Here, There And Everywhere...

Spur of the moment, the week before last, I decided to go with an inclination that I had quite a while ago. So, I called up a friend of mine who is loyal and will tag along on any crazy adventure that I take to, Kim said she'd join me in my trek and I then booked a slot for Kim, friend Lisa and me up at the Midnight Fun Run in Duluth, MN! This past Friday afternoon we drove the 7 hours up to the shoreline of Lake Superior where we dined in style at New Scenic Cafe on the Lake and then headed over to the Canal Park area, donned our running numbers and then trotted out a 5 K at the witching hour of midnight..... WELCOME SUMMER!

The wonderful Ahi Tuna Taco appetizer that we shared... It was AHI-MAZING!

Delicious seared duck breast on some simple red-skinned mashed potatos

Sounds weird, but it was ok - Goat Cheesecake. I didn't order it, Kim did, but of course I tried it! :)

After changing in the car, we put on our running smiles and got ready to take off! The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was mild and warm, just the perfect summer evening on the lake.

And we're finished! Yea! I'm semi happy that I finished 20th out of 97 in my class.... I'm horrified with my time, but the trail was more narrow and it was really hard to maneveur around runners who stayed in packs. I started off just with a "fun run" in mind and then - can you believe, it was like this competitive thing took over and I became this monster. I have NO clue where that came from :) Actually - thats why I absolutely hate running marathons. I did have fun though - I just had to get over the time thing...

As soon as we got off the running trail, we jumped back in the care and hit the driving trail. We started at about 1:30 a.m. and we went through the beautiful stages of the sun rise - really fun watching the mist rise in these wisps in sporadic clumps above the ground.
We got back around 8 a.m. and I got cozy in my bed for a few hours and then got up again as I had to make it over to Belvidere Park in Waukegan to attend the International Workers Outreach Welcome Picnic that I had been planning for the past 4 months. We had the group of CA college students that had been helping and then we had about 35 Chinese and Ecuador students attend the picnic. It was a great time and it was fun to meet all the international students - many of the only had arrived the week before.
A bunch of families came out to help welcome the internationals - it was fun to have so many kids present and to see them running around having fun as well!

The grill-master...

The drivers for the students also came to the picnic with their families -- Moosa and Tib are from France. Tib's kids were ADORABLE!

Fun with games...

Sunday, the CA Baptist students picked up 4 of the students who came to church and then I took them out to lunch and then back to their hotel.

We all met mom and Greg, my nephew at Cracker Barrel. While wandering around waiting for our table - we bumped into some old family friends.

Greg found some girls who are interested in his space project! Two of them were actually intently listening and asking questions -- crazy! I think one of them may have even..liked him :)

I'm sitting in a hotel in Millbrae, CA right now - here until Thursday (or maybe Wednesday -- can't remember) for a trial at STANFORD! YEA! Praying we get the business!