Whirlwind Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend! We headed for Chicago Friday evening, just Todd, Drew and I. The other two got to stay with Gma and Gpa Klauser. We got in to Tom and Christa's late and hit the sack. Saturday morning Todd and Tom competed in the Urbanathalon in downtown Chicago. http://www.menshealthurbanathlon.com/ They did a 12 mile run along Lake Michigan and by Navy Pier. They had different obstacles along the way. One was they got to go in Soldier Field and had to run up and down all the steps. They finished the race having to climb over the cabs below and climb the 8ft wall in the background only having a rope to help them. They finished the race in 1 hour and 49 minutes. I'm not sure I could WALK it in that time so I think they did awesome. Todd finished 35th in his age group and 427th out of 900 individual runners. There were also some that did it as teams too so I think he said there were about 1400 people competing in all. I love this pic of Todd and Tom at the end of the race with the skyscrapers in the background. It was such a beautiful day for a race. They had a festival set up also with free food, gifts, etc.

Drew gave this huge rock wall a climb. Tom said something about giving him 2 1/2 minutes to climb it. No problem for Drew. He got to the top in 1 minute, 40 seconds. He did awesome! I wish I had given it a try because it looked like so much fun. Once the race was over he also tried the 8 foot wall. He came so close so many times and we just kept cheering for him. He just wouldn't give up and we could tell we couldn't leave until he mastered it. On about his 20th try, he did it!! He was so proud and of course so were we. I was impressed actually....I don't think I could do it and I'm a lot taller!

We got a later start than we'd hoped coming back but still got back in time to enjoy ourselves at Matt's 30th bday party. Now mom and dad have two kids in their 30's. At least they have Nate to keep them young!!! I have a hard time believing my baby brother is 22 though!

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Sunday we relaxed as we were all exhausted. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and played in the backyard. Mom and dad called us that afternoon for a last minute cookout at the cabin. I'm glad we decided to go and enjoy what was probably one of our last beautiful fall weekends. With all the wind we had, Todd brought our kite and Aiden got to fly a kite for the first time. The other two boys flew the airplane Noah got for his birthday. We had an incredible meal on the grill.....bbq pork steaks, potatoes, zucchini, rolls, apples, and guacamole and chips. We ended our weekend on the perfect note.....right as the sun was setting, all 7 of us climbed in the gator for one last ride and counted 19 different deer out running around. It was so beautiful to watch them and we all enjoyed looking for them.

Aiden's 1st Kite Flying Experience