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Soon after arriving at my cousins house, her husband reminded me of the last time I went to San Francisco.  I was about 21 years old, and my brother was moving down to Los Angeles. My parents had made a deal with him that if he saved half the money for a music school he wanted to attend, they would pay the other half.  He surprised them and did it and at 19 years old was ready to head out on his...

In between our vacations we also celebrated Ben's 21st birthday at Mongolian BBQ.  We had a blast with both Ben's family and ours and Ben is such a sport with whatever we do.   
My sister got him the pinata and he destroyed it outside of the restaurant

Jane had spent her summer in Florida, and made it back just in time for Ben's birthday gathering! I just wished I'd of gotten Ben's gram...

Stranger #9

We met in California, a chance meeting, since I hadn't planned on looking for "strangers" during our travels. But here was someone who amazed us as we stood outside my aunts house while he ran up the massive hill that was her street.  
We had seen him earlier when we were driving home, amongst the many other active people throughout the San Francisco area.  Running  up and down...

18 Miles

Yesterday I ran my furthest distance to date with Chelsea.  We ran in the metro parks and ended up going from Strongsville to Brookpark.  We could hear the planes taking off and realized we were right behind the airport when checking out our route on the garmin.
The first nine were the toughest, once we turned around and started heading back, it seems the run started getting easier....

Wow, what a crazy, eventful and fun summer I have had!  I had a great visit with my aunt and cousin both here, Cook Forest Pennsylvania and in California, several trips to Wisconsin, including two visits to Madison!  Such a great town that is!  Chicago, which is always a blast and of course a wonderful relaxing vacation with family in Hilton Head South Carolina.  
Madison Wisconsin

Hocking...

Remember when my sister and I made a basket for my aunt and cousin that included all items from Ohio?  Well, they loved it so much they decided to make a California basket for us when we went to visit them.
They filled a reusable bag with all these goodies...

Included: Ghiradelli chocolates, sour dough bread, SF Giants pin and pen, olive oil, soap, candies, mustard and the cutest reusable bags...

Challenge...
And I continue to find ways to challenge myself.  When we talked about Parasailing, I talked more about the kids doing it, and then while watching I thought, why not?  But for some reason Zach wasn't up to it, so it turned out to be Chelsea, Ben and I.
We had to book it a couple nights before, and decided that a morning "flight" would be a good idea. We got up early and headed out...

I've been away for the past two weeks and wow what an amazing two weeks I have shared with family and friends.
Once Chelsea finally came home from her summer working with Wellspring in both Wisconsin and New York, we headed out to Hilton Head Island.
A week of hot sunny beaches with my family, swimming pools and relaxing.

Returned home for two days and left with Chelsea and my sister and...

Stranger # 8
We ran along together for a good part of the 10K, cheering each other on when we each took turns passing one another.  She was so motivational and fun to run with and we had never met before!  
Near the end of the run I took off and pushed it harder than I had in any race and ended up finishing before her.  When she did cross the finish I watched her walk off thinking I need to...

I finished my last day of school on Thursday and can't believe the summer session has already ended.  Now I have a few weeks off and I've already signed up for my fall classes and looking into what's ahead for the spring session... aka winter.
I turned in my final exam, formal essays and all required work to the teacher on Thursday and now I get to await my grade for my first back to school...