September 24, 2008

Ah, here it is. My picture with George Stultz. What, you don't know who George is? He was on that tv show 7th Heaven. Huh, you never watched 7th Heaven? Well, me neither, but someone must have.



And, oh yeah. Apparently I'm really short.

7:15 Drop off. This morning was not the most relaxing I've ever had. Now that Jeremy is done with his Indian project, he's working on something that required a 7:00am phone conference with Finland. And it was my job to do all the usual morning things PLUS keep the kids relatively quiet. And I learned that they are all horrible little monsters that can't stop shrieking, even under threat of death.

Breakfast - a bit of pancake and a bit of yogurt.

8:00 Jeremy got done with his conference and spared me driving up to Adam's school. Which turned out to be a good thing because they are redoing the street and it was terribly backed up.

8:45 Took Ariel to school.

9:30 Got home, made my grocery list and then went on a very mellow bike ride. We are having perfect late summer weather (I REFUSE to say fall yet, no matter what the calendar says).

11:00 Got home, changed clothes and did the quickest full grocery store trip I've ever done.

11:30 Picked up Adam.

1:00 Picked up one Ariel, wearing the same clothes I dropped her off in.

1:30 Got home, Ariel picked some more at her lunch.

2:00 Down for nap. While she slept, I made zucchini cookies. I pulled out *4* more zucchini from the garden today. I pawned two off on my neighbor. I should finish the other two with cookies, two more cups for the freezer and a zucchini/tomato/mozzarella/basil torte for dinner. Maybe Rachel was right. Maybe 3 plants *was* too much. I'm also still getting cherry tomatoes but my big tomato plant is really lame. I have about 8 very green tomatoes and the first frost can't be far off.

4:30 Pick up.

And random kid stories - Alex got two cavities filled yesterday. He was fine, no complaining. We both go back in October for one more filling.

And yesterday, Adam was drawing letters and Alex came up and asked what he was writing. Adam said, "I don't know, I can't read."

September 22, 2008

I think I must have some sort of super power to fit so much into a weekend. The boys had Friday off from school, so Jeremy came home early and we went down to Colorado Springs for his 15 year high school reunion. Yeah, I know 15 years is a weird reunion, but their 10th got screwed up so they planned this one. Friday night, Jer and I went to the Manitou Springs Homecoming football game and YES it was very exciting. Well, they won at least. And afterwards we met up with the other alumni at a bar. Lots of pictures were taken, just not with my camera. I happened to get one taken of me next to George Stultz of 7th Heaven fame, without even asking too. Now, I just have to figure out who's camera that was and find the picture. Hopefully it will surface on Facebook. I mean, George Stultz for gosh sakes.

On Saturday, we went to a picnic (with Alex and Adam) and spent some time in downtown Manitou. We took off after dinner to get home before the boys' bedtime.

And Sunday was my race. It went FABULOUS. First, it was a great size, 200 girls vs the 3000 in August. The swim was much better, though colder and I wore my wetsuit. I took 6 minutes off my 750 meter time with a finish of 13:49. The bike was fine and I ended up doing the same mph as Aug - 18.4. I had a minor incident at the beginning - my chain fell off when I took my bike off the curb and I was so full of adrenaline that it took probably close to a minute to get it back on. The bike was the most crowded course, it was 3 laps around a residential area.

And then the run, I completely surprised myself. I checked my watch after the first mile and was at a 9:45 pace. That was good, I wanted to complete the 5k in under 30 minutes so my total time would be under 1 hour 30 minutes. Then I started to pick it up and somehow finished the 5k in 26:40, which is faster than I've ever run a 5k, under any circumstances. Guess that track business paid off. My total time was 1:24 (vs 1:38 last month), which put my in 50th place out of 222 women, 12 out of 46 in my age group. I'm super proud of myself that all my hard work and training paid off this summer, and I can't wait until next year!

And some pictures - here I am in my TriBabes uniform. The Babes are all about the pink.



And here I am with Coach Andie. On Saturday she competed in the age group nationals race and placed mid-field. As you can see by the hat, there's a reason for the pink.



And here are about half the TriBabes that we could round up for a group picture. On the very left is Coach Angelina who has babysat the boys a few times so I could do my workout.




7:15 Drop off. The boys had just finished breakfast and the kids played dress up in their new Halloween costumes. Alex is Comander Fox from the Clone Wars - which I did not see and have no idea who he is. Adam picked Bobo Fett and Ariel wore the standby Darth Vadar. It was very cute and picture worthy but I was busy packing lunches and eating breakfast and did not take one. Sue me.

7:55 Dropped Alex off at school.

8:05 Breakfast - Ariel had some yogurt.

8:45 Took Ariel to school.

9:30 Enjoyed my kid free time with a nice trip to the dermotogist. Yes, I know how how to live it up.

11:00 Stopped by the grocery store before picking up Adam.

11:30 Adam pick up.

12:20 After lunch, we stopped by Safeway to drop off a prescription. Then we stopped by Starbucks, because we were there. Dorothy was working and Crissy, I told her that Carmel Macchiato was coming for a visit and she said to stop by for a hug.

1:00 Pick up Ariel from preschool. The report today - she had a good day and needed an outfit change due to fun outside water play and not the other kind of liquid accident.

1:15 Picked up my prescription from Safeway.

And this was bugging me, when I blogged on Monday I forgot about this picture, it was left dangling at the end of the post. This is Ariel and Adam at the entrance to Safeway after Adam said, "Ariel, let's hold hands!" I don't get these two, one minute they are trying to kill each other and the next they are happily playing.



1:35 Home and down for a nap.

4:30 Pick up.

September 18, 2008

7:00 Something drop-off. I was at track practice. Track went well, except I've had some tightness that I don't want to upgrade to pain in my hip and I was talking to my coach and she suggested I see a PT for it.

7:45 Got home, everything in order.

7:55 Dropped Alex off at school.

8:45 Went swimming while Ariel went to daycare. And I was feeling so tired that I didn't take her swimming afterwards. We did stop at the dinosaur park when I was done.

11:15 Quick trip to Kings and the new Starbucks before picking up Adam.

11:30 Adam pick up.

Lunch - 1/2 a donut and mac & cheese

12:30 Down for nap

1:30 Woke Ariel up for the PT appointment.

1:45 PT appointment went well. I'm not imagining things, my right hip is much more tight than my left. However, the PT was very concerned with my overall strength (quote-end-quote, "You are as weak as a puppy") and suggested I make another appointment to get a strength program so I don't end up with an injury. I felt pretty dejected with the puppy comment, but when I talked to my coach, she pointed out that many athletes have weaknesses and it doesn't mean I'm not strong, just that I need to work more on certain areas than others to keep training at my level without injury.

2:45 Alex got home.

4:00 Swim team. I'm so proud of the boys. Just 2 weeks ago they were handed their first kick board and flippers and they couldn't even make it across the pool. Today they just hopped in and followed the line of kids all the way down. They are probably the weakest swimmers of the bunch, but every lesson they do a bit more. Like last lesson they both dove off the blocks! Adam's never even jumped off a diving board before and they are the same height.

4:30 Ariel pick up at the pool.

And now for a sad story - Last weekend, Jeremy's car's check engine light came on. He took it to the dealer and the car had been burning oil for a while and the engine is dead. A new engine is $7700, a used is $5500. We don't know what we are going to do yet. And Jeremy feels terrible, he thinks he killed his car by not checking the dip stick when he gassed up. I personally believe the car failed us. Modern cars shouldn't break like that if you get your regular oil change and scheduled maintenance (which he did) and pay attention to dash buttons. And yes, the warranty expired at 60k miles, he's at 72k.

September 17, 2008

I'm happy to report that today was much less stressful. Though I may be in recovery from yesterday for weeks to come.

7:15 Ariel showed up in a chipper mood.

Breakfast - a yogurt and a pass on the Kix.

8:00 Dropped Alex off at school. On the way home, we saw a bird on a wire and as a test, I asked Ariel what it was. She said, "Dove. Good morning dove!" Pretty good there, girl.

8:40 Took Ariel to school.

9:00 Ariel drop off. It was very sweet, when we arrived a little girl said, "Hi Ariel, I missed you!" I asked Ariel who that was and she said something that sounded like "Samantha." And when I did the sign-in sheet, sure enough there was a Samantha on it. Aww, Ariel is making friends.

9:30 Got home, had just enough time to do my 20 mile bike ride before it was time to pick up Adam.

1:00 Ariel pick up (in the same clothes I dropped her off in).

1:20 Got home, Ariel picked at her lunch again before nap.

2:00 Nap.

4:30 Pick up.

The only pictures I took today were bird pictures. Here are birds 17 and 18 of our backyard study (17 and 18 of species. If you added different male/female we would have many more).

The Mountain Chickadee (that white eyebrow sets it far apart from the similar Black-Capped Chickadee that we first saw months ago):



And a Downy Woodpecker. This is the first I've seen this year, anywhere in Colorado. He didn't come out of the tree, but maybe he'll find our suet feeder soon and we can get a closer look:

September 16, 2008

Good.ness. If every day was like today, I'd be in a mental institution. Or heavily dependent on prescription painkillers. Something. I got up at 5:30 so I would have time to do my 4 mile run. At 8:00, Sierra came over for her 3 month pictures. We did it so early because she's best in the morning and takes a nap from 9-11, so we were pretty limited. When I set up this session up, I put it on a Tuesday so I wouldn't have to worry about Ariel. But the parents wanted to trade days so Dad was bobbing around with Ariel and Hannah this morning too. He took them in the stroller to the new Starbucks and much adventures ensued, but you should ask him about that.

Anyway, Sierra's session went very well. It was a nice and mellow. I find 3 months to be the hardest baby age, not a squishy newborn but not yet sitting either. Also, it was too cold to shoot outside and so dark that I needed my flash, but it all worked out.

I think this one is my favorite, but I have a think for nekkid babies:



And this one is growing on me:



9:00 Sierra went home and Ariel came back.

9:15 Grandpa 'Backa' left and Ariel had a tantrum because he took Hannah and not her. I placated her (I have a feeling that phrase is going to become more and more common in this blog) with a Hello Kitty video while I started proofing the photos. That worked until the movie ended, then Ariel cried again because she wanted to watch 'TB' (even though she lost interest in Hello Kitty about 3/4s of the way through).

11:10 Left on bike to pick up Adam.

11:30 Adam pick up. He threw a much smaller fit because he doesn't like riding in the trailer with Ariel, he says her butt is too pointy.

After pick up we went to the new Starbucks for the first time. Must say, not a good first impression. The girls in front of me did order about 6 drinks, but still, it should not take 15 minutes to get a mocha. The kids split a donut while we waited.

12:00 Got home, made mac & cheese for lunch. I think Adam is approximately 97.6% mac & cheese.

1:00 Put Ariel down for a nap. It didn't take for a while, there was a lot of unncessarry thumping for quite a while.

1:30 Started making dinner. I made a double batch of rice & beans so I could take half to Alex's school for a teacher conference potluck.

3:30 Woke up a very tired Ariel so we could go to swim team.

3:40 Dropped off rice & beans.

4:00 Swim team. While the boys swam, Ariel and I went to the dinosaur park.

4:30 Pick up.

And after swim team, I dashed home so I could go up to the res for one more open water practice swim before Sunday's triathlon. And that is why I'm so tired.

September 15, 2008

Our family survived another weekend. Actually, it wasn't too bad, especially compared to the last few weekends. Dad and I successfully completed the Ride for 65 Roses. Not that there was really any doubt other than the weather. And given that it rained both Friday and Sunday, it was a bit sketchy. But we had a beautiful day, the only down point was once again, lunch was all gone by the time we got in (we were slow but we weren't last or anything). We were left with breakfast bagels and a soda. And it's not that I particularly love Noodles (who was catering), it's just that for the last 10 miles of the ride I was thinking about what kind of noodles there would be, and would they have pesto or just spaghetti... well, you get the point. Bagels just didn't quite hit the spot.

And Sunday was downright relaxing, Alex just had Sunday school. I even got my daily nap in.

7:15 Drop off. I was home. I was trying to plan my bike workout today and Jeremy pointed out that I've been tired and cranky and given that my race is next Sunday, I'm not going to get better in the next 5 days, but I can overtrain and be too tired. So I took the day off.

Ariel had 1/2 a yogurt for breakfast.

Before school, I just had to get pictures of her. She was in full fashion plate mode, right down to the noodle necklace she made in school last week and the obligatory (and completely unnecessary) bandaid.





9:00 Dropped Ariel off at school. And then I had the pleasure of going to the dentist. The cleaning was fine, but I have another cavity that needs to be filled next month. And I'm going to get sealants on the rest of my teeth.

10:45 After my appointment, I had some time so I went to REI to get a long sleeved running shirt. And after way more than I meant to spend, I came home with some other goodies too.

11:30 Picked up Adam.

1:00 Picked up Ariel.

1:30 I offered Ariel a second try at her lunch box (which barely seemed touched) but she didn't eat much more.

2:00 Down for nap.

3:30 Early pick up.

September 12, 2008

In case you were wondering, I'm no fair weather runner. So when I woke up at 5:30 and it was pouring, of course I still went on my run. I briefly considered my options and realized I could wait to see if it got better at the end of the day, but mess up the family's evening routine, or go to the rec center and run on a treadmill. Neither seemed worth it - in fact I think it would have to be lightning, tornadoing or hurricaning before I thought the treadmill sounded fun. And I was not the only runner out there. I saw at least 5, and 2 were part of the elite Japanese team that I've been seeing around this summer. I also saw several cyclists (but more of the commuting kind) and two transients sleeping under bridges. An interesting morning.

7:40 Got home.

7:55 Ran Alex to school.

8:00 Ariel and I took a shower.

8:30 Breakfast - Ariel had some yogurt and a few bites of oatmeal.

9:00 Left for the adventure of the day - Kangaroo Kingdom with the Stroller Mommies.

9:25 The Kingdom was good. Ariel was nuts though. She was flipping and climbing over everything, including the outside of the play structure specifically labeled "no climbing." It was good too see stroller friends, I haven't seen most since May. And of course Lilianna ("Lily-Hannah") was there too.

10:40 The Kingdom was so rocking that we were given a coupon to come back another day if we left. So Ariel and I went over to Deli Zone for a snack. Ariel had a cookie.

Strapping Ariel back in her carseat:



11:05 Got back to the car. Ariel fell asleep on the way to Adam's school.

11:40 Adam pick up. Yes, 10 minutes late. It's kind of annoying, especially since we just got a big notice in our Wednesday folder about how important it is for the kids to be *at* school on time.

11:50 Home, and Ariel transferred to bed.

2:00 Surprise early pickup. Have a good weekend!

September 11, 2008

Jeremy is a martyr and a saint. This morning, the pool I was supposed to work out in was locked and the coach's key wouldn't work. So we had to go to another pool and practice started late. I called Jeremy and he agreed to do both school drop offs so I could finish my workout. And that's a big deal.

8:00 I got home. Jeremy was still biking Adam and Ariel up to school.

8:10 They got back, Ariel and I took a shower.

After the shower, I braided Ariel's hair into pretty pretty princess braids. It's a testimony to how long Ariel's hair has gotten and how much she's matured to sit still that I could do this.



Modeling while checking out the rain:





8:30 Breakfast - Ariel had some yogurt and a bit of oatmeal.

9:30 Left for our adventure of the day - the mall.

10:00 Got to the mall. And do our disappointment, the dinosaurs closed June 29th (it's been a while since I've been there) and haven't reopened yet. Ariel took it in stride (she probably knew about it anyway) and we visited the pet store and Starbucks and Old Navy instead. Ariel's pretty pretty princess braids did not survive the ON clothing racks very well.

11:15 Left to pick up Adam

11:30 Adam pick up.

11:40 Home and lunch - Ariel had snacked on goldfish at the mall and only wanted 1/2 a banana for lunch.

12:00 Down for nap.

3:00 Wake up, had some more goldfish.

3:45 Left for swim team

4:00 Boys did swim team. Ariel was very sad that she wasn't swimming too so I placated her with some M&Ms from the vending machine. Swim team went well. I must privately admit that Adam's dives from the side of the pool were much better than Alex's. Poor Alex is all gawky and awkward, let's hope it's just a phase.

4:30 Pick up at pool.

Septeber 10, 2008

First, just as an FYI, Alex stayed home from school yesterday. He was up Monday night puking several times. Very mysterious, I felt a bit ooky Sunday night myself. Anyway, he felt well enough to do his first swim team practice with Adam Tuesday evening so... I don't know, there you go.

7:15 Drop off. Ariel was not initially excited about the pancakes.

8:00 After I dropped Alex off at school, Ariel was more excited about pancakes and ate 1 1/2.

After breakfast, I combed Ariel's hair then she treated me to a concert:



8:40 Took Ariel to school.

While Ariel was at school, I did a bike ride. I am having way too much fun with my GPS heart rate monitor. My workout today was supposed to be 90 minutes with 3 15 minute intervals at zone 4-5. My left shifter is broken and I can't get into my big chain ring (Jeremy is going to replace it, getting two shifters and cables is going to be $300, can you BELIEVE that?). So to do hard intervals I had to go up a hill. I picked the NCAR hill and did it 3 times. But just look at this perfect graph - the green line is elevation and the red is heart rate. You can even see that on the last hill I hit 15 minutes before the top (well, I did on the first 2 too, but I just turned around there) and then I finished up the hill at a lesser effert.



11:15 Got back from my ride just in time to get Adam. After getting Adam, we ran to the grocery store for a few things. Like sugar, we've been sweetening our coffee with simple syrup this week. But I wasn't organized enough to do a full trip.

1:00 Picked up Ariel. The report today was that she had a poop accident right at the beginning of school, but was very good with the pee. Also, she made a noodle necklace that she's very proud of.

1:20 Got home, Ariel had a bit more of her lunch before napping.

2:00 Down for nap.

4:00 Pick up.

September 8, 2008

Our family survived yet another busy weekend. We all had a blast at Sarah's wedding reception. In keeping up with the western theme, there was a horse drawn carriage. I think the boys rode it at least 4 times:



I caught up again with Baby Gus:



And I don't even know who's baby this is, but she was 6 weeks old and so yummy!



Alex's duty at the wedding was handing out lavender satchels to be thrown at the couple. When he spotted the lavender in the garden, he resumed his duties and handed out sprigs to guests:



Yes, Adam is always that crazy:



Adam and Grammie:



Sarah and Devon really didn't want a traditional first dance. Well, ha ha on them:



Alex shook it up on the dance floor until Grandpa picked up the boys at 8:30:



Not a bad picture, even with my gay pride bandana:



Grandma took Alex to his first day of Sunday school and in the evening we went back to Denver for dinner with the Texas relatives. No wonder we are tired!

7:15 Drop off. Ariel did eat breakfast, one carton of yogurt.

8:45 Took Ariel to school.

9:05 After dropping Ariel off, I went to Eagle trailhead to do Sunday's long base run (yeah, for some reason I didn't feel like running on Sunday. We were up until MIDNIGHT). I used to run Eagle all the time when we lived in Gunbarrel, but I don't think I've been there in 8 years, it's hard for me to justify driving through Boulder to run. It was very nice and the cool drizzle was actually refreshing. I'd much rather run when it's 40 degrees than 90.

10:30 After my standard slow 5.2 miles in a hour, I went home, checked my email and took a shower.

11:30 Picked up Adam. We stopped by the grocery store to buy Adam some mac & cheese for lunch.

1:10 Picked up Ariel late. Adam decided he needed to poop at 12:45, then we hit construction on 30th. I think the preschool was cool with it. Oops.

Ariel had two accidents at school today. The teacher said it was weird, the second one was 15 minutes after the first, and after the first they put her on the potty to make sure she was done. I think we are all getting a bit sick of this. At least it's new to Ariel's teachers. Otherwise, they said she had a great day. I saw playdoh and a table full of dried beans and cups and it did clear up enough that they played outside.

1:30 Ariel fell asleep in the car, transferred to bed.

4:00 Ariel woke up. Played with the train set.

4:25 Pick up.

September 9, 2008

7:15 Drop off

8:00 Walked Alex to school.

We didn't have plans this morning and being that it was rainy and dreary, I was not motivated to make any. I brought out the train set for Ariel and helped her set up some track:



The set amused her for awhile. The only other thing that happened in the morning was several bathroom incidents. The first, I asked her to "check" and she screamed bloody murder on the potty. I kept telling her (gently, I add) that if she was done she was welcome to wipe and get up. When I finally helped her off, she had not only peed but also pooped. And then later I asked if she needed to go and she screamed "No!" at me and then not 30 seconds later had a big accident. I just seems like this should be getting easier by now.

Moving along, I finished my summer community knitting project. God forbid anyone from that group ever reads this blog, especially the very sweet leader, but Man I hated knitting this. If I'm going to invest 2 weeks into a project, I want it to be something I would knit for my own children. What self respecting 3 year old wants a sweater vest? I suppose if it was from a sweet, nearly blind grandmother, it would be a precious gift. But, I'll let you be the judge:



And for what it's worth, Ariel apparently is not a self respecting two year old, she was fine wearing it. In fact, I only took it off after one of her many tantrums that involved a lot of nose wiping on it.



11:30 Picked up Adam. Lunch - Ariel didn't eat much again.

12:15 Down for nap. While Ariel napped, Adam watched Ice Age and I rode the rollers for 90 minutes. Which is not easy, especially in a small mudroom with a not-so-clean catbox. I just have to go out the my way to prove my hardcore-ed-ness.



2:30 Ariel woke up, Alex came home.

4:00 Pick up.

September 4, 2008

7:something Drop off. I was at track practice, which was surprisingly ok again. The coach was late so we only did a fast 2 miles instead of the planned 3, which on one hand was nice, but on the other hand meant we had to run at a faster pace. At any rate, I survived. And with dignity.

7:45 Got home. All children survived as well.

7:55 Dropped Alex off at school.

8:00 Ariel and I took a shower, then I ate breakfast. Ariel declined food.

9:00 Our morning of super fun errands began. We started with Target, I hoped to find Sam a birthday present. I was told he might like some more k'nex, but Target didn't have any of the younger kid sets. But of course, being ah Target I still found things I needed. But I behaved and just got some makeup and toilet bowl cleaner (that classy Method stuff, it makes me feel guilt free, but also with a clean toilet).

After Target, we went to REI because I've been hankering for a smaller purse. What, REI isn't your first thought when you think new purse? I ended up getting a Sherpani Zoe wallet, which fits my license, credit card, phone and keys and also fits into my big purse. It's a nice system, even if it makes Jeremy roll his eyes. He's probably jealous that he doesn't have a big OR little purse.

And after Target we went to Grand Rabbits, hoping to find K'nex sets. They also only had the big kid sets, so I went with my second choice, Zoob pieces. Alex started playing with them in pre-k and still likes them, so I hope Sam will too.

Grand Rabbits is also right behind Peaberry coffee and we had some time to kill before picking up Adam, so I got my first coffee in I don't know when. Wait, that's not true, I think my last Starbucks was in the Springs for the cousin's reunion, what, two weeks ago? Is it true, have I lost my addiction? I got a carmel crunch and it hit the spot.

11:30 Picked up Adam.

11:45 Got home. Ariel had a bit of mac & cheese and a few grapes.

12:15 Put Ariel down for a nap. While she slept, I worked on Sarah and Devon's wedding pictures. I made progress, but much work is still needed.

2:40 Alex got home, I woke Ariel and we all put on our swim suits to go to Sam's 5th birthday party.

3:10 Swimming birthday party extravaganza! The party was at the Lousiville pool, which Alex has been asking to go back to for a while. He didn't go down the slide 100 time, but he did have fun with the pool toys that the Boulder pools don't have (think noodles and intertubes). Ariel liked the noodles too.

Around 3:30 we took a break for cake. Happy birthday, Sam:



Ariel is always a fan of cake:



4:00 After cake, my group went back to the pool.

4:30 Pick up at pool.

September 3, 2008

Wow, we had such a weekend, I don't even know where to start. First off, Sarah's Wedding Weekend Extravaganza was perfect. The weather was great when it needed to be great (and a bit rainy when it didn't need to be good) and the ceremony went off without a hitch.

Here's Sir Adam, Knight of Turkey Toe Ranch helping to escort the bride:



What wedding is complete without a shotgun salute, performed by Devon's step-father and step-brothers:



The boys posing with the new couple:



Arsty rings:



The beautiful bride:



The happy couple:



And the wedding party - which was immediate family. Well, Devon's immediate family plus the Covells and Aunt Petie and Uncle Jerry:



I still have a ton of pictures to sort through, I'll let everyone know when I get them all ready.

The rest of the weekend was usual Turkey Toe hijinks. We had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows, shot guns (Adam and Alex shot the 22 rifle and Adam is already asking when he'll be old enough to shoot a hand gun). Some took a motocycle ride but I made Jeremy take a bike ride with me. MUCH eating and drinking and more eating and more drinking.

The wedding ceremony was Sunday morning followed by brunch and then a nice dinner at the bowling alley (no really, the dinner was nice. I had salmon, Jeremy had the briscuit). We only had time to bowl one game before the alley closed, but even Adam and Alex played a game. And yes, Alex nearly beat me, but his score improved vastly after the manager brought out the metal ball launcher.

We headed home Monday, stopping at an alpaca ranch on the way out. We met a day old alpaca (the stripy one) and lots of other cute babies. Even Alex was impressed after he got over the barn smells.



And then, dinner time at the parent's to celebrate Dad's 64th Birthday.

Hannah:



Dad's birthday cake:



And Ariel blew out the candles:



Oh, and FYI, the giant zucchini from last week was grated into *8* cups before I dumped the last bit. I made a batch of cookies and a two breads and froze 4 cups. And I have two normal-to-large zucchini on my counter. When will it end???

And onto Wednesday:

7:something drop off. I was on my run.

7:45 I got home, all kids ok.

7:55 Took Alex to school.

8:00 Got home, tried to get Ariel to eat something (JJ gave her zucchini bread but she only picked out the chocolate chips) and ate breakfast.

8:40 Took Ariel to school.

9:00 Ariel drop off.

9:20 Did my swim workout.

10:45 Got home from swimming. Decided I didn't have time for a decent shower.

11:30 Picked up Adam from school. Then lunched and showed.

1:00 Picked up Ariel from school. All I learned about today was that she had a accident, and not the good outside water play kind.

1:20 Got home. Gave Ariel a second try at her school lunch but she didn't eat much more.

1:45 Down for a nap.

2:40 Alex walked accross the bridge and nearly home. If I can convince him he can safely cross the bike path, I'll be set. But I am worried about the path, the down hill bikers are going pretty fast and it's hard to see around the curve. Boulder is probably one of the few places I have to worry about a bike xing instead of a car xing.

4:00 Ariel woke up. We looked at books with Adam until Mommy got here.

4:20 Pick up.