Dalton's

I forgot, at the Wilson Family Reunion my Dad was in charge of a fun-run. Now, I am not a runner. I don’t enjoy running, but most of my family does, especially my dad, brothers, and Julia. Last year they did this same run and Dad was the one who organized it, so they asked Dad to do it again because it was so much fun. I thought it would be fun to see how far I could get. It was a 5k. I had the girls in the double stroller and I didn’t bring any shoes except for flip flops. The track was full of little hills and was a good challenge. It looped around like a 9 and we started in the middle. After pushing the girls all the way around the loop, I dropped the girls off with some of the people who were going half way and cheered as my brother Jace ran in and finished the race. He got second place! I kept going and my competitiveness started to kick in. I knew I wasn’t going to win, obviously, and I wasn’t in shape to run it, so I decided that I just wouldn’t be the last in. The last half is just as long but there are a ton of hills that are pretty steep, and once you get to the end you turn around and come back up to the middle. (So, if you took the 9 example you do the bottom leg down and then back up) I was the last to finish the first half with the girls by quite a bit, so I had a lot of catching up to do. I was so proud of myself, not only did I do the whole race, but I did half pushing the girls and I passed quite a few people and didn’t finish last. That was a big accomplishment for me. Ryan was very impressed when I called to tell him how it went.
So, after we got back I had only a little time with Ryan before he had to leave to go up to Madison to take the bar exam. That was so hard to let him go after just getting back. Especially since I no longer had help with the girls and didn’t know anyone in town. I was very worried that it would go badly. Luckily, it went pretty well and I didn’t go crazy or anything. Ryan had a day of orientation, then the next day was two sessions of essay exams both with 4 essays each. So 8 total. That must have been no fun, what a long day. Then the next day was a 200 question test and he could finally come home. We were so glad to have Ryan back for good! I am so glad the exam is over. Now, we just wait to see if he passes. They are supposed to send the letter on September 7th, so we hope to know by Tuesday. That may seem fast, but he took the exam at the end of July, so it’s really been quite a wait. If he passes they don’t do the ceremony until OCTOBER!! The students that graduated from Wisconsin have been working since May! Ryan’s hoping that they will induct him sooner, because he can’t work until after that.
The next weekend Ryan took us down to Debuke Iowa (about 45 mins from here) to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. We had a great time; here are some pictures from our adventure:

Ryan and Kaitlyn standing in front of one of the aquariums. Kaitlyn LOVED looking at all the fish!



Ryan at the wheel



Kaitlyn being just like Daddy, isn’t she so cute!



This was part of the outside exhibit, were the kids could play. Kaitlyn thought it was way fun!



Daddy and Kaitlyn on one of the boats we got to tour



Me, trying to hold Kaitlyn still for a picture with Emily in my arms. We were at the very top of the ship in the hurricane deck.



The top of the ship



Looking towards the water from the same spot



I think Kaitlyn would have jumped right off the ship into the water if she could have



Kaitlyn playing. She wanted to steer the little ships in the pond



Kaitlyn loves animals, just not up close. She didn’t like this!



I tried to get a picture that looked like Emily was in the water, this was the closest



A big fish you could go inside of