More of the Usual

This week wasn't very extraordinary, we had our usual fun that consisted of hanging out at our playground, other playgrounds, as well as the typical bike riding and running. We did have Keira celebrate her birthday about a month early at school, since school will be out by the time it really comes around.

On Monday, we didn't do much. We played outside before it started to rain. I made cookies for Keira to take to school as her birthday treat.


On Tuesday, Keira brought in her treat to school. She was pretty excited about it, and they made her a little crown. She was funny, because she didn't get a pink cookie while at school, and specifically asked if there were any pink ones left over. I was really glad I saved one for her. They made a cute birthday crown for her to wear, but she wouldn't wear it at home. She also made fish projects at school.





On Wednesday, we had a crazy evening, because it was the first nice day in a while where riding was possible for both of us. Nana came over to watch Keira and Soren so I could get in a road bike ride at Island Lake. I had planned to ride one lap on my own, and one lap with the TIA group. Unfortunately, I got stuck in terrible traffic on 96. Later, I learned there had been a chemical spill on the freeway that had it closed not far from the park. Thankfully (I thought), I exited the freeway as soon as it started backing up, and started to take Grand River. Grand River turned out to be a mess as well. I was just sitting in traffic, crawling along, and I was running out of time to get in my lap before the group started. I was super frustrated when I noticed that I was in front of our former RS President's subdivision, AND that there was a bike path on the side of the road that I believed connected right into IL. I did a quick turn around, stashed my car after a quick hello, and then road the rest of the way into the park, on the nice traffic-free bike path. It was just before 5, so I was considering waiting on the group, but ran into Cristina's friend Julie, who I had ridden with the previous week, and we took off early, just to save time. I got in 18 miles, including the extra miles to and from Jan's house. I was also able to make it home in time to head out to Maybury with Ryan. Keira brought her bike, and rode as well. We had a great time, and things worked out really well.

Soren was amazed at how high Daddy could swing!


Thursday was very warm. Keira learned about the beach, and did another fish project. Soren kept trying to eat this project:


After school, we went to the Sports Park with two of Keira's classmates, Madison and Angela. Angela didn't stay that long, but Madison didn't leave until we did.





On Friday, it was wet again. We met up with Nana at the mall for some indoor fun.




That evening, it poured! We hit the REI anniversary sale, and it rained so hard while we were there, and we got rained on a bit when we went to Noodles for dinner.

On Saturday, Ryan was able to do his ride. We were pretty unsure if it would happen, but about a dozen riders showed up, and they did their full route. It was pretty wet at times, but he was glad he rode. While he was gone, Keira found a worm on the sidewalk. I was really surprised that she wasn't afraid of it, but she just picked it up and watched it squirm around. She was very curious about which end was the front.


Keira had complained about her ears bothering her, so we were able to get an appointment with her doctor, and it took forever to learn that Keira did indeed have a mild ear infection. After that, I was finally able to get in my run.
Soren is so funny. He has a great sense of humor, and is always doing things to make us laugh. Everything is a phone. After dinner, he started to talk on his "foot phone". He will hold up anything (bread, shoe, plate, macaroni and cheese box, you name it) to his head, and say, "Hello" listen, and then say"Bye", and laugh.

After dinner, we went to Guernsey's Dairy for some real ice cream. Soren didn't eat any, again. We enjoyed playing outside. Soren is getting really good at picking out cars, and was able to correctly identify cars as being Nana's and Grandma and Grandpas while we were eating.


On Sunday, we attended Stake Conference, so I got a break from the stress of running Primary, and instead had to keep Keira and Soren entertained for 2 hours instead of 70 minutes. They were great for about those first 70 minutes, and then it was constantly in and out of the chapel and building. After that, we went over to Nana and Papa's for lunch. Soren really enjoyed the creme brulee for dessert, and had a huge tantrum when he learned it was all gone.


Up for next week, we have my big Olympic Tri, as well as Memorial Day weekend festivities. I will be taking it easy this week on my training to rest up for my race.

Domino's Farms Field Trip

This week, Keira had a field trip to Domino's Farms. It was probably the highlight of her week. For me, this week was full of training, and Ryan was able to have a great Saturday ride.

On Monday, we went to the Sports park with Nana. She brought cousins Lleyton and Bryn. We had some issues with the fact that the port o potties were removed while we were there, so we didn't stay as long as we normally might have. Keira and Soren enjoyed playing with their cousins and Nana.



We went to Maybury in the evening for a quick ride and run, and were happy to take advantage of the nice weather, as it quickly turned wet and cold.

On Tuesday, Keira went to school and learned about farm animals. She made a "Pig in the Mud" craft, pink pig, and a circle that she didn't explain to me. I don't think she was excited about her muddy pig, because she didn't want me to hang it up.


It was a pretty dreary wet rainy day, so we didn't do much out of the house today. I did go to the dermatologist to get my biopsy results back, and it just came back as eczema. This was a bit of a bummer, because there is no easy fix, but at least I don't have anything serious.

On Wednesday, it was dry, but cool. We were supposed to have a playdate after the gym, but that was cancelled since the ground was too wet to play outside. We hit the mall briefly instead since Keira was pretty disappointed.



By the afternoon, the roads were fairly dry, and I was able to ride my bike with Cristina, and her friend Julie, at Island lake. We did a 25 mile route that was mostly in Kensington. Cristina really pushed me, and I was hurting on the hills. I did this "big hill" for the first time too. Ryan is familiar with this hill, and I later learned it was called Tower Hill. I felt bad that Ryan didn't get to ride tonight, but with my race approaching quickly, I need to get in some major road miles.

On Thursday, we woke up to storms. This did not make me very happy, because today was Keira's field trip to Domino's Petting Farm. Fortunately, Keira didn't fight me on wearing jeans and snow boots. Also, the storms subsided as we arrived at the farm, and the rain stopped while we were in the presentation portion. Keira and Soren both enjoyed the farm, but not the weather. The goats were their favorites. I think my highlight was when the long horn came to the fence and mooed at us during the hayride. Keira and Soren looked pretty grumpy in some of the pictures, but I think they had a great time. Neither liked sitting in the hay on the hayride or getting rained on.



We met up with Nana for lunch afterwards, since Keira went from not wanting to leave to being instantly starving and ready to go. I also realized that Soren was running a temperature in the afternoon. He had slept in pretty late, and felt a little warm when he woke up, but was really warm after his nap.

On Friday, we had to cancel our postponed playdate again, due to Soren's fever. I took him into the Dr to make sure he didn't have an ear infection (which he didn't), and then Keira and Soren played outside a little bit. It was really a nice day. Keira had fun pushing Soren on the swings. She is trying to give him an under-dog.


I also completed my cake project for tonight's youth fundraiser dessert auction. I was really pleased with the way it turned out. It wasn't perfect, but it was decent for my first try with fondant. Since it was homemade fondant, it may not have been as easy to work with as the store-bought kind. Everything went well until it was time to transfer it from the counter to the cake, and it got a little wrinkly and stuck to itself because I didn't use sufficient corn starch/shortening as I rolled it up, so it didn't unroll nicely. Once I got all the decoration on, it seemed to look a lot better. The bow turned out really well, and was very easy to do.


On Saturday, Ryan had a great ride with the Wolverines. He was able to really push himself today, and show his strength. The did a route out to Brighton, and Ryan was the first of his group up Tower Hill. I took Keira and Soren to the playground in our neighborhood while he was gone.
Soren is an expert at finding planes in the air. If we are ever stranded on a island, Soren will certainly be on plane watch, according to Ryan.

When Ryan got back, it was my turn to ride. This was my last weekend to do a big, hard workout before my taper for my Olympic distance tri at Island Lake in 2 weeks. Valerie and Barb met up with me, and I rode 27 miles. We did a route that went up to the top of Tower Hill, back through Kensington, and finished with one lap of Island Lake. I finished out my workout with a 10K run. I wasn't sure how far I would run when I started, but I was feeling great after a couple miles, and was going FAST! I ended up finishing my 10K at a sub 8 minute/mile pace, which really amazed me, especially because I was on my own. It was also a huge confidence builder for me. I am feeling really ready for my race now.

Sunday was a long day for me. Soren couldn't go to nursery since he hadn't been fever free for 24 hours yet, so Ryan stayed home with him from church. I was still exhausted from yesterday, and had a baptism to attend in the afternoon. I was very glad I attended the baptism today, because it made me think about my own baptism, and how I am happy that I made the choice to join the church. It was almost exactly 8 years ago- just 2 days off. I can't believe how time flies!

Up for next week- we will hopefully have Soren get back to 100% and not have Keira get sick!

Girls Night and Happy Mother's Day

This week was a pretty fun one, with a very busy weekend. I had a lighter week from a workout standpoint as recovery from my races last week, and headed to Ohio for dinner with my college roommate/sorority sisters and to hang out with my parents.

On Monday, we hit Maybury as a family in the evening. Poor Keira, she fell asleep during my run, and stayed asleep the entire time we were at the playground.


On Tuesday, Keira had school, and studied rectangles. I had a follow up visit with the dermatologist for my eczema that afternoon. They cut out a small section to do a biopsy, and I should get the results back next week.


We also went to Maybury again today.



I made the mistake of telling Keira that we could go bike to get ice cream yesterday while Ryan was at scouts, but forgot that I had a call in for Team Compex. Keira was pretty bummed out about that tonight. The call in was very informative, and I feel confident about using the machine now. I also got my aero bars put on my bike tonight. It took a while, so I didn't really get a chance to try them out yet. I rode on the trainer for about 10 minutes to make sure I had them set alright.

On Wednesday, we went to the sports park in the morning. Soren and Keira both amused themselves for quite some time just walking on the "beam" that went around the perimeter of the park. Soren would go around until he got to a section that had some weeds growing through the mulch, and then would get agitated by them. It was pretty funny. They did enjoy the rest of the park too today.





The weather wasn't the greatest when Soren got up from his nap, but Keira was still really wanting to ride to get ice cream. It took a lot longer than I thought, and just as we arrived and got our ice cream, we got rained on. Ryan had to come and get us. Keira loves ice cream, but Soren isn't a huge fan, but he had a few bites.



Thursday was pretty low key. Keira went to school and learned about rockets and space.

Keira and Soren played outside a bit today in our yard. They love playing ring around the rosey together.



On Friday, after my workout, I drove down to my parents house. My parents were going to watch Keira and Soren while I went out to dinner with several of my sorority sisters and roommates for their annual girls weekend. Due to every one's finances in general, this was a fairly low cost low key event, which contributed to my ability to attend this year. I only attended dinner, so I could spend some time with my parents this weekend. Prior to dinner, we went over to the school closest to their house to play on the playground. Keira and Soren loved it, and there were several different structures around the school grounds.


I had dinner at BJ's Brewhouse with Lisa, Christa, Steph, Amanda, Biz, Colleen, and Elsa. It was fun to catch up and see everyone face to face, as well as get some girl time.



After dinner, Christa insisted we go to Graeters for dessert, and got no complaints. We got to meet up with my dad too, because his Lion's club was fundraising outside the Westerville location.

On Saturday, my dad and I started the morning with a tough bike ride in strong winds. We made it 25 miles, and it was so much harder than the stats showed. There was a high wind advisory in effect by the time we were done, with gusts upwards of 40mph! I was thankful for my new aero bars, because they certainly were a huge help in these high winds. After our ride, we went to the zoo to see the brand new polar bear exhibit. Sarah was able to join us too. It was a pretty miserable day to go to the zoo, but it kept the crowds under control, and we were able to see the polar bears in action. Keira and Soren had a great time, and loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa!

After the zoo, I headed back to Michigan so that I could be back for church. While I was gone, Ryan saw Ironman 2, and also had a bike ride. The wind was a challenge for him as well. He and Kent also got a blog up and running for their rides.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Keira and Soren both had handmade presents for me. Keira's came from school, and Soren's came from church.


We went to Kris and Linda's after church and had lunch with Greg and Ellyn, the cousins, and Sharon. Keira loves playing with her cousins, and had fun running all over the place with them. Soren and Lleyton also pushed their strollers everywhere. They are so cute together.



Up for this week, I have a lot more training to do, as well as I should learn some more about my skin condition. I am also blogging on the Team Compex blog. The site has been added to our links.