Ninjas

Congrats to my boys on their latest TaeKwonDo graduation! Stuart got his white stripe, Daniel moved up to gold stripe, and Joshua is now in the high-belt class with a green belt!

My Hero!

The Hero

I have a little extra time on my hands right now...well, hand, since I only have the use of the left one right now! I was trying to open the jammed sliding glass door of the medicine chest in the boys' bathroom when the door jumped the track, fell out and smashed in the sink.

At first I was relieved that the glass landed in the sink and not in the bath where Joshua was sitting, but then I noticed the blood pouring from my hand...literally pouring. Joshua has a very adverse reaction to blood and has fainted at the sight of it, so I ran downstairs and asked Daniel to help. Stuart was out running and didn't have his phone. I couldn't think what to do but Daniel sprang into action and called one of the neighbors who said she'd be right over. Daniel decided to try to hurry her up by going outside!

Meanwhile, I managed to convince Joshua to get out of the bath and get dressed in case he needed to go to the neighbor's house. When my neighbor, Kim, came over we realized we needed another adult to watch our kids so she could take me to the emergency room. We called another neighbor and he came right over. While Kim and I were on our way to the ER, Stuart came home and got the story! He came to the ER and relieved Kim, and stayed with me while I got 10 stitches. It's healing well so hopefully I'll be back to normal soon!

The Hand

Hogwarts, Halloween, and Hollywood

We just got back from a fabulous trip to Florida. We managed to do a lot in 7 days! We visited Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade and shot at aliens (Men in Black ride - a new favorite) at Universal; ate dinner with Mickey, Pluto, and Chip'n'Dale at a revolving restaurant in Epcot; and rode the Rock'n'Roller Coaster and Hollywood Tower of Terror (except Joshua, who bailed on that one at the last minute...twice) at Hollywood Studios.

We also had fun swimming, feeding alligators (hot dogs!), eating ice cream (lots), and dressing up in costume and going trick or treating in the golf cart...well, the boys did that with their grandparents while Stuart and I stayed at home!

Click to view album

Joshua Can Du

Joshua raced in his first duathlon this morning. He took it very seriously, making sure he knew where to run and bike, and practicing before the event began. He had to run 1/10th of a mile, bike 1 mile, and run 1/4 of a mile. Most of the kids were doing the triathlon, so they started with a 25m swim instead of the first run. The organizers timed it perfectly, so that the swimmers were running down from the pool to transition as Joshua and the other duathlete were finishing the run. Joshua got his helmet on and rolled his bike out of transition very quickly, making sure he didn't mount his bike until the mount line. Then he was off! The bike course was 4 loops of the parking lot and road. Joshua was passing kids the whole time, except for the part on the road where it was single file as they had to stay inside the cones. He rode hard but was very careful! At the end of his 4th loop he made quick work of the dismount, ran his bike into transition and threw it in its spot along with his helmet, and took off running. There was one boy ahead of him and I didn't think he would catch him as he started slowing halfway through the run. I started running up to give him some encouragement and he took off, passing the other boy, who was starting to have some problems of his own, and hammering all the way to the finish line! He finished 1st overall!

Joshua's Duathlon

SR Triathlon

South Riding Triathlon

Alison - 2nd female overall (out of 134) in 1:05:37
Stuart - 50th male (out of 164) in 1:13:13 AND his first tri!

Next weekend: Joshua's first duathlon! All the other 6 year olds had better watch out!

Finally, a New Post

We've been so busy there hasn't been time to post to the blog! Between the boys' activities and both our work and triathlon training (Stuart and I are both competing at South Riding Triathlon this Sunday!) we haven't had a minute to stop and write!

The good news is that we took a few days away from the work and triathlon training (well, it was taper week anyway) to go to Williamsburg. We spent the better part of 4 days at Busch Gardens...with a little side trip to Water Country USA where the lines for the "just ok" rides were very long and, as Stuart put it, one could only look at the masses in bathing suits for a short while...

We didn't take many pics because we were either getting wet or thrown around, hence the camera had to stay safely put away, but we got it out to take a few.

Busch Gardens

11th fastest 8-year old backstroker in Loudoun County!

Daniel swam backstroke at the All Stars swim meet on Saturday. He was in heat 4 of 7 heats for 8 year-old boys. That means his qualifying time was right in the middle of the 40 or so boys who qualified. He swam 24.67, improving on his previous time by over 2 seconds, winning his heat, and placing 11th overall!














Not to be outdone by an 8 year-old (!), I raced a sprint triathlon on Sunday and was 2nd female overall! Check out my unique bobblehead dog trophy!

Vegetables and Chocolate

Ewww, doesn't exactly sound like a tasty combination, but the pictures I just downloaded are of the few veggies I've managed to coax from a very dry garden that's struggling in the extreme heat - extreme even for Washington in July - and Hershey Park, which we visited last week.

Veggies and Chocolate

The boys had a blast at the park, riding lots of roller coasters that at best made me lightheaded and at worst made me want to puke (look straight ahead, don't close eyes!) but I was a good sport and rode with them every time...well, once I got off after 3 trips on the same coaster...the worst part of which wasn't the death-defying drop but the sudden stop it made right before the end! It was a HOT day at the park (every day in July has been HOT!) but we stayed cool by spending some time getting soaked at the water park and visiting the chocolate museum.

Now the veggies... I've just been outside removing a load of dead (possibly diseased) vegetation from the zucchini/courgette plant and spraying it for powdery mildew. Should have caught that earlier but I've been literally running outside, soaking everything, and running back in without looking too closely. We've had a few tomatoes from a very sad and spindly looking tomato plant. Thankfully the tomatoes are very good, even though the plant is suffering! And I finally got some blueberries from our blueberry bushes, which clearly LOVE the heat as they look great. I think the peppers will be good when they finally appear, as the plants that almost died in the Spring when the nights dropped below 60 are just thriving in the heat and humidity.

Wish I were a pepper plant or blueberry bush right now! We are absolutely dying in the heat that has descended on us. I went running at 6am this morning...at Burke Lake so we'd be out of the sun. When I got up at 5am it was already 80 degrees. Doing anything outside involves discomfort and copious sweating. It really is nasty. I took the boys to Chuck e Cheese (indoor playplace that I usually steer clear of because of its germ-infested qualities) yesterday and a movie is planned for today. We've been listening to Halloween music in the car just for fun and all I can say is roll on Fall!!!

Funny Videos

In addition to documenting Daniel's races yesterday, I also took a couple of fun videos before and after he swam. He had a very wiggly tooth (which finally fell out last night) and so was constantly playing with it. He even showed it to the girls waiting in line behind him for relays...talk about ladykiller! ;)

Race Through Tuscany 5K

Race Through Tuscany 5K

Here's a link to a small - but challenging! - cross-country race I ran last weekend. I was 2nd female and 4th overall. They called it a race through Tuscany...well, if Tuscany is hilly, they were right on! The night before and morning of the race featured torrential downpours, making some of the downhills very slick. I switched to my trail shoes at the last minute, after realizing I was going to need good footing on those hills. It paid off as the girl who came in 3rd told me that she was sliding all over the place in her road shoes!

Of course, since we were at a winery, we had a fun post-race wine tasting, and then enjoyed a glass and lunch on the patio overlooking the grapevines. I must do more of these winery races...much better than the post-race bagel and banana!!!

Daniel at the Swim Meet

Here are some videos of Daniel swimming breaststroke, backstroke, and the 2nd leg of the relay at the South Riding Stingrays' July 14th swim meet. He's the one in the black and white swim cap (kinda looks like a cow!) You may want to turn the volume down...you know how loud parents get when they're cheering for their kids! ;)

Incidentally, there's no video of him swimming freestyle because I couldn't remember how to work the video camera in time for that. Shame, because he swam a PR of 22:19, finishing 3rd!

We're so proud of his accomplishment this year. He has worked very hard in all his strokes and has qualified in backstroke for the All Stars swim meet - reserved for the best swimmers in Loudoun County! Only 2 other 8 year old Stingray boys have qualified, and team-wide only 13 boys have made the All Stars cut, so he's in an elite group!

Joshua's 15 minutes

I got my copy of Washington Running Report this week and eagerly scanned the pages for info on people I know or races I've run. What I didn't expect to see was a picture of Joshua! Yes, at just 6 years of age he has already made it into a running magazine! He's featured in an ad for The Great Pumpkin 5K; the picture was taken during last year's kids' run, where he placed 2nd in his age group! Here's the link to the online ad: http://www.thegreatpumpkin5k.com. Look for him in the bottom right photo, right behind the kid in orange. He's wearing a white shirt (that happens to say "My Mom ran the Boston Marathon and all I got was this lousy shirt!) and blue shorts.

Smart Kids!

No pictures of them, but just a report that we received the boys' end-of-year report cards in the mail last week and can officially confirm that they are SMART, perhaps even genius!

In Joshua's Kindergarten test, he scored 102 out of....102!
In Daniel's 2nd grade test, he scored 74 out of...76! (We'll let him off the 2 points as 2nd grade is obviously much more challenging than Kindergarten!)

They both received a DS game for their efforts. :)

DC Triathlon

Here are some picture's from this morning's DC Triathlon. I had a great race - everything went off without a hitch, and I won the 35 - 39 year old female age group, and was 8th female overall!

DC Triathlon

Sports week

Select image to view album

The whole family had a great week in sports, so I thought I'd give you a recap. It actually started last Sunday, with Stuart completing a 50 mile charity bike ride in and around Winchester, VA. It was a hot and humid day, and he forgot to take his water bottles out of the freezer in the morning, but fortunately plenty of hydration was supplied.

On Thursday, Joshua's t-ball team (for which Stuart is coach) played their last game and did very well, scoring lots of runs and getting several outs. I was able to watch most of it between shuttling Daniel to and from swim practice, which takes me to event #3!

This is Daniel's 3rd year on South Riding Stingrays swim team, but this year he moved up from Mini Rays to regular Stingrays. He practices with kids his age but at the swim meets there are kids all the way up to 18 (not in the same events, of course!) which is a big change. There's also a lot more swimming at practices, which he likes as he's not one to enjoy sitting around. Saturday was his first Stingray swim meet, which serves as time trials so all the kids have a seed time for future events. Daniel swam very well in all 4 strokes and won his heat in freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke. He was 2nd in butterfly, his least favourite stroke!

Finally, Saturday evening I raced a 5K in nearby Clifton. Temps had reached 92 during the day so I was a little worried, but fortunately a storm blew through right before the race, dropping the temps 10 degrees. Still hot, and very humid, but almost bearable, and I was 3rd female overall!

Kirsty's visit

My college friend Kirsty visited last week. Kirsty and I have been friends for almost 19 (!) years. We met as first year students at Sheffield University - we were flatmates and our rooms were right next to each other. In our second year at Uni we lived in a house with a great guy - Steve - who put up with our antics (laughing at his cooking disasters, tripping him up and taking pictures of him when he was drunk) and was chivalrous enough to walk us home at 2am after a night out. Then I came to the U.S. for my year abroad, and never went back!

We try to see one another about once a year, which is hard with Kirsty in London and me all the way over here in the U.S. But somehow we manage it, if it's me flying over for a weekend in February or her coming down to Stockbridge when we're in England visiting family. This time, Kirsty came here for 6 days and of course we packed plenty into her stay, culminating in a celebratory final day consisting of a 10K race, trip to Great Country Farms and Bluemont Vineyard, and a couple of hours at the pool before her flight back to London. Miss ya, Kirsty!

Triathlon Camp

Triathlon Camp - click to see album

On May 14 we packed up the car and headed to Lake Raystown, PA for Triathlon Camp! This 2-day camp was led by Alison's coach and included people that we're friends with through Tri Performance, Alison's triathlon training group. Many of them also brought families along so we knew the boys would have other kids to play with.

The camp consisted of early morning runs at the resort, learning to swim in open water in the lake, and biking around this very hilly (mountainous!) area. Stuart was able to come out for the 28-mile bike ride while the older girls watched the kids.

It was exhausting but a lot of fun. On Sunday we had a practice race consisting of an 800m swim, 10 mile bike, and 1.3 mile run. Alison finished 3rd overall...just got beaten by the two fastest men! :)

Time for T-Ball

T-Ball

This is Joshua's first T-Ball (baseball for little kids) season. He is doing really well and is a great hitter! Stuart is the coach which is fun and also challenging at times, but it's a great group of kids and they get on really well. (Click image to see the album.)

Much to Stuart's chagrin, his team got the Marlins, not the Yankees, but I think their uniforms are cute!

I think the most exciting moment for Joshua was getting 2 kids out at first base, although it's totally non-competitive, of course! :)

Growing Season

Growing Season

So my last post was during the winter snowstorm and now it's May and the weather is significantly different! Blue skies, sunshine, and the plants and flowers are growing like mad! (Click the image to visit the entire album of pictures.)

This year I'm growing zucchini/courgettes, beets/beetroot, red bell peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, and rhubarb. Our two apple trees also have baby apples that look very promising!

The hostas are bigger than ever and my clematis has taken over the trellis already. I also have an itty bitty sunflower that I'm hoping will survive as Joshua gave it to me for Mother's Day.

I've been watering diligently and the warm temps have been helping. Have managed to keep the birds away from the plants (the bird feeder and bath are way over in the other corner of the garden, which I think helps) and, after Peter Rabbit visited the strawberry patch and was caught munching on the leaves (fortunately there were no strawberries at that point), I installed a fence and he hasn't found his way back in. We also have a very curious and friendly turtle that we need to keep out of the plants!

Snowboarders

The boys finally got to snowboard today. After a week off school because of snow, it was time to make the most of the 50 plus inches that were dumped in the area of our closest ski resort - Liberty, just over the Maryland line in Pennsylvania. It's about 70 miles from our house and took an hour and a half to get there. I was amazed at how clear the roads were today, especially since people couldn't get to the resort yesterday as Route 15 in Thurmont, MD was closed as road crews worked to remove all the abandoned cars from Wednesday, when the area got 23 inches of snow on top of the 30 they already had.

Aside from losing a lane every now and then, which required some looking ahead (!), the roads were nice and clear. Joshua marveled at the huge walls of snow on either side of us, and wondered how the horses could stand out in the snow as we drove through the countryside. Emmitsburg, MD, is a quaint little historic town that you drive through just before you cross the state line and enter the ski resort. One day we will actually stop there!

I had signed up Daniel for a 2 hour snowboarding lesson in advance, but Joshua wasn't sure if he really wanted to do it, so I hadn't signed him up. On the way there he decided he did want to try it, and luckily they had an extra spot in the lesson. Kids are supposed to be 6 to snowboard, so I just "forgot" to fill out Joshua's birthdate on the form...we were all signed up and ready to go and then the guy at the counter asked me for Joshua's birthdate...I couldn't lie with him right there so I just told him 6/20/04 and hoped he would let it slide! Thankfully he just said, "that's my birthday!" and that was that. I don't know if he didn't care, or let him go because he's tall for his age, or because he's almost 6, but I certainly didn't bother to ask!

The boys had a great time - they fell a LOT but always got back up and tried again. They loved the magic carpet that led them back up the hill, and the snacks that they got halfway through the lesson. Here are a couple of pics taken with my phone, since I forgot my camera!

Snowmageddon - The Aftermath

We got somewhere between 25 and 30 inches...I've been meaning to stick a tape measure in the ground but have been too busy photographing kids, running 15 miles (yesterday, in the nicely ploughed streets!), and chilling the wine in the snow!!!

Here are our snowmageddon pictures.

Snowmageddon

Another Ski Trip!

We're really getting into this skiing thing. We enjoy it, the boys love it (except now they want to learn to - shock - snowboard!) and it's generally a nice weekend. Unfortunately it started snowing earlier than predicted last Saturday, so our usual 3 hr drive turned into a 4+ hr nightmare as we had to slow down in the very cold (saw 10 degrees on the thermometer at one point) and slick conditions. We had to crank up the heat to keep the snow on the windshield from freezing - and then Daniel threw up. After eating a pink frosted donut. Not a pretty sight (or smell)!!

Anyway, we eventually made it, and after that had a good time, with the boys progressing rapidly on their skis - good enough to do some blue runs now - and Stuart and I happy to hang out with them...well, except when Joshua decided to ski off through the trees and we all followed...an incident we don't plan to repeat!

Snowmaggeddon

Virginia has declared a state of emergency. Schools are closed today. All weekend events have been cancelled. I was about to say "it's not snowing" because it wasn't when I looked about 5 mins ago, but I just looked out the window and it has officially started snowing! 9:49am! And I have to run 7 miles today...hmmm. We're supposed to get up to 24 inches over the next 2 days. Should be interesting. We have lots of food and movies so should be fine for about a week or so! Will post updates!

Pictures from Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara

Goodbye, Sunshine :(

We're on our way back from three wonderful days in Santa Barbara. I was sad to have to leave, but I'm looking forward to seeing the boys; this is the longest Stuart and I have been away from them, ever!

Santa Barbara is a beautiful town with spectacular views of the mountains and the sea, gorgeous spanish architecture, and, of course, stunning weather! Temps were in the 70s during the day, which was perfect for strolling along the beach and wandering around the foothills of the mountains. We tried to maximize the short time we had while also making sure we relaxed and didn't rush around too much. We visited wineries, ate outside - Santa Barbarians (is that right?!) obviously don't like the cold as they have patio heaters everywhere, even during the day! - ran in the mornings down to the beach and up to the foothills of the mountains, and did a little shopping and sightseeing. We took lots of pictures but none of them can capture the real beauty of the area. You will have to visit and see for yourself!

Santa Barbara here we come!

Stuart and I are on our way to Santa Barbara for 4 days of R&R to celebrate 10 - TEN! - years of marriage! We're particularly looking forward to some warm weather - while most of the country is experiencing record lows, snow, and wind chills (including Florida and Texas!), Southern California has higher than normal temps. We're flying to LA, which is going to hit 76 degrees today, and then driving to Santa Barbara, which is predicted to have a high of 70. We'll take it!