Melissa, Ryan, Keira and Soren: Happy Father's Day

This week was a big week for Ryan. It was Father's Day on Sunday, and he did his first century ride of the season. This was also my first official week of marathon training, meaning I am following an actual plan that is 18 weeks long. I am using my tri training for my midweek workouts, and the long run distance as my Saturday long runs. The road to Boston starts now.

On Monday, we started the morning at the gym, where I did a pretty decent mile swim. Afterwards, we met up with Linda at JC Penny for the portraits that I already posted. Then, we went to McDonald's for lunch. Soren and Keira insisted on playing on the playground there.

That night, we went to Maybury so I could run and Ryan could ride. Ryan checked the MMBA site before going, and so we were aware that there was a chapter meeting being held this evening. Keira conked out in the stroller, so we stuck around for the first part of the meeting. We did leave early, which was probably good because Keira was very upset when she woke up that she had slept through the playground time and dinner. They were grilling up burgers at the meeting, so we were able to eat there too.

On Tuesday, we went to Valerie's house so Keira could play with Katie and Luke, as well as their cousin Grace. Everyone had a great time.

On Wednesday, I did a swim at the gym in the morning, just in case my planned open water swim for the evening fell through. Keira and Soren love playing with the bike racks outside the gym. They play in them everyday when it is not raining. Soren calls them a tunnel.

We also had Keira's 4 year check up. She is growing nicely on her own curve. She is 35.8inches tall and 29lbs. She had a ton of immunizations, and took a decent nap this afternoon.
That evening, Valerie, Julie and I did a lap of Island Lake on our bikes followed by a swim in Trout Lake. The large group swim is too early for us to make, so we had to do our own small group swim afterwards if we still wanted to ride with the group. We encountered a swimmer in trouble after our swim was over, and thankfully, we were able to talk/coach him to shore, and he was fine. It was a pretty scary situation for us all, and we were glad we were in the right place at the right time to help.

On Thursday, we didn't do much during the day. Wednesday was rough, so we stuck around and did bubbles in the yard. Soren can do them himself now, so that is great for him.

When Ryan got home, we washed the box on the truck and misted Soren. He loved it.

We also went to Maybury this evening, and Keira rode her bike a bit after I ran. Keira and Soren also got to play on the playground.

On Friday, I did a half mile swim at what I hope to be race pace. I just hope I can swim straight. I also got a few more pictures of Keira and Soren having fun outside the gym. Some things can entertain them so easily, and it also made for cute pictures.

That evening, Ryan left to go to West Branch for the Hills and Thrills Century with David and Kent. Keira, Soren and I decided to go to the pool, and then get some pizza for dinner.

On Saturday, Ryan, David, and Kent rode their first 100 mile bike ride of the season. They have 3 planned. This one was a rolling course with some decent hills at the end. They averaged over 20mph for the first 65 miles or so, and finished up with an average over 19mph. This was a good ride and worth doing again. They had a nice group of Wolverines that joined them. I spent the morning running 10 miles with Keira and Soren in the jogging stroller with Valerie B. It was pretty hot towards the end. I was glad I had packed water for the kids and Gatorade for me. Soren fell asleep. Keira got pretty bored towards the end. She was very unhappy when I started my final lap of the lake in Village Oaks instead of heading home. Fortunately, she thought my 3 laps of our own court were funny as I tried to add on the extra 1/4mile I needed to get to 10miles. Straight from the run, we met up with Valerie D at the new sprinkler/spray park in Farmington that just opened this season inside Heritage Park. Soren was all over it. He loved it. It took Keira a good while (and the pringles being gone) before she would even put her suit on. She did have a great time. They also have a nice playground there, and after Soren had finally had enough of the water- saying "no wa-wa", we got everyone changed to play there for a bit. It is so nice that Soren can communicate with us so well now. It makes it a bit harder to not give him what he wants, though, because he can ask for things pretty clearly sometimes, it is hard to say no.

Everyone was pretty tired and grubby that evening after everything we did. Ryan got home not too late, Keira and Soren were very excited to see him. I got to work on my Father's Day dessert that evening once the kids were in bed. I made lemon cheesecake using a recipe that I got from the USA Triathlon site before going to bed.

Sunday was Father's Day. Keira woke up pretty early, but then fell back asleep (as did everyone else), so we had a bit of a scramble getting to church. We didn't have time for a nice breakfast. Soren continues to refuse to go to nursery, so this could be a rough 18 months ahead of us until Sunbeams. After church, we went out to Greg and Ellyn's house for our Father's day celebration. My dad was in a pool tournament for most of the weekend, so I was only able to wish him a happy Father's Day over the phone. Keira and Soren love playing with their cousins, and enjoyed seeing Nana and Papa. The cheesecake was also a hit.