The Hartsocks

Monday, July 26, 2010

Saturday, July 24, 2010

We had a fun time at the Morris County 4-H Fair tonight. Clowns, balloons, animals, good food, cloggers, rides, HOT weather, I mean, really, what more can you ask for? Whitney had a really good time. It was her first time to ride carnie rides and she loved it! Except maybe for the roller coaster...she had a look of panic on her face the whole time and it didn't help that she was just in the wrong spot and hit the side of her head on the seat. But, no tears, and she said she liked it, but didn't want to do it again. Poor Lindsey wanted to ride the rides so bad. She would cry every time Whitney would get to go into one. She obviously was too small, except for one ride that she got to sit between me and Whitney. She loved it too! Sweet memories with the fam. Love it!

Pony rides

A princess tiara from the clown

Holding baby chicks

Carousel with daddy

First ride by herself, what a big girl

Sweet Lindsey watching sissy have all the fun

The roller coaster, before she knew what she was about to do

After a trip around

After a couple trips around, sweet girl

Mommy and the girls riding the bumble bees

Slippin' and Slidin'

$7 + a water hose = tons of fun!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

My 1st 5K

So we have a ALOT of "runner" friends. Ben has to run ALOT for work so he has zero interest in doing any for "pleasure" and I had never ran at all in my life (not exaggerating) so I never really put much thought into running for exercise let alone pleasure. I didn't really see how it could be pleasurable at all and it was far too vigorous an exercise for me. Well, last fall I broke down with some strong nudging from a friendly trainer and started running on a treadmill, doing some interval training, 20 minutes total, alternating every 30 seconds between fast and slow. It wasn't too bad, it was quick and fairly painless since I only had 30 seconds to endure the torture before a break. Then this spring we were supposed to do this 5K called The Warrior Dash with a big group of "running" friends. It is a 5K, but has a bunch of muddy obstacles along the way. At any rate, I was paranoid that I wasn't going to be able to run it, I mean, I literally had NEVER ran outside before, and we ended up not being able to do it since Ben hurt his hammy, but at that point I decided I was going to try this running thing on my own. So in April I found a training program online (couch to 5k) and, at the risk of sounding like Forrest Gump, I was run-ning. After nine weeks of training I am proud to say that I finished my first 5k last night in the Westfield 5K & Pizza Extravaganza. Ben and the girls were there to cheer me on along the way. I think I was the only runner with an awesome sign! I got a super cool t-shirt and could've had some free pizza, but honestly, pizza is the last thing I can think about after running. My goal was to run it in 36 minutes. The fastest I had done was 37 minutes, but that was on some hills in Georgia, so my logic was that I could cut some time off since the course was flat in NJ. Well, the course was mainly flat, it had a few pretty good hills, but I finished at 35 min 49 sec, just a smidge better than I was hoping! It felt great accomplishing the goal. And I have to say now that I am officially a part of the running cult. Once you start, you see just how good and quick an exercise it is that you feel like you have to do it everyday. Thanks to all my buddies who, just by talking about it and seeing you train, encouraged me to give it a try. I love it now! Next up: 10K

Getting on my tag

Almost time

Sweet girls and their sign thanks to the help of one sweet hubby

The starting line...I was NOT there

Me, in the green shirt, waving at the start

Very close to the end, finish line in sight. Side note: See the old man behind me, he was 81, he kept yelling it to people along the way. Too funny!

Trip to The Biltmore

Ben and I usually take a trip for our anniversary at the end of June, but this year the timing just didn't quite work out, so we went last weekend to Asheville, NC to see the Biltmore Estate. The house was spectacular. It was built in 1897 and had electricity, running water and an intercom system. We toured the conservatory, billiard room, smoke room, a couple dining rooms, a couple living rooms, a music room, a few bedrooms, the kitchen, a pastry kitchen, numerous pantries and walk in refrigerators/freezers, an indoor pool and gym, and the rooms just continued on forever. I think they said it was four acres under roof. Amazing. And from the stories, it seemed as though they were down to earth people.

The city of Asheville was quite the surprise. Ben and I were expecting to see lots of oldies wandering around a little tourist trap area with maybe some cute southern shops and boutiques. Well...not so much. It seems as though Asheville might be the hippie capital of the south. There were lots of "hemp" and "natural" (whatever that means) stores, not to mention the crowd of hundreds breaking out into free music and dance on the green. I'm talking bongo drums and lighted hula hoop dancers. Classic. Not at all what we were expecting, but entertaining none the less. We were extremely grateful for the time away especially with training camp and a football season right around the corner. Big thanks to my parents for staying with the girls.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Good Times

Just some fun shots from the week. Very good times! So grateful for these moments.

Family picture time

My love

Ocean time with mommy and daddy

Fireworks in the pool

Some of the gang

Lots of digging

Lots of running

Lots of playing (Thanks to Mandy for the pic)

Lots of floating (Thanks to Christa for the pic)

Fish or Child?

Whitney happened to turn into a fish while we were at the beach. Something clicked and you couldn't get that girl to stop swimming. So proud of her!

Diving for a ring

Got it!

Swimming

and swimming

Ben's Deep Sea Fishing Trip

Ben, Chad and Matt went deep sea fishing with Captain Dave. They caught barracuda and king mackerel.

Hey there cool guy...

One of Chad's catches

and Matt's

and Ben's

Matt and Chad in action

Little Talbot

Chad and Mandy had the heads up on what Ben and I called the highlight of the trip, Little Talbot Island. It's just a small area that has a bunch of little tidal pools when the tide is out, most are really shallow, some are deep. It was freedom at its finest as the kids could could anywhere in and out of the little pools. There were lots of little fish and big shells and crabs, but the coolest thing was seeing and holding the starfish. Thanks Chad and Mandy for sharing this hidden treasure!

Playing in a little pool