Melissa, Ryan, Keira and Soren: Make-Up Week & Tri Bike!

Well, this week was pretty action packed. It seemed like a "make up week" for that week where we had a ton to do and it all got cancelled. Now it was time for all those rainchecks to be cashed in.

On Monday, we started the week with Keira's parent-teacher conferences. We got in a quick workout before heading over to school. Keira is progressing well, and her teachers did not seem concerned that we would be pulling her out early to move without placing her in a school in KY. After conferences, we headed home and had a quick lunch. Keira was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Lorelai, who would be coming over to play this afternoon. Initially, Keira was supposed to play at Lorelai's this afternoon, but it ended up that she played here. It created a little bit of drama for Keira, but she is learning about flexibility, and we have yet another playdate planned in the future for her to be able to play at Lorelai's.

I had some excitement today too, as today was the day for getting fit for my new tri bike and being able to take it home. We met Ryan out at Two Wheel Tango so that he could keep Keira and Soren occupied while I got fit on my bike. They had fun browsing the Specialized catalog for a while.

It took a couple hours, so Ryan did take Keira and Soren to Chipotle, which was around the corner AND we had a buy one get one free coupon that had to be used this week, so it worked out perfectly. They brought me my burrito while they were making the final adjustments, and then I was able to take it home! Yea! It is the Trek Speed Concept 7.0 WSD. I can't wait to get it on the road.

Tuesday was probably our most relaxed day. We did a few errands and hit the gym. I picked up a foam roller from running fit, and Keira had fun rolling her whole body on it. For her, it was not the torture device that it can be.

Soren also got a balloon from Busch's. Keira amazingly did not want one! The chair is so that Soren can climb up to reach his balloon once it has reached the ceiling.

Kent and Valerie came over this evening to see my bike. I can't wait for spring to be able to ride it!

Wednesday was another big fun day. While Keira was at school, Cristina had her last brick class at the gym with me. We swam a bit beforehand for a whole mini tri. I picked up Keira, and the Christina, Charlotte and Molly came over for PB&J and cookies. The girls had a blast playing with each other, and Keira was so happy to have Charlotte to play dress up with her. Soren does not play dress up, even with his old Halloween costumes that are boyish. At one point, all three girls were tucked into Keira's bed. It was pretty cute, but short lived, so no picture of everyone. Pretending to sleep was apparently a theme this week at our house.

Shortly after they left, Nana stopped by for a quick visit. They had been in Utah skiing until Monday night. The weather looked a lot nicer than it really was. Since I had already completed a spin class today, I had no issue when Ryan wanted to ride outside. He only made it about 2.5 miles before calling it a day, as it was really cold for riding.

Thursday was unexpectedly a really fun day. We got invited to a last minute birthday party for Ava at Chuck E Cheese for Thursday afternoon. Keira and Soren had never been there before. We were initially going to have Keira go to Lorelai's today, but she was also invited to the birthday party, so we rescheduled with her again. Today was my long weekday run day, 9 miles, so we had to be at the gym when it opened to get it done before the party at 11. Thankfully, the gym is across the street from Chuck E Cheese. It probably would have been just as fast to walk there was to get everyone in and out of the car to drive there. Keira and Soren had a blast playing games. Neither of them really got Skee Ball, which was always my favorite going there as a child. They did really like this game where you knocked over ducks and the various rides. Soren earned a lot of tickets with the duck game, and I did a couple games of Skee Ball (I had to finish Keira and Soren's since they couldn't really do it), so we had enough tickets to get each a piece of candy, and a ring for Keira, and a spider for Soren. Soren was not afraid of Chuck E, and Keira, while afraid, held it together in front of her friends.

Trying Skee Ball:

Picking Prizes:

Their loot!

A few of the girls are missing from this photo. Of course, Keira and Soren aren't looking.

Once we got home and settled, Cristina stopped by to check out my bike. It was fun to have a good visit with her and be relaxed instead working out. I just can't wait to ride with her!

Friday was another busy day, but it could have been busier. Cristina and I had hoped to swim together to do intervals, but we had a nasty ice storm last night and her boys' school was on a 2 hour delay, so there wouldn't be time for her to get down before Soren's library class, and we were supposed to go to Family Swim Night together anyway, so cutting out some pool time wasn't really a bad thing for my skin. I did do a quick ladder workout in the pool on my own, and then took Soren to the library. I could tell he was getting tired with everything we had done this week, and he was pretty clingy during the class. He did enjoy digging for treasure, but wanted to sit on my lap or be held for the rest of the time.

After picking Keira up from school, we went to Brendan's birthday party. This party had also been rescheduled from our busy week that wasn't because Brendan was sick. The party was at Kids Gotta Play, a playground showroom/store. Keira had fun and was pretty independent. Soren was clingy still and was tired and wanted to go home, but did warm up and play. Once lunch was served, he did a lot better.

As we were leaving, Soren really enjoyed having water pouring on top of his head. Yea for DWR! His upper body was totally dry, but his pants got soaked.

The kids were really looking forward to swimming tonight, but Cristina called to say she wasn't able to go anymore due to a sick child. Keira and Soren were pretty bummed, but after the week they had, a relaxing evening at home was needed. Ryan and I made chicken fajitas and we stayed in for the evening.

Saturday morning we woke up to rain. Ryan pulled the carseats from his truck to keep his bike in it instead of on it. The kids love those carseats, and were content to sit buckled inside them. Fabulous for me! I could get cleaned up knowing they weren't bothering anything or each other.

I was not excited about the rain because I had plans to run 12 miles outside with Cristina, Monica, and her husband Mark for the afternoon. Ryan was already planning to ride indoors, so his plans were not affected. I had run 12 inside before, so I was really not wanting to do it in the COLD rain. Thankfully, as I drove over to Kensington, the rain turned to snow. I don't typically look forward to snow in March, but with the low temps, it was much easier to tolerate than rain. We were dressed appropriatly and ran it at a brisk 8:22 pace, which was only 12 seconds slower OVERALL for my race pace. I am feeling pretty confident, as I have been pushing really hard and I just know once I am well rested I should be able to put down a pretty quick marathon. I have been living in my CEP socks, though, and really want another pair. I feel like between those, my Compex, and my foam roller, I am taking really good care of myself. I have one more 20 miler before my taper.
After my run, we hit Costco to look at laptops to take to KY, and then tried out the new Tony Sacco's coal fired pizza in the Town Center. It was really good pizza. I loved their garlic knots. It was a bit difficult for the kids to eat, since it had to be cut, but they enjoyed it and we only had 2 pieces left to take home. The snow had really picked up, and Keira enjoyed watching it out the window.

On Sunday, we tried to get Keira and Soren to sleep in, but it didn't really work. We did get Soren to take a nap in the late morning before church, and I caught up on some sleep then. Both Keira and Soren did pretty well during the sacrament meeting; they were just talkative, but neither got upset. Keira did ask to go home at one point, because she was hungry and did not want the snack I had brought. We had breakfast for dinner tonight at Keira's request when we got home. The kids had an early bedtime tonight because they were just worn out and bickering. Hopefully they won't wake up extra early tomorrow. I made the Kodiak Cakes Big Bear Brownies for dessert tonight that Linda brought us from Utah. For a whole grain brownie, they were very good and had a nice fudgy flavor. They were much better than the whole grain brownies I purchased from Better Health. They did have a lot more fat in them, even with the reduced fat directions, but that is probably why they were better tasting.