Boys. Snakes. Mud. Yep.

We went out to the Seim farm today with Robin.  Her brother, Jeff (one of my former students), is home for the summer from college.  Jeff is a zoology major and has a plethora of critters that his parents just looooove.  (not really). He was in the process of tanning a beaver hide, but took time to entertain Cael with his ball python and took him "hand fishing" in a pond that was really low.  This is Dr. Squeeze.  I sense a ball python in our future. 

 This is what little boys should look like - muddy and a big smile.

Not much

I would say that not much is going on around here, but we're keeping relatively busy, but nothing amazing.  Cael was in swimming lessons the last two weeks, and he absolutely loved them!  He didn't want to go at all, but after the first day, he was excited to go every time.  Last week he went to camp out at Stuhr Museum called "Puppet Theatre" and this week is "More Dirt."  He likes it out there and has been having a good (albeit hot) time.  While he's at Stuhr for 2 hours, I've gotten a chance to spend a chunk of time at school getting some things done.  I've also gotten back into working out at the YMCA, and cancelled my Snap membership.  The Y has an "express" and "studio" location uptown, which is nice, instead of having to go downtown.  There are classes at the studio, and I've been going as often as I can.  Zumba on Mondays, and BodyPump on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  TurboKick is after Pump.  Sometimes I stay, sometimes not.  I'm in love with BodyPump, though.  Lifting weights with awesome music, nice company, and amazing instructors = something I can really get into.  I've been trying to work on getting stronger, and it's just the thing for me.  I just ran the Color Run in Omaha, and next is the Prairie Sludge Trudge on August 4 out at Stuhr.  Derek is coming, as well as some family from Iowa.  We're turning it into a "Breinig Bunch" family run.  It should be fun.
Allen's paperwork is being signed by doctors, and he should get to sign it and have it sent off to Texas and Seattle this week.   It will be in TX 3-5 weeks (closer to 5) and hopefully the same in Seattle, except they're really backed up.  It could be a while, but we're hoping it gets through quickly.  If it goes through without being delayed, he could be home before Christmas.  It could be February.  Worst case scenario - May.  We're praying for sooner than that, though.  As long as he can get a good job around here, we'll be fine.

Color Run

I ran the Color Run in Omaha on Saturday.  Robin and Louisa came and watched.  It was so hot, there were ambulances going for most of the morning.  I'm not surprised.  It was pretty brutal.  Other than that, it was a pretty good race.  We ran through pink, blue, yellow, and green.  The color stations were full of people with squirt bottles spraying you with colored powder.  This is me before.

 There were 13,000 people that ran. This is the starting line.  My first picture of the actual race.  Thank you, Robin!

 I'm in there...somewhere.

 After.  My hair was orange, and my shirt was more colorful than you can see in the picture.

At the end, they get a bunch of people together and throw packets of the color powder so it makes a color cloud

4th of July in Seward

How did I miss 4th of July in Seward all these years?  It's the 4th of July city! Cael, Louisa (friend from college who lives in Omaha) and I braved the streets.  It felt like the rest of Nebraska was deserted, since there were so many people were there.  There are craft and food vendors all around the square, a pancake breakfast put on by St. John's, firefighter competition, pole vaulting competition, free movie, air show, book sale, concerts, a parade, huge fireworks show and lots, lots, lots more.  It's impossible to see it all, so we picked a few things off the schedule and went with it. (We saw all of the above things except for the air show.) It was so hot!  It was a challenge to keep us all hydrated, especially Cael. We went to the library for the books.  They were actually free, but you could give a donation, so I got some for my classroom, and Cael picked some up as well.  We took in the free movie, "The Lorax," got some lunch, and watched the parade at a Concordia professor's house.  I stood on the front steps with a few other teachers, and played the game of "how many people can we get to wave at us?" We were completely obnoxious.  It was lots of fun. :) LeAndra would have been cheering along with us, whereas Allen, would have been shaking his head at us.  Especially when we counted and cheered for the Czech Queens. ("One! One! Czech Queen! Ah Hah Hah!"  We got up to 5.:) After the parade, we went to the St. John's music director's house (Paul, friend of Robin) for a BBQ.  We met lots of people, and had some yummy food.  Around 8ish we went over to Luke's apartment (former student).  Luke's friends were awesome - they wrestled around and roughed Cael up.  He needs that, since Mom isn't the best one for that.  They were some pretty nice guys.  Around 9, we went over to Plum Creek Park for the fireworks show.  It started at 10, and it was pretty cool! It took us a while to get out of town, since everyone else was headed that way too, but we got home safely, and today is a rest day.  Cael doesn't seem to need it, but I took a nap!

Cael has been going to "Kinder Kamp" for the last couple of weeks at Stolley Park.  They play games, do a craft, and swim in the splash pool.  He's been having a pretty good time.  Next week, we start swimming lessons for 2 weeks, and then a couple of camps at Stuhr Museum.  We're keeping pretty busy by going to the pool, library, Red Mango :), and lots of things. I have a few weddings to attend, and a few more races coming up. Hope your summer is as fun as ours!