Washington Sprint Triathlon

Triathlon number two of the summer was last weekend.  The Washington Sprint Tri, which was held about 45 miles north of here in little Washington, in and along the Pamlico River.  It was a great day and a lot of fun!  A couple of months ago, I managed to convince my good friend McKenzie that she needed to join me for this.  Kenzie is a natural athlete, but it took a little convincing.  I think she had a blast and I'm pretty sure she is hooked now.  I'm so glad I had a buddy to do this one with.

It was fun having Peyton and Davis there to cheer us on.  Kenzie and I unknowingly were twinners with the same outfit. 

Remember my last triathlon??  I think it was pretty foolish bold of me to sign up for an open water swim after that freak out.  But I did a lot of swimming over the past two months and I really felt like I was ready for this.  It was a 750 meter swim and I regularly swim over a mile in the pool without stopping ...

These three pictures pretty much illustrate how I was feeling before the swim.  You can see me getting progressively more nervous.  I think I said a prayer or two that I wouldn't drown. 

Good luck hugs...

And here's Kenzie coming out of the water.  She did great!

And here I am after my swim.  I am smiling, but there wasn't anything pretty about it!  It was slow and painful.  I really would like to do a few more tris next year, but I will need to practice more open water swimming before I get out there again. 

Out of the water and in transition

Out on the bike.  Definitely my favorite part of the triathlon.  That might seem surprising given my history as a runner, but honestly the bike is just the most fun.  I rode really fast and I passed a lot of people.  This bike leg was 13 miles. 

And finally, out on the run, a 5K.  By the time we got out there, the heat index was up there in the high 90s.  The end of July in North Carolina is just going to be hot - there's no getting around it.

And finally, all done.  I'm not sure what is going on with my hat.  I guess I was tired and couldn't quite get it on all the way.

I am continuing my summer of multi-sport training next month with a duathlon on base.  No swimming and I am quite happy about that!

Bye Bye Grandma Bubba

My mom left yesterday after her ten-day visit.  We had so much fun!  The girls miss her already.  She left straight from here to L.A. for my cousin Katie's wedding today.  We are on our own now for the rest of Josh's recovery. 

The rest of the week was busy and fun.  We had some more fun playing outside in the pool.  North Carolina is in the midst of little stretch of relief from the heat.  Temps in the high 80s - I'll take it!  

She bought the girls some little strollers to push their babies around, which they LOVE!  They also like to hang their play purses off the back.  And, for some reason, their babies MUST have hats on their heads.  We wouldn't want them to get cold in mid-July.

We also redid the picture wall she helped me with last time she was here with the new family pictures we had taken. 

Thanks for coming grandma!  We love you and can't wait for your next visit.

p.s. How cute are those pigtails!  

Time with Grandpa (and Bubba)

My dad just left this morning after a great week with us.  My mom is here for another five days.  They have both been a great help, and the girls have loved the extra attention.  Grandma and Grandpa both came to gymnastics on Wednesday and we got some good video of the girls practicing their new skills.

The girls had fun playing with grandpa's hat, shoes, and were very curious about his mustache. 
Grandpa can't wait to have two little golfing granddaughters.  He played golf at Taberna and Carolina Pines while he was visiting. 

We also had some fun playing outside in the pool, and took a trip down to Swansboro to eat at Duck's and walk around by the water.

Josie was a fan of her grilled cheese...

Meanwhile, Josh continues to recover and is missing out on time with the girlies.  Poor dude. 

Thank goodness for more time with Bubba

Family pictures: 18 months

We once again got some pictures done a couple months ago by Jenn Reno.  She took their six-month shots, so we decided to wait exactly a year, which made them 18 months (yay for math skills).  Taking pictures with 18 month old twins is tricky.  They obviously wanted nothing to do with sitting still for the camera.  Jenn got some great ones though.

Josh's back surgery

We are now one-week post Josh's double spinal fusion back surgery.  Most of our family and friends know this surgery has been coming for awhile.  Josh had a less invasive back surgery about two years ago, which was successful and worked for him for a little over a year.  However, about six months ago, his back pain became unbearable again.  This has impacted nearly every area of our lives and he finally decided to have this surgery in hopes that it will reduce his pain by at least 50 percent.

After a lot of thought and deliberation, he decided to go through the navy doctor at Portsmouth Naval up in the Virginia Beach area.  This meant we packed the family up and headed there (about a 3 1/2 hour drive) for the surgery and for the three extra days he stayed in the hospital.  Luckily, our very good friends the Rapers, live in the area.  In fact, they had JUST moved back to Virginia Beach from Quantico one week before. They graciously offered to let us stay with them even though they were in the midst of a major transition themselves.  We were lucky.  I'm not sure what we would have done without them.  We stayed at their house, Alison watched the girls a couple times while I was at the hospital (including when I took Josh in for his surgery at 4 am!), and helped feed us.  Josh was in surgery last Wednesday for nine hours!  That's how involved this surgery was.  I was very nervous at 2 pm when I still hadn't heard from the doctor.  Luckily, everything went well, but he is still in a lot of pain.  He is looking at a long recovery, but we hope and pray it will be worth it in the end.

We went to dinner with the Rapers the night before Josh's surgery.  He requested Mexican.  Here is the one picture we took with them:

And this might be a little graphic for some, but here is his incision.  His staples just came out, so it looks slightly better now.

My parents have both flown out to help us over the next couple of weeks.  I am very grateful for their help as well.  Over the past couple of years, they have used all their vacation time to come here to help us through one thing or another (bringing home newborn twins, deployment, etc).  To be honest, it is during times like these that I really struggle with living so far away from family.  Usually I put on my big girl pants and deal with it, but it does get to me at times.  I'll be glad when we get through this summer.

Who says girls can't play with cars? And bears

A few times lately, while playing with boys (!), the girls have taken quite an interest in their friends' cars.  They get down on their tummies and race them around.  I don't know why I never thought to get them cars (gender discrimination), but we decided to fix that and bought some at target last weekend.  They have been having some fun with them:

Also, sometime last winter, the Koupals and Nana brought them their big brown bear back from a trip to Richmond.  We named him Joper.  Unfortunately, during a long weekend of household puking and pooping, Joper was repeatedly vomited on by Josie.  We got him cleaned, but he has never been quite the same.  Nana sent them two new big bears a few weeks ago.  They don't have names yet - just big bear - but the girls love them.  They throw themselves on them while playing and sometimes lie down on them to take a little breather.

Summertime and the livin's easy

The girls have been having lots of fun playing in the water.  On Saturday, we went to a goodbye brunch for Marc, Shana, Grady and Reese Arnold.  Marc (call sign Pig) was Josh's BFF during his Qatar deployment.  They are leaving the Marine Corps and headed for civilian life back home in Ohio.  We were lame and didn't take any pictures of them, but we snapped a few of the girls playing in their water play area outside.

And here's a picture of Josh and Marc with the babies before they left for Qatar.

Side note: Pig gave Josh a pen with Big Love (his call sign) engraved on it as a going away present, which I thought was pretty darn thoughtful.  Apparently, Josh wrote Pig's name on his pen in Qatar so he wouldn't lose it.  So he returned the favor.

Later that weekend, we ran out and got the girls their own water play area.  As much as I would like to take them to the pool during the week, they are too crazy and it would be DANGER with a capital D.  So we have to wait until the weekends when daddy is home for pool-going.  Once I got this blown up (and almost passed out from oxygen deprivation), we had some fun.  We invited the Cromwells over and Gavin splashed around with them a bit. 

The Cromwells are also leaving us for Quantico, Virginia.  They've been two houses down for more than four years.  It is going to be a lonely neighborhood without them around.

Another side note: At some point during the day, Piper fell down, apparently while she was sticking out her tongue.  Her mouth was bleeding for a short time, and I took a glance in there, assessed the situation, and thought she was okay.  So we continued on with our day of playing in the water.  Josh came home, took a look at it and promptly took her to the E.R.  She did not end up needing stitches (they don't usually stitch tongues; good to know), but it is a good-sized gash.  She also bonked her head in the tub the night before and cut right above her eye.  So now she is hardcore with two bloody wounds.  And I feel like a negligent mom!

Snip Snip

A few weeks ago, I took some scissors to Piper's hair.  She was starting to sport a bit of a baby mullet.  I did not think to get the camera, but Josh insisted we commemorate the occasion with lots of pictures and save her hair in a little baggy.  So we'll send that along with her when she leaves the house for college. 

 She was actually pretty patient.  I think she really wanted to play with the scissors. 

All done with a cute little bob. 

Father's Day 2011

Happy Father's Day Josh!  Josie and Piper (and Blue) are lucky to have a daddy who adores everything they do, who counts down the hours of every day until he can get home to these girls, who would gladly be a stay-at-home dad, and loves more than anything to make them laugh.

This girl gets her stubbornness and her intelligence from her daddy.

And this girl gets her sense of humor and her silly personality from her daddy.

And happy father's day to my own dad, who always has and still does support everything I do.  From schlepping me to early morning cheerleading practice, to driving me up a snowy canyon and dropping me off at a sorority house where it was clear NOBODY was going to class.  Dads rock!

Six months to 2

Josie and Piper were 18 months old on June 5th.  It seems like they just turned one and now here we are six months away from their second birthday.  We are fully entrenched in toddlerhood and their personalities emerge a little more everyday.

Piper is becoming fiercely independent.  When she decides she wants to do something, she works very hard until she figures it out.  Until she wants our help, then she wants it RIGHT NOW.  And she has been known to throw a fit or two if things don't go her way.  She likes to push the grocery cart at the store, push her stroller (rather than ride in it), use a fork and spoon even if her food doesn't require it, and drink out of a big person water bottle instead of her boring old sippy cup.  She is so funny and so exhausting.  When she wakes up in the morning, she is honestly delighted to face another day.  It's like "oh YAY!  Here I am again!  Being alive ROCKS".  She scrambles over to grab her bear and holds it up to show me. 

Josie is a bit more laid back and tends to go with things.  She doesn't get quite as frustrated when we make her ride in her carseat, or take her to the grocery store, for example.  She likes to observe and watch and seems happy to be out and about.  She also really likes to sing and dance.  Turn on some turns and she shakes her shoulders and sings a few notes.  She is still really cuddly and when we go to put her down for a nap or for the night, she quickly lays her head on our chest to get a few minutes more out of us.  She is very polite and her favorite thing to say is "tank you".  She says this whenever she hands something to us.  She also signs "please" whenever she wants anything. 

We had their 18 month appointment and they are almost exactly the same size.
Weight: Josie was 21 lbs 6 oz and Piper was 21 lbs 8 oz (about the 10th percentile)
Height: Both were 30 3/4 inches (about the 25th percentile)
Head: Both were 18 3/4 inches around (about the 90th percentile!)

Not sure what kind of face Piper is pulling, but believe it or not, this was the best picture we go out of them.  

Bossypants and Unbroken

I just finished two more great books.  The first one - Unbroken - is one of the best books I have read in a long time.  The story is the true (but almost unbelievable) story of Louis Zamperini, the famous miler who was shot down in the Pacific during World War II, then proceeded to survive for many days and months on a life raft and in a Japanese POW camp.  The NY times review has a better description than I can give.  Just go read it.  Josh has it on his list to read next - I think he will dig the WWII aviation references.  I think my dad would also love the history and background of what happened in the Pacific during WWII.  I learned a lot reading it, but the story was so engrossing it didn't feel like work. 

The next book, an obvious much lighter read, is Bossypants by Tina Fey.  I love her and pretty much everything she says.  She writes about what it was like to be a woman and in charge at SNL and her show 30 Rock, what it's like to be a working mom, and  how her famous Sarah Palin impression came about.  She's just funny and it's a quick and easy read.

I have a lot of books to get through on my Goodreads To Read list.  Josh and I get in bed between 8:30 and 9 every night with our Kindles.  We are such old people!!

YMCA New Bern Triathlon

I participated in my second triathlon last month.  The first one was nine years ago in St. George and I didn't really train for it.  Not surprisingly, it wasn't a great experience.  I felt like I was drowning in the lake and never wanted to do it again.  However, ever since I got my road bike five years ago, the triathlon has been calling my name.  After my marathon in March, I needed a change and started training for this race.  I didn't do a lot of swimming, but I swam twice a week for about six weeks.  I felt pretty confident that it wouldn't be a disaster (are you reading into the sense of foreboding I am trying to convey?).

The race was a 400 yard pool swim, 10 mile bike, and 5K run.  Easy enough.  I could easily cover the 400 yard distance, and thought I could be fast enough on the bike and the run.  HOWEVER.  I stupidly seeded myself way too close to the front during the swim (time to put the ego aside).  This meant that I started and immediately felt like I was being plowed over by people who were clearly much better swimmers than me.  This went on for about 150 yards, my panic increased, and I started thinking about quitting.  At some point, it got too strong and I hopped out of the pool.  Right away I was pissed.  Why did I do that?  I am perfectly capable of completing this distance.  I found Josh, had a little freak out, and decided to ask them if I could start over.  Luckily, this was a beginners-friendly race and the race official was fine with letting me start again at the end of the swim line.

Once I got back in, I did just fine.  I ended up with a total time of around 1:06.  My bike was fast, my run was just okay, and the swim was slooooowww.  I was 14th overall in about 45 females.  I think I can do a lot better with some more training and I haven't given up on triathlons yet.  I would like to try another couple races this summer and see how I do. Josh took some pics with his phone because he was having trouble getting the regular camera to work.

My sweet little cheering section

 Coming through the finish

Out on the run - it was a warm day and starting over at the back of the pack made for an even hotter run