Good ole' Sturgis Falls!

Every summer the last weekend in June Cedar Falls holds it's annual Sturgis Falls celebration. For about the last 6 or 7 years I have been a faithful Sturgis fan!!! I LOVE Sturgis Falls. Yes, all the park sitting, vendor food eating, music listening, people watching, conversations, parade viewing, street fair shopping, and fun is something I look forward to each summer!!! Since I've had kids it has been even more fun and a tradition that I love to spend with them. It may be a bit corny to some, but to the many Sturgis faithfuls it is a must in the Cedar Valley! My husband thinks otherwise, but he always makes an appearance or two as well :) I do have a yearly partner in crime though, so when he's not up to the task to "marathon" it out with me... I can always count on Jen!!! (Thanks Jenny!) I don't know if it is a CF thing or not, but I definitely think there is fun to be had at Sturgis Falls every year.

A couple MUSTS each year are... you must eat a tenderloin- they are HUGE and delicious!, you must also have mini donuts, a strawberry smoothie, caramel apple, and a brat from the Sons of Norway tent. For sure have the mini donuts more then once :) You must also walk the street fair... there are tons of great vendors with such original work and good prices and I always find a special buy each year. This year it was my license plate bird feeder for $6. Original and the kids love to feed the birds in our yard, so practical too :) You MUST attend the parade! No explanation needed! You must sit in Overman park for at least 2 hours and hear good tunes while you are surrounded by good friends and talk to the many other people in the park that you only see during Sturgis weekend!! :-) All in all... this weekend is filled with wonderful memories and traditions and it is a great family friendly environment. So, if you haven't already... put it on the calendar for next year! You can always find us sitting in front of the Sons of Norway red and white tent each year in Overman... I'll keep a chair open for ya! :-)

Jaxon had a fun Big Wheels race... this always kicks off our festivities of the weekend!

Faithful cheerleaders at the Big Wheel race! What a great cheering section!!! Thanks for coming you guys, you're the best :)

Our parade rug...filled with friends :) We always sit in front of the library and get a great view!

Each year we usually see Michael (family friend) in the parade... sometimes it was for baseball league and mostly for band. This was his last year with the high-school band. He is SO fun to watch!! We will miss your performance and enthusiasm next year!!

After the parade... hot and hungry!

Our newest member of our Sturgis Falls weekender's... Avery made her first appearance at the Sturgis parade :) Welcome little friend!!

Jaxon and Mason having a good time in Overman park!

And this was a first for Sturgis... I ran the 1/2 marathon this year!! Jaxon ran the kids Fun Run! We both had a blast! As I was turning the corner to run the last 100 yards into the finish line, Jaxon's group was just starting so I got to follow him into the finishing corral, pretty cool! I don't know... maybe add this to our list of traditions that come with Sturgis??? (If my running buddy is up for it, Kris???? At least the 5K? :-)

18 months

Oh my, Austin is 18 months old! We are just cruising through his baby years!! In such a short time these little guys are talking more, climbing more, eating more, and just plain doing more of what they weren't doing just a few short months ago. I haven't written a lot about Austin in the last few months, so apologize if this gets long... I just want to document some of his characteristics before I forget them.

Austin is so different in many ways in comparison to Jaxon. Austin loves trucks and wheels and anything that moves. He would push a truck or his toy bus around on my kitchen floor for such a long period of time. He loves to climb up on the mower and 'drive", loves to sit in my van or dad's car and just "drive", and loves to just scoot around on his trike or in his coop car. Jaxon had nothing to do with trucks or cars really, he was always into balls! What different likes they have! Austin loves the outdoors and sometimes cries by the door if we aren't going out there yet. He loves the pool too! He walks through the water flapping his arms and screaming with joy! I love that my kids are pool babies :)
Austin is a quirky little guy... he just kind of keeps to himself and is a kid who takes alot in that is going on around him. He goofs around with silly faces and silly walks and seems to know the right time to let out a goofy squeal and make us all laugh. He's a good sleeper still and is still napping twice a day with an 8ish bedtime.
At the moment he is a PICKY eater! He will eat corn, but only on the cob. He will eat a PB & J sandwhich, but only if I leave it as one big sandwich, not cut up ito bite size pieces. He likes a banana, but only with the peel on the bottom so he can hold it inside the peel still. He will eat a slice of cheese but not pieces of cheese! Ah! The eating habits of a toddler. I hope this phase passes soon!
Austin is a lovey!!! We always joke that he will always find some way into our laps, onto our hips, or up on our shoulders. If we are sitting on the couch he will scoot right over til he is on top of our legs or laying right next to us. What a lovey dovey we have. I love it!
Austin LOVES his green blankie. He drags it everywhere and I must say the germ-a-phobe in me struggles because I can hardly get it away to wash it!! He sleeps with it, puts it in his truck and pushes it around, pushes it around in his stroller, or just drags it behind him. When he's really tired he will go get it and just lay on it on the floor :)
What a great little guy Austin is and he's so fun to have in our home. He loves his big brother and especially his daddy right now. These first 18 months has been a wonderful glimpse at who God made him to be!!!

This old trike was in our shed and Austin tried to drag it out himself. He loves this thing, even though the wheel is falling off in the back. He will sit on it forever and just push himself along the driveway.

Two sweet brothers sharing a meal :) Austin is doing his famous "cheese" grin!

18 months old and a big boy haircut!! I had to give in and trim some off... he was a sopping wet mess every time he woke up since summer heat has hit!

I had got this out for our little friend, Avery, and Austin climbed right in with a book. He sat there and "read" for awhile.

A new favorite of his... bike rides!! Notice the green blankie that came along for the ride too! HA!

100 +

This is for all my WV teammates... we've officially ran over 100 miles as of the last couple weeks!!! Can you believe it? We've trained enough in the last couple months to put that many miles on our shiny new shoes, our slowly coming around bodies, and enough mental thoughts to keep us going to the next mile. I love running with you team! I love doing this marathon thing together! I love that we CAN do this! So here is a congrats to all of you working so hard and a HUGE thank you to those of you that are supporting our efforts and believe in us!! It's actually pretty fun :) Keep it up, team... we're on our way!!!

milestones...

We've reached a few here at the Hansen house...

I am well through my first 6 weeks of marathon training! Wow! It's actually going by pretty fast and pretty darn well. I haven't had any huge muscle pains or injuries to complain about. Thank the Lord! I have worked my way up to 8.5 miles as of this last weekend!! Crazy! I hardly recognize myself when I finish runs like that, yet I am getting used to the new "me". :) I find I enjoy running around 3-5 miles and kind of hope to continue that habit after the marathon. I'm going to dive right in and run the Sturgis Falls 1/2 Marathon at the end of June. Why not? Wanna come cheer us on? :) I'm hoping to get some good race experience and just enjoy a big run with some of my team members. Yikes! I'm becoming a running junkie!!! I was excited to reach my 5 mile run mark... that was a big milestone for me. Now I'm looking forward to the 1/2 marathon. I keep having mini milestone's and "firsts" happen and it's really pushing me to keep going... 1st time I ran 3 miles non-stop, 1st time I run my new longest run each week, 1st time I ran a 9 min. mile, and so on. What a challenge, but what a thrill this has been!

Another milestone we've reached here... Jaxon has finished his year of preschool and is officially ready for kindergarten! He had such a great year at St John Preschool and made many new friends. It also went by fast and I'm finding I have to make a new routine now that he doesn't have preschool 3 afternoons a week. He already misses his friends, so I have no doubt he'll be ready to go see them when school rolls around again in the fall!

Last day of school!

And... Austin turned 17 months old in May! Our baby is so much of a toddler these days! He loves to play with anything that has wheels, climb on everything, loves animals, and is being picky about what he eats right now, stinker :) He's still a quiet boy who takes a lot in and loves to just watch and follow his big brother around. I'm also sad to say he's becoming more a daddy's boy these days :( Guess it's time for another one! Ha!

Lots of milestones at our house! Stay tuned for St Louis vacation pictures soon!!!