Camping

We Hornbergers like to get together occasionally and go camping. We have a pretty good routine established:

Arrive
Set up tents
Cook brats
Make s'mores
Sit around and talk about nothing in particular
Sleep (hopefully)
Eat breakfast
Go mountain biking

We pretty much do the same thing, at least twice a year at the same place. Devil's Den State Park. The bike trail there is nice because it's not too difficult for us inexperienced mountain biking girls, and the bathrooms are pretty good too.

This was the first time it rained.
And the first time a baby (Miriam) and a kid (Hannah-age 7) came along.

The evening was great--perfect weather and clear skies.
We followed our usual routine, here are some pictures:


Just call Jeremy Paul Bunyan (with his little hatchet), chopping wood for the campfire

Even Jody & Cace's dog Mia loves to camp

Jared's daughter Hannah was a great camper and great helper

Miriam loved being outdoors
She gets into her food

The rain and thunder came at 4:30 a.m. and continued throughout the morning. So we abandoned the bike ride and instead ate our delectable Krispy Kreme donuts (thanks Jody!) in our tent and packed up and went home.

The rain had to happen some time, we couldn't escape it forever. But we all had a good time anyway, especially Miriam.

And the winner is...

Saturday morning was the coolest and most wet day we've had here in weeks. But that didn't deter the committed athletes in the Hornberger family.

With Stan and Jeremy deciding to run this time, that left the bike competition a little slim but no less fierce. Jared vs. Cace

After an approximate 14 mile ride, Cace pulled in first with a time of 52:30. Jared wasn't far behind with 54:00.

Must be his new road bike and spiffy riding outfit :-)

With Stan and Jeremy in the running group, the competition was shaken up this time. Here are some shots of the competition:

And in 1st place...

Dad, Janet & Miriam--with a time of 35:26!
(Maybe I should mention they drove around taking pictures and looking for fallen runners and bicycle wrecks).

BUT-for the 6 mile run the winner is...

Jeremy--with a time of 55:45!

Jody came in second with a personal best of 57:37!

And for the biggest improvement of the day...

Jenny! Third place with a very personal best and most improved time of 9 minutes
58:28!!!

(Just to explain a little, I am not, nor ever have been, nor ever will be, a serious runner. I was always at the end when running cross country, and have never been able to keep up with Jody during a race. She has always been the fast one. But by some miracle--and maybe a little bit of training--I kept up with Jody the whole way until the last half mile. That, for me, was huge! I don't know if I'll be able to repeat that again.)

And for the most stylish finish of the day...
Sara with a smile and a pose at a hard finish!

Unfortunately the medals were back ordered, so there wasn't a "medals ceremony," but here's the group afterward.
Maybe next time we'll finally be able to get the nieces and nephews for the kids bike ride.

And those are the results of the 4th semi-annual Hornberger Runs.

November will be here before you know it, so start training!

Rolling & Jumping

Miriam rolls around all over the place these days.

She is rolling farther and farther and getting into things that were previously out of her reach.

I think I'm just going to have to give in and start baby proofing.

The other day she managed to get a hold of Stan's safety glasses, so I couldn't resist having her model them.
We bought her a little doorway jumper, and previously she would just spin around in it.

Today she finally figured out how to jump (hopefully you can watch the video).

Springtime Love

I love Spring!

After about two months of winter I am ready for warmer weather.
So the fact that we had what seemed like an eternal winter made me even more anxious for Spring.

Stan and I like planting flowers and things.
Last year we tried planting Freesia and Dahlia in our front flower bed. I think one Freesia and a few Dahlias bloomed. It was pretty sad.
This year we decided to plant something we knew would grow in Arkansas.

Daffodils.

They really turned out nice.

And what a better backdrop for some darling photos of our cute daughter?


She was fascinated by them.

I got several shots before she finally decided to take a dive for them.

Happy Spring!

Lesson Learned...Again

When we bought our home, it was brand new. We assumed everything was built so that everything fit.

We were wrong.

We were so excited when the delivery guys brought by our new washer, dryer & fridge--only to find that they didn't fit.
To make a long and agonizing story short, they switched the trim & opening of the doors in the laundry room and removed the baseboard and jammed in the fridge and everything worked. And no, we didn't buy over sized appliances.
Anyway, we thought we had learned our lesson. Always measure just to make sure.

Stan and I decided to buy a new TV stand (the TV kind of dwarfed the other stand). I looked and looked and looked and finally found one that met our requirements of being high enough to be out of the reach of little fingers, have glass doors to cover the components from little fingers and be wide enough--but not too wide--to fit our big TV, but small space.
Once again we were so excited as we unpacked it from the box and (luckily) assembled only a few pieces.

We took out the components & cords and other junk that were in the old TV stand and moved the new one into place.

Finally, we went to put the first component in (the surround sound receiver) and, voila!

It didn't fit. Not even close.
We hadn't even thought to measure the depth.
Once again, we assumed it being a media console, the media would fit.
Come to find out the only things that did fit were the blu-ray player & the game consoles.

Bummer.
I was so sad.

But here's a picture of the stand anyway.


Luckily we got all of our money back (thank you Furniture Row-Oak Express).
And now after some more searching, I found something online that should work.
I'll let you know when it arrives.
(And yes, we made sure everything will fit!)

Rubber Ducky, You're the One

Miriam loves bathtime.

She especially loves her rubber ducky.

I can just imagine her saying,
"Mom, really! More pictures? I'm taking a bath here!"