Not atypical, plenty of goings on at Casa de Kennedy, and no ER visits or hospitalizations in recent weeks (knock on wood). Luke celebrated his 6th birthday, getting his Spiderman costume (Halloween) a few weeks early and actually eating (vs destroying his chocolate birthday). Then we took the whole crew to Southern Adventures and spent a slightly ridiculous amount of money entertaining three boys. We all played mini golf, rode bumper cars, drove go-karts, etc. I am pleased to report that all Kennedy males slept extremely well that night (me included).
BTW, note to all parents out there: buying Halloween costumes early may be a good bet, since our younger boys have insisted on wearing them nearly every day so far this month. Get your money's worth!
We had Fall Break this past week, but decided not to venture anywhere. Oma and Opa arrived Wed evening on their Autumn pilgrimage from NYC to Florida, staying for a week; anymore than that will require them at least 2-3 days of concentrated rest/recovery before engaging the boys again. But we're more than happy to let to do baths, story time, etc. Weekend was highlighted by Kirsten setting setting up her display and sales table of hand-made mosaic pieces at Saturday on the Square in downtown Huntsville.
Columbus Day is a most excellent Federal holiday, with the boys typically and me only tethered to work by my BlackBerry. Haven't logged any long adventure runs in a few months, so on the suggestion of Rob Youngren, went up the South Cumberland Rec Area and ran the Fiery Gizzard Trail. A truly great piece stretch of trail, starting at the south end at Foster Falls and winding north about 13mi to the Grundy Forest State Natural Area. Very runnable stretches and great Fall colors up on the plateau with stunning views over the gorge's edge, juxtaposed with gnarly, technical, ankle-rolling descents into the Gizzard along the veritable rock farm at the bottom. (Rolled my right ankle not once, but twice within the first two hours, slowing down progress somewhat.
Alas, I haven't gone that far since early July when some sort of knee injury brought my training to a halt for a while. So by mid-afternoon my legs were starting to get a little wobbly. So popped a squat on one of the magnificent overhangs, chewed on a Hammer nutrition bar and drank more water, let those calories work into my system. I was close to the parking lot, but wanted to take a final excursion back into the gorge and bottom of Foster Falls. Luckily, reward with a great wading pool and lots of cold water to soak my legs a bit before climbing the half-mile out of there and back to my XTerra.
