Day 170 - Edmonds Art Festival

Today was a new mini adventure for us.  The kindergarteners from Hannah's school were sining at the Edminds Art Festival.  They called them the "Kindergrads" - so sweet!  We were at home this weekend and have never been to the festival so we thought it might be fun to let her perform and then go see what there was to see.  I wouldn't call us shuttle bus people, I'm not really sure what a shuttle bus person is.  Not knowing what the parking situation would be, we took the shuttle bus.  Parking for the bus was at Edmonds Home School Resource.  I had heard of it, but didn't know where it was, turns out I have passed it a lot.  We got to the festival with plenty of time to spare, so we hung out at the kids craft area.  Soon my arms were loaded down with art projects, including a set of clay objects that we are apparently supposed to take to the clay store, like that is going to happen.  As I am writing this a week and a half later, they still have not asked me about their clay thingys, stay tuned . . .

When it was performance time, we got great seats right in the 2nd row.  Conveniently a girl who was late inserted herself into the line-up of kindergarteners, right, in front of Hannah, completely blocking her for the whole 1st song.  The performanace was very cute, it was songs that they had learned in music class. In attendance was Hannah's teacher and then pretty much the rest of the audience consisted of other kindergarten parents.  I don't think there was too much of the general public there.  Afterwards we went on a search for ice cream and looked at a few booths along the way.  It was cold and windy, but we couldn't pass up Lopez Island Ice Cream, especially since the ice cream factory store is no longer open on the island. I got in a 7 mile run, I'm officailly working on training for the Super Jock and Jill Half now. John spent some quality time up on a ladder scraping paint.

169 - Kindergarten Field Day

Hannah had Field Day at school today.  I wasn't sure how to explain Field Day to her when she asked.  I assumed it was a track and field type thing.  All I can remember from my own field days at school was getting sand in my shoes at the long jump.  Turns out, it was more like organized game stations the kids rotated through.  We got lucky with the weather - no rain and quite warm.  The weather has been cold and wet lately.  Pictured above is the shoe kick.  Hannah is toward the back in pink.  They also did the limbo, a water balloon toss, bubbles, etc.  Can't believe the school year is over next monday!  John got in a walk and I got in a run today.

Day 168 - Momma Goes Shopping

The Title 9 Warehouse Sale - my favorite sale of all time.  I've been to maybe 4 of them.  You never know when they are going to happen.  Usually a postcard announces the arrival of the sale, this year, I saw it on Facebook, since I'm a "fan" of T9 on FB.  The last one I went to was about 18 months ago and lately like when I was shopping for a bathing suit, I had been wishing the sale was coming up.  The name "Title 9" is a reference to the legislation?  in the 70s that made sports more accessible to women.  Hence, the clothing is geared toward fitness and active lifestyles.  Today was the day.  I actually went to the sale twice today.  Once, with Haley at the opening of the sale.  I knew exactly what I wanted and where on the floor to find it.  There were a few items that I can only get at this sale for the price I'm willing to pay.  I got what I needed, tried it on, and got in line to buy it before the long lines started.  These are not long lines like, "oh too bad, there are a few people in front of me and I'm going to have to sit here for 5 minutes." These are lines that can take an hour to get through and I didn't have that kind of time with kindergarten pick-up. 

After Hannah was picked up, we headed back down to the sale.  My girls were troopers.  They were rewarded with time at the playground in Magnuson Park which is right where we park for the sale.  This is a regular playground trip for us when we go to this sale.  It is a really fun playground with many different play areas for different ages of kids. 

Day 165, 166 and 167

Day 165
Swimming, meetings for both Mom and Dad, so no exercise for us.

Day 166
Grami babysat the girls in the evening, so again, no exercise for Mom and Dad.  As close as we got to together time was the 3 hours of classroom volunteering I did in Hannah's class with Haley tagging along since her preschool is done for the year.  This the was last volunteer day during a regular class (lots more volunteering coming in the next few days for end of year activities).  I haven't included my volunteering in the blog so far this year, but I am really grabbing for straws today.  The girls did get in recess time today, but then again, Hannah gets recess everyday and I haven't included that so far.  I was happy to realize this though.  I was beating myself up for not getting the girls up to at least 60 min of activity a day which is recommended by "experts".  Of course, some days like our Blake Island weekend, they do more than 60 min. When I realized that Hannah gets in at least 20 min of recess on school days and Haley gets in playground time too on her school days, I was feeling much better to add those amoutns to what I am doing with them.

Day 167
Swimming and then off to church for the Annual Business Meeting.  So, again, no exercise for Mom and Dad, this is getting old!  The girls got to spend time out on the church playground while the adults were meeting.

Day 164 - Boy Scouts, Rough Riders and Marathon Playground Session II

We got in a little time at the beach and park in the morning. A large group of boyscouts had descended upon the island the day before and the landing craft from Fort Lewis came back to pick them up. The tide was way too low, so all the scouts headed up the beach and over to the marina. It was quite a sight.  it was a rough ride back.  It took 4 hours instead of the 2 hours it had taken the day before.  Then there was a big back up at the Marina and we had to wait quite awhile before the forklift got us out of the water.  Next is the not so fun part - cleaning the boat.  We did our usual routine of the girls helping John wash the outside of the boat while I cleaned the inside.

Later that evening, we met up with Dawn, Dane, and Brooke again at the park for another 2 hour stint at the park.

Day 163 - Blake Island

It was the first nice weekend in a long time, so we decided to take our chances and head down to Blake Island State Park.  The ride down to the island which is south of Seattle was calm and smooth as glass. The marina there is almost always full, because it is a great place and close to downtown Seattle.  but we have almost always found a way to get in.  This time, we lucked out that it was an unusually low tide.  There was a spot around a corner at the backside of the dock that bigger boats couldn't get to and smaller boats probably hadn't been able to get to the hour previous.  There was just not enough water.  With some help, we hand walked out boat around another boat and got it into place.  Hooray, an island playground is ours for the weekend!  We love Blake Island, there is so much to do for all of us.  There is a great up and down nearly 4 mile trail around the island.  John and I did our tag team and took turns going around the island (me running, John walking).  This was my first run since the half marathon and it felt great, work, but great.  The kids played at the beach and playground while we exercised.  Later we shared a snowcone from the snack bar and then the girls did some rock walking along the shore.  This was great exercise for them because they really had to concentrate so they wouldn't fall in the water.  I told them it was like a giant puzzle and they needed to find the best way to get across the rocks. They were doing this for at least 30 min.

After dinner, we took the girls a little way up the trail for a walk.  It was a gorgeous sunset that night as you can see in the pic at the top.  Also, spectacular views of the mountains on all sides (Mt Baker, Cascades, Mt Rainier and the Olympics).

Day 162 - Lunch Girl and Marathon Playground Session

This has nothing to do with exercise, but I can classify it as healthy eating.  Hannah got to practice having a school lunch today. It was so cute, all those little kindergarteners paying for thier lunch, timidly picking out their food, and then carrying a gigantic tray awkwardly out to the tables.  Hannah chose a cheeseburger and chocolate milk, no surprise there, but I was shocked when she picked raw brocoli and salad as her sides.  In the end, she didn't eat much of the veggies, but I feel better about letting her buy lunch next year if she is going to make wise food choices. 

That evening, the girls met up with their good friends Dane and Brooke.  I shouldn't have been surprised that two hours flew by and it was the darkening sky and late hour (9pm) that sent us back home.  These are the kids who played at McDonald's for 4 hours straight (Day 90).  The moms got lots of time to chat.  The girls insisted on bringing along their t-ball set, so the kids played with it a little bit, though they weren't too good about not smacking each other with the bat or ball. This was not a nice warm almost summer evening, I'm still waiting for that.  It was cold out there.

Day 161 - T-Ball Time

We made the trek to ToysRUs today.  They had t-ball sets on sale.  If you'll recall, I was thinking about buying a t-ball set after Hannah's softball episode a few weeks back (Day 144).  The girls picked the pink and purple version (of course) and they also got a purple glove (on clearance of course).  As soon as we got home they dashe dout to the yard to start using it.  Hannah was able to connect with the ball right away and smacked it hard - no regrets on this purchase.  They friends Kira and Noah came over and they couldn't wait to show off their new "toy". Later that evening, the girls and I headed off to church for a baby shower and some girl bonding time.

Day 158, 159 and 160 No More Training Wheels!

Day 158
Swimming for the girls, a walk for Dad, a well deserved rest for me.  My muscle soreness is not too bad this time.

Day 159

I am told my daughter rode her bike without training wheels tonight.  I was at a meeting and didn't get to see it.  I had no idea she was going to attempt it.  Kids aren't supposed to do this when their mother is gone are they?  I'm so proud of her though and she was beaming when I got home and couldn't wait to tell me.  She even drew a picture of her riding a bike as the way to tell me her good news.  She told me how great it was and that she could go faster without the trainers.  I couldn't resist telling her that we had been trying to tell her this for months.  Oh yeah, John also went on a walk.

Day 160
Swimming for the girls and no training wheels show-off time for Hannah. 

Day 157 - Half Marathon Time

We did it!  This is my favorite pic.  This is right at the end of the race, just steps from the finish line, getting encouragement from our number one fans.  The kids and Dad, spent time at McD's playland while we were running.  It was great to be able to run a half marathon with Dawn.  We walked this same half marathon in 2007, this was the first one for both of us.  In the years in between we've gone on to run half marathons, and even a marathon for each of us. This was the first half that we RAN together.  We had great running weather and a good time catching up with each other as we ran along.  I loved it!  John got in his own half marathon of mowing when we got back to the cabin - 3 hours worth.  We enjoyed a relaxing post-race meal with our friends to end the weekend, which included another few hours of playtime for the kids.

Day 156

Still catching up on my posts, still about 2 weeks behind . . .

The Annual Gymnastics Spring Show was today.  The instructions from Teacher Renee were that their hair must be fancy with lots of hairspray, water, and gel.  I had fun french braiding the girls' hair and we even put on some make-up including purple eyeshadow.  Haley was worried that she couldn't "keep her eyes open gently" so she didn't want the eye shadow.  They would have had sparkly hair, but the nozzle was gummed up.  They both had a great performance.  It was so cute to watch and to see them smiling and doing their routines.  Their good friend Katelyn was performing too.

After the show, we took a beautiful ferry ride over to the cabin and met with our good friends who moved last summer.  The kids were so excited to see each other and they got in lots of hours of outside play in the knee high daisies.  My friend Dawn and I headed down to Port Angeles to pick up our half marathon race packets, then we enjoyed a big pasta dinner.  No turning back now!

Day 153, 154 and 155

Day 153
Girls - Swim/Jen - Run/John - Walk plus some trampoline time for the girls with the neighbors

Day 154
Last gymnastics of the session for the girls, a walk for john, purposely NO walking or running or activity of any kind for me.  It became evident last night that the tightness I've been feeling in my left calf over the last week was more than just tightness, but was the beginning of an injury.  If I can stay off my feet until the half marathon, hopefully, this won't be a factor.

Day 155
A break for all of us, cleaning house and getting ready for a jam packed weekend

Day 152 - Back to Reality

Time to go back home.  This is my least favorite day of boat trips.  Lots of cleaning and coming home to a house that also needs to be cleaned.  The girls always enjoy helping Daddy wash the boat though.  Got a great shot of the Teagan, looking super cute in the life jacket our girls once wore.  The shot below is all I could get of the Denmark sailboat mentioned in yesterday's post.  It is the one tucked behind the tug.  We were cruising out of the marina at the time.  One thing I do love about this time of year is how late it stays light.  I had plenty of time to get in a run when we got home.

Day 151 Part 2 - Hey is that sun?

John doing his best impression of a gondola guy

For a brief 15 min stint, the clouds had opened up, the sun was shining, and coats were off.  We even moved the folding chairs to the dock and brought out the snacks and magazines . . . and then it was gone. We were sure the weather was going to start improving so we got the girls dressed in their swim clothes and headed off in the dinghy to find our own private island to play on, there are a couple of state owned islands in West Sound.  We found our spot. Mom and Dad managed to get in a little relaxing and reading and Hannah and Haley did some net fishing and they actually caught some miniature fish and jelly fish.  Soon enough, the rain came in and we headed back to the marina just in time for the rain to stop.  we were rewarded with some of the most vivid rainbows I have ever seen. As the night fell, and the rain appeared to stop, we walked the kids around the docks to get out some energy.  We got to see an old sailboat that had been made in the old family ship yard in Denmark.   It was in terrible shape, so John really didn't want to see it. It was amazing to think that it had once been crafted by his relatives in Denmark.  We hadn't been out for too long before the rain began again and it was time to go to sleep.

Day 151 Part 1

Off to another side of Orcas Island.  We moved over to West Sound.  We knew it would be pretty quiet, especially since this was monday afternoon of the 3 day weekend and most vacationers would be headed home.  They advertised guest moorage and they had it, but it was much different than the "resort" that we had just moved from.  This was a utilitarian marina, more a place for islanders to keep their boats than a vacation destination.  The Evening Magazine plane flew in and out of the marina. That was the bizarre thing. The marina was desolate, but every so often, a person or two would show up and soon after a float plane buzzed and out. It would drop off people and they would just disappear.

Tobin and John had read in the boat guide that there was an island bus we could catch to take us to one of the main shopping/dinind areas on the island. This was going to be our afternoon adventure.  Our first clue that the adventure wasn't going to go quite as planned was the fact that the harbor master (who lived at the marina) knew pretty much nothing about the bus except that it existed and that we could probably flag it down up by the road.  We headed back to the boats to get ready for our adventure. Sunscreen - check, hats - check, backpacks - check, rain gear - check, baby and kid gear - check.  We made sure we got up to the road 15 min earlier than the scheduled arrival and then we waited, and waited, and waited.  We couldn't get cell reception so Tobin went to the marina office to call the bus service, the office was empty.  There were were, all dressed up and no where to go.  We were sick of waiting and thought maybe we'd head into the "center" of West Sound.  Maybe we could at least get a meal at the cafe.  So, we set off down the road.  The center of town was 4, maybe 5 buidlings.  We finally got cell reception and found out the bus does in fact run at the time we thought . . . 3 weeks from now!The Cafe?  Closed on mondays!  We disappointedly turned around and went back to the marina.  We did find some fun and interesting things on our walk though, a little duck family (or were they geese?), farm implements, a sign to Katmandu, scultupres, a grumpy 4 year old.
 
 

Day 150 - Day of the Dogs

On and off rain, outside whenever possible. I got my 12 mile run in by doing 3 round trips on my now familiar 2 mile running route. I had been worried about dogs, but didn't encounter any the day before or the 5 times I had run by the houses near the end of the road on this morning. Then, on my very last pass of the houses when I was feeling much more confident, appearing out of nowhere was a big shaggy sheepdog. It was at my side and jumping up on me before I knew what happened. I think I figured out pretty quickly it was not going to bite me, but my adrenaline shot up none the less. I stopped running, not wanting it to chase me and figured it would follow me for a house or two, get out of its comfort zone and then go back home. We passed one property, then another, then another. I started running again and it just wouldn't go home. I was still thinking it had a very large area it was used to roaming and it would eventually go home. It would run up ahead, stop, jerk back and wait for me, then it would take off again. On one over zealous pass, it knocked me off my feet and I was not happy. I kept running. At one point, I made a turn onto the public path and it lost sight of me. I could see it looking back for me and I was so tempted to keep running. I figured it would eventually find it's way home. I was now less than a mile away from the marina and I felt responsible for it. I whistled to it, and it gladly spotted me and bounded over my way. I checked it for tags and there were severl phone numbers in it. The plan now was to keep it with me until we got back to the marina. When we got closer to the marina, I would periodically call to it and it was my happy little companion. It was great at staying to the side of the road and not too far away from me. I got nervous when we started to get near people and other dogs. To the outsider it looked like my dog, but I didn't know if I'd have enough control over it if another dog got too close. It followed me all the way down the dock but refused to go down the gang plank to the boats. The people up by the dock store probably thought I was weird when it had appeared to be mine as I led it down the dock, then I just left it. I got John and the girls and started explaining the story to them. We went back up to the dock store and I started explaining to everyone that it wasn't my dog. The harbor master overheard us trying to call the owner and she pretty much took over from there. John's cell had little reception, so she called on the marina phone, left a message and told us she'd leash up the dog and keep it until the owner was found. What a relief! While we were waiting for her to find a leash, we were holdnig the dog by the collar and several people came up and asked about what kind of dog it was, people were guessing a labradoodle. The girls loved their momentary dog. It turned out that the owner flagged down Tobin and Tara when they were walking along the road and asked if they had seen the dog. As a matter of fact we have, they replied.

We had to wait quite a while before we could get outside with the girls.  Their playtime on the beach was brief and ended in a down pour.  Once they were showered up and warm, we took them up to the public path to a house with an amazing number of hummingbird houses and lots of humming birds.  Look at the pic at the top of the post, does it get much better than this?  We ran into another dog up there.  It ran out from a yard and onto the path and started to follow us.  At least this time, we could hear it's owner call for it, and it was a cute little dog, the girls loved it.  They got to walk it back to its owner. John may have gotten in another walk by himself this day.

Day 149 - The start of a rainy holiday weekend

Again, still not caught up on my posts, so I'm writing this 2 weeks later.  Maybe it will actually be short and sweet, but I doubt it!  Just for the record, for the next 4 days when we are on the boat, we are not more than 24ft away from each other.  That's togetherness in my book.  Oh yeah, we actually did interact with each other too.

Day 149 - off to the islands, the San Juans, that is.  Deer Harbor on Orcas Island was our destination.  We were meeting up with Tobin, Tara, and Teagan.  We knew we were in for a rainy weekend and we'd have to get outside pretty much anytime it wasn't raining. We got settled in and then I took off for a 4 mile run.  The girls got to go on a dinghy ride with Daddy and played some Spinge Bob UNO.  I have only taken short walks from this marina, so I wasn't sure what the running situation was going to be like. I did know there was a short public trail and a narrow, (likely no shoulder) road in and out of the marina.  I had mapped out some running distances before I left home, but still, wasn't sure what the actual road would be like?  Trafic?  Dogs?  It turned out to be fine.  From the marina through the public trail and to the end of the road was exactly 2 miles, so I just ran multiples of this stretch.  John got to go out on his own for a walk along the public path and down to the buffalo farm that had no buffalo, only cows.  We took our pj-clad girls out on a night walk on a little trail bordering the beach by the marina.  It was perfect for them, it felt like we were in the woods, yet it was short in length.  It also led down to the beach so they got to look for crabs with flashlights. It's fun to watch them explore.

Day 145, 146, 147 and 148

Day 145
End of the year MOPS Picnic today. We came as the party was winding down . . . 5 hours later we finally gave our hostess a break and went home.  The remaining 6 kids were playing so well, running all over the backyard, chasing each other, capturing bugs, climbing trees.  That's one thing you don't interrupt - kids playing well!  John probably went on a walk this day, still catching up on my posts, so can't remember now.

Day 146
Swim lessons for the girls, 3.5 mile run for mom, and probably a walk for Dad

Day 147
Gymnastics for the girls, speed workout for me.  Artwalk at Hanah's school for all of us.  Hannah loved showing off her artwork in her class and seeing her friends.  The italian sodas being served in the cafeteria were a big hit with the girls.

Day 148
Not much to speak of for togther time or exercise for most of us.  Hannah got to go to a Jump Planet party, so lots of exercise for her.  Haley got her own playdate during this time, but was just playing inside.  Mom and Dad were busy packing for the Memorial Day weekend.

Day 144 The Circle of the Softball Life

Did you feel the earth shake on this day? You probably didn't, but I sure did.  Today was the day when my daughter expressed interest in softball.  No prompting or prodding from me.  Just out of the blue, she wanted to find any softball or baseball equipment we had and go out in the back and play.  I have never even suggested this as an outside activity for her.  She has watched me play church softball, but that was over a year ago.  She knows I played when I was growing up, but I have rarely talked to her about it.  My softball team gave her a little kid glove and baseball when she was born so we found that.  I dug out my mitt and some softballs.  I have a bat I used when I was a kid, complete with my name my Dad burned into the bat.  I went to wrestle it out of my closet.   "Come on Mom, mom come outside let's play", I kept hearing from the backyard.

Now a word about me and softball.  I played starting at age 7.  It was actually T-ball (baseball) for 2 years mixed in with the boys.  My parents say I approached them about playing.  I have no recollection of that.  At age 9 I moved to softball.  I played through high school and from then on it was college rec leagues or church softball.  In my earlier years I was mostly out in the outfield.  At some point, I was moved to pitcher and that was my position from then on.

The girls and I are outside now with the equipment.  What should we do?  We start out trying to toss the ball to each other, but quickly realize that this isn't going to work.  The mitt is small and awkward on Hannah, it is too big and awkward for Haley.  We decide the softball is too big for them to safely catch in the mitt and go for the baseball.  I give the girls some instruction on throwing, turn to the side, take a step, throw over hand.  Haley has some nice throws but gets confused about the stepping forward thing.  The sun was low in the horizon and shining right in my eyes, I can't see the ball coming and I'm not sure where it is going to end up, they are having trouble catching too.  Maybe we should try the bat . . . more akwardness.  How do you describe to someone who has never hit a baseball, how to hold the bat let alone make contact with the ball.  All these terms come flooding into my head shoulders back, elbows up, choke up, keep your eye on the ball, swing level.  I can see I'm starting to overwhelm them with details.  OK, let's let them just try.  Hooray, Hannah hits the ball a few times and we're all jumping up and down excitedly - nice swing.  Haley's job is to retrieve the ball and throw it back, great strong throws.  Daddy comes home. We take turns lobbing the ball to them.  Hannah's luck changes and neither of us can get the ball to her consistenly enough for her to hit it anymore, though we both keep insisting that we are the one parent who can lob it correctly.  I decide we'll need to go out and buy a T-ball set if we want to do this in the future.  Next, it's turn for Hannah to try pitching and Haley gets to hit with some help from Daddy. Will softball turn into a passion for them as it was for me?  Will they be any good at it?  Who knows.  For the next few days, Hannah asks, why can't we go out and play softball again - sweet!

Day 142 and 143

Day 142
John was still away camping until the afternoon.  He may or may not have gotten a walk in, his exercise may have been washing the cars or mowing. It was too long ago, I can't remember now.  I gotta get better at keeping up my blogging.  The end of the school year activities are killing me in terms of taking time away from other things and scattering my already scattered brain.  I was good for 4 miles.  We took the girls to a playground in the evening to let them run around.  I had to check the time stamp email on a DVD rental return to remember this.  Well, I guess I really didn't have to check it, but I'm a details girl and I wanted to double check.  The return place was on the way to the park . . .

Day 143
I'm pretty sure I deliberately got us all out for a bike ride down to the field.  The girls on the bikes, that is, John and I walking along side.  I wanted to make sure we got our exercise on before the series finale of Lost started.  I did a 13.1 mile run that morning.