Grandma again, was a trooper and made it further into the caves than I thought she'd venture.

 Eventually Brian, Em, and Myles kept going, while Grandma, Sophie and I headed back out and found a quiet spot for a round of Phase 10.

 Then....what the heck?? Rain in CA in June??  There was a slight chance of rain on this day, yet it rained the entire run. I was not prepared. It is June. It was in the 70's at 8 in the morning...and raining. Miserable running for me.

 I am NOT a fan of these thistles. They are about knee high, and...well, they hurt.

 I was not a happy runner when I got home, it was so humid. The rain I dont' mind, but the heat and rain when it was not forecasted....ticked me off.

 And, this was the next day....the day with 80% chance of rain. I was totally prepared for rain.....and it was sunny.  Go figure.

 Ahhh, so sad. Froggy pond puddle is gone.

Mud, in June?? What is happening in the universe?

While I Prefer Solitude....

I'll take what I can get!  I was able to sneak out the door at the same time Brian was leaving for work yesterday. He headed one way on his bike, and I headed the other way on foot, aiming for the hills behind our house.  It's not my cup o tea to start off running down a busy road, through a neighborhood, and then into the hills.  It's a bit odd to most people I talk to that I feel so much safer alone out in the hills/on the mountain than I do running where there are other people around. I'm ok with being odd...I'd happily take a run in w/a cow vs a run in w/a human.  Eventually I found the dirt and was a happy runner.  Not a bad run when my time is limited and I'm trying to get a run in before the house wakes up. I made it back home just as grandma and the kids were starting to stir.  Here's a few pictures for you- (I dont' have time to edit and make them pretty)

 Grass was glowing with the morning sun

 First bit of dirt of the day

 Looking back towards the neighborhood, not a bad spot to live! (for the record, we do not live in one of those big new houses...we are down in the bottom of the valley.)

 Hard to tell because of the lighting, but the tallest hill you see is actually the quarry by Mitchell Canyon.

 I kept climbing to the tallest place I could climb in Lime Ridge

 I didnt' see any live animals on this run (which is rare), but did see that.

 Dirt + Sun + run+ sleeping kids = happy me.

 Looking down into the Clayton Valley and our hood. Somewhere down there grandma and the kids were snoring.  Hard to tell but all that dark area in the bottom that looks like trees is....well, trees...and houses.

 I reached the top and had nowhere left to climb. This is looking towards Walnut Creek. You can see the golf course that runs along the Canal Trail down at the bottom of the hill, and Shell Ridge is coming into the picture from the left (those golden bumpy hills).

And this was looking down the back side of the hill, the way I came up. This is facing Clayton and a smidge of Concord. Diablo/the quarry/Mitchell Canyon is not pictured, but it's directly to my right.

I'm not running today because Brian and I will be heading out early tomorrow to get a good run in on the mountain. If I want to keep him within my site, I gotta have fresh legs!

Have a great weekend!

On My Tip Toes.....

Sneaking out for a run before the kids and grandma wake up.....sshhhh!!

Still Here....

We are still here! Just haven't slowed down yet.
We've had a run on graduation parties, and end of the school year parties, pancake parties, pirate parties....managed to get up a new and even bigger pool in the back yard, re-organized all 3 of the kids rooms and am in the process of making sure Soph's is especially clean for grandma's stay, since it'll be her home away from home.

 End of the year party for all the school age kids we are friends with. Thank you to the Henwoods and Vitales for throwing a great party!

 A sideways table of candy, the kids all made bags when they left

 Pancake time for Sophie's class. I actually made so many that they ate and ate and got full and I had enough to feed Emma's class, too.

 Uncle David took Em board shopping for 5th grade graduation and sprang for a Sector Nine board. It's really pretty, one of the long boards that's for street riding, not park tricks.

 This was Myles on Kindergarten graduation day.

 That's Emma's (actually I consider it Tim's buckle that Em is going to take very good care of) Hardrock 100 buckle on her CO float. I have a pretty amazing post coming (eventually) about a certain trail runners very generous act towards our 11 yr old, Em.  We are currently working on making a memory box for her precious Hardrock 100 finishers buckle.  It all ties into her Colorado float, Hardrock being held in CO and considered the toughest 100 around, and one of the runners we stuck on her float being a great guy.  When we finish her box and I can get some pictures, I'll get that post up.

Randoms-

I think I mentioned throwing myself all into the last solo run of the school year....which I did, but felt like I bounced right off it!  It's been an exhausting 2 weeks, and was a very emotional end to the year....caught up to me  on that last run.

Brian finally was able to register for the 12 hour run next month, so we are both in for that. We have seperate goals, but it'll be nice to see him our there on the loop during the day with me.

Sophie has her first talk tomorrow night (if you know what I'm talking about, great, if not, it has to do with our religion, which I don't talk about here on the blog), which is a big deal, and she's been working hard on that.

Anyone have a dog who has secrets?? Or is that just us?? I have been trying to figure out why a certain room in our house smells like pee.  Kona's been house broken for 2 years now, and always has access to the back yard, 24/7.  I found his little secret while deep cleaning for grandma's visit.....he's been peeing on the corner of the bookshelf in my workout room.  So...yeah, the shelf, carpet, and books on the bottom shelf were the source of the stink.......which is better than me wondering if I was actually peeing while working out : )

On that note.....mom gets in on Wednesday and will be here for 1.5 weeks, so not sure about posting during that time.

Hope you've all been having fun doing whatever you've been doing!