Warrior Mike

This weekend my warrior husband completed a 5km mud run/obstacle course called the Warrior Dash! He ran it with two of his coworkers.




The kids and I geared up with umbrellas (it had been raining all day, putting an emphasis on the mud in mud run) and jingle bell necklaces to cheer him on. We drove about an hour and a half into beautiful, hilly, cow country. Mike said the hills nearly killed him on the run. Here's a picture of a piece of the course, Mike and his friend are on top of the mud hill, left center, and you can see the rope wall at the top.




The kids and I got a pretty sweet spot right in front of the last obstacle, a swim through a mud pit topped with barbed wire. Here's Mike and his coworker, almost there!




As there were several waves of runners, we got to see hundreds of crazy people slosh, slip, and barrel through the mud as we waited for Mike. Lots of people did it as groups so we got to witness some great wrestling and mud fights. The whole event was a big party. There was good music and costumes (lots of people dressed up to run it, we saw cavemen, kilts, tutus, a bright pink suit, Batman and Catwoman, crazy wigs, plastic armor, etc). It was great fun!
They were victorious! You can just hear their growls of triumph!




Out of 4,500 plus people, Mike came in 507th! Not too shabby! 5 km, 12 obstacles, and endless mud turned Mike's white socks to this!




Here are Evelyn and Lydia enjoying the music. Note: we had everyone roll up their pants because of all the mud, Lydia just rolled hers wayyyy up!

Here's a great motivational sign.




On our drive out we saw this totally cool mailbox! It's made from an old microwave! Coolest. Mailbox. Ever.



Evelyn has had to tell everyone she's seen in the last 3 days "daddy muddy, ha ha!" What a nut!
Mike is trying to decide what he'll dress up as next year...

Halloween Aussie Style

We resurrected Lydia's witch costume from last year (had to take the hem down) and added some face paint. Isaac made a great vampire. Out of the way, Edward, my Isaac is way cuter! Evelyn wore the princess dress I made for a 3 yr. old Lydia (and was livid when I didn't let her put it on first thing in the morning). As for my last minute outfit, I grabbed a plaid shirt out of my closet, a cowgirl hat out of the dress up box, and later found a belt with a hefty buckle in the dress up box as well. They all went so nicely with my Crocs, don't you think? Funny, a cowgirl is a bit novel here. Mums loved it when I passed out candy with a Texas drawl.




Halloween is a little different here in Australia, different being better! For one, it's not a big deal, which is great! Most people don't do Halloween. Our little town, however, is a trick or treat hot spot. Some American friends came to join us and the kids had a great time!




People put up their decorations ON Halloween day and they're down the next day. And you only trick or treat at houses where the front gate is decorated. Clever, I like it. AND I love that the kids are out by 5:30 and everyone goes home by 7. We were home by 6 to eat our "sausage sizzle" with our friends. (a sausage sizzle is a hot dog roast and is the most common casual gathering meal, just throw some "snags" on the barbie).
I think the kids had just as much fun passing out candy as getting it.




In Australia the trick or treaters are a younger crowd; mostly elementary school, a few junior high kids, but none of this herd of obnoxious high schoolers. AND the kids are so polite! All cheerful and happy to tell you what they're dressed up as... yes. (Didn't want to end that sentence with a preposition)
Here are our Jack-o-lanterns! The pumpkins were a bit pricey as they are imported all the way from America, but I really wanted them! "Pumpkins" in Australia are small green things closely resembling acorn squash.




And I had to include this picture of Evelyn. The day after Halloween she adopted our spider decoration after I took it down from the front gate. It was hilarious, she carried it around all day and fed it pretend food and everything. Is she my daughter or what? I'm so proud!

Location:Brisbane