New shoes, good food and trolley rides

Whew what a full, busy, fun day!  After time in the Word and catching up on the blog (along with several cups of coffee!), I got going for the day.  I have been excited about this day for quite some time because I rewarded myself with new tennis shoes when I am close to finishing the Couch to 5K (also it is part of my birthday present!).  And considering we are ending week 8 of week 9 and our 5K is just around the corner, Ambere and I decided to go ahead and get them.  We went to meet my brother Matt so he could "help" us newbies in the process because we were/are clueless ha!  I have never bought tennis shoes like I did today.  Normally, I go into a store, pick out ones that look "cute" and then purchase them in my size and the color I like.  Not today.  They made me put on some "test shoes" and run outside and then run on the treadmill where they recorded my feet and the "pronation" (don't worry I had to ask...it means the way your foot rolls when running).  Then they fit your shoes according to the structure that your feet need.  It was a really cool experience and I got some great fitting shoes and they just happened to be cute too!  I can't wait to run in them tomorrow!

I got Brooks Ravennas...love them!

Then I went and picked up mom (Lolli), my kids and Emily, Nick and Timmy and we headed downtown for a day of fun.  We ate lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse downtown and the kids loved eating on a real train and us adults really enjoyed the food!

The whole gang

Then we rode the trolley around town...we were waiting here.

Ohhhh this is where it gets funny.  Yep it was lunchtime and yep it was 100 degrees and very humid outside and yep we had 6 kids with us.   Well mom had a meeting downtown so I was going to "entertain" the kids while she was gone.  However our trolley stopped randomly on the track because of traffic (they were working on the track) and we sat there for what seemed like forever while they were clearing the track.  Mom was late so she had to just get off and walk.  We continue to go and then they realize they are having to CLOSE the track so we had to reverse it all the way back and then transfer trolleys.  We got off at our stop and then had to walk blocks to get back to our car.  Did I mention mom was gone and I had to do all this transferring/walking WITH SIX KIDS???  It was quite funny but luckily all of them were helpful and cooperative!  Then we got back to our car, drove to the Peabody, parked the car, walked several more blocks and then finally got inside to watch the ducks and wait on mom to join us again.  This chick was ready to REST!  But we did stop to smell take a picture of the flowers!

Lucy loved the ducks can you tell?!

Then of course we had to walk to the top...

The whole gang by the dance floor...

Siblings Emily, Nick and Timmy

Sweet pic...

Crazy pic...

Tonight we had a Missions Camp dinner/party.  We ate lasagna, salad and bread and got to hang out with all of our camp buddies!  The kids were so excited about seeing all their friends!  All the camp staff brought pillow cases for each other to sign and Karis and Brayden were SOOO proud of theirs.  They had to sleep on them tonight!

Now it is way too late for me to be up but I had to catch up on my blog and the Bachelorette home town visits. :)  Looking forward to my run tomorrow in my new shoes!!!