The other night we went trick-or-treating. Johann was a Taekwondo black belt. Frances and Gwen went as matching superheros. Frances was themed ice and water and Gwen was fire.
The plan was for all of us to trick-or-treat down and back on our block and then Arial and Gwen would go to the house and give out candy. When we got back to our house, Gwen was going strong and having fun, so Arial decided to stay with us for a while longer.
The kids did a fairly good job saying "trick-or-treat" and "Thank you". Gwen's "trick-or-treat" sounded like "Tritreat" but you knew what she was saying.
Arial decided to split off and go home with Gwen. They made it about 10 yards toward home and it became clear that Gwen wanted to keep going with us. So they rejoined us and we went on.
Gwen made the slow progression from demanding that she walk between houses to allowing us to carry her across streets to eventually asking to be picked up off of the door steps (she always said "Thank you" when picked up at her request).
By the end Arial was carrying her bucket and Gwen was putting her head on my shoulder and warming her hands in my coat. Just before the very last house she finally succumbed and fell asleep. Even though I tried to get her to wake up by setting her down on the poarch, she just stood there in a daze.
Fortunately, part of making her costume warm was putting pajamas on underneath. It made getting her to bed much easier.
All in all, a good night of trick-or-treating.
mwz
Friday, November 02, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tidbits
Johann lost his first tooth yesterday in gym class. It wasn't an injury, he was just chewing on his sleeve and his loose tooth fell out.
I used to chew on random things like that when I was a kid, too.
Johann noticed that the wall guys in Super Mario Galaxy 2 say something resembling "Eeroo" before they try to fall on you. Now he uses that as an exclamation when he's upset.
After a while sleeping in the pack and play in Johann's room, Gwen is now sleeping in our closet. I find it a little disturbing but Arial got the idea from someone else, so maybe it's not so weird.
Gwen is learning to talk but she doesn't say "yes" or "ya" much. Instead, a hard "No!" means no and a soft, meandering "noooo" means yes.
I'm teaching Frances and Johann how to solder using these little kits. Frances is better at the fine motor skills required but they are both doing really well. It's possible that their kits will work at the end of it all.
I'm coaching Frances' basketball team. I don't know how I turned into someone who coaches my kids teams.
mwz
I used to chew on random things like that when I was a kid, too.
Johann noticed that the wall guys in Super Mario Galaxy 2 say something resembling "Eeroo" before they try to fall on you. Now he uses that as an exclamation when he's upset.
After a while sleeping in the pack and play in Johann's room, Gwen is now sleeping in our closet. I find it a little disturbing but Arial got the idea from someone else, so maybe it's not so weird.
Gwen is learning to talk but she doesn't say "yes" or "ya" much. Instead, a hard "No!" means no and a soft, meandering "noooo" means yes.
I'm teaching Frances and Johann how to solder using these little kits. Frances is better at the fine motor skills required but they are both doing really well. It's possible that their kits will work at the end of it all.
I'm coaching Frances' basketball team. I don't know how I turned into someone who coaches my kids teams.
mwz
Johann's First Hawkeye Football Game
Another post from a long time ago. This one was from fall.
--------------------------------------------------------
The week before last saturday, I took Johann to his first Hawkeye football game.
We got a pair of season tickets this year for the first time since we were students. The plan is to each take one of our kids a game. Frances wanted to go to a color game, where the fans are encouraged to where a specific color. So Johann got the season opener.
Before we left, I looked at the sky. It was cloudy but it looked like the big storm clouds had passed. My guess was there might be some light drizzles so I grabbed a couple kitchen garbage bags just in case. I didn't look at an actual forecast. (How is that for some foreshadowing?)
We parked at a ramp near campus and walked to the stadium. It started to sprinkle so, we stopped and I fashioned a vest out of one of the garbage bags. It fit Johann just perfectly (as well as a trash bag shirt can). The rain stopped and I removed it.
As we got to a parking ramp across from Kinnick, it started raining hard. While, we waited for it to let up, I took the remaining garbage bag and split it to make a sheet of plastic which I put over Johann's head as a hat.
The rain got a little lighter and I decided to go find some poncho's to buy. We had a half hour until game time, so we went to one of the streets with vendors and they were all sold out.
As we decided to just go into the stadium without ponchos, it started pouring again. That was the only Johann said, "Let's just go home".
We each gave our tickets to be scanned (which was made difficult because the tickets were wet). When we managed to get into the concourse under the stands, Johann felt a little better since we were out of the rain.
Because I had gone poncho hunting, we were on the wrong end of the stadium. The concourse was packed with people. There were slow moving streams that you could get into and make some progress. I held Johann's hand tightly.
We passed a consessions stand. Since we weren't moving that quickly and no one was in line I thought it prudent to buy food then (rather than attempt it at half time). I asked Johann if he wanted a hot dot. He said that he wanted pop corn. I pointed out that pop-corn would get soggy in the rain. He got a hot dog (and also a bottle of water).
The hot dog was in a little plastic bag (which would come in handy later) and I just squirt some ketchup inside and closed it up.
We found our seats. The were higher up than I thought they would be (really high up) but that actually made it easier to see the plays. We stood because the seats were wet, well covered with water is a better way to describe them.
The game started. It was difficult to see because rain spattered my glasses. At the beginning of the game, I kept a running commentary of how many yards to the first down and how many tries left. I taught Johann how to recognize the quarterback (aka the guy with the ball).
Johann picked up enough to be able to start following the plays. So much so that he was able to see McNutt make a juggling catch near the end-zone in our corner of the stadium.
The first time Johann saw a punt, I heard him say "wow". I think he was impressed at how high they could kick the ball.
We were both pretty much drenched. I would periodically wring out the bottom of my shirt just to watch the water fall. Johann faired a little better with his garbage bag shirt but the clothes underneath were still completely wet. It wasn't comfortable but fortunately, it wasn't *that* cold.
As the weather got better, we could see the field so much clearer. It was as if the curtain we were watching through got lifted.
Johann had been taking bites of his hot dog through the first half. He would expose a bit from the bag and eat it. I was surprised at how well the bag kept it dry even though I had taken to putting it down on the wet bench. I shared the last couple bites and it was delicious.
The water sat undrank because we had had enough of water.
In the last couple minutes of the half, Johann noticed that we were sitting right in front of a giant scoreboard. He craned his neck to look at it. There wasn't that much going on in the game (Tennessee Tech was driving), so I told him that he could stand up and turn around to get a better look.
The very next play we intercepted the ball. I grabbed Johann, spun him around and stood him on the bench in time to see most of the run back for the touchdown.
I picked him up and put him on the bench a lot (every time there was an exciting play where everyone stood up and he wouldn't be able to see). He told me that he didn't like that. I think he was afraid of falling off the bench. I kept doing it but made sure to hold him steady when he was up there. (He says now that he almost fell off once.)
At half time, Johann wanted to watch the band. So we did. He liked the shapes that they made. We talked about the golden girl and the drum major. Nothing interesting came of that.
With 10 minutes left before the second half, we went to the bathroom. There was a *huge* line. I'm glad he didn't have to go badly. After a fair wait, we got into the bathroom and it was filled with people.
We got in lines next to each other. My line was slightly shorter so I could wait for him to finish (rather than him getting swept away into a sea of people when he was done). When it was his turn he got up there and peed like a champ. My little guy is growing up.
I was going to get pop corn then but the game had already started, so we went back to our seats.
At one point, Johann asked what the far end-zone said. I told him "Hawkeye". Then, I spelled it for him, "See, H-A-W-K spells hawk and E-Y-E-S spells eyes, even though that's weird". He said "Oh, I thought it was Hawk-Guys". I thought that made more sense than Hawkeyes.
In the third quarter, there were a few heavy drops of rain. That prompted everyone to put back on their ponchos. I put the garbage bag back on Johann (which I had removed in the vain hope that he would dry off). This time I put the flattened bag over both of our heads, which helped to keep the rain off my glasses.
Then the sky gushed water.
Later, I saw clips on TV of water flowing down the steps like a waterfall, a fast flowing waterfall.
At the time though we were just huddled under the garbage bag. We yelled in support the defense but also in a bit of defiance of the rain.
The crowd got loud. The rain was loud. When there was an announcement, I couldn't make it out in the slightest. The rain started letting up a bit (from the torrent) and that was a bit nicer.
Soon after though, on third down, the refs refused to start the play. There was a bit of confusion and then they announced that there would be a thirty minute delay due to lightning.
Apparently, that was the first weather delay ever at Kinnick. We picked a great game for Johann's first.
We went underneath the bleachers to get out of the rain. We made our way into the pack of people hoping it would be warmer. There was a place where the wind wasn't too bad and it was almost warm. I held Johann close to me trying to keep him warm. It would be bad for him to die of hypothermia so near a hospital.
After a bit, we got up to finally get some pop corn. There was scare when the guy said that they were out but then they scrounged up some (they were out of pretzels, which I guess is the preferred lightning delay food for the masses). Then we went back to our out-of-the-wind spot and ate our pop corn.
As we sat on the concourse, Johann on my lap for warmth, we finally drank the water that I had been reluctantly carrying around with us. I felt mildly prepared for something.
The father and sister of Frances' best church friend found us there. Talking with them helped pass the time, which was good because apparently every time there was lightning, we had to wait another 30 minutes before the game would start. The delay was somewhere between 1 and 1.5 hours.
When we went back in, all four of us decided to sit together (since at that point 80-90% of the fans had left). We decided to go stand at the top of our section, next to the giant score board.
Johann was amused by the back wall which was covered with this giant sticker thing to make it look like brick. He asked "Is that real brick?". I told him to touch it and find out. He discovered that it was in fact fake. I let him walk down to where the wall bent a little to see if it was fake there too. It was.
The weird thing about the wall sticker was that the bricks were too small. They were about 2/3rds size, which made it look odd up close but it looks fine on TV.
When play resumed, the whole thing felt like a scrimmage. The game was well in hand for the Hawks and the second string players were in.
Eventually we sat down on the top row. I held Johann on my lap again. It had stopped raining but Johann still felt cold. With about 2:00 minutes left on the clock, he fell asleep. The whole day, with the excitement of the game and being out in the rain for so long was exhausting. I thought about trying to keep him awake (the fears of hypothermia still in my gut) but decided against it.
When the game was over, I picked him up but it was apparent that it was too dangerous to try to carry Johann down the steep steps. He woke up pretty easily and we said our good-byes.
On the way back to the parking ramp, I carried him some and some he walked. I was torn between my desire to go to Hardee's and get a big, warm hamburger into my stomach and wanting to get into dry clothes. By the time we got to the car, I had decided that the clothes were the more pressing issue.
To help keep us warm, I turned up the heat in the van and we took off our cold wet shirts. We still had wet shorts and shoes that you could drink from but it was better.
That evening, I was wiped. The combination of the excitement, the cold and carrying Johann got to me. Arial let me take a nap but I was still sore the next day.
All in all, it was a great experience. Even with the misery, it was worth it to spend time with Johann at a football game. Johann enjoyed it too. He said he wants to go to another one...
...as long as it's not raining.
mwz
--------------------------------------------------------
The week before last saturday, I took Johann to his first Hawkeye football game.
We got a pair of season tickets this year for the first time since we were students. The plan is to each take one of our kids a game. Frances wanted to go to a color game, where the fans are encouraged to where a specific color. So Johann got the season opener.
Before we left, I looked at the sky. It was cloudy but it looked like the big storm clouds had passed. My guess was there might be some light drizzles so I grabbed a couple kitchen garbage bags just in case. I didn't look at an actual forecast. (How is that for some foreshadowing?)
We parked at a ramp near campus and walked to the stadium. It started to sprinkle so, we stopped and I fashioned a vest out of one of the garbage bags. It fit Johann just perfectly (as well as a trash bag shirt can). The rain stopped and I removed it.
As we got to a parking ramp across from Kinnick, it started raining hard. While, we waited for it to let up, I took the remaining garbage bag and split it to make a sheet of plastic which I put over Johann's head as a hat.
The rain got a little lighter and I decided to go find some poncho's to buy. We had a half hour until game time, so we went to one of the streets with vendors and they were all sold out.
As we decided to just go into the stadium without ponchos, it started pouring again. That was the only Johann said, "Let's just go home".
We each gave our tickets to be scanned (which was made difficult because the tickets were wet). When we managed to get into the concourse under the stands, Johann felt a little better since we were out of the rain.
Because I had gone poncho hunting, we were on the wrong end of the stadium. The concourse was packed with people. There were slow moving streams that you could get into and make some progress. I held Johann's hand tightly.
We passed a consessions stand. Since we weren't moving that quickly and no one was in line I thought it prudent to buy food then (rather than attempt it at half time). I asked Johann if he wanted a hot dot. He said that he wanted pop corn. I pointed out that pop-corn would get soggy in the rain. He got a hot dog (and also a bottle of water).
The hot dog was in a little plastic bag (which would come in handy later) and I just squirt some ketchup inside and closed it up.
We found our seats. The were higher up than I thought they would be (really high up) but that actually made it easier to see the plays. We stood because the seats were wet, well covered with water is a better way to describe them.
The game started. It was difficult to see because rain spattered my glasses. At the beginning of the game, I kept a running commentary of how many yards to the first down and how many tries left. I taught Johann how to recognize the quarterback (aka the guy with the ball).
Johann picked up enough to be able to start following the plays. So much so that he was able to see McNutt make a juggling catch near the end-zone in our corner of the stadium.
The first time Johann saw a punt, I heard him say "wow". I think he was impressed at how high they could kick the ball.
We were both pretty much drenched. I would periodically wring out the bottom of my shirt just to watch the water fall. Johann faired a little better with his garbage bag shirt but the clothes underneath were still completely wet. It wasn't comfortable but fortunately, it wasn't *that* cold.
As the weather got better, we could see the field so much clearer. It was as if the curtain we were watching through got lifted.
Johann had been taking bites of his hot dog through the first half. He would expose a bit from the bag and eat it. I was surprised at how well the bag kept it dry even though I had taken to putting it down on the wet bench. I shared the last couple bites and it was delicious.
The water sat undrank because we had had enough of water.
In the last couple minutes of the half, Johann noticed that we were sitting right in front of a giant scoreboard. He craned his neck to look at it. There wasn't that much going on in the game (Tennessee Tech was driving), so I told him that he could stand up and turn around to get a better look.
The very next play we intercepted the ball. I grabbed Johann, spun him around and stood him on the bench in time to see most of the run back for the touchdown.
I picked him up and put him on the bench a lot (every time there was an exciting play where everyone stood up and he wouldn't be able to see). He told me that he didn't like that. I think he was afraid of falling off the bench. I kept doing it but made sure to hold him steady when he was up there. (He says now that he almost fell off once.)
At half time, Johann wanted to watch the band. So we did. He liked the shapes that they made. We talked about the golden girl and the drum major. Nothing interesting came of that.
With 10 minutes left before the second half, we went to the bathroom. There was a *huge* line. I'm glad he didn't have to go badly. After a fair wait, we got into the bathroom and it was filled with people.
We got in lines next to each other. My line was slightly shorter so I could wait for him to finish (rather than him getting swept away into a sea of people when he was done). When it was his turn he got up there and peed like a champ. My little guy is growing up.
I was going to get pop corn then but the game had already started, so we went back to our seats.
At one point, Johann asked what the far end-zone said. I told him "Hawkeye". Then, I spelled it for him, "See, H-A-W-K spells hawk and E-Y-E-S spells eyes, even though that's weird". He said "Oh, I thought it was Hawk-Guys". I thought that made more sense than Hawkeyes.
In the third quarter, there were a few heavy drops of rain. That prompted everyone to put back on their ponchos. I put the garbage bag back on Johann (which I had removed in the vain hope that he would dry off). This time I put the flattened bag over both of our heads, which helped to keep the rain off my glasses.
Then the sky gushed water.
Later, I saw clips on TV of water flowing down the steps like a waterfall, a fast flowing waterfall.
At the time though we were just huddled under the garbage bag. We yelled in support the defense but also in a bit of defiance of the rain.
The crowd got loud. The rain was loud. When there was an announcement, I couldn't make it out in the slightest. The rain started letting up a bit (from the torrent) and that was a bit nicer.
Soon after though, on third down, the refs refused to start the play. There was a bit of confusion and then they announced that there would be a thirty minute delay due to lightning.
Apparently, that was the first weather delay ever at Kinnick. We picked a great game for Johann's first.
We went underneath the bleachers to get out of the rain. We made our way into the pack of people hoping it would be warmer. There was a place where the wind wasn't too bad and it was almost warm. I held Johann close to me trying to keep him warm. It would be bad for him to die of hypothermia so near a hospital.
After a bit, we got up to finally get some pop corn. There was scare when the guy said that they were out but then they scrounged up some (they were out of pretzels, which I guess is the preferred lightning delay food for the masses). Then we went back to our out-of-the-wind spot and ate our pop corn.
As we sat on the concourse, Johann on my lap for warmth, we finally drank the water that I had been reluctantly carrying around with us. I felt mildly prepared for something.
The father and sister of Frances' best church friend found us there. Talking with them helped pass the time, which was good because apparently every time there was lightning, we had to wait another 30 minutes before the game would start. The delay was somewhere between 1 and 1.5 hours.
When we went back in, all four of us decided to sit together (since at that point 80-90% of the fans had left). We decided to go stand at the top of our section, next to the giant score board.
Johann was amused by the back wall which was covered with this giant sticker thing to make it look like brick. He asked "Is that real brick?". I told him to touch it and find out. He discovered that it was in fact fake. I let him walk down to where the wall bent a little to see if it was fake there too. It was.
The weird thing about the wall sticker was that the bricks were too small. They were about 2/3rds size, which made it look odd up close but it looks fine on TV.
When play resumed, the whole thing felt like a scrimmage. The game was well in hand for the Hawks and the second string players were in.
Eventually we sat down on the top row. I held Johann on my lap again. It had stopped raining but Johann still felt cold. With about 2:00 minutes left on the clock, he fell asleep. The whole day, with the excitement of the game and being out in the rain for so long was exhausting. I thought about trying to keep him awake (the fears of hypothermia still in my gut) but decided against it.
When the game was over, I picked him up but it was apparent that it was too dangerous to try to carry Johann down the steep steps. He woke up pretty easily and we said our good-byes.
On the way back to the parking ramp, I carried him some and some he walked. I was torn between my desire to go to Hardee's and get a big, warm hamburger into my stomach and wanting to get into dry clothes. By the time we got to the car, I had decided that the clothes were the more pressing issue.
To help keep us warm, I turned up the heat in the van and we took off our cold wet shirts. We still had wet shorts and shoes that you could drink from but it was better.
That evening, I was wiped. The combination of the excitement, the cold and carrying Johann got to me. Arial let me take a nap but I was still sore the next day.
All in all, it was a great experience. Even with the misery, it was worth it to spend time with Johann at a football game. Johann enjoyed it too. He said he wants to go to another one...
...as long as it's not raining.
mwz
2011 Triathlon
I wrote this post last August but never got it off my netbook and onto the web.
------------------------------
I don't have the energy to do a full story on the triathlons that we did a couple weeks ago. So here are some highlights.
The Night Before the Kids Races:
We camped. It was hot when we started setting up our camp. It was hot a lot.
We went to packet-pickup and to eat. The restaurant that we chose had lost its air conditioning. They gave us free drinks and we ate on their patio but I would have preferred cold air.
When we got back we had a camp fire with Mrk and Mg and Mtt and Mtt's family.
Matt tried to start the fire with me giving useless advice. Mg came and saved the day with her mastery over fire.
Mrk and Mg are camping experts.
Marshmallows were roasted and s'mores made.
The kids all played together and had fun.
Bedtime was late for the kids, after 10pm. Not really ideal for pre-race sleep.
It was a challenge getting Gwen to sleep. After letting her cry her-self to sleep outside the tent (thankfully we weren't at the "quiet" camp ground) and a failed attempt to transfer her to the bed, I wound up sitting with her in the van.
There were no bugs in the van and it muffled the sounds of her crying.
Eventually, she fell asleep but according to Arial, spent a good chunk of the night awake and moving.
Then there was a vicious thunderstorm.
Kids' Triathlons:
Both Frances and Johann did great.
There were no major problems for either of them.
It was really cool to see them each gut it out all the way to the end of the run.
When Johann got his medal, he beamed with pride (and looked like he got a second wind).
When Frances got her medal, she was tired. She posed nicely for the picture but she had left it all out on the course.
I couldn't be more proud of them.
The Night Before Adult Races:
That night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (for s'mores).
The kids played together again, although Frances was bummed because there weren't any girls to play with and her ear hurt (which turned out to be infected).
Around 11pm Johann threw up in his sleep. We bagged up his pillow pet, cleaned up the spot on the air mattress and put down the extra sleeping bag we had brought.
Meanwhile, Johann had curled up and fallen back to sleep. He slept through me finishing cleaning him up.
Frances and Gwen slept through the whole vomit episode.
At 4am, I woke up to Frances screaming bloody murder. It took me a bit to figure out that Johann had rolled onto her hair. After extracting the hair she stopped screaming and went back to sleep.
At 5am I got up for the tri.
Adult Race:
My race went great. I had decided to just have fun and I did, even when I was tired.
I did well for me. There was a bit of amazement where I saw that I took 9th in my division (later I found out there were only 14 people in my division). Arial told me that I had the 22nd fastest bike time overall (later I found out that she didn't read the results correctly and that I had the 22nd fastest T2).
T2 went fast. I just wore the same shoes for biking and running.
On the swim, the moment that I was thinking about how few swimmers were around me, I got smashed in the face by someone wearing a wetsuit. Cheater.
Oh yeah, the water was too warm for wet suits. It slowed everyone down but it did make for a comfortable swim.
Mrk had a rough time with leg cramps during his (Olympic distance) run. Even with the cramping issues he beat my Olympic time from three years ago (and wet suits were legal that year).
It was a lot of fun. We're looking forward to doing it again next year.
mwz
------------------------------
I don't have the energy to do a full story on the triathlons that we did a couple weeks ago. So here are some highlights.
The Night Before the Kids Races:
We camped. It was hot when we started setting up our camp. It was hot a lot.
We went to packet-pickup and to eat. The restaurant that we chose had lost its air conditioning. They gave us free drinks and we ate on their patio but I would have preferred cold air.
When we got back we had a camp fire with Mrk and Mg and Mtt and Mtt's family.
Matt tried to start the fire with me giving useless advice. Mg came and saved the day with her mastery over fire.
Mrk and Mg are camping experts.
Marshmallows were roasted and s'mores made.
The kids all played together and had fun.
Bedtime was late for the kids, after 10pm. Not really ideal for pre-race sleep.
It was a challenge getting Gwen to sleep. After letting her cry her-self to sleep outside the tent (thankfully we weren't at the "quiet" camp ground) and a failed attempt to transfer her to the bed, I wound up sitting with her in the van.
There were no bugs in the van and it muffled the sounds of her crying.
Eventually, she fell asleep but according to Arial, spent a good chunk of the night awake and moving.
Then there was a vicious thunderstorm.
Kids' Triathlons:
Both Frances and Johann did great.
There were no major problems for either of them.
It was really cool to see them each gut it out all the way to the end of the run.
When Johann got his medal, he beamed with pride (and looked like he got a second wind).
When Frances got her medal, she was tired. She posed nicely for the picture but she had left it all out on the course.
I couldn't be more proud of them.
The Night Before Adult Races:
That night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (for s'mores).
The kids played together again, although Frances was bummed because there weren't any girls to play with and her ear hurt (which turned out to be infected).
Around 11pm Johann threw up in his sleep. We bagged up his pillow pet, cleaned up the spot on the air mattress and put down the extra sleeping bag we had brought.
Meanwhile, Johann had curled up and fallen back to sleep. He slept through me finishing cleaning him up.
Frances and Gwen slept through the whole vomit episode.
At 4am, I woke up to Frances screaming bloody murder. It took me a bit to figure out that Johann had rolled onto her hair. After extracting the hair she stopped screaming and went back to sleep.
At 5am I got up for the tri.
Adult Race:
My race went great. I had decided to just have fun and I did, even when I was tired.
I did well for me. There was a bit of amazement where I saw that I took 9th in my division (later I found out there were only 14 people in my division). Arial told me that I had the 22nd fastest bike time overall (later I found out that she didn't read the results correctly and that I had the 22nd fastest T2).
T2 went fast. I just wore the same shoes for biking and running.
On the swim, the moment that I was thinking about how few swimmers were around me, I got smashed in the face by someone wearing a wetsuit. Cheater.
Oh yeah, the water was too warm for wet suits. It slowed everyone down but it did make for a comfortable swim.
Mrk had a rough time with leg cramps during his (Olympic distance) run. Even with the cramping issues he beat my Olympic time from three years ago (and wet suits were legal that year).
It was a lot of fun. We're looking forward to doing it again next year.
mwz
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Summer Triathlon
This is an old post that I wrote about the triathlons that we did this summer. I didn't get around to posting it though.
---
I don't have the energy to do a full story on the triathlons that we did a couple weeks ago. So here are some bulletted highlights.
The Night Before the Kids Races:
We camped. It was hot when we started setting up our camp. It was hot a lot.
We went to packet-pickup and to eat. The restaurant that we chose had lost its air conditioning. They gave us free drinks and we ate on their patio but I would have prefered cold air.
When we got back we had a camp fire with Mrk and Mg and Mtt and Mtt's family.
Matt tried to start the fire with me giving useless advice. Mg came and saved the day with her mastery over fire.
Mrk and Mg are camping experts.
Marshmallows were roasted and smores made.
The kids all played together and had fun.
Bedtime was late for the kids, after 10pm. Not really ideal for pre-race sleep.
It was a challenge getting Gwen to sleep. After letting her cry her-self to sleep outside the tent (thankfully we weren't at the "quiet" camp ground) and a failed attempt to transfer her to the bed, I wound up sitting with her in the van.
There were no bugs in the van and it muffled the sounds of her crying.
Eventually, she fell asleep but according to Arial, spent a good chunck of the night awake and moving.
Then there was a vicious thunderstorm.
Kids' Triathlons:
Both Frances and Johann did great.
There were no major problems for either of them.
It was really cool to see them each gut it out all the way to the end of the run.
When Johann got his medal, he beamed with pride (and looked like he got a second wind).
When Frances got her medal, she was tired. She posed nicely for the picture but she had left it all out on the course.
I couldn't be more proud of them.
The Night Before Adult Races:
That night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (for s'mores).
The kids played together again, although Frances was bummed because there weren't any girls to play with and her ear hurt (which turned out to be infected).
Around 11pm Johann threw up in his sleep. We bagged up his pillow pet, cleaned up the spot on the air mattress and put down the extra sleeping bag we had brought.
Meanwhile, Johann had curled up and fallen back to sleep. He slept through me finishing cleaning him up.
Frances and Gwen slept through the whole vomit episode.
At 4am, I woke up to Frances screaming bloody murder. It took me a bit to figure out that Johann had rolled onto her hair. After extracting the hair she stopped screaming and went back to sleep.
At 5am I got up for the tri.
Adult Race:
My race went great. I had decided to just have fun and I did, even when I was tired.
I did well for me. There was a bit of amazement where I saw that I took 9th in my division (later I found out there were only 14 people in my division). Arial told me that I had the 22nd fastest bike time overall (later I found out that she didn't read the results correctly and that I had the 22nd fastest T2).
T2 went fast. I just wore the same shoes for biking and running.
On the swim, the moment that I was thinking about how few swimmers were around me, I got smashed in the face by someone wearing a wetsuit. Cheater.
Oh yeah, the water was too warm for wet suits. It slowed everyone down but it did make for a comfortable swim.
Mrk had a rough time with leg cramps during his (Olympic distance) run. Even with the cramping issues he beat my olympic time from three years ago (and wet suits were legal that year).
It was a lot of fun. We're looking forward to doing it again next year.
mwz
---
I don't have the energy to do a full story on the triathlons that we did a couple weeks ago. So here are some bulletted highlights.
The Night Before the Kids Races:
We camped. It was hot when we started setting up our camp. It was hot a lot.
We went to packet-pickup and to eat. The restaurant that we chose had lost its air conditioning. They gave us free drinks and we ate on their patio but I would have prefered cold air.
When we got back we had a camp fire with Mrk and Mg and Mtt and Mtt's family.
Matt tried to start the fire with me giving useless advice. Mg came and saved the day with her mastery over fire.
Mrk and Mg are camping experts.
Marshmallows were roasted and smores made.
The kids all played together and had fun.
Bedtime was late for the kids, after 10pm. Not really ideal for pre-race sleep.
It was a challenge getting Gwen to sleep. After letting her cry her-self to sleep outside the tent (thankfully we weren't at the "quiet" camp ground) and a failed attempt to transfer her to the bed, I wound up sitting with her in the van.
There were no bugs in the van and it muffled the sounds of her crying.
Eventually, she fell asleep but according to Arial, spent a good chunck of the night awake and moving.
Then there was a vicious thunderstorm.
Kids' Triathlons:
Both Frances and Johann did great.
There were no major problems for either of them.
It was really cool to see them each gut it out all the way to the end of the run.
When Johann got his medal, he beamed with pride (and looked like he got a second wind).
When Frances got her medal, she was tired. She posed nicely for the picture but she had left it all out on the course.
I couldn't be more proud of them.
The Night Before Adult Races:
That night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (for s'mores).
The kids played together again, although Frances was bummed because there weren't any girls to play with and her ear hurt (which turned out to be infected).
Around 11pm Johann threw up in his sleep. We bagged up his pillow pet, cleaned up the spot on the air mattress and put down the extra sleeping bag we had brought.
Meanwhile, Johann had curled up and fallen back to sleep. He slept through me finishing cleaning him up.
Frances and Gwen slept through the whole vomit episode.
At 4am, I woke up to Frances screaming bloody murder. It took me a bit to figure out that Johann had rolled onto her hair. After extracting the hair she stopped screaming and went back to sleep.
At 5am I got up for the tri.
Adult Race:
My race went great. I had decided to just have fun and I did, even when I was tired.
I did well for me. There was a bit of amazement where I saw that I took 9th in my division (later I found out there were only 14 people in my division). Arial told me that I had the 22nd fastest bike time overall (later I found out that she didn't read the results correctly and that I had the 22nd fastest T2).
T2 went fast. I just wore the same shoes for biking and running.
On the swim, the moment that I was thinking about how few swimmers were around me, I got smashed in the face by someone wearing a wetsuit. Cheater.
Oh yeah, the water was too warm for wet suits. It slowed everyone down but it did make for a comfortable swim.
Mrk had a rough time with leg cramps during his (Olympic distance) run. Even with the cramping issues he beat my olympic time from three years ago (and wet suits were legal that year).
It was a lot of fun. We're looking forward to doing it again next year.
mwz
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Handful
Gwen has started to become a bit of a handful.
She likes to carry things around the house now. Shoes often get separated from their mates. Bath toys wind up in our bed room.
The worst is that we think she has hidden (or maybe thrown away) our DVR remotes (both of them). I don't think she likes the TV. Especially when we are watching it instead of her.
Gwen has also started climbing. We just got bunk beds for Frances' room (in the unlikely event that Gwen leaves our bed). Gwen can clime the ladder to the top. She can't get up to the bed from their though, which is good because one of the things she does when she gets up their is throw her legs over the side like she'd getting off a regular bed. It's better she get stuck than fall from the top bunk.
Basically, we now keep Frances' door closed.
She also can climb onto the dining room table. And tonight she climbed to the top of the cat tree. We got the cat tree so the cats could climb up to their food but Gwen wouldn't. That plan is shot.
As an aside, Gwen seems to really like owls. We went to the natural history museum and there was a case with about 20 different stuffed owls. She would point and say "Owa". She also said "Oo" which could have been a try for "who" (like an owl says) or just regular old ooing. We had to go back to that case a second time to see them again.
mwz
She likes to carry things around the house now. Shoes often get separated from their mates. Bath toys wind up in our bed room.
The worst is that we think she has hidden (or maybe thrown away) our DVR remotes (both of them). I don't think she likes the TV. Especially when we are watching it instead of her.
Gwen has also started climbing. We just got bunk beds for Frances' room (in the unlikely event that Gwen leaves our bed). Gwen can clime the ladder to the top. She can't get up to the bed from their though, which is good because one of the things she does when she gets up their is throw her legs over the side like she'd getting off a regular bed. It's better she get stuck than fall from the top bunk.
Basically, we now keep Frances' door closed.
She also can climb onto the dining room table. And tonight she climbed to the top of the cat tree. We got the cat tree so the cats could climb up to their food but Gwen wouldn't. That plan is shot.
As an aside, Gwen seems to really like owls. We went to the natural history museum and there was a case with about 20 different stuffed owls. She would point and say "Owa". She also said "Oo" which could have been a try for "who" (like an owl says) or just regular old ooing. We had to go back to that case a second time to see them again.
mwz
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
France's Race Report
The following was written by Frances about our recent trip. I cleaned up the very few spelling and punctuation mistakes. - mwz
My Trip
We went to a stat park in Wisconsin. We went camping there. We went there because I had a triathlon there. We got to stay up late.
At the triathlon, when I was swimming I was faster than when I ran in the lake and every time I swam I needed to breath. Next I had to bike 3 miles. It was 2 laps around. For the run I was so tired.
I had fun on my trip.
My Trip
We went to a stat park in Wisconsin. We went camping there. We went there because I had a triathlon there. We got to stay up late.
At the triathlon, when I was swimming I was faster than when I ran in the lake and every time I swam I needed to breath. Next I had to bike 3 miles. It was 2 laps around. For the run I was so tired.
I had fun on my trip.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Transformers III
Arial let me sneak out to see the late showing of Transformers 3.
It's been getting pretty bad reviews but I loved it.
It had Transformers fighting other Transformers; People fighting Transformers; Transformers transforming.
There were even scenes where there weren't Transformers, if you are into that sort of thing.
I had to see it in 3D since that was the latest show and I'm kinda glad I did. There were a couple spots where it was incredible but for most of the film, I didn't really care.
Where the 3D did help was during fight scenes. In previous movies, sometimes robots blended into one another during fights making it hard to tell what was going on. But the depth really helped sort out where each robot was. I never felt confused.
The only thing that took me out of the movie was the crazy amount of product placement. It was more than just noticing new guns that attach to Autobots for the express purpose of selling new toys. There were product shots everywhere.
For a little bit, I thought one of the companies in the movie was Lenovo. It wasn't until I saw another Lenovo computer somewhere else that it dawned on me that that was strange.
All in all, I had a great time. I'm glad I didn't take the kids though (it was pretty brutal).
mwz
It's been getting pretty bad reviews but I loved it.
It had Transformers fighting other Transformers; People fighting Transformers; Transformers transforming.
There were even scenes where there weren't Transformers, if you are into that sort of thing.
I had to see it in 3D since that was the latest show and I'm kinda glad I did. There were a couple spots where it was incredible but for most of the film, I didn't really care.
Where the 3D did help was during fight scenes. In previous movies, sometimes robots blended into one another during fights making it hard to tell what was going on. But the depth really helped sort out where each robot was. I never felt confused.
The only thing that took me out of the movie was the crazy amount of product placement. It was more than just noticing new guns that attach to Autobots for the express purpose of selling new toys. There were product shots everywhere.
For a little bit, I thought one of the companies in the movie was Lenovo. It wasn't until I saw another Lenovo computer somewhere else that it dawned on me that that was strange.
All in all, I had a great time. I'm glad I didn't take the kids though (it was pretty brutal).
mwz
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
T-Ball
Frances and Johann are getting so much better at T-ball.
At last nights game, they both hit the ball without using the T.
Johann showed a lot of guts. During his first at bat, he tripped on the plate on his way to first base. His knee got skinned up pretty good. But Johann got right up and ran to first. It wasn't until he got back in the dugout did anyone notice that he was bleeding.
Arial got him a big band-aid and he played the rest of the game (albeit with a slight limp).
I was very proud.
mwz
At last nights game, they both hit the ball without using the T.
Johann showed a lot of guts. During his first at bat, he tripped on the plate on his way to first base. His knee got skinned up pretty good. But Johann got right up and ran to first. It wasn't until he got back in the dugout did anyone notice that he was bleeding.
Arial got him a big band-aid and he played the rest of the game (albeit with a slight limp).
I was very proud.
mwz
Friday, July 01, 2011
Walking
So, Gwen took her first steps not too long ago and now she has started toddling all over the place. Crawling is still her long distance travel method but for short journeys it's walking all the way.
mwz
mwz
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Gwen
For Father's day, Gwen gave me her first "high five for daddy".
Then, today while Frances, Johann and I were getting out team t-ball picture taken, Gwen took her first step. Or so I'm told...
mwz
Then, today while Frances, Johann and I were getting out team t-ball picture taken, Gwen took her first step. Or so I'm told...
mwz
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Weekend
This weekend, Arial and Gwen went up to Wisconsin. This left Frances and Johann with me.
I wanted to make it a fun weekend for the kids (since they would be missing Arial). The following is a recounting of yesterday's events.
Friday, I had shown them these little typing games (TuxType) on our netbooks (which are the perfect size for their small hands). Johann was terribly excited to try them out. (So much so, that he got up at 6am and wanted to play them. I made him wait until I got up at 8:30.)
The default word lists were too difficult for him but the game allowed me to add new lists of my own. So, I made a list consisting of "asdf", "fdsa", "jkl" and "lkj". Johann was able to do these and it emphasized the need to keep your fingers on the home row.
They both had so much fun that it kept them busy most of the morning while I did some work.
For lunch, I had a special "Things on crackers" meal planned. The night before, I had purchased several interesting things to put on crackers. The one rule that we had was that they had to eat one whole cracker with each item on top.
We started with little squares of Spam. Predictably, Johann liked the Spam and Frances didn't.
Next up was kippers. Also unsurprisingly, I was the only one that liked them.
Third was sardines. I figured there was no way that they would like sardines but it's a good thing to be able to say you've tried. Strangely though, they both liked them (I got a slightly upward turned thumb from Frances indicating that she sorta liked them).
Finally, I brought out the Easy Cheese. Actually, it was Hy-Vee brand, which was a mistake because Easy Cheese is better than store brand. They still liked it.
After everyone had eaten one of everything, then we could eat whatever we wanted.
The cheese got a lot of use, of course. Johann ate quite a bit of the Spam and they both ate a fair amount of sardines. I mostly ate kippers.
They liked the meal so much that, when given the choice for today's lunch, they chose it again.
After lunch (and after more work), Frances asked me to play Red Light Green Light on the deck. I agreed. But when she stepped out on the deck, she immediately said, "It's too hot" and came back in.
I decided to have them put on their swimsuits and run through the sprinkler. They did that until they started tearing up the yard. That's when I had an idea.
We have this yellow slide that came from a backyard playground thing. Sometimes we lay it on our hill and the kids slide down it. Yesterday was the perfect time to try it out as a water-slide.
I put the slide on the hill, set a running hose at the top and cleaned it off (it tends to collect dirt and grime). Frances went first.
There was a worry that this wouldn't be any more fun with water than it was without. That fear was alleviated when she hit the water that collected at the bottom of the slide with a big splash.
From then on they had a blast splashing down the slide. At the end of the slide, Frances tended to run right down the hill whereas Johann would slip and slide on the wet grass. Frances was the first to go down on her stomach feet first but Johann didn't like that because it was too scratchy.
While they were doing this, I made a poor attempt at weeding the garden.
They were fairly muddy, so they got rinsed-off in both the bath and the shower.
I wanted to make it a fun weekend for the kids (since they would be missing Arial). The following is a recounting of yesterday's events.
Friday, I had shown them these little typing games (TuxType) on our netbooks (which are the perfect size for their small hands). Johann was terribly excited to try them out. (So much so, that he got up at 6am and wanted to play them. I made him wait until I got up at 8:30.)
The default word lists were too difficult for him but the game allowed me to add new lists of my own. So, I made a list consisting of "asdf", "fdsa", "jkl" and "lkj". Johann was able to do these and it emphasized the need to keep your fingers on the home row.
They both had so much fun that it kept them busy most of the morning while I did some work.
For lunch, I had a special "Things on crackers" meal planned. The night before, I had purchased several interesting things to put on crackers. The one rule that we had was that they had to eat one whole cracker with each item on top.
We started with little squares of Spam. Predictably, Johann liked the Spam and Frances didn't.
Next up was kippers. Also unsurprisingly, I was the only one that liked them.
Third was sardines. I figured there was no way that they would like sardines but it's a good thing to be able to say you've tried. Strangely though, they both liked them (I got a slightly upward turned thumb from Frances indicating that she sorta liked them).
Finally, I brought out the Easy Cheese. Actually, it was Hy-Vee brand, which was a mistake because Easy Cheese is better than store brand. They still liked it.
After everyone had eaten one of everything, then we could eat whatever we wanted.
The cheese got a lot of use, of course. Johann ate quite a bit of the Spam and they both ate a fair amount of sardines. I mostly ate kippers.
They liked the meal so much that, when given the choice for today's lunch, they chose it again.
After lunch (and after more work), Frances asked me to play Red Light Green Light on the deck. I agreed. But when she stepped out on the deck, she immediately said, "It's too hot" and came back in.
I decided to have them put on their swimsuits and run through the sprinkler. They did that until they started tearing up the yard. That's when I had an idea.
We have this yellow slide that came from a backyard playground thing. Sometimes we lay it on our hill and the kids slide down it. Yesterday was the perfect time to try it out as a water-slide.
I put the slide on the hill, set a running hose at the top and cleaned it off (it tends to collect dirt and grime). Frances went first.
There was a worry that this wouldn't be any more fun with water than it was without. That fear was alleviated when she hit the water that collected at the bottom of the slide with a big splash.
From then on they had a blast splashing down the slide. At the end of the slide, Frances tended to run right down the hill whereas Johann would slip and slide on the wet grass. Frances was the first to go down on her stomach feet first but Johann didn't like that because it was too scratchy.
While they were doing this, I made a poor attempt at weeding the garden.
They were fairly muddy, so they got rinsed-off in both the bath and the shower.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Catching up
Haven't posted in a while. Here's a rundown of things that are going on with us.
- Gwen has been crawling all over the place for a while now. We're not terribly good at picking up the Cheerios and puffs (baby treats) that have dropped on the floor. So, she tends to crawl around scavenging for them. I'm pretty sure she likes having a snack available sometimes. We have to be quite careful not to leave non-edibles on the floor though.
- Sometimes at night while Ariel is putting the other two to bed, I'll let Gwen crawl down the hallway and into Johann's room. Frances is always happy to see her.
- Gwen can say "mamama" but it may just mean "parent" to her. She can also say "bababa" but I don't think that means anything.
- Both Johann and Frances have learned to ride their bikes w/out training wheels in the last couple weeks. We've been trying to teach them this spring because Frances will need to ride w/out training wheels in her triathlon. They were both very scared but moving them into the street (with me along side) helped a quite a bit. There they had enough room to weave a little. Johann had "Bike Day" at pre-school last Friday and so we made a big final push to get them to ride by going to parking lots. Apparently, it worked. He had a great time (I'm told). At one point he told me "I can't believe I was scared".
- Gwen still doesn't have any teeth.
mwz
- Gwen has been crawling all over the place for a while now. We're not terribly good at picking up the Cheerios and puffs (baby treats) that have dropped on the floor. So, she tends to crawl around scavenging for them. I'm pretty sure she likes having a snack available sometimes. We have to be quite careful not to leave non-edibles on the floor though.
- Sometimes at night while Ariel is putting the other two to bed, I'll let Gwen crawl down the hallway and into Johann's room. Frances is always happy to see her.
- Gwen can say "mamama" but it may just mean "parent" to her. She can also say "bababa" but I don't think that means anything.
- Both Johann and Frances have learned to ride their bikes w/out training wheels in the last couple weeks. We've been trying to teach them this spring because Frances will need to ride w/out training wheels in her triathlon. They were both very scared but moving them into the street (with me along side) helped a quite a bit. There they had enough room to weave a little. Johann had "Bike Day" at pre-school last Friday and so we made a big final push to get them to ride by going to parking lots. Apparently, it worked. He had a great time (I'm told). At one point he told me "I can't believe I was scared".
- Gwen still doesn't have any teeth.
mwz
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Gwen Update
Gwen is now cruising.
Also, trying to eat bits of paper that the other kids leave lying around. She's getting better at her fine motor skills, so it won't be long until she's succeeding.
nwz
Also, trying to eat bits of paper that the other kids leave lying around. She's getting better at her fine motor skills, so it won't be long until she's succeeding.
nwz
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sleep
Gwendolyn has turned me back into the "Sleepinator (hat tip to Rob Schneider). More than half of my interaction with her is putting her to sleep.
We sit in the computer chair. I hold her in one arm and play on the computer with the other. She usually cries a bit when we sit down but shortly, either through exhaustion or lack of hope, she fall a sleep.
As an aside, because one hand is being used by Gwen, the games that I can play are limited to mouse only (or otherwise one-handed) games. I'm currently playing Plants vs Zombies (which is quite good) but there are a fair number of other one-handed games.
mwz
We sit in the computer chair. I hold her in one arm and play on the computer with the other. She usually cries a bit when we sit down but shortly, either through exhaustion or lack of hope, she fall a sleep.
As an aside, because one hand is being used by Gwen, the games that I can play are limited to mouse only (or otherwise one-handed) games. I'm currently playing Plants vs Zombies (which is quite good) but there are a fair number of other one-handed games.
mwz
Tooth
Some time in early December, I was vigorously brushing Frances' teeth. She winced, put her fingers in her mouth and pulled a tooth out.
I didn't even know her tooth was that loose. Arial and I thought the whole thing was awesome but Frances just cried.
This was also the first tooth where I got to play Tooth Fairy. That was 50 cents of fun.
I didn't even know her tooth was that loose. Arial and I thought the whole thing was awesome but Frances just cried.
This was also the first tooth where I got to play Tooth Fairy. That was 50 cents of fun.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Bigger
Two days ago, we used the last newborn diaper. Gwendolyn has moved up to size 1.
There is one thing I can do that reliably entertains/stops Gwen from crying. With my right hand, I hold on to her torso and support her bottom with my left. Then I move her in a clockwise circle while singing a circus song. The effect is like a little Ferris wheel.
The Ferris wheel doesn't run as long as it used to. When I first discovered the trick, I could keep it going nearly indefinitely. Gwendolyn's weight didn't seem to add that much to my empty arms. Now, I can only keep it going comfortably for a couple minutes.
It's amazing the difference that a couple pounds makes.
mwz
There is one thing I can do that reliably entertains/stops Gwen from crying. With my right hand, I hold on to her torso and support her bottom with my left. Then I move her in a clockwise circle while singing a circus song. The effect is like a little Ferris wheel.
The Ferris wheel doesn't run as long as it used to. When I first discovered the trick, I could keep it going nearly indefinitely. Gwendolyn's weight didn't seem to add that much to my empty arms. Now, I can only keep it going comfortably for a couple minutes.
It's amazing the difference that a couple pounds makes.
mwz
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Parenting Tip
If it's been a day or more since you baby has pooped and you finally hear her go, don't wait until she's "finished". You will wind up cutting her out of here new Hawkeye onesie (fortunately, you got it at Wal-Mart in a three pack for only $10).
Don't let this happen to you.
mwz
Don't let this happen to you.
mwz
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Baptism
We finally got Gwen baptized. So now there is a little less pressure to keep her alive (but only an itsy, bitsy bit less).
One of my brothers and my sister came down, each of them bringing their three boys. It was crazy to have 9 kids (including Gwen) around. They played together amazingly well, so there wasn't any difficulty involved (other than trying to figure out where everyone was going to eat).
My parents and Arial's mom were there too. There were a lot of people in the house. Fortunately it was nice out, the kids played outside a lot.
Really not much else to say other than the Hawkeyes beat Michigan. The only flaw was that the game pulled my attention away from the people who weren't watching.
Finally, a shout out to C who was there but didn't get mentioned in this post.
mwz
One of my brothers and my sister came down, each of them bringing their three boys. It was crazy to have 9 kids (including Gwen) around. They played together amazingly well, so there wasn't any difficulty involved (other than trying to figure out where everyone was going to eat).
My parents and Arial's mom were there too. There were a lot of people in the house. Fortunately it was nice out, the kids played outside a lot.
Really not much else to say other than the Hawkeyes beat Michigan. The only flaw was that the game pulled my attention away from the people who weren't watching.
Finally, a shout out to C who was there but didn't get mentioned in this post.
mwz
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Cute Noises
Over the last week, Gwendolyn has progressed to making vocal noises other than crying. She makes these cute little uh's.
They seem to be warning noises, her way of saying "I'm not happy with the situation but not mad enough to cry... yet". She probably isn't trying to imply the "yet" on the end but that is the practical application.
Ignore them at your peril.
mwz
They seem to be warning noises, her way of saying "I'm not happy with the situation but not mad enough to cry... yet". She probably isn't trying to imply the "yet" on the end but that is the practical application.
Ignore them at your peril.
mwz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)