4th of July weekend

What do you think of when you hear The Midwest?  Cows, barns, and miles of farmland?  Maybe. But look how pretty!!
We drove six hours through Ohio on our way to Pennsylvania for the holiday weekend and hit a long stretch of farmland as the sun was setting.

My mom, dad, Greg, Laura, and I got to Erie late late late Thursday night and went to bed immediately after hugging my aunt, uncle, and cousin hello.  As Laura and I passed out on our pillows, we rejoiced in our decision not to wake up early the next morning to run a 4th of July race.  We normally do the same race each year but skipped out this year because I’m working through an injury, and my dad and Laura weren’t dying to race–plus, this particular race is kind of a dud (a bland course that is somehow entirely uphill and too long).  And we can’t forget about the XL mustard yellow cotton shirts.

Despite the race veto, my dad and I found ourselves at the local high school track on Friday morning for a workout. The track was about a mile away, and vineyards lined the drive over.

Anyway, my dad and I had a great circuit workout around the track: 4 x (run 0.5 mile + 10min strength).  I made sure to include lunges, single-leg bridges, and fire hydrant kicks for glute strength, and each circuit was a burner.  We returned the next morning for mile repeats (him) and another circuit workout with different moves (me).
Saturday’s circuit lasted a little over an hour and beat my legs right on up.  4 x (run 0.5 mile + strength with a million burpees).  There was a family on the track at the same time as us, doing the cutest family workout ever–the dad and little girl (probably 8 years old) ran around the track, and they stopped together at every corner to do a different exercise (push ups, jumping jacks, jump rope, burpees).  It was adorable!  The mom and little brother joined for a few laps before the brother peaced out to the playground.

Between the two workouts, we enjoyed the 4th of July the typical way: lounging around at my aunt’s lake house, enjoying time with family, playing cards (our number one family hobby), eating delicious food, and watching the sunset.

We snapped a quick family photo in front of the setting sun and somehow ended up with an extra baby.  We weren’t allowed to take her home with us, unfortunately.

We spent half of the next day in Erie and then drove down to Pittsburgh for our second family reunion of the weekend, a one-night cabin trip with my dad’s side of the family.  We all had so much fun at last year’s event but it’s difficult to accommodate everyone’s schedules, so we decided on a quick overnight stay at a cabin near Pittsburgh this year.  Almost everyone was able to make it, though we missed one far-away family and gained a new cousin (welcome to the world, Chloe!).

My family pulled in just in time for dinner, already tired from vacation part 1 but gearing up for vacation part 2.  Campfire, catching up, and more cards.  And a few (a lot) of bugs.  Once it got dark out, we ate all of the s’mores we could handle and then went inside for our 2nd annual Tonto Tournament.  We organized 3 sanctioned qualifying rounds, and the top two players from each game moved up the bracket to the final game.

I’m 0/2 on making it to the winner’s circle.  Surprise surprise that my dad, the Game Master and self-proclaimed Chief of the Tonto Committee took first place.

The next morning, this run happened, and we hit the road as soon as I was returned to the proper family.

The lost sheep is back.

—–
What does your family like to do together?
How did you spend your weekend?