As the sun sets...

Gotta love the "group" picture!

on what was a great weekend, I just wanted to check in, report some highlights and share some pictures! Meg (Chris' sister) and Brian and the boys arrived Friday---We had a fun filled weekend with lots of outside time, yummy food and just general good times! Thanks Richards for making the trip from Michigan--we will see you in a little over a week! Some highlights...

• A great steak dinner on Friday night--complete with rosemary potatoes and carmelitas (if you are lucky, I will share the recipe soon)--all washed down with two very yummy wines--Cono Sur ( a Pinot Noir from Chile) and Alexis ( a Cabernet from Swanson Vineyards in Napa)--all while...get this ALL the children were asleep!!!
• Tractor rides around our yard Saturday a.m.
• 2 runs--one where I unintentionally lost Meg--I do hope she blogs about this....and if she does she will get a link....my version of the story includes loading 3 kids into the mini-van to drive around and around and around our neighborhood trying to find my m.i.a. sister-in-law...good news is a.) we found her and b.) she had a great workout due to the directional challenge she experienced!
• Fun times at the pool--Clare can now do forward and backward somersaults in the pool and Addie showed us her "new" move called the "spinning wheel"!
• Watching the kids "help" our neighbors pick up sticks and then turning around to see them (our children...not our neighbors) on top (like as in riding) the fake deer in their lawn...All I kept thinking was "Dear God...please don't let them bust one of those things"...there are plenty of things I would enjoy buying....a fake deer is not one of them.
• Wonderful babysitters--Miss Katie and Miss Tori showing up like clockwork at 6:00p.m. so we could have some adult time--a yummy meal at El Jardin and then a tour of some local places in Beloit, So. Beloit and Roscoe---Meg and Brian were most impressed by the Whiffle Tree--where a 24 minute Pink Floyd song was playing and Jerry Springer was on the tube...gotta love the Tree!
• Sunday morning fun--swings, bikes, trikes and lots of giggles with cousins!

A few things about....this picture

• My children have a dollhouse and a Barbie house, yet this is where Addie decides would be a great place to play with her dolls!
• Prior to this picture being taken...Ken (or whatever Addie calls the naked dude) was on the toilet himself...in a time out!
• Some of the names for the other Barbies...Callie, Beneria (sounds like a disease!) and Audra!
• For all you germ phobs out there....I did disinfect with anti-bacterial wipes!
• Yes--I do have a blue toilet and ugly blue wall-paper in my bathroom...someday it will look different...but until then I pretend the toilet is white and the walls are painted!

I'm looking forward to....

this view in less than two weeks...it will be slightly different as my parents have moved a 1/4 mile down the bluff....but give or take a tree here or there....it will be generally the same! Other fun 4th of July Door County events:

• 27th Annual Sevastopol FFA Dairy Breakfast---yum!
• Golf at the Orchards and wine after at Simon Creek with Chris, Sara and Braxton
• Egg Harbor 4th of July Parade
• White Fish Dunes State Park
• lunch/shopping with Sara and my mom...maybe if we are lucky carrot cake from here
• General relaxation and watching the kids play with their cousins
• Boat rides to search for buried treasures (okay so jewels from Oriental Trader stuffed in the sand...but it is exciting!)
• Hopefully getting in some longer runs and rides (I'm putting this in here to hold myself to it!)--plus half the stuff (read: more than half) I have listed involves food and drinking....so I have to get out on the bike or put some miles on my running shoes!
  

I'm a Pike...and other summer fun

Addie started swim lessons yesterday...she has been watching Clare take swimming lessons and wants to know how to swim all by herself like her big sister....so here she goes her first day as a Pike!

Other fun things so far this summer...

• A neighborhood game of capture the flag...complete with a decorate your own flag activity...ours has beads...of course!
• Clare is going to Growing Tree Day camp....it is at the Y--but they swim everyday and get to go on a weekly field trip...this week's field trip is to an ice rink...next week a farm!
• More fun to come...A visit from the Richards, Door County, Grand Rapids and a visit from the Chier's and Donahue's!!!

Back in the Saddle...

Well--I think I managed to leave my brain in New York...Out of the blue yesterday, I had a thought....maybe I should train for a triathlon...I need something to keep me focused for the summer and help burn off those extra calories brought on by eating brats and random bowls of chips...so yes...a triathlon is what I should do...I e-mailed Chris and told him what I was thinking...of which he replied that he at first thought the e-mail was a joke...but then got excited and yes...he was up for doing the Reeds Lake Triathlon in September...September 7th to be exact...12 weeks and 2 days away!!! "

I know I can do a triathlon...I have done sprint distance and I have completed one that was just a little longer than the Reed's Lake Tri, I have run a marathon, I have done an adventure race....but....that was many moons ago. The nerves have already kicked in for something in September.....aghhhh. It is totally psychological and borderline crazy....but I think once you have had success at something--in this case racing and training, then get away from the routine and familiarity of multi-sport training, it is a scary proposition to start over...from scratch....but start over is just what I did...today! I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and it didn't feel too bad...so as the sign up on the running bulletin board says at the Y--coined by John Bingham (Runner's World)
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

The Big Apple...

View from my Cross-Trainer...how can a workout be boring with this to look at????

View from our room

Tavern on the Green
Times Square

Brooklyn Bridge
Buddha at Tao

Merkato 55


Everyone said I would love New York City and they were right! It was a perfect mix of chaos and calm. Tree lined streets and parks gave way to the neon craziness of Times Square and trendy restaurants were followed by a slice of pizza in a hole in the wall place....perfect ! We had time to laugh at old stories, catch up on where we were are now and what we thought the future would hold....so fun to share these times with women who I remember talking about what the future would look like 15 years ago...Some highlights included:

• Central Park--we ate H & H bagels with lox and cream cheese from Zabars on a bench and watched the people go by.



• Tavern on the Green--Bloody Mary's in the courtyard on a very hot Saturday morning!



• Tao--yummy dumplings and a huge (I mean HUGE) fortune cookie stuffed with chocolate mousse.



• Merkato 55--Danny's (Chris' cousin) girlfriend Tekela is the floor manager at this African restaurant...we had a wonderful meal with tons of food and tasty South African wine in the meatpacking district. This was followed by drinks at Pravda an underground Russian Vodka bar.



• Curtains the Musical--we got same day 1/2 price tickets from the TKTS counter....it has David Hyde-Pierce(Niles from Frazier)...we had great seats and it was fun to see a Broadway show.



• Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan....seeing SATC the night before (also a highlight) made this walk even more memorable!




• Taking the Staten Island Ferry--great view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline....next time....I would take it at night!



• Having a glass of wine at the Waldorf and the girl talk we had there.



• Shopping for Coach purses and D&G sunglasses on Canal Street.
  

The list could go on and on...it was a fabulous time with fabulous women!

To be continued...

Mother Nature got the best of me yesterday....I thought I would be back in Chicago by 3:30....but a 3 hour delay in NYC followed by a 25 minute wait for a gate at O'hare resulted in a later arrival home--this is better than the fates of those flights after mine...they were cancelled....this resulted in no trip report as of yet....so here is a teaser....a little pic from Central Park....we had a wonderful time...stay tuned!