Lombardi Family

More June

Of course June brought the end of school.

And a little comparison.

We celebrated the end of school with a trip to Great Wolf.  Jackson took his buddy Kyle and the boys had a good time.  I enjoyed limiting my time in the water....ahh the joys of older children.

And the ride home always guarantee a quiet ride.

June was also golf camp @ Herron Lakes.  Really great camp, good coaches, small size - worked so much on etiquette (which I really appreciate).  

My beautiful niece Katie graduated from PSU and is off to nursing school in the fall.  I'm so proud of her.

And of course June finished up our baseball season (I know I haven't posted any baseball pics!  Soon).

Bingley

From late May - mid-June we fostered a sweet little pup for Golden Bond Rescue, Bingley.  

The call came one afternoon would we be willing to help out and of course I immediately say yes without thinking of what else we have going on, and because typcially "No" isn't a word I use often in my vocabulary.  

We picked this guy up from his home at the time.  It was a nice home, but Bingley was likely a little too young for this more sedate house, and their were chickens in the yard.  That's just wrong - all a puppy wants to do is play with the chickens - can't they all just get along?  

But in late May, early June we were in full construction mode.  Plastic sheeting blocking off the kitchen/family room area from the rest of the house.  And now two dogs to manage.  This would be fun.

When we brought Bingley home he immediately wanted to play with Stella, but she looked at us like what the heck had we done now?  He loved to play, always wanted to be playing - she on the other hand got over that rather quickly.  They got along well, but honestly Stella is perfectly fine with her people - throw the ball for her, give her some good snuggles and she is set - she doesn't need another dog.

This boy however, sure liked the idea of having two puppies to snuggle with.

And Bingley sure liked having a little boy to follow around.

And it was cute having the ying yang twins around when they were tired, because a tired dog is a good dog.

You can see this sweet puppy face is sure to find a good home.

And he loves a good ball too (feel asleep with it in his mouth).

But, by the end of it (yes just 4 short weeks), I was done.  I remembered why I'm not a two dog family - much more hair and clutter, more craziness, and our dog is fine just being with her family.  

We found Bingley a good home with two adults and another golden for romping.  And I promise to remind myself to use the word No.

Best wishes Bingley!

 

Catching up

It's mid-August....eeee gaads!!  Summer is quickly coming to an end - we have a couple of last hoorahs before the summer sun sets, but until then, let me recap a couple of exciting summer adventures.

First on the list, Mike running his first half marathon in late June.  There is a series of runs called the Rock and Roll Marathon.  It travels around the country visiting different cities, and the run course has bands for the runner's listening pleasure.  The more of these runs a person does in a given year, the different medal versions they award.  The Rock and Roll series came to Seattle; great music and Mike's favorite city were enough for this guy to set his sites on running this half marathon.

He started training several months prior to the scheduled run.  Turns out he enjoys running, I think he gets out there, finds his zone and locks it in.  And God love him for it.  He's lost a ton of weight, looks great and I know he feels so good too.  

We traveled to Seattle Friday afternoon since the race was bright and early Saturday.  Mike woke at the crack of dawn to catch a shuttle to start line while Jackson and I snuggled until a more reasonable time. (Go Mike Go!!!  We love you!)  

And while we were still snuggled in bed, the race was texting us to let us know when Mike had crossed the start line, when he reached various mile markers and his pace.  The info was just what we needed to time ourselves to get to the course to cheer him on.  

The race finish line was right outside our hotel, so Jackson and I ventured a couple of blocks to watch for Mike and then we were going to scurry over to the finish line.  The night before Jackson made a great sign for his daddy.

And he came down the ramp looking good.

And as he rounded the corner at the finish line he was ready to be done.

And after he crossed the line he had a smile on his face....shear relief!

After the race we headed back to the hotel where Jackson and I filled the bath tub with ice so Mike could cool those muscles.  He took a warm shower after and said he feel asleep standing up.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the hotel and watched the full marathon racers cross the line.  They were all so inspiring.  

Mike was spent emotionally, physically and physchologically.  And I was full of pride for him setting a goal and meeting it.  After lunch we went back to the room for a nice long snooze, Mike needed the rest.

Saturday night we went to the Mariner's game.  Where Jackson had the Moose sign his new sweatshirt in Sharpie pen.

And we had a great time rooting for the home team.

And boys being silly.  (I know this picture is out of focus, but I wanted to capture their silliness - that of course was driving me crazy because I just wanted a picture of my boys).  

And we watched/heard the last innings of the game from the hotel's roof top pool.

And Sunday morning we ventured home - via the ferry (Jackson loves to ride the ferry).  And it was an absolute beautiful day in the PNW - God's country indeed.

And then there is silliness of the deck of the ferry.

And a few stops on the way home at tribal fireworks stands in preparation for the extravaganza and it was the end to a GREAT summer weekend.  

Mike recovered well, and like child birth has mostly forgotten that there were parts of the course he blacked out, how tired he was, how emtional he was.  He's ready to take on the Portland version in May.  Go Mike Go!!