Day 213, 214, and 215

Day 213 - We spent most of the day (all of us) on the big boat loading on our provisions and getting things setup for our trip later in the month.  We also shopped for new life jackets at West Matrine and the REI flagship store in downtown Seattle.  REI has a kids play area, so the kids got to hang out there for awhile.  We also got dinner at World Wrapps inside REI.  A World Wrapps (not this one) was the site of our 1st official casual date.  I got in a 3 mile run when we got home - I love summer and late sunsets!

Day 214 - The girls had a 3 hour playdate at Kira's house and got to go biking around the neighborhood with Daddy on the evening.

Day 215 - We reciprocated the playdate today and had Kira over to our house.  Tonight they went biking with mom after mom got in a 5 mile run.

Day 209 and 210

Day 209 - Last day of swim lessons.  Hannah moves up to the next level, side breathers and Haley gets to stay in Turtles.  The girls likely won't take lessons again until next Sping.  Hoepfully they will get to practice their new skills while we are on vacation.  They got to celebrate the last day of the session by getting popcorn after lessons and playing on the play structure.  They just discovered that they are allowed to play on the structure just today (after 3 years of taking lessons here!).  Of course I knew it was there, I just didn't divulge the information. And frinakly, I was never sure if it was open to the public, turns out that it is.  John kept on with the painting, so I accompanied the girls on a bike ride around the neighborhood. Now that Hannah is off training wheels and Haley is stronger on her bike, it is tough to keep up with them even when I am walking fast.  I'm happy to have the workout.  I had a nice time hanging out with them, they were very chatty.  Truth be told, I had taken my iPod with me, but I never did get to listen to more than a minute worth of a podcast since I stopped it everytime they talked to me, I didn't mind.

Day 210 - Recess Monkey again today! We saw them at Silver Lake which is where we first saw them last summer.  The kids played at the adjacent playground for the entire concert except for a brief stint in the Recess Monkey conga line during the monkey bar song.  More painting for John, a 10 mile run for me, and a little bit of bike riding for Hannah on our street.  I ran on the Burke Gilman, but under estimated when I would stop running and didn't get back to my car until near dark.  Note to self - start run earlier next time! The girls had wanted to repeat last night's twilight bike ride around the neighborhood, but I didn't get back in time and I'm feeling slightly guilty. 

I am officially completely up to date on my blog . . . just in time to get completely backlogged again!

Day 196, 197 and 198

Day 196 - An full afternoon of swimming for the girls at a friend's house.  John has started the fun, fun project of repainting house.  This becomes his nearly daily activity for the next couple of weeks.

Day 197 - Neighborhood street play and bicycling for the girls, a walk for John, and a hill workout run for me.  What else would we do on a warm summer evening?

Day 198 - A repeat of Day 197, except for house cleaning/decluttering instead of running for me.  A birthday party for all of us in the afternoon.  It is a rare occassion when my girls are the oldest at a party.  This one was for a sweet 2 year old.  The girls managed to get in a little running around with the 2 and under crowd.

Day 193 and 194

Day 193 - Finally, a day with not much to write about. The kids had playtime with friends while the moms chatted and back to swim lessons. I got in a 3 mile run.

Day 194 - We spent the morning at Country Village catching up with old friends.  The girls enjoyed playtime outside in a playhouse, a playground, and at the duck pond.  There are vending machines for duck food so you don't have to feel guilty for feeding the ducks. The girls rode bikes on our street in the evening.

Day 186 and 187 Fresno and San Fran

Day 186 - We were fortunate to have time to drive down to Fresno and visit our friends, the Moates, who moved down to Fresno last year.  The kids were so excited to get to see Dane and Brooke again.  We got some extra driving time through the farm "backroads" since we failed to follow the instructions of our GPS.  It was a nice change of scenery and a fun detour and only ended up adding a mile or two to the trip.  There were thousands and thousands of trees, olive and/or almond was my best guess.  Fresno brough us the high heat we were looking for.  The kids pretty much lived in the pool and the adults pretty much lived on the shaded porch complete with a mister.  It was so comfortable with the mister, but we didn't realize how great it was until we occassionally stepped into the sunshine and realized how flaming hot it was outside.  We had a relaxing time to just sit around and talk, it was so so fun.  Eventually everyone took a dip in the pool, even the adults.  I did some laps to get in a little workout.  I practiced some freestyle strokes, something I am sure I looked like a gomer doing.  I wanted to test the waters so to speak and see if I could swim this way in case I do actually try a triathalon some day.  This was a great place to "practice". It seems so intimidating showing up at a public pool and jump in there with those people who have been swimming laps for years.  Later in the evening, the kids got treated to a pinata and a bicyle ride around the neighborhood.  They decided to all sleep in Dane's room, which didn't last too long.  It was cute to see them gathered around a book to read for themselves before bedtime.

Day 187 - The kids got in more swim time in the morning and I did some laps to tire myself out. Eventually, we had to get back on the road and the kids were so sad.  We drove to San Francisco and visited Uncle Bob on the way home.  He wasn't in his room when we got there.  Fortunately, we found a park just a block away where we were able to burn some time.  There was a really cool sculpture in the park (below).  Most of the anatomical parts of the body were featured on the sculpture and all with some metal part that represented the body part perfectly, even muscles, rubs, strands of hair, etc.  Uncle Bob had just moved into a new place the day before, so we checked out his new digs and took him out to dinner.

Day 178, 179, 180 and 181

Nothing too eventful for the next few days.  Mom and Da were no doubt busy preparing for our vacation later in the week.

Day 178 - my notes say "bike" so I apparently that's what we did with the kids.  I got in an 8 mile run early that morning before church. There was probably some car washing going on too since we were getting ready to leave on vacation.

Day 179 - First day of VBS at church.  The kids got some playtime on the church playground after VBS for the staff lunch.  A new session of swim lessons started today. 

Day 180 - VBS and playground time during lunch.  Later we had a family birthday celebration on Jim and Karen's boat for John and our niece.  The kids got some quality time in with their cousins.  Noting activie to speak of, the entertainment was mostly of the electronic sort.

Day 181 - VBS, then a Kindergarten get together at Edmonds City Park.  One mom emailed us all to ask if it was too early for a reunion, I guess not, because a bunch of us showed up and stayed for a couple of hours.  It was so fun to see the kids tackling each other excitedly and it was great to hang out with the moms. Swim lessons, then packing packing packing and more packing (until 3 am for me!).

Day 176

Met friends at Brier Library for a wonderful story telling session.  The librarian is great there.  This time he even sang the book - amazing.  It was the 4th day in a row since school ended that Hannah and Katelyn got to hang out together.  I had to do an errand out in Redmond.  To reward the girls for being good little shoppers, they got to get a snack and a little playtime at what looked to be a brand new McDonalds Playland in Redmond. The playtime was not our usual hours long marathon.  This trip would have been a short one anyway since we didn't know anyone else there.  The girl dripping pee from her legs and feet as she came down out of the play structure was plenty of motivation to cut this trip short!  Later in the evening, the girls got in plenty of street play with the neighbor kids including T-ball and bikes.

Day 173 - Summer Vacation

Summer vacation was off to a busy start.  We met up with MOPS friends at Edmonds City Park. The girls got in at least 3 hours of play time there.  We ran into one of Hannah's classmates.  They were so excited to see each other like the whole summer had already passed, not just 24 hrs!  Later that day the girls rode their bikes on our street.  Daddy had an active evening, with a walk, mowing the lawn and scraping paint of fthe side of the house. The girls and I spent the evening at a baby shower at church.  It's fun to have an all girls outing.  These days, they are the only kids who come to the showers so they get to retrieve the gifts for the mom to be. It's a fun tradition for them. 

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 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.

Day 137, 138, 139, 140, and 141

Day 137
Swimming for the girls, a walk for John and mom's night out for me.

Day 138
Can't say that I can remember anything together or active for us. It was my last MOPS meeting for the year, so I probably relaxed when we got home.  Moms night out for me (yes, again) so John couldn't get in his workout.

Day 139
Swimming for the girls, 6 mile run for me. Today we picked up our 2nd CSA box of produce from Full Circle Farm.  I'm hoping this will lead to the injestion of more fruits and vegetables for all of us.  It doesn't hurt that they are organic, in season, and locally produced.  Hannah and I read an entire chapter book before bed since it was due the next day . . . Molly the Goldfish Fairy, if you must know.

Day 140
Gymnastics for the girls, speed workout for me, walk for John.  We went together to Open House at Haley's preschool.  She was so excited to have us there and show us her classroom and art work.  On the way home we stopped at Costco to shop for our upcoming boat trip.  Fluffy gauzy ruffly colors beckoned me and the girls from across the warehouse . . petticoat skirts!  They were a bargain and a must have.  This has nothing to do with exercise I suppose, but it may spark some spontaneous dancing when they are worn.  In the morning I watched a neighbor's child so she could go on a run.  If I can help another mom get out there and exercise, I'm all over it.

Day 141
Only time (and the weather) will tell . . . I'm finally updating this, only 2+ weeks later.  I do recall that we got outside, I seem to recall biking around the neighborhood.  John left to go camping that evening, but I think he may have even walked down to the field with us before he left or did I go with the girls by myself?  I don't know, but what I do know is I was proud we did get outside that evening because it was threatening rain.

Day 131, 132, 133, and 134

Day 131
I think the girls got in playtime out on the street with the neighbor kids while Daddy was outside with them.  I can't say for sure, I was out shopping for thank you gifts.  It's all a blur, this week, the next two weeks.  Pretty much every "group" we belong to connected with church and preschool is ending in the next two weeks.  This means lots of meetings, thank yous to buy, write, and distribute and general details to keep up with.

Speaking of the shopping trip, I got suckered/trapped into listening to a live infomercial in Fred Meyer.  15 minutes of my prescious time - gone!  They tricked me and several others by annoucing over the loud speaker that free gifts were being given out to any adult who came to a certain part of the store.  I would have never fallen for this kind of thing, but it is the Founder's Day Sale this week so the store has super good deals.  It is completely plausible that that they would be giving away free gifts and the annoucer, which I assumed was the store manager, mentioned this was for Founders Day. I totally thought this was something the store was doing as a customer appreciation thing and I was smugly thinking how lucky I was to be one of a handful of people at the store at 9:45pm.  They are rewarding us, I thought.  Turns out it was the Euro Clean guy who was selling Mr Sticky lint removers!  Umm, Euro Clean man, how is it that you are claiming you have this break through new lint remover that no one else makes, yet I have the same lint remover in my home and I got it for free somewhere 20 some odd years ago?

Day 132
You won't have to hear me complain about wednesdays and trying to get in some family time on Pioneer Club nights.  We're done for the summer, so hopefully wednesdays can now be family exercise evenings.  The girls got in their swimming as usual today and I got in a 5 mile run.

Day 133
Girls and gymnastcs, a walk and speed workout for mom, a walk for Dad.  Playground time for Hannah.  Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Day 134
It's Girl's Night in our home.  Daddy has a Guy's Movie Night.  The girls were crushed last week when we were supposed to have a Girl's Night and it fell through.  They told John he ruined Girl's Night. We were able to get some neighborhood biking and hide and seek done before he left 40 min.

Day 101, 102, 103, 104, and 105

Finally - I'm caught up on all my posts!

Day 101
I was still sick, so no long run for me.  Since I was feeling better in the eveing, we went on a breif night walk 15 min.

Day 102
The girls started swim classes, they've had a break from swimming classes since last august. The classes include 30 min of instruction and then another 15 min of free play.  They were so tired when they got home, this is going to be a great way for them to get some exercise.  Dad went on a walk, mom was still recovering.

Day 103
A walk for Dad and then we followed the girls while they biked around the the neighborhood.

Day 104
Swim class - finally some activity for a wednesday.  At long last, I'm feeling better and I got in my long run so still hanging in there with the training schedule.  A beautiful sunny spring day on the Burke Gilman trail.

Day 105
Gymnastics for the girls, a walk in Edmonds for mom (Haley in stroller), and Dad got in his loop walk too.

Day 97, 98, and 99 - Getting closer . . .

Day 97
Church night. 4 mile run for mom.

Day 98
Gymnastics for the girls, track workout for mom, Dad got the short end of the stick the girls were asleep when he got home and I had to rush out for a meeting. He had been hoping to go out for a walk.

Day 99
First official friend sleepover for Hannah and Katelyn. We took the girls bike riding to the field. Hannah and Katelyn kept switching bikes and kept insisting the bike they didn’t have was the one that worked better or was faster. We kept telling them how tired they would be and how easy it was going to be for them to fall asleep, hoping these subliminal messages would take effect, not so much. Dad got in his walking loop. Felt so good to have all of us back out there together and was fun to have someone else join us and benefit as well. 45 min.

Day 71, 72, and 73

Day 71
Soccer in the backyard, 15 min.

Day 72
Tag team again.  We went down to the Burke Gilman Trail, for the 1st 30 min I ran 3 miles, John pushed the jogger for Haley and Hannah rode her bike, they made it about 1.5 miles.  When I was done, the girls played on the playground for abot 30 min while John went out for his walk. 

Day 73
Everyone did their own thing for active time.  Me - 5 miles, my 1st long run of my half marathon training.  John got to play with the chain saw tackling a stubborn shrub that wouldn't even come out of the ground when it was attached to a pick-up.  The girls got trampoline time at the neighbor's.  Our fun things together today were planting wheat grass for an Easter decoration, adding ingredients for Day 5 of the Amish Friendship bread and using our ice cream make to make honey gelato.

Day 64 and 65

Day 64 - bike/trike ride around the neighborhood 20 min.  After that,  a trip to Dairy Queen to redeem a gift card.  We seem to be starting a pattern of treat runs to "cancel" out our active time!

Day 65 - what a beautiful sunny day.  We had a surprise outing to Gas Works Park - it was a surprise even to me!  I was on the way to pick up Hannah from school and the radio station I was listening to (KIRO 97.3 FM) was having a promotion at Ivar's Salmon House.  If you drove there and showed them that the 1st preset on your car radio was their station, every passenger in your car got a free clam chowder and they each carload got a prize envelope.  My 1st preset is in fact KIRO, and we didn't have anything pressing to get home to so we headed down to Seattle.  We got our clam chowder and our envelope.  We did "win" a free brunch at Ivar's but it was only for 1 person, a lot of good that does us.  Not sure if we'll redeem it or not since we'll have to spend money to get the "free" brunch.  Gas Works Park was nearby, so we headed there to eat our clam chowder.  The girls have been wanting to go there since we see it a lot when we're out on Lake Union.  Hannah was disappointed to learn that she could not climb on all the old gas works structures.  I remember being able to do this years ago.  We did lots of walking around exploring the park, I forgot how big it actually is, but not much activity beyond that.  From the park we could see Lake Union Dry Dock where we happened to spot a ship that used to belong to John's company, that was fun for the girls. In fact, John had just been down at that dry dock right before we got to the park.  So, he wasn't with us for this adventure, but we thought about him.  This will be a fun memory for the girls.  1 hour (at the park) about 2.5 hours detour from our usual routine but it was worth it!  Car washing with Daddy when he got home, that's good for another 20 min.

Day 26

We actually got out "early" this evening.  There was even a shred or two of sunlight left at 5:30pm.  The girls went bike riding around the neighborhood and we had a friendly game of tag as well.  As usual, us parents got exercise pushing the girls up hills and sprinting down hills to catch up with them.  Hannah took a big tumble off the sidewalk and into someone's yard because her training wheels got caught.  On the way back home she took a tumble at the exact same spot, although we think this one was on purpose, though she swears it wasn't.  We have been trying to convince her for weeks that she is ready to take the wheels off, she is still too nervous, although at the end of our walk, she was sounding more convinced.  45 min.

You would have thought Normal Rockwell visited our house this afternoon when the girls and I were baking chocolate chip cookies.  It was just as you would imagine, fun family time together, music in the background, every helping and getting along. Today's cookie baking and bike riding will have to carry us through tomorrow when family time will be scare.

Day 19

I was proud of us, it was still early evening and we were ready to head out on a bike ride. We did get outside, but not until almost an hour later. I can't complain about the time in between though, it was definitely together time. Daddy-daughter rough housing together time. The kind of play that rarely occurs when it is just mommy and the girls. We finally got outside and the temperature felt so mild, like April or May. There was a fine mist in the air when we started out and midway through the drops started getting larger and larger and larger, I thought we'd be soaked by the time we got back but it eased up a bit. The exercise for us parents is keeping up with the girls on the downhill sections and the parent "lucky" enough to help our youngest gets pretty much non-stop pushing with a bent over back because the bike is so low to the ground. I can't wait until they are old enough to ride freely without training wheels and I can't wait until it is still daylight at 8 pm. 25 min.

Day 10

Just got back from an outing to a nearby elementary school. The girls rode their bikes and the parents walked. The girls enjoyed some playtime at the school's playground. The school is about 1 mile away and we have to be on the shoulder of a busy road to get there. So it was not the easiest bike route we could have chosen, but it was fun because it was a stretch for all of us. The girls have never ridden their bikes that far and I wasn't sure if we were going to get there and then have the youngest decide she needed to be pushed all the way back. I also wasn't sure if the parents would have the patience to take the girls that far. It can get difficult fast if they refuse to pedal and want to be pushed. It will be nice when they are both off of training wheels and zooming around fast enough that I can run along side them. There were definitely moments of this with Hannah on the downhill sections. It did help that the way home was more down hill than not as well. 1hr 30 min.

Day 1

Today was easy, the deck was stacked, I confess. We had already gone out for a walk before I started the blog. To our credit, we did venture out in the cold, windy, rainy late afternoon. Kids on bikes, parents on foot. Only one spill off the bike for the youngest child. 30 min.