Malachi Turns Four!

We gave Malachi his first birthday party with friends, which we had at the local bowling alley. It was fun watching him and his preschool friends bowl and get a chance to know some of the other parents.

Grand Rapids Marathon Weekend

Kaitlin getting ready to finish the Grand Rapids Kid Marathon.

For as little as Mal is he did an awesome job! When we first started off he was zipping in and out of all the other kids running and it was hard to keep up with him, but eventually he slowed down a bit and ran with Daddy.

This is what it looks like to be passed by the Haight family. :)

After the kids marathon we went to the Y to pick up Levi's race packet. On Sunday the kids got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson while Levi ran the marathon and I joined the rest of the GR Marathon staff in running the behind the scenes of the marathon.

Levi did an awesome job and set a new PR of 3:14.

Indian Summer

Honestly where has the last couple months gone? August, September where did you go? October thank you for this warm weather, but you're already half way gone. I mean really summer went by so fast and so is the fall. Kaitlin's had her 6th birthday, we started homeschooling, Malachi started preschool, and Zeke is trying so hard to catch up to Kate and Mal I think he'll be walking by Thanks Giving. Plus Levi and I have entered marathon season, which has come to an end for me and will for Levi after Grand Rapids this weekend. Seriously I think having kids makes time go by so quickly. And as much as I am not ready for winter, maybe a good couple snow days will help slow things down a bit. Or not. Either way I'm just trying to enjoy the time with my family that God has blessed me with.

PR's In Akron

Levi and I got to do our first away trip since Ezekiel was born and the first road trip to run the same marathon. We had an awesome weekend and both set a new PR. Levi finished in a 3:23:05 and I finished in 3:49:34.

Family Trip to Mackinac Island

Grandma and her grandbabies on the Star Line heading to Mackinac Island

Levi's hoping that we might somehow be related to the orginal owners of the governor's home, so if at some point it ever gets sold back to the family we might get blessed to have this beautiful view.

Chuck, Ally and Tiffany

Levi, I and the kids

Our first family trip together

Malachi wasn't to sure about getting close to the horses

Kaitlin couldn't get enough of all the pretty horses on the island, and it didn't help that our tour guide mentioned that you can buy a horse for as cheap as $35. Yeah that doesn't help mom and dad anymore since we've been telling her that if she wants a horse she needs to save for one. (Of course this is us thinking it'd cost at least a grand to buy one. Talk about major backfire!)

Kate and Mal sat up front with Uncle Chuck during our carriage ride.

Kaitlin trying to get a butterfly to land on her hand at the Butterfly House

Kate and Mal still had lots of energy on the boat ride back to the main land.

Zeke was such a trooper. He spent a lot of time in the stroller while on the island and yet he was still all smiles for Grandma and Grandpa at the end of the day.

John Ball Zoo

Kaitlin, Malachi and Daddy checking out an alligator

Zeke and Daddy at the Red Barn

Kaitlin feeding a budgie bird

This was Kate and Mal's first time touching stingrays. At first they were a bit scared but soon they got upset when they didn't come close enough for them to touch them.

Malachi had fun with the pygmy goats

Chimpanzee

Mommy and Zeke watching the penguins

Fourth of July Fun Take 2

We got to spend time again with family at my Aunt Barb and Uncle Bruce's house

Aunt Barb with Kaitlin and Malachi

Zeke with Aunt Em and Mesha

My mom and I

The kids had fun out on the water

We brought the little kids in the boat so the big kids could play

Fourth of July Fun Take 1

My brother and sister-in-law had a party at their house, and it was a perfect day for it because it was so hot!

My Dad, Grandma and Uncle Matt

My Mom, Aunt Barb, Zeke and Uncle Bruce
(Yes you can definitely tell they are sisters! Those Huemme genes are just shinning through!)

Daddy and Malachi

Kaitlin enjoyed jumping off the diving board

Malachi had fun getting everyone wet with the water gun

Kristin Has a New PR!!!

Levi, Zeke and I headed up to Charlevoix for my first marathon post pregnancy and my second time running the Charlevoix Marathon. This is a great marathon to run. The course is beauitful and the medal is awesome. Plus it's fun when you know others who are running the same race. My goal was to get a 4:10, but on the way to Charlevoix I decided that I really wanted to push for 4 hours. I ended up with a 4:01, which is still awesome considering that I just had a baby six months ago and I crushed my best PR by 39 minutes.

Here I am with some friends from our running group who all went up and ran the half and full marathon.

Thank you Levi for supporting me this weekend!

First Day Of Summer

So this morning I took the kids for a hike at Kirk Park. While we were there we talked about going to the beach if it wasn't going to rain. So we went home checked out the weather and found that the wonderful weathermen were calling for rain, but it looked beautiful out, so we packed up our stuff and went back to Kirk Park to go to the beach. Getting there went well. Setting up went okay. I just had to get big sis to hold Zeke while I set up the tent, which was fun doing byself with the wind. So once I had everyone situated Zeke decided he didn't like it at the beach. I tried laying him in the tent to play but of course he didn't like this. I tried sitting in the beach chair with him and he didn't like this. So then I took him down to the water and sat and at first he liked it because there was a nice breeze and he could watch Kate and Mal. But then some of the small waves got to us and he didn't like his feet getting wet. So the first few he cried then Kate and Mal set him up with his own little water hole and he seemed to like this, but I don't think he cared for the sun much and I really didn't want him out in it to much even with lotion on. So after about an hour and a half of being there I said enough. Kate and Mal were doing great, but I couldn't keep Zeke content. So I made Kate hold Zeke while he screamed and cried so I could pull the tent down. Then I had to get Zeke back in the sling and carry a bunch of our gear while forcing Mal out of the water and then encouraging them to walk as quickly as possible through the burning sand which made me actually tear up because it hurt so bad (and this was even with my sandles). But we finally made it to the van and home to have Levi ask how did it go and to my rely "Never again without you being there. Next time I'm taking Kate and Mal to the gym's outdoor pool and putting Zeke in childcare." But I guess like a friend of the family said next year I'm sure Zeke will love playing at the beach, and maybe then I'll finally be able to sit and enjoy the beach again. Maybe.

Zeke's reaction to the small waves crashing up over his feet.

Kate and Mal were very entertaining to Zeke.

I think Kate is just like her momma. She would love to just hang out at the beach all day.

Mal was so excited to finally have his cast off and be able to play in the water.

First Trip Of The Year To Ludington

We headed up to Ludington for me to run the Lakestride Half Marathon. So of course you can't go to Ludington without a trip to the State Park and House of Flavors. So Ezekiel got his first trip to one of our favorite places to go.

We asked Kate to take a picture of us but she apparently inherited Grandma Huemme's photo skills, so we took our own.

Malachi's question as we walked past this was "Do alligators live in that swamp?"

Levi was being a bit of a crybaby because he got sand in his shoes.

Levi and I decided it was time to turn around so we stopped walking and waited to see how long it would take the kids to realize we weren't right behind them anymore. If you notice you can barely see them way up the trail and if Levi wouldn't have finally called for them they probably would have kept going. If anything they learned a good lesson and burned some extra energy running back. :)

Levi Runs Bayshore Marathon

After a lot of hard training Levi set a new PR of 3:28!

5/3 RiverBank Run

Our running group hanging out in front of TGIF's in the rain.

Levi and his Dad before the race.

(Harold came out and power walked the 10k and did an awesome job!)

Levi and I ready to run the 25k

Levi pushing me to speed up as I see the finish in sight. Thanks to him I set a new PR of 2:19.