Happy Monday friends!  I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging for the past few days during a traveling whirlwind.  Last week I wrapped up my end of work in New York City for the spring and took a very early flight back to Northern Michigan.  Minus some annoying delays, I made it back and was so happy to see our dog Louie.

After the Chicago Spring 13.1 I took a road trip with Lou up to Northern Michigan.  My parents were kind enough to watch our dog while we were both in NYC for work.  Louie had an amazing time playing in the woods, going on long walks, and swimming.  I have mentioned before that Rock and I have a small summer home up in my hometown and I was excited to take our dog out there to explore and try swimming.  My dad’s dog Chelios joined us.  He loves swimming more than any other dog I have ever seen.  Chelios was a great teacher for Louie and the two of them had a blast splashing in the lake.

Just as many of us have tried to jump head first into a training plan and majorly regretted it, Louie made the mistake of running off of the dock the first time without thinking ahead.  He quickly realized that he didn’t know how to swim and was a big wimp in the water after that.  Fortunately his other dog buddy helped urge him back in.  Clearly all of us can use a pal to help prod us when we need it most.

The following day Lou and I hopped in the car and made our trek back home to Chicago.  You know it is summer in Michigan when the highways are covered in construction.  I am not kidding when I tell you that there was not a stretch longer than 30 miles where we didn’t hit construction.  It definitely slowed our drive down but I wasn’t deterred.  If you know anything about me, I am a healthy eater 99% of the time.  That other 1% usually involves road trips where I tend to walk out of gas stations with random bags of chips and other munchies (P.S. Rock loves road trips with me because of this).  Needless to say, Louie and I enjoyed our ride back to Chicago.

Rock had an even worse situation with airline delays and finally made it back home in the late hours of Friday/early hours of Saturday.  He was just in time for us to get up at 4:30am and get ready to lead our first group run of the Chicago Marathon training season for MDA Team Momentum.  It was also his last long training run before next week’s marathon in Duluth, MN.  He is such a trooper!

We had an awesome first group run with coolish temperatures and a fun group of runners.  Then it was nap time before the big game…….

I have to admit that I am a bit conflicted by sharing this on here but as a loyal wife I am cheering on the Blackhawks as they make their bid to win the Stanley Cup.  As a Michigan girl I am a true Red Wings fan so this pains me slightly.  I even joked with a friend that we will be raising our baby in a broken home (Red Wings vs. Blackhawks).  But as you can imagine, there is an electric excitement here in Chicago right now and we of course had to get into the festivities.

Rock took a funny picture of me before the game.  For some reason my metabolism was on overdrive Saturday and I couldn’t wait for the game to start eating.  I made myself a bowl of popcorn and propped my feet up.  That was when I discovered the new perk to having a big baby belly….instant table!

Not the most flattering of pictures but not many are at 29 weeks pregnant!

The game was a huge success for Chicago.  Although I do have to mention that it has been fun to watch the Lightning play as well.  I don’t think I mentioned this before but my brother was a great hockey player and was recruited out of high school to play for a Junior team in Detroit.  The year he played Junior hockey they won the national championships.  Matt was recruited by and won the championship title with Tampa’s current coach Jon Cooper.  Pretty awesome stuff!

Sunday was a fabulous day off for both Rock and myself.  I went to a wonderful bridal shower for a sister-in-law to be and Rock spent the day at the beach with Louie.  And now we are recovered and ready for another wild and fun week leading up to a marathon weekend.

How was your weekend?

I have to give a big shout out today to Katie who I found out is a loyal reader of this blog.  Thanks Katie for following and as you can see from my belly picture, I am most definitely looking pregnant these days!