Avery, Layla and I went to visit Grammy and Papa one weekend in October. We had so much fun we stole Grammy and brought her back with us for the week. Here are some shots of our time at their house.

I am so thankful Avery decided to give Cross Country a try this fall. He enjoyed a great season, developed his friendships, and found an activity he loves. Over the summer he got his first job coaching a friend’s son on running. Avery had never had any formal training before aside from a couple of 1k’s, but he got on the computer, researched running technique and developed a training plan. By the time XC started Avery had been training all summer. I think he surprised himself when he performed well when the season started. This gave him so much confidence, and it was fun to see it grow as the season progressed. And not only that, but he was a great teammate. Avery finished 2nd of the 7th graders and is still running for fun. He’s decided to do track in the spring. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead!

Here’s the rest of what our family was up to in September:

At the end of summer we did some landscaping. We had a new, larger patio put in and we had the retaining wall in the back of our yard extended so we could reclaim some of our yard that sloped toward the woods. Unfortunately, the concrete guys filled in the whole dug out area, which went about a foot beyond the markers where the patio was supposed to extend, so the patio is a bit larger and less curvy than we intended, but overall it’s a big improvement. Next up: plants and trees!

In September Jonathan and I got away for a week in Mexico. It was our first time being away that long since we had Avery! We had a wonderful time relaxing, eating, playing in the water and soaking up the sun. We’re so thankful to Nana for taking care of all of the kids while we were away.