NORTH DAKOTA!

It finally happened. We made it to North Dakota. Not without some excitement first, though.

Initially all was well. I dropped MacKenzie off with my big brother to enjoy some time at his place. She was excited to be staying with such an active person. I'm hoping she gets a lot of walks- hint, hint. Anyway, it was a gorgeous day on Thursday so I dropped the top and strapped MacKenzie in for the trip to Kokomo.

MacK hitting the road in my convertible...notice her seat belt.
Safety first. :)

Once she was safely with my brother I hurried home to pack with Jackson who was just returning from a business trip in Ohio. We stayed up late packing and hated ourselves for that when we got up at 4 a.m. on Friday morning. We got up and at 'em, though, and picked up Susie before heading to the airport. That is where things get ugly.

We drive right by the airport to park. I find this strange, but roll with the punches. The lot Susie pre-paid for us to park in was closed. There were signs leading us to park in another lot a couple of miles away. Great. It isn't 5 a.m. We're not tired. We're not trying to make a flight. No big deal. We get to the new parking lot and it is covered and the people are friendly. Score! We think our luck has turned around. We were wrong.

Security is a breeze and we even have time to stop at Starbucks before boarding. Then the announcement happens: the pilot for our flight got all the way to the airport from Fishers (45 minutes or so) before realizing that he did not have his I.D. with him. He absolutely could not enter the airport or the plane without that I.D. so he turned around and went home to get it. We'd go ahead and board and wait for him, they announce, and should only be about 15 minutes late. Cool.

We get on the plane. We're ready to go. No pilot. 30 minutes pass, no pilot. 45 minutes pass, no pilot. An hour passes, we finally have a pilot. It turns out there was a deadly wreck on I-69 and he got stuck in traffic. That's really sad, but try packing your stuff next time, Captain Idiot.

Mr. Forgetful The pilot comes on to tell us that now we're going to need more fuel because of the weather in Chicago. Ok. Then we get a delay because of that weather. Great. We're now going to miss our connection. Sweet. Jackson gets on the phone with United and gets us booked on a new flight. Then it looks like we may not make that flight. Our plane returns to the gate in Indy to let off passengers who now have no hope of reaching their final destination today. Yep. Keep in mind that one pilot's forgetfulness messed up about 11 people's entire day of travel plans. Jerk. We decide to stay on and hope for the best. We make it to Chicago and hustle across the huge airport to our connection. We get on the smallest plane ever made and then we wait. Again. They forgot to put sodas on this plane. Then an odd girl* in the 4th row starts chanting, "LET'S GO! WE CAN LIVE WITHOUT SODA! I NEED TO GET TO FARGO!"  (*that girl was me.) Finally the plane takes off and said girl refuses to take a soda from the flight attendant because that will show her! Or maybe she just fell asleep from all of the stress of possibly missing her 49th state. Anyway, I woke up a few minutes before we landed in Fargo, looked out the plane's window and thought the land was the most beautiful I'd ever seen. I quickly adjusted that thought and realized I was just so happy to actually see North Dakota's soil that it appeared prettier than it was.



Looks like we made it...

We got our rental car and headed out to see the area. Our hotel was just down the road from the airport and super nice. Once we'd dropped off our stuff we headed to downtown Fargo to get our 1/2 marathon packets for Saturday's race. There were a ton of people out and about exploring the area just like we were. We stopped in at a few stores and got a few little things before grabbing lunch.

FARGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The race actually finished at this sign which was kind of cool- we didn't know that when we snapped the photo. After lunch/dinner we headed back to the hotel and pretty much crashed. The stressful day of travel was just too much and we wanted to all be rested for the 1/2 marathon. Annnnnnd even with the marathon there isn't much going on in Fargo.

Saturday morning turned out to be a little more chilly than we expected, but it was an otherwise nice morning. We grabbed breakfast, muddled our way into a parking spot without following the map (we'd regret that later) and headed for the start line. We got to the starting area and realized that bag drop (we'd gotten awesome little cinch bags to store our stuff in during the race) was back near where we parked. We'd have known that had we consulted our map. Whoops. Live and learn. Susie and I agreed to carry to bag so that Jackson could focus on his run. Then Jackson realized that he'd forgotten his running watch and wouldn't be able to time/pace himself and had a very uncharacteristic (no really, he just doesn't have these kinds of tantrums) meltdown. Things were not looking good. He decided there was nothing he could do about and opted to carry on. He wouldn't let me go back to the hotel to get it and risk missing the race. Darn him! That was my way out of walking 13.1 miles. Ha! I'm kidding. Kind of.

We wished him luck and said goodbye. Susie and I found our little spot in the corral and made our way through the race. It was pretty uneventful. We got to see the marathon leader twice as our courses overlapped. He was moving! We even got to see Jackson when part of the route doubled back on itself. (Note: the race layout stunk. Susie and I hated it for all of the doubling back and congestion.) Jackson was not as happy to see us as we were to see him. I was pleased at how far he'd made it in such a short time as we saw him around his mile 7 and the time was still really low. He was focused, though, and I understood that. We wished him well and carried on. We didn't see him again until mile 12.75 when we heard, "Come on, Petefish! Let's go!" I politely told him to hush and we finished the race.

Before and After...Mother and Son

Before and After....Wife and Husband

Since we'd had the bag with his stuff in it the whole time he had no idea how he did for time. (Yet another reason the mini is a superior race. You can go get a printout of your time immediately. No such thing here in Fargo!) I looked it up and saw that he'd finished below his goal time of 2 hours 20 minutes. I exclaimed, "YOU WON, BABE!" I know he didn't actually win, but I was just so excited that he beat his goal. He was elated. I think he almost cried.

HE DID IT!!!!!!

We all almost cried when we realized how sore we were. Susie and I discovered that we'd improved her last half marathon time (she did the Indy mini back in 2008) by almost 15 minutes so we celebrated that. It was a good day!

Susie with our hotel's buffalo...a warmup photo.

We were starving so we left the race and got cleaned up before hitting the highly recommended Applebee's near our hotel for lunch/dinner. I'm not kidding. The locals love Applebee's and told us to go there when we asked for ideas on where to eat while visiting. Weirdos. It was not anything special, but we were pretty hungry so it worked.

I knew the rest of the day we'd be pretty worthless so I convinced everyone to hop in the car and drive 1.5 hours to see the world's largest buffalo statue in Jamestown, ND. Yep. We drove all that way to see a big buffalo. There is a reason this is my 49th state, friends.

With the "World's Largest Buffalo"

We had a bit of excitement when the "saloon" near the buffalo had a shootout in front of it. This little old man even measured Jackson with a knotted rope while telling him how he would win shootout. OK. Creepy. We hit the road pretty quickly after that exchange.

The man who tried to put Jackson in the ground

We had dinner reservations at Jamestown's best restaurant (probably not a tough title to get, but still) in a couple of hours so we had time to kill. We headed out to the reservoir to see what was there. Not much, it turns out.

Jamestown Reservoir

We were too sore from the race to really walk around and explore much. Plus, storms had rolled in and the temperature dropped dramatically.

"Hiking"

Susie was having none of it and stayed in the car. I found this hilarious.

"I've seen reserviors before." -Susan Petefish

We finally decided that we had seen enough of Jamestown and didn't really need dinner. We canceled our reservations and headed back to Fargo. We stopped for a quick dessert before retiring for the evening. It was a good day and we were exhausted.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

 

Typical Mom chatting

Mother's Day this year will find us traveling with Susie (Jackson's mom) marking off my 49th state, but since I won't see my Mom I wanted to dedicate a quick post to her.

 

My Mom is the best. She is truly my #1 fan. She believes in me and has sacrificed a lot so that I had every opportunity to succeed. She is always there to help us out from "medical" advice (see above) to watching MacKenzie while we travel. She's survived some of my worst tantrums and still willingly speaks to me...amazing! She's also convinced herself that though I'll be in my late twenties (or so) in about a month that I'm still her baby. Whatever works, Mom. Anyway, I could go on and on but I think it is clear that I love and appreciate my Mom. Deb, I know how much you'll be missing you own mom today (and I miss my Grams every single day so I know the feeling!), but I hope you take some comfort in knowing just how much all of us (Jackson, Kylie, Aaron, Justin, Alex and MacKenzie) love and appreciate you! 

This and that....here and there

Things have been a little busy around our house recently. Jackson has been traveling quite a bit for work and I've been working on finishing the University's tax return. We have found a little time for fun, though.

Forever Young.

I saw some girls rollerblading on campus the other day and wondered if I could still skate well. I can. Hooray! While I was a little a lot sore the next day from my glory skate around the neighborhood (Jackson doubted my ability's continuance. I think that is because he cannot stay up on skates. Jealousy is a terrible, terrible thing.), it was worth it.

Josslyn Bates looking ADORABLE

I also got to go to lunch with Shaya, our friend Nicole (who happens to be my current personal trainer) and baby Josslyn. Josslyn was SO good and looked so cute. I could just eat her up. She's gaining weight and doing well so her doctors are pleased. God is good!

Could Heidi be more talented?!

Just another plug for my best friend Heidi's sign business. I am obsessed with her signs and want like 78,907 of them.

Leo and Alex taking a "selfie"

Finally, I got this adorable photo of my sister and nephew in line for ice cream the other day and just wanted to share it. Alex is getting so big and Leo looks so pretty.

 

 

I think that catches us up for now. We're going to start a busy season of summer travel soon and we are excited!

Finishing photo

I wouldn't normally spend $25 on a download of a photo of MYSELF (ripoff!), but I liked this one so much because I think you can see our love for each other. Well, I can see it. :) Maybe you just see relieved faces. I don't know.

Happy finishers

Jocelin turns 2!

My little girl Heidi and Andrew's little girl, Jocelin, turned 2 on April 25th. She didn't have her party until May 4th, but she did do a little celebrating on the actual day, too.

Jax loving on his little birthday girl sister

Stop the cuteness. "Baby" J picking out a doughnut treat! 

Somehow Jackson and I have never been able to align our schedules to both attend one of the Porterfield kid's birthday until yesterday. The stars aligned and we made it to the party to celebrate one of our favorite little lady's day!

Jackson and Jocelin...love!

Jocelin with her real parents... ;)

Why is she one of my faves?
Because when Jax crashed her photo she was NOT pleased.
She cracks me up!

Opening presents is mania with children.

She got a new baby...too sweet!

She enjoyed being the center of attention just a little bit... ;)

She shared her cupcake with her baby doll!

Jackson loved the party because the kids his own maturity level were ready to play. He spent a fair amount of time in the backyard playing catch with whomever would play with him. He'll never grow up. I love that about him.

Playing catch with Grady

Taunting children when they drop his passes.
(JERK.)

Jocelin took the whole "it's my party, I'll
cry if I want to" rule to heart and let out quite
an angry cry at one point. It made me love her even more.
(I've been that girl.)

The party was cotton candy themed. Grady, Heidi and
Jackson took a try at making their own.

Then Jax gave it a go...

I must say...I was the best cotton candy maker. :) Mine were pretty perfect except for the one I dropped. It is all in the twirl, friends. All in the twirl.

Sleepy Joss showing off her new 'shades

We enjoyed a fun afternoon hanging with some of our favorite (I love Heidi's family like they are my own!) people celebrating little Jocelin. I still cannot believe my baby Heidi's baby is 2!

Puppy Party in Noblesville

Sunday we planned to go to Upland to celebrate Mother's Day early since we'll be in Fargo for the big day this year. Things didn't go as planned and Mom and Guy ended up needing to visit Uncle Charlie in the hospital (get well soon, Uncle Charlie!!) so they surprised us and brought their little puppies to visit MacKenzie at her house. This does not happen often at all! She was SO excited and they played ALL afternoon!! It was so fun! MacKenzie is still recovering this morning...she wore herself out! 

I wanted to remember how loud this little "puppy party" was. :)

MacKenzie, Madison and Macy playing ball

Happy Madison!

Macy hiding under the bed

Madison and MacKenzie...oh my LOVE!

All 3 watching my curl my hair! :)

Mini-Marathon...COMPLETE

Jackson and I foolishly signed up for the Mini-Marathon again this year. After last year's race (which you can read about here: Last year's post. Doing so will make this year's entry make much more sense.) My friend Amber also signed up and ran by herself because her husband was the only wise one among us who wouldn't run again. (She only ran alone because she had a better pace than me and wanted to try for a PR.)

Today's race was much less stressful than last year. I don't know why, but it was. Our good friend Andrew works downtown and let us use his parking pass so we could save $20 there. Score! Then I had a brilliant plan to pee before the race (novel idea!) inside the mall to avoid a porta potty. Those things are NOT cool for women. Ick. So gross. Anyway, by the time we waited in line (correction: I waited in line. Men's restrooms never seem to have lines so Jackson was in and out. So unfair.) Anyway, by the time we got out to our corrals things were moving and we hardly had to wait to start the race. That part was awesome. The start of the race is so exciting. Anything seems possible. And then you realize that you didn't adequately train (cue a blame on the harsh Indiana winter we had) and things aren't going as smoothly as you'd like...meaning you're dying before mile 1 is over. CRAP! Thank goodness your husband is running with you and won't let you quit because if he weren't...

The race drags carries on. You PR the 5k. Hooray. Your husband says, "we're almost to the track!" You're not. He lied. You finally get to the town of Speedway and realize that you've got blisters already. Ugh. Before you go into the track you stop to pee (ugh! Stupid bladder!) and remove your shoe to apply band-aids from the medical team. Imagine your SHEER SHOCK when you look up and see MORGAN. Morgan! Morgan!!! The little girl from last year who taunted you to keep running. What are the odds? 35,000 runners and little Satan Morgan shows back up at your weakest moment? That's the motivation you need. You keep going.

The miles pass. Slowly. Then you get to mile 11.5 and you announce to your husband that if someone shot you right now you'd not only hug and thank them before dying, you'd make them the beneficiary on your life insurance policies. You mean it. You're hating life.

Mile 12.3 arrives and your husband, usually a lovely man, says, "Let's run HARD to the finish!" You have nothing left. Said husband wouldn't stop for Starbucks on the drive to the race. He scolded you for trying to eat before the race. He cautioned you against overhydration. Then he asks you to run .8 after you've covered over 12. You hate this man. You tell him to hush. (Perhaps not that nicely.) You keep your chosen pace. Your blisters keep screaming. Your hips continue to hurt like you've just given birth (not that you know what that is like). You whine about not ever seeing the finish line. And then you see it. Like a beacon in the night after time spent lost at sea, you see it. Sweet relief.

Until you realize that it is still .3 miles away. You again want that person to shoot you. Where is the shooter? Why are you still upright?!

You get to the finish. You actually do a little sprint to the finish to try to beat that pesky husband. He knows you too well and expected this. You both finish at the exact same time. Bah humbug. You cry. You are so happy to be finished. Your feet huuuuuuurt. Your hips hurt. You. Are. Finished. No really. Finished. How are you going to get back to the car? Oh. You're not. That husband you used to hate runs (yep. Runs. After just running 13.1 miles. UGH!) to the car and comes to pick you up. You love him again.

He finally lets you eat. Lunch is amazing. Food has never tasted better. Aside from a few errands you spend the rest of the day relaxing and trying to recover. And by rest and recover you mean that you clean the whole house and that husband mows the lawn. You vow to never run this thing again. Your husband reminds you that next weekend holds another 13.1 mile race only this time in Fargo. You're not sure how you feel about him now. ;)

Our bibs and medals

A closeup of our medals- pretty cool this year!