Vacation

or should I say a training camp in the ocean? Tim and I just got back from our 7 day cruise to the Caribbean. It started with a long run Saturday before we got on the boat, in 85 degree, 100% humidity, heat index of 105...at 8 am! Needless to say this was the worst run I think I've had since January.

Sunday was up at 6am for a 4.5 hour ride on a spinner on the boat gym. Not too bad. Then lots of food, drinks both of the water and alcoholic kind and a three hour nap. The nap turned in to a daily routine...that was the nicest part of the entire vacation. The rest of the week was a balancing act of treadmill runs on a treadmill that was mimicking the sway of the boat from the ocean, more spinner rides and a nice ocean water swim. Friday was a 5.5 hour spinner ride on the boat...a tiring way to end the cruise.

But It was the best training week I've had in a long time. I felt good all week, I think the combination of lots of good healthy (yes I ate healthy...98% of the time) and tons of sleep contributed to the way I felt.

Tim and I gambled a lot, saw some really good shows and some not so good shows on the boat. Tim even volunteered for the hypnotist show on Friday; it was interesting to say the least since he did the rated R show at 11pm. Whether it be good or bad I don't know, but I didn't even think about the boys until Thursday night. And honestly, I could have taken another 5 or 6 days.

It was good to be home yesterday though. And today was Ryan's 4-year birthday party! His birthday isn't until Tuesday but we celebrated today. Complete with the FS Series orange dancing man (thanks guys!) and an appearance from Muddy the Mudcat (a local triple A baseball mascot)...the only two things he wanted for his birthday and we were able to get! He was so excited and happy, it was so nice to see. Words can't describe how nice it feels to see your children that happy. Definitely will be posting the pictures soon.

Good to be home. So, I've got about 9 weeks left till my IM party and I'm feeling good and getting more excited and anxious with every week that passes.

Dinner props

Tonight for dinner we had spaghetti, creamed corn, applesauce, yogurt and koolaide. There were some grilled chicken fingers in case they didn't want the spaghetti, but for the first time in a few weeks they destroyed their plates.

Ryan: Mommy, these sure are some delicious corns.
Brayden: yeeeahh...dewiscis mommy. Mmmm.
Ryan: Mommy, this sure is some perfeccly awesome spaghetti.
Brayden: yeeeahh....pefely awes pasketti
Ryan: Mommy, thank you for such a yummy dinner. My belly is so excited.
Brayden: yeeeahh...yummy. My belly cited tooo.

Now, only if I had been the cook.

Thanks for such a great dinner Tim!

New Bike and news

Well Tim's been trying to convince me for 2 years to get a new bike...an upgrade. And I never could pull the trigger. There was always something else the money could be spent on...and probably there probably still other things we could use the money for, but we're not stretched any more since I'm working full time and it's a good time.

I've tested the Felt B14, Cervelo P2, Kuota k factor and Kuota Kueen K. I'm wanting to try the Cervelo P3 and Felt B12. But I think it's coming down to the P3 and the Kuota Kueen K. I'm excited. I never knew how heavy my road bike was until now. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I test rode on saturday and then went for a 4.5 hour ride sunday....the entire time I was cursing my bike.

The one problem I'm having is timing. The IM is September 25th and no stores really have my size bike in. Stocks are low and nobody knows when they're shipments are coming in. It sucks. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have a new bike to play with. Yeah!

In other news, Tim and I finally get another vacation. Cruise time starts this Friday for a week. Tim's mom is staying at our house with the boys so I'm sure they will enjoy nina time and being able to stay at their house.

Ryan has made a definite jump from toddler to "big kid". His reasoning skills and conversation are amazing, and I've already starting getting teary eyed over the fact that he will be starting school in a year. Brayden is full force into tantrums and his independence finding phase. It doesn't seem as bad as it was with Ryan. I'm not sure if it's because we've been through it once so it makes it easier to deal with or if he just hasn't changed as dramatically as ryan did. Different circumstances, different kid, different parents (so to speak).

Tim has really started focusing on his running again, doing a lot of track meets. And to top off all that we have going on already, we're playing flag football once a week for 2 months. Well, I wouldn't call what I'm doing playing...I'm more just jogging around the field looking "good" because I don't want to get hurt. The other teams seemed to have picked up on this and don't really pay me any mind. I don't mind, I'm getting to be social and it's a good mental break from the trifecta that runs my life right now.