I've become one of them :(

When I was younger, the best time of year started in October. The excitement of Halloween, then the buzz of Thanksgiving and best of all, the family and smell of Christmas. Each one getting their due respect and time in the stores, in our minds and in our hearts. Each one had their own day, not over shadowed by the next but enjoyed thoroughly before the next one began to gear up.

It's much different now. They have Christmas decorations out before Halloween costumes hit the shelves these days. It's like "the man" doesn't want us to enjoy Halloween and Thanksgiving. Or maybe they think that the extra time in the store with Christmas stuff will mean more money for them because kids have more time to look. I don't know. But I despise it! I want them each, separately and completely.

But this year was different. I found myself last week getting Christmas decorations out. I've already put up things in the house, hung the wreath and garland, and figurines. The only thing we're missing are the tree, lights outside and the stockings. Part of me felt obligated to dress the house up for Thanksgiving since everyone is coming over to our house this year, but part of me just wanted the boys to be able to enjoy it all before we leave for Christmas.

We are going to Gonzales Louisiana for Christmas to spend time with Tim's dad's family. It's actually the first time I'm going to get to meet most of them. Only two of his uncles were able to make it to the wedding and since then there's just been one reason or another that we haven't gotten down there. But I'm excited. I'm excited for myself about meeting more family, I'm excited for Tim to get to see family that he hasn't seen in such a long time, but I'm most excited that the boys will be able to meet their aunts, uncles, cousins and great grandma Gautreau.

Now, if the next 5 weeks would pass quickly we can get the 15 hour car ride out of the way and have some fun.

My time off

1. From sport has been great for the past 2 weeks. The first week after B2B 1/2 IM, I did absolutely nothing except eat. I started running again this week but otherwise, I'm enjoying the rest and family time.

2. From work is about to get more abundant....in that I have quit my job. Completely quit. December 4th is officially my last day and as of Monday December 7th, I will be at home full time with the boys. I'm excited. Many things led to this decision, but ultimately it came down to the boys and what's best for them.

3. From blogging has been a direct result of being torn in too many directions over the last month with training, racing, family, work, and rest. So now, I need the cliff notes for every one's blogs. Wow I missed a ton.

4. Is getting me excited about the reality of planning for my first IM race next season and working with Marty and/or Bri!

5. May turn into well needed time as we may get busier than we anticipated this holiday season...more to come, maybe??

Beach 2 Battleship Half: Race Report

What a day. Since they put the full and the half on at the same time, at the same venue, half participants are treated like full participants; in that we have to be there at 5 or 5:30 even though we don't get to start our race till 8:30 or later. So that part sucked. The only complaint other than that was that it was a logistical nightmare by any one's standards. There were two separate transition areas about 8-10 miles apart...I'll let you think about that. But I loved the feel of this race. The volunteers, staff, participants, spectators, just great. Fantastic.

So my swim start was 8:45. I have to say that I don't like salt water, never have and after this, never will. Other than the current (so strong) and the buoyancy, I swallowed so much of it and that combined with the chop made me nauseous the entire swim. But the cool thing was my swim time and the swimsuit strippers. Ha, never had that before, seen it, but never had it. They are GOOD.

T1 was about a 1/4 mile from where we exit the water, running over asphalt and before we left we had to put all our swim stuff into a bag for race staff to pick up later and transport to the finish line. Note, we had a "pre-race swim bag" that had whatever we took to the swim start (not by T1, about a 3 minute trolley ride down the sound) which also had to be taken to the finish. Anyhow. Bike was good. I had to wear soccer socks and arm warmers and my toes were numb upon getting off the bike in T2 but it was a good effort for me. I found myself passing more people than normal and only getting passed by a few. I felt strong in the legs the entire ride and aside from my neck being stiff and a little saddle sore.

Tangent: to all you bike snotrockett blowers out there...before you blow your next snotrockett make sure you have not just passed someone. Um twice on this ride, I got snot in my face. Yuk!

T2 found me handing my bike off to someone to rack...again a first for me and I liked it! Much faster than T1 but I forgot the sunscreen, a big Uh Oh...meaning number 11 I suppose. I felt good starting the run, more so than normal. I had my bike adjusted a short time back and it seems to have paid off. No walking on this run, not this time. My goal time was 5:30 and I knew that I couldn't walk if I wanted to meet that time, especially since my bike was slightly slower than I had wanted. I made it through 7 miles feeling well and then I started slowing down with every step. Finally as I cross the line. I didn't look at the time because I was scared. I was doubled over and some volunteer kept asking me if I was ok or needed medical attention. Uh, no...I just can't walk at the moment. When Tim got to the finish, he told me I was right at 5:45. Missed the goal but improved by about 33 minutes from the half I did in May. So I'm happy. 5:30 or under will come soon.

UH OH...

This statement has so many meanings when coming from a child:

1. I dropped my spoon (fork, cup, etc.)
2. I flushed some small toy down the toilet
3. I broke something and now it doesn't work
4. I hit my brother and now he's crying and I'm going to get in trouble
5. I went poop or pee in my pants
6. I can't find mommie or daddy
7. I've smashed all the peas flat on the table and can't pick them up
8. I threw my peas and hit the dog
9. My shoe came off

But the most recent and my least favorite.....

10. When followed by violent coughing "Ugghhh", it means I just threw up 3 meals, 8 cups of milk/juice and the tire of the toy car that I bit off before I dropped it in said toilet of #2 mentioned above.

I've heard "uh oh" from Brayden too much this weekend and mostly with the #10 meaning. Pour little guy got so used to vomiting that it didn't scare him anymore; he just simply (with no emotion) said "Uh oh".