How Lucky How Thankful

Betty, my awesome mother-in-law, started this great tradition this year at Thanksgiving.  She left out a pad of paper, a pen and a basket.  Each of us was to write down what we were thankful for and then we would read them at the dinner table.

At the end of dinner, all the kids crowded around Papa to read the notes.  They were read one by one.  The kids tried to guess who wrote what.  Some of us fessed up, some did not.

It was CT who wrote this:

As it was read, he looked up into my mom’s eyes and gave her the sweetest smile and head nod.  It was as if to say, don’t worry Grandma, we won’t forget him.

Man jobs

Yeah…I don’t like to ask for help.  I also don’t like to ask men for help because really, I can do anything a man does (within physical reason).

I am actually on the fourth day of a toilet clog that I cannot for the life of me get out.  The questioning started out like this:  What’s in there?  Is it just poop?  Did you use a lot of toilet paper?  By day three I was asking:  What else did you put down there, a pony, a car, a stuffed animal?

Usually it kinda breaks up and then I can plunge it out no problem.  At this point in the post you are asking yourself, how does she know that?  Well people, I know that because I have a son that has clogged so many toilets in his lifetime that I can’t even count them on all my fingers and toes.

Needless to say, after another round of plunging, the snake and a conference call about “plunging procedure” for this particular toilet to Adam…we got it.

Oh yeah…the things I will not do.  Chop wood.  I tried that, with PJ watching and almost chopped my foot off.  I decided it wasn’t my thing.  And, change a flat, because really, I just don’t want to.

I am still waiting on my friend Erik.  Where the hell are you “pool boy” Erik???

Queen of the tundra

I have taken on a part time gig at the City of Lakes Loppet Foundation as their Sponsorship Coordinator for their big Loppet weekend in February as well as the Junior Olympics which they are going to host in March.  Needless to say, because of this, I have suddenly found myself on skis.

Every Tuesday night I go to a ski class.  So far it has been a bunch of dry land training, which I have no problem with.  Last night, due to the snow, I found myself on skis for the first time since I was 7.  The images of me laying in the snow crying because I was cold and frustrated all came flooding back.

With 33 years and only a pinch more patience than when I was 7, I plodded back and forth with no poles trying to get the gist of skate skiing.  At least I was laughing as I fell down instead of crying.  My plan is to complete the 33K Loppet race on February 6th.  I have a lot of work to do and honestly have no business doing it, but why the hell not?

Hey, if you ski, come on out and participate.  If you don’t come on out and watch.  There is something for everyone.

Boo!

We talked him out of putting the “dead” baby in the bag.

She WAS a pirate a day ago.  By the end of the night, she took off the wig and was saying she was Becca.

Teen wolf out on the prowl.

King of Craft Beer!  He really just wanted to drink while he tried to track the kids trick or treating, so this worked out real nice like.

Happy Halloween.

Dredging myself in chaos

Meet Murphy.

He’s our new addition.  I know, crazy right?

What the hell happened you ask?  Well, of course, there is a story and it involves drinking and doggy beer goggles.

Last Friday, the boys went off to a play-date after school and PJ went to a birthday party.  So Adam and I found ourselves with an hour to kill and decided to go to dinner, at Travial Kitchen (which, if you have not been there, RUN don’t walk…it’s great) before we picked PJ up from the birthday party.

To our great surprise, we hit happy hour while we where there and those $3 Benders went down way too easily.  In no time at all, we were off to pick PJ up at the Humane Society birthday party.

We went in, she wanted to look around, we said yes, I said I had to leave the kennels because all the doggy whining and crying was driving me crazy, PJ asked if we could look at the cats (I can do that right?  it’s not like I’m going to get another cat) and in the cat section of the Humane Society, in a little baby kennel, was Murphy.  The next thing I said was, “ohhhhhhhh, you are the cutest thing I have ever seen.”

Then we got him out of the kennel and played with him.

Then we put him on 24 hour hold.

Then we went back then next day.

And now we have a 2 month old puppy named Murphy.

Clearly, drinking and the Humane Society don’t mix!

Bring on the low Brass

I’m loud.

I have loud children.

Our house is not that peaceful place where children do puzzles.  Our house is that place where the walls are typically shaking and you can hear what’s going on inside the house out on our street corner.

So when CT came home with the very large, very loud tuba…how could I be surprised?

It’s perfect.

Time to learn the skill

We were eating dinner last night and KP had excused himself from the table.

After a few minutes we hear this call from KP coming from the bathroom (please do this next part in your best English accent), “Excuse me, could I have a wipe servant please?”

Time to hone the wiping skill!

PIKE BOYS

These two eldest sons went off to overnight camp for the first time last week.

Running in a pack for four days, sleeping in bunks, eating camp food, exploring and hang’n out with each other with no parents around…their world will never be the same.

And on to the adults

Seriously, three posts about one weekend.  Trust me, it will be short or not.

I just had to throw out the kudos to my amazing friends who also did the race last weekend.

Jon kicked in a 5th place finish.  Seriously Jon, I am expecting more from you. SHAME!

Nate, who did not really train for the sprint, took the most Swedish Award at 18th.

Jen, who travels with me each and every year to hang out and cheer me on and then get Chipotle afterward, now calls herself #27!  Woot, woot.

Becca, who kicked this bitch Athena style.  Ends up #2.  Way to take it home Becca!

Those are my homies!  Without you guys, it is just not as much fun.  Thanks for making triathlons a social event.

Then, then there are the other people in my life that I train with.  The people that I have shared large chunks of time, blisters, bitching, saddle sores and all the other stuff that comes along with all of a sudden sharing a life with random strangers that happen to become training partners.  These people also…are amazing.

These are the people I work out with MANY times a week.  And all this training, paid off for this collective group of 40 somethings.  Jackie (far right) took 3rd in her age group.  Next in line is Di, who is in my age group and if I didn’t like her so much would HATE her.  She makes me a better racer.  My one bike goal was to stay ahead of her.  She took 2nd in our age group and had the fastest bike split of ALL women, even the pros!  Next, Vicki, this was her first half ironman race and she finished with a smile on her face.  As for my coach in the back, he realized once he was home and analyzing the results that he took 3rd in his age group.

All that said, I am so lucky to have friends, team mates and a supportive family to make this ironman dream come true.

Thank you to all of you.

The hood takes it to Chisago

What do you get when you have a neighborhood of adults that spends part of their free time hanging out and drinking together and the other part of their free time doing road races, bike races, marathons and triathlons?

You get all their kids wanting to do what the adults are doing.  Racing that is…I am guessing the drinking will come later.

So here are the cast of characters who participated this year.

Dunc:  He is 3 and can ride a bike without training wheels.  He stands about 2 feet off the ground, is a touch shy and is FEARLESS.  Yeah, took 4th in his age group.  Yo Yo littlest racer.

Pete:  He’s 6 and runs so fast his legs blur.  He took 3rd in his age group two years ago and is back for more.  He held the bar high for EVERYONE and crossed it, bringing home another 3rd place finish.

KP:  Clearly looking nervous here.  We walked through the transitions so he would know where to go and when it came down to it, he was rock solid.  He took 11th in his age group.

Super Cal:  With his dark eyes and steadfast demeanor took to this race and did not stop.  Coming in 6th in his age group.  At the end, when his twin brother was sad he did not get a metal, Cal gave him his.  I know…seriously!?

PJ:  Coming in strong and looking for perfection, found this year’s race a little more difficult.  Her brother’s bike got caught on hers in the transition area, which caused a little bit of an upset to say the least.  After taking a deep breath, chucking her brother’s bike to the ground and moving past it, she took 12th in her age group.  Way to overcome baby!

Ellie:  One of PJ’s closest friends came to join the fun this year.  Her parents are amazing athletes in their own right but don’t do triathlons.  That said, without even knowing what the hell to do, Ellie kicked in a 4th place finish.  Then she got on her bike and rode another 30 miles to a camp site with her family.

CT:  Wanting nothing more than get a top 3 slot this year.  He and Sam worked hard on trying to swim through the water this year, instead of walking through the water like the majority of the kids.  I think it paid off for both of them.  CT had a good race, he worked hard, tried his best and ended up with a 5th place finish.

Sam:  As one of the veterans of the race, Sam knows the twists and turns well and is extremely skilled at navigating the process.  With a swim stroke as pretty and elegant as a swan, he swooped in to take the 10th place slot.

When it was all said and done this little amazing group of athletes cheered each other on, supported one another and had a wonderful time eating pancakes at the end of the race.

Great job Team So Ty!