Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Good TV

The other day, the kids and I were watching some kids program that we had recorded on the DVR. For the most part they were playing and I was watching. That happens sometimes.

When it finished, I just left it on the channel that the TV was on, which happened to be the Food network and went to talk to Arial in the kitchen.

I came back after a couple minutes and both Frances and Johann were sitting on the couch just watching TV. It's pretty unusual for them both to eschew playing at the same time to watch something. That peeked my curiosity so I went in to see what they were watching (plus they looked pretty cute sitting next to each other on the couch).

It was Good Eats. They were captivated by Good Eats. It's a good show and all but I didn't think that it would attract 1 and 3 year-olds.

I found that amusing.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Arial's First Triathlon

This post has been on my plate for a long time. Which is a shame because I am very proud of the subject matter.

A couple weeks ago, Arial completed her first triathlon. It was a sprint and she finished it... well, I'm not going to say "easily" since it wasn't an easy task but she did it without depleting all of her energy.

I'm not going to give a race report (for one, I didn't do the racing), so this is going to be from my perspective.

Arial doesn't have a wet suit. The tri was late in the season, so we knew the water would be cold. I asked her repeatedly if she wanted to get one but she refused. When she started swimming, I could watch her for awhile. It looked to me like she was stuck behind some people. Her head was up out of the water like she was looking for a way around.

After the race, she told me that I didn't understand what I was seeing. The water was so cold that she forgot how to swim. I think she still did a faster swim that I did even though I wasn't fighting hypothermia.

It turns out that it is harder to be in charge of the kids than one might think. In a strange place, you really have to work not to lose track of them.

We cheered Arial on as she came out of the water. I had forgotten the signs we had made for her and didn't have the camera but we made due. It was my first tri as a spectator, hopefully I'll get better at it.

We played in the beach sand during the swim and most of the bike. The sand time was the easiest for me. The kids pretty much entertain themselves when sand is involved.

When we left the sand and went to where the bikes came in, I had to keep a closer eye on them. Without anything immediately interesting, they kept trying to wander off. They both tried keeping their balance on those cement parking things.

Frances tried to play with another group of girls but they all knew each other and so they just ignored her. She was pretty bummed about that. It was hard to get her to cheer when Arial arrived on her bike. But I sent her running with Arial (with a fence in between) as she walked her bike in transition and that seemed to cheer her up.

During the run, we played at a play ground. There were a lot of kids there making it a little stressful. About this time I started being thankful that it was a sprint and not an Olympic because this would take less time.

There was an kind of merry-go-round at the playground that a lot of kids were playing on. The other kids were really good about making sure the younger ones were safely on. Both Frances and Johann road on it but Frances stayed on a lot longer. It may have made up for the snubbing she had received earlier.

Around the time that I figured that Arial would be finishing her run, we walked up the race course a little ways. Not to long after that, Arial came running. She looked good, not dragging or anything. We cheered and she ran faster than I could while I carried the kids. She beat us to the finish line by quite a ways.

We hung around for a little, while Arial got food and drink (no first aid tent needed for her). And then we went out to eat.

I am very proud of Arial for finishing the tri. Now both of us are triathletes.

mwz