What a great way to start off the weekend! We celebrated my grandson Connor’s Birthday (July 17, now age 3), and my granddaughter Tessa, (August 23, and will be one!) on Saturday. Great day, and a lot of fun! Nothing like watching your grandkids face light up with each present and celebrating with everyone there! He still loves tractors, but now is really into Dinosaurs!
My daughter Molly did a great job making the cake. “Three Rex” was on his T-shirt. Chocolate “lava” rocks, and mini dinosaurs. Awesome!
Tessa was just her usual smiling, laid back self, and taking it all in, crawling everywhere. She probably had more fun with the paper and the bags than what was in them!
Their other cousins were of course surrounding them helping them with the presents as well. And, of course, there is Tessa crawling in the middle of everything! Besides the awesome cake, my son-in-law Tanner made a burger menu that specialized a choice that featured each one of them in the family.
My choice for the day was the Connor Saurus Rex House Special! Bacon, cheese, absolutely no veggies! HA! It was great! They had as side dishes–chips, because our whole family loves chips, and Green Beans, because Molly has the best green beans in Tyler, MN! Fun! This is what makes birthday celebrations so fun. Unique ideas. Kids laughing and playing. Great food! Happy Birthday to both Connor and Tessa! You are loved more than you could possibly realize! Keep moving everybody!
Last weekend was quite the memory maker. My daughter Megan got married to Dan Nelson. I have another son now! It was a great day! Everything went really well. The reception and dance were tons of fun. I will share some photos leading up to wedding but will leave the actual event and professional photos of the day up to Megan to post when she gets them. We started off the day before with a prewedding run!
Megan wore her “Bride” shirt, and Sarah and I wore our “Father” and “Mother” of the bride shirts. We met with some of our other friends with run club as well!
Carissa, who is like my “adopted daughter” from years of being a neighbor, surprised us early by showing up for the run. We knew she would be at the wedding as she was one of the bride maids. But we were all thrilled to have her for the run too!
We had the rehearsal Friday evening, and my grandson Connor also got to practice being a ring bearer. He was really getting fired up to be ready for the dance Saturday night.
The reception tables looked so nice. Every place had a bookmark commemorating the day! How fitting for Meg and her authoring of books! I have some extra’s from the day that I get to keep!
Molly and Tanner were looking great for the day too!
Now, we have to recover and get ready for another wedding in October. Nick and Hannah will be getting married then! We can’t wait for the next one!
The day and evening were filled with great memories. I have always dreamed of being able to walk my girls down the aisle on their wedding days, and I got my dream fulfilled with both. I have them on video too, so I can keep watching. The time goes so quickly, but the emotions are always there. I will never forget. The day also brought me back to my wedding day. I remember standing at the front, waiting for Sarah to walk down, and just looking at her! Memories I will never forget. My twin brother Don was my best man. We had a great time Saturday night as well.
As a dad, there is nothing better than watching your kids be happy. All the good times, struggles with them all growing up, it is times like this that make you feel like you actually did something right. I could not be prouder of all of them. That is what success is about. Success is a journey, not a final destination. Remember that! You keep using the time you have to keep enjoying the journey, and learning from it, and improving on it. Take care of yourself so you can be around longer to enjoy it. Life has so many more adventures to offer yet. Keep moving everybody!
Dan and Megan will be getting married this coming Saturday, July 20! Lots of planning. Lots of stress! Lots of fun! Running has also always been a big part of this family, and now that Megan has converted from swimming to running, it will be no different this week. We are already planning on a Pre-wedding run on Friday. I remember back in college one of my teammates was getting married, and the morning of their wedding they had a “run for the bride” 5k. Whoever won, got to marry the bride! Of course, they cheated, and the groom got almost a mile head start in the car though!
Like I say, the running is tradition. Megan gave me this shirt for Father’s Day when she was in college. “I’m a runner Dad…Just like a normal Dad, accept much cooler!” How true!
We got to practice taking pictures in Mid-June for my niece’s wedding. Now everybody will be getting together again for Megan and Dan’s wedding. Smile!!
No matter what, it will be a beautiful, memorable day. Just have to remember to keep everything in perspective. The wedding is one day, but the marriage is for a lifetime. I can’t wait to see my 3-year-old grandson “dancing” up a storm later that night. It is time for the family to get together, have fun, and celebrate the beginning of a new life together for Megan and Dan. I can’t wait to walk her down the aisle. It was a moment I will always remember when I got to walk Molly down the aisle 5 years ago. Proud Dad! Keep moving everybody!
This week of July 4 started out Monday evening on July 1 with the Freedom 5K Run/Walk. We had a good crowd, and a few sprinkles, which really helped compared to previous years when it typically would be 90 degrees. It was good running weather. The Reiffenberger clan came away with Medals, with Sarah and I getting first in our age group, and our daughter Megan getting second in her age group.
Then Thursday, on the 4th, our run club met and ran almost 5 miles with our patriotic gear on, carrying flags. It has become a tradition. Even a police car went by us and flashed their lights and sirens for us!
It was our holiday to work as well, so clinic kept us busy. Rain delayed the fireworks shows, which only made our dog Dakota happy. We helped move our daughter Molly, and son-in-law Tanner into their new house that they built. The only bad part of this is the grandkids were gone with the other grandparents, so we did not get to see them. But they sent a picture of them in their patriotic garb as well.
So hopefully you had a good holiday. Hopefully the rain did not put a damper on all of your plans. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and hopefully the weather is going to get warmer and less rain! Stay active. There are always ways to keep trying. Participate. Practice. Just get out the door and go! Keep moving everybody!
We all deal with stress. The question comes down to how do we deal with it? What coping mechanisms do we have to cope with stress, and not let it take over our day, or our lives? Exercise, and especially running, has always been my go-to escape for dealing with stress. It gives me time to think. It lets me burn off frustrations. It has been a great coping mechanism. But what else can help?
For me, going out to take pictures the last 5 years has been a great escape. I look at things differently now. Sunrise and sunsets all have something different to offer each day. Sometimes it is just relaxing to sit back and watch how everything continually changes. It is time to just relax, think, and realize what went right for the day, and what did not go right. How can I change it going forward? We all make mistakes. Continually dwelling on them changes nothing, except waste our time, limit our sleep, and ruin our day. Sometimes you just need to put in the Disney movie “Frozen” and keep repeating to yourself to “let it go!”
Spending time with friends who enjoy doing the same things as you is great for reducing stress. When run club goes out for our weekly runs, it is also a therapeutic time to “unload” other issues that have come up in the week, and you realize everybody else is having similar issues, or at least issues to deal with on their own. We can all help problem solve together.
Spending time with Sarah is also a great escape. We just need to figure out how to do this more often. Work at times becomes all consuming, and it is hard to just figure out some time to unwind and relax, and just do something for fun. It can be a struggle many days, but you have to be able to keep trying to commit to it. Otherwise, the stress builds up until you “blow up”.
Then, of course, comes family. The grandkids are a game changer. How can you not let stress melt away when you have someone clinging on to you that is all smiles and giggles? Connor was similar when he was this age too, but right now, Tessa is just such a bundle of fun that you automatically forget all of the other “crap” that went on for the day, or the week, and you can just enjoy the moment! I have no other words to describe it. It you don’t have grandkids yet, then you will just have to trust me on this one.
Every day is a new adventure. Every day is different. Get out and enjoy it. Tough moments will come up, but then the good things do too, and make up the difference in a hurry. Rely on those escape mechanisms. Get out and move. Spend time with family and friends. In other words, “LIVE”! Keep moving everybody!
What do you do when you want to go workout and you have the grandkids for the weekend? You have them join in! It is never too early to get them going. Sarah and I had a good time, and so did Connor. It also made the workout more fun for us as well. He had to get involved with every part of it, including stretching!
Whenever Sarah and I are doing hamstring lifts, we are usually giving each other some back support so we don’t lift up off the bench. We had a great back supporter this weekend!
He had to get in on the triceps’ dips as well…
Connor was also great at helping with the sit-ups, including doing them himself!
He could not let grandpa and grandma do this on our own, but he did think it was funny when Sarah and I were trying to show off our muscles…
Once again, we had a great weekend with the grandkids. Pretty soon Tessa will be out there with us too. It is never too early to start getting them involved in their own health. They can participate and help and have fun too. We definitely had more fun as well! Whether walking, biking, using weights, it does not matter. Get them out moving as well. They want to be involved. They will mimic what they see. Get them into a pattern early, and at the same time, the effort you are doing will allow you to be around longer to spend time with them as well. The family that works out together, gets to spend more time enjoying life together! Keep moving everybody!
