July 31, 2009

Not a lot happened today. So rather than bore you with that, I'll tell you about our Exploding Light Fixture Problem.

A long time ago, we had a nice house. When we bought the house, one of the features I loved was this line of blue lights hanging in the kitchen:



Unfortunately, they seem to be one of the previous owners many DIY projects that have not stood up to the test of time. A few month ago, one of the light EXPLODED when Jeremy turned it on. I was laying down on the coach in the living room and saw the orange flash. The glass shattered, the light fixture was toast. And we thought, "Huh, that was weird."

And then, it happened to a second light last night. Same explosion, same melted cord left. For precautionary measures, we took down the remaining shade. And now we have a row of useless, ugly black cords hanging out of our ceiling:



Like I said, it's been a while since the first Explosion. And Jeremy has a lot on his plate with work and the Breckenridge remodel, so I haven't said anything. But really, I think it's time to do something now. Before anything else Explodes.

July 29, 2009

Today was a very 1995 kind of day. Yesterday, Ariel showed up at our house with a new beanie baby skunk. Alex was enamored. He HAD to have one too. He even offered to pay for it, and that's a big deal. He won't even shell out $.89 for the nerd ropes he's always begging for at the grocery store.

So after my bike ride (and the kid's morning at the gym) we started our quest for Skunkers. Our first stop was Grandrabbits, which does not carry beanie babies. They did, however, have three other skunks in various sizes and Adam was happy with a similarly sized non-branded one. Alex was not.

Next stop, Hallmark. Hallmark had beanie babies, but not that beanie baby.

Intermission - we met Ellen at for Indian lunch. I'm not sure Ariel has ever had Indian, but she was game. She ate all her lentils, some rice and 4 meatballs. She would not try her spinach or fried veggies and did not care for the rice pudding or naan. She also drank about 17 glasses of water, which will become important later.



After lunch, we drove out to the mall for more skunk hunting. We first tried Fuzziwigs, but they were closed for a quick remodel. Next, we tried Hallmark, which much like the first had beanie babies, but not that beanie baby. And then, a desparate attempt at Justice (thank gawd I don't have a girl) but they only carry webkinz.

After exausted all possibilities, we played at the dinosaurs. Well, Adam and Ariel played, Alex had to sit next to me because he refused to follow instructions or rules. Which made it hard for me to want to continue on our quest.

On the way out of the mall, we made a pit stop and I suggested to Ariel that she check if she had to pee. She threw a full blown tantrum on the potty, going on way longer than I thought possible, especially for maintaing such a stiff body in a seated position. She finally stopped, but whimpered "Mommy" the whole way out of the mall. She didn't fall asleep in the car, but she crashed pretty quickly at home.

After Ariel left, we checked Walgreens on the way to swimming. They seem to carry TY animals, but not beanie babies. And then I gave up. I showed Alex we could order Skunkers off Amazon for only $12 including shipping or give up. He wanted to go back to the store that Becky bought the original Skunkers from, which while a logical idea, I had no desire to drive 300 miles to and from Glenwood for a $6 toy. Though Alex told me he didn't care how far it was.

But joy of joys, Grandpa found Skunkers and now the world, circa 1995, can go on.

July 24, 2009

In a somewhat annual tradition, we celebrated Alex's half birthday at Lakeside. While we've gone the past few years (I believe Alex was 4 1/2 the first time) this was Ariel's first time. And she had a BLAST.

Alex was very sweet with her for the first hour or so. He made sure he sat with her on the rides and told her what they were doing. And Adam was amazingly ok sitting by himself.



Love this shot. Lakeside is so old that this Broncos car is probably one of the newer things in the park.



And like most years, the Frog Hopper and the roller coaster won out on being the most popular:



And I said Alex was sweet for the first hour, he didn't end up mean. He wandered off by himself for awhile while Adam and Ariel rode together. Which didn't go nearly as well, at one point Adam didn't want Ariel sitting next to him on the roller coaster, even though it was the only seat left.

We stayed for about 2 1/2 hours and that's about right. Any more fun and they would have burst their brains.

July 23, 2009

Here's some tales of interest from the past week.

Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I went to the museum. We visited the space exhibit and then saw the IMAX movie The Grand Canyon. The movie was not the best I've seen, though Ariel waited 33 minutes before getting thirsty. Next, Alex wanted to show Ariel all his favorite dioramas. And then we tried to squeeze in mummies and dinosaurs and ended up leaving a bit late, which is why Becky had to meet us at the Broomfield park-n-ride to pick up Ariel.

And Tuesday/Thursdays are shaping up to be just swimming days. On Tuesdays, the kids do their lessons and then can play until 11:45. Then they go to daycare while I do a masters class. On Thurdays, I can put the kids in daycare while I run and the daycare takes them to swim lessons. I get back when lesssons are over and then we hang out as long as we can/want. I pack lunches and today we made it to about 12:45.



And in rodent news, we caught our first squirrel today. Here's proof:

Our wildlife woes

A week ago, we had a squirrel in the house. Like, we came home and there was a freaked out squirrel. It ricocheted off of a couple walls and windows and Ariel and we finally got it out the back door. And we thought it was weird but our screen door was ripped and it was conceivable that it had just come it that way.

Jeremy repaired the door and then two days later, another squirrel. And this one we did not see go out any door. And then, more squirrel related incidents, including sightings, close encounters, urine and feces. Finally, the experts - aka Critter Control - were brought it. The verdict - the eaves to both our front and back porches go directly into the attic. The squirrels have been holing up there for a while and have found ways to get into the house as well. The solution - pricey special one way doors on the eaves so hopefully we get squirrels out of the attic, not trapped and dead in the attic. Also, we do have a few traps inside the house in case any squirrel is dumb enough to get caught inside. Today, a squirrel came in and helped himself to some peanuts in the mudroom, then left again, uncaught.

And oh, you think, but you have cats. Don't the cats get the squirrels? The answer is no. In fact, I witnessed a squirrel run right by Dexter and he just looked at me like, "huh, that was weird." AND DIDN'T MOVE. So yes, the cats are completely useless.

And in other random wildlife news, a family of skunks has moved in under our foundation. Critter Control would be happy to install a really REALLY big one way door back there for $550. So, for now the skunks can stay.

Danskin Trophy

Yesterday, I received this in the mail:



It's quite puzzling, as I did not actually get 3rd place. I was a solid 4th, almost a minute behind 3rd. I know, I checked very carefully. And yet, now I have a trophy. I went back and rechecked the results and from what I can gather, about 18 girls were disqualified, including the 1st place winner of my age group, who beat me by 6 minutes. In reviewing the rules, the only grounds for DQ that I could find (beyond some blatant cheating) is that USAT mandates that only only must you wear a helmet during the race, but that if you are seen riding your bike BEFORE or AFTER the race without a helmet - DQ. Now, the race parking was way out in BFE, probably 1/2 - 1 miles from the transition area. A lot of people rode their bikes from to and from their cars (I sure did) and I did see quite a few girs doing it without their helmets. So there you go, 3 rules to remember:

1. ALWAYS wear a helmet
2. ALWAYS play by the rules
3. ALWAYS wear pink when racing

PS - I have been very humble about this race (especially after getting my ass kicked in the Peak) but for the record, there were 142 girls in my age group.

July 13, 2009

Our adventure of the day was biking down to the library. Adam hasn't done much riding since The Big Crash but he insisted he was ok to ride. With him and Alex on their own bikes, it seemed like a good time to try Ariel on the tag-a-long. And we had a very nice ride. Adam seems to be able to handle the big biker more smoothly. Alex is doing well on his bigger bike too, though it seems harder to ride with the big, squishy mountain bike tires. Actually, slowing Alex down was a good thing, Adam was able to keep up pretty well. And Ariel hung on and didn't fall off. I think she was pretty proud of herself. The tag-a-long was more wobbly than she expected and she skrieked at me a few times when the bike shook.

We went to the libray and to Starbucks. It was a nice morning.

The Boulder Peak

The Boulder Peak was my first olympic distance race in 9 years, and coincidentally the last olympic race I've did. It is also a very competitive big kid race.

The swim went well. I got ahead out the main pack and felt like I swam strong and didn't get off course. So I was bummed when I got out of the water and checked my watch and was at 34:22. I had hoped to break 30 minutes. This week I have had many people confirm that the swim was long, by 200-300 yards (or 4-5 minutes for me). That's racing.

The bike went well. I was 2 minutes faster than 9 years ago.



And the run kinda bombed. I warned this guy not to draft and he didn't for long. He was also like 60, almost as old as DAD. In fact, MANY old people passed me on the run. And I did not pass a single one. A bit demoralizing, actually.



And the blessed finish:



I had a stretch goal of breaking 3 hours but with the long swim and a poor 10k (66 minutes) that didn't happen. 3:08.

July 10, 2009

At the end of June, the boys and I went to see kid's symphony at Chautauqua. It was a full orchestra and they played familiar music like ET and Star Wars. The boys really enjoyed it so today we headed back for a less formal concert entitled "Strings and Things." This ended up being just a string quintet (I had to look that up, what's a string quartet with an extra bass?) and lots more talking. Ariel has a talent for quickly surmising situations in which she IS NOT THE CENTER OF ATTENTION and after about 10 minutes she was whining about being thirsty or hungry or tired or bored. But she mostly kept to herself and the boys and I were able to enjoy the strings.

Before the onslaught of boredom:



The string quintet:



And Alex put up this welcome sign a few weeks ago. It's a porcupine from Harold and the Purple Crayon and it does say Welcome underneath. My only question is, is it a welcome sign solely for porcupines? Is that why it's 2' off the ground? Is Dexter welcome as well?



PS - I partook in Jean Skirt Friday. It did not bring as much joy to my life as anticipated.

July 9, 2009

Just our regularly scheduled Thursday for you. The kids did swimming lessons and I took my camera to show all the progress Ariel has made. At her first lesson, she was hesitant to put her face in the water. Now she's underwater more that she is above it:







She's still only safe in water she can touch the bottom in but it's great she's enjoying it so much!

July 8, 2009

Random Update Post:

- We went up to Breckenridge last Friday. Jeremy had already been there for a week, working on the remodel (see pictures of facebook). We are adding a garage and two bedrooms plus a bunch a little stuff. Hopefully it will be done before ski season. Devon is acting at the GC and Jeremy and his cousin Grant are helping with the rough framing. Most other things besides siding and painting will be contracted out. We are paying for half the remodel, and when it's all said it done will own 15% of the house.

- On Saturday, I rode my bike from Frisco to Leadville and back. On the way home, I got a flat tire. I stopped and changed it (as the competent biker woman that I am). A few men stopped by and asked if I needed help and I assured them I was ok. Then one guy came back and would not take no for an answer so I let him put my tire back on. We talked a while before his wife rode up and I realized it was Tom, of Tom and Kathy (Covell). AKA, the ONLY people I know that live full time in Summit County. Seriously, what are the odds? I would never have recognized them in their bike clothes out riding.

- I let Adam open a package I got from Kimberly-Clark. I thought it was a diaper sample. It was not. I still have not directly answered his questions on what exactly he opened.

- Last night I slipped in the shower. I managed to fall out of the tub, taking down the shower curtain but not hitting my head or twisting/straining/breaking anything. On the way down I had the thought, "So this is how people die in the shower."

- When Hooker visited us last week, she torn our screen door. It's now open like a cat door on the bottom. Last night, we heard Abby making a weird noise (the Tabitha-the-might-ball-hunter cry) and found her in the family room with a house sparrow. I thought she killed it, so imagine my surprise when I went to put it in a newspaper bag and it flew around our house. We had a madcap chase involving me, Jeremy and a taco kit box before getting it out the mudroom door. And later, Abby cried again, announcing she had brought me a live earthworm. She's probably have more hunting luck if she had any teeth left.

- This morning I got the results of my lab work back. My ferritin (iron stores) are extremely low at 12. Athletes should be more around 80, and can be as high as 190. It's hard to get enough iron through ingestion (thought I've been taking a supplement and eating red meat) so I had an iron IV today. I'll need about 2, which should get my iron stores back up to the 60-80 range. Iron is needed to make more red blood cells and endurance athletes kinda need all the red blood cells they can get. The kids behaved very well while I got the IV, it took about 30 minutes. I should feel like I have more energy in about 10 days. Today, however, I had the reverse problem since the doctor had me take Benadryl to ward off any possible reaction. Holy Cow did I have a slow and tired ride later.

- So back to the Breckenridge weekend and my iron levels - usually at altitude you make more red blood cells to compensate for less oxygen (which is why athletes like training at altitude). Since I had no extra iron to make more red blood cells, I just got more fatigued. So there's your practical application.

- Ariel was the only kid of the three to try yoga at daycare. And I think she liked it. Maybe it will help with her anger management, hair combing went especially poorly this morning.

We got the slip-n-slide out today. All kids tried it, with varying degrees of success.

Danskin

This is not a triathlon I would have signed up for, but through the Tri Babes I ended up being a mentor and that gave me a free slot. And I don't know if you know this, but triathlons are expensive, like $80/race. And because I like splaving, I raced.

This race is a woman-only event and geared towards newbies. This was most evident in the swim. I was in the 7th wave, and the waves were starting every 3 minutes. By the time I got to the first buoy, the race course looked like a ship wreck. There were hundreds of women bobbing up and down with about 5 different wave cap colors. So, the rest of the swim was spent navigating around the floaters.

The bike course was similar, an out on back on narrow roads. It was hard to get in a groove. And it was hard because I was so excited about my new aero helmet that I forgot my sunglasses:



And I ran better than I did in the 5430 sprint, but still not as well as in May.





I hung around to see results and was VERY surprised to see I placed 4th in the 30-34 age group. However, I think there was something weird going on with the 30-34s, I would have been 14th in 25-29 and 7th in 35-39 AND 40-44. But I'll take it :)

Father's Day

Well, I think we had a pretty awesome Father's Day. My family spent the morning with me out at Boulder Res while I raced.

In the afternoon, Jeremy gave the boys much needed buzz cuts:





The buzz cuts are far from perfect, but will be serviceable for the summer. And our obligatory Father's Day picture:

5430 Sprint

Today's triathlon went well, but not quiet as awesome as last month's. By several accounts, the swim was a bit long. I felt like I did pretty well given I was in another big wave and there was a lot of contact. Plus, the timing mat was at the transition area instead of at the edge of the water. So my swim was 2 minutes longer than the Summer Open.

The bike is always my strongest leg. The Summer Open was 3 loops and practically flat. The 5430 has some up and down and real hills. My average speed dropped from 21.4mph to 19.7, and the course was also 5 miles longer.



And the run is where I'm most disappointed. It was hot and I didn't push as hard as I could. My 5k time was over 30 minutes, 2 minutes longer than last month. But I'm nitpicking, overall it was a good race.

Here I am in the middle, post race with the Tri Babes:



Me and my coach, Andie:



And I gave Jeremy the camera and he got 3 pictures. On of me on the run which was NOT flattering, one of the kids playing at the Res, and me post race:

June 18, 2009

Today, I had guest visitor Hannah. We have swimming lessons Tuesday and Thursday mornings so Hannah swam too:



Adam in his lesson, working with one of the helper boys. He looks like he's 11. He usually helps with Ariel's class:



Ariel and her class walking to the deeper pool to jump in. And by jump in, I mean the instructor gently lowers them and then bounces a few times:



Ariel coming back from the deep end:



And then we all swam together for another 90 minutes after class:



Hannah was intrigued by the noodles. And the fountains:



Ariel under the mushroom fountain:



Alex looking pensive as he sat in the sun to get warm:



Hannah checking out a ball and the pool:



So the problem with Hannah is she's two. She doesn't stay where you put her and she doesn't follow well in a little duck line. But I did manage to shower Ariel and comb her hair and get 4 kids and myself dressed without loosing anyone in the locker room.

On the way home we stopped by Taco Bell and Ariel demanded a pizza so that's what the girls had for lunch. How would Ariel even know they had pizza? They each had 2 slices and a banana.

And then it was nap time. I put Hannah down in my bed and after some mild mischief, she fell asleep:



Hannah woke up around 3:20 but was content to finish watching Madagascar with the boys and then eat more "nacks." I was out of Dee-Dee entertainment.

June 10, 2009

I must admit, so far this summer is underwhelming. I had plans for fun outings every day and so far, between my workouts and the boys' swim lessons, we haven't been doing much. The boys and I did go the the Aquarium on Monday. We took the wrong exit and also visited the capital. And who knew, Adam seems to inherited my irration fear of heights. He would not get without a foot of the balcony edge of the rotunda.

Yesterday, all three kids did their swim lessons and then spent an hour in daycare while I ran. And I ran by that red-winged blackbird again, but I was prepared and waved my hat and he didn't get within 5' of me. I also noticed that several people have outwitted that bird by going off the path and through a parking lot for that section. And then we met Ellen at Horizons and all the kids played pretty well for 90 minutes.

Today I had a chiropractor appointment and boy did I need it. I could feel I needed an adjustment the muscle testing showed both sides of my glutes were off. Gah. I probably need to go in twice a week, but I can barely afford once. Then I put the kids in daycare and went for a bike ride. I was half way up Old Stage when the nursery called and said Ariel wasn't feeling well. So I turned around. I think that's the first time I've ever had to call it quits on a hill, and I was almost up the steepest part. I did still get in almost an hour ride so it will do for today. And on the way home I went by the blackbird and he was attacking another runner. She looked very scared.

So Ariel's malady seems to be a slight fever, lethargy and extreme crankiness. We went home and she went right down for a nap.

The picture of the day is a female Broadtailed hummingbird that came to our feeder today. We saw a male on 5-29 and no activity between. Last year we had Rufous Hummingbirds but they migrate all the way up to Alaska and don't make it back down to Colorado until July. They are also agressive and will chase away the Broadtails so we'll see if we get the Broadtails to visit more.

June 4, 2009

Finally, a blog worthy day. In the morning, Ariel had her first swim lesson. She'll be going Tuesday and Thursdays with Alex and Adam (they are also doing Monday and Wednesday nights).

She sang songs:



And blew bubbles and practiced floating. She had a great time, even though it was cool and overcast. And Zach from preschool is in her class too.



After lessons, I put the kids in daycare and did a run. When I was almost back to the gym, a red winged blackbird assaulted me. Not only did it dive bomb me, but it grabbed the back of my hair. Startling, to say the least. And I *like* birds.

Next, we dined at Taco Bell. Apparently Ariel ate her first full bean burrito today, and it only took 40 minutes to eat it.

And then, we hit the Longmont Mall for the Crocs warehouse sale. There was a bit of a line:



It took us a bit over 30 minutes to get in the door. All the kids got shoes, and I realize if this was a proper blog post, I'd have pictures. Ariel got pink Sleeping Booty crocs, Alex got a regular pair in "mango" and Adam got sandals with two velco straps. Each pair was $10. Not sure if it was worth the drama, but Alex didn't have crocs for the summer yet and Adam needed sandals. Ariel, however, needs shoes about as much as her mother does.

All these activities took us to about 4:15. When we got home, Ariel was asleep in the car, and that's where I left her.

May 29, 2009

Ah, the first day of summer. I tried to pack in as much as possible. I got up early and did an easy 5 mile run, my first run since the Bolder Boulder. My only goal was to keep my heart rate under 160. And when I got home and looked at my GPS data, I saw that I ran at a 10:33 pace at a 154 bpm. To compare, last year's Bolder Boulder pace was 10:31 and while I didn't have my heart rate monitor yet, I can say that my heart rate was in the bladder leaking range. So yay, finally some tangible running progress.

Next, I had a chiroprator appointment. And since it was the first day of summer and we had practically the whole day, we stopped by the park we sometimes killed a few minutes at. It's a weird little park, it only has 4 pieces of equipment, but the kids were fine for an hour. Ariel bossed around played with a 2 year old by Julian (not pictured).



And Alex and Adam did their goat impersonations and sat on the big rock:



Next, we had a mini-lunch of Jamba Juice and bagels before heading over the the gym. For the summer, I got a family membership (including Ariel) so the kids can be in 2 hours of daycare a day. I got them situated and then did a master's swim class. The master's classes in Boulder are pretty intense, full of ex-collegiant swimmers and professional triathletes. I was the fastest in the slow lane but I held my own and could do the 3000 yard workout. Again, a pretty big improvement from last year.

And after all that, I went home to prepare Adam's family birthday party dinner.

May 28, 2009

Last day of school for the boys today. Here's Alex on the first day:



And his last day of first grade:





And Adam at the beginning of the year:



And on his last day of preschool:





And his last day of riding to school with Daddy:



Ariel and I spent the morning on a bike ride. I tried to push the envelope and went 75 minutes, about 20 over what we've been doing. Apparently that is too long. I think she was finally tiring of the whole thing, so it's good that summer's here and this may have been our last ride. We did a different loop today and saw lots of prairie dogs.

When we got back, Ariel had a playdate with Peyton.