Halvorsen Tales: Beach Trip and Other Random Stuff

Oops. Seems like school started and I've let blogging go to the wayside. So, here's a little recap of what we Halvorsens have been up to :).

A couple weekends ago we went on our third annual beach trip with our community group from church. We've been friends with most of these people over six years now, and we love them and their children dearly. Two years ago we started a tradition of going to Port Aransas after Labor Day (when it's still BEAUTIFUL in Texas, but rates are cheap (yay!)). That year we had 10 adults and five kids on the trip, and we were kid-less. Fun times.

Justin and I--2010 Beach Trip

Last year we sky-rocketed to 12 adults (2 of whom were pregnant) and nine kids...and Brie was only 8 weeks old when we went. Needless to say I spent most of my time in the condo, but it was still fun.

Beach Trip 2011--Awww...Brie was so little!

This year we had 13 adults and 13 kids...everyone in the whole group (except one who had to work) was able to attend...it was AWESOME. The kids in our group are so great and pretty much everyone has at least someone close to their age to play with. Brie is lucky and has four other kiddos all pretty much the same age as her.

Beach Trip 2012--My how times have changed :)

I really do think this year was my most favorite beach trip of them all. Watching Brie really experience the ocean for the first time, laugh at the waves, and dig into the sand was just awesome. The beach trip is only going to get more and more fun :)!

In other random news, I've been keeping busy training for my second 1/2 marathon. Most of the girls in my community group are doing the same 1/2 marathon that I tackled two years ago, so I thought, why not? It's definitely MUCH harder this time, trying to figure out when to train, taking Brie with me in the jogging stroller sometimes, and just in general having to get my cardio fitness back up to a better level. When I ran two years ago, I'd NEVER run more than a mile, but I was at the gym at least 5-6 days a week and was very fit. This time, while I can say I have run a 1/2 marathon before, I don't get to the gym 5-6 days a week (shocking, right?) and I'm just not as fit as I was pre-Brie. But, I'm pushing through, and despite an ankle sprain that knocked me out for almost a month and threatened to derail me, I'm on track to complete the 1/2 marathon on Oct. 27th. Wish me luck. :)

And, just for fun, here are some fun things Brie's been doing recently:

Takes her socks and/or shoes and tries to put them on her feet (OK, not even always her own socks and shoes...really, anyone's socks and shoes...). While doing this she says "Shhhhhhh" for shoes. Cute. Totally cute.
Climbs. Everything. No really. EVERYTHING. Her toys, her stroller, the bakers rack, chairs. Apparently one of her parents was also like this as a toddler. I have no idea who.
Thinks "no" is the funniest word ever. (Which is really great considering her love of climbing everything in sight.)
Loves to pull all the books off her bookshelf and then sit and "read". She even appears to "read" left to right and makes sure her books are the right side up. I love seeing her develop pre-reading skills!
Is saying and/or signing lots of words, including "more", "please", "milk", "water", "bird", "dog", "bye-bye" and "da da" (she actually says "da da" to Justin..."mama" to me...not so much...bummer...

And here's a couple recent pictures of our little climber: