Sometimes Ya Gotta Just Let Go...

We went to the beach this past weekend for a little family getaway and to celebrate my son's birthday. He wanted more than anything (anything!) to go to the beach for his birthday. So, we did!

We found a place right on the beach that fit our adoption budget. No frills or fancy, but we just wanted to hang on the beach, so we took the no frills.

It was kinda nice not having to plan, send invites and all that jazz this year. Not that I mind doing that, but having a low-key, stress free planning of a simple birthday party just can't be beat. At least this year for our family....we've had enough stress and crazy to last a while!

So, we headed to the beach. I do not have many pictures of our beach vacation. One, our goal was to spend time together and just chill.

We did.

Another goal? To boogie board with my son and build a sand castle.

We did.

These things take time and as much as I wanted to just grab the camera at so many different moments, I didn't. It was hard, but I knew that in all the running and grabbing the camera and snapping would mean losing out on the memories being made in those precious moments.
(this pic taken by my boy)

Maybe I don't have a gazillion photos to show for it, but the snapsots in my memory.....in my son's memory, are priceless.

I want him to remember this beach vacation/birthday celebration, not with his mama constantly with a camera stuck on her face attempting to capture the moments, but actually making memories by being together.....and boogie boarding.

Oh, and also? My camera battery died and we forgot more batteries to switch out with. We got some more the next day, but ya know what?! It forced me to put the camera down, relax and just let go....

It was fabulous.

Lemonade Success!

It's hot outside. HOT I tell ya! So, I made a refreshing batch of lemonade!

I couldn't find the few recipes I had stashed (apparently in a location where things vanish...), so I did a random google search for a lemonade recipe...And THIS is what I found.

Naturally, Paula Deen certainly could not disappoint! And she didn't.

I will admit I can be kinda picky about my lemonade. I do not like it too sweet. I actually prefer it more tart. However, this recipe?! This one HERE....fabulous! Delish! LOVE it!

And yes, I am on my third glass...

A Gift With Some Sticky!

Did I ever show you what I decided to make and give to my nephew for his 11th B-day?!

No? Well, I shall share then!

Took some of this:


Used THIS tutorial


And VOILA! A handmade gift!


The report from my sis was that he loved it. Actually, his words were" mom, did you see this?! It's so cool!".

Whew! Mission accomplished. The older he gets, the harder gift-giving can be. Good thing I have a super cool son that helped me out a TON with this. He even picked the colors of the tape. :)

Have you ever made one of these?! It's pretty fun!

Strawberries!!!

We have strawberries!!!


Ok, correction. We had strawberries. I took these before we left for Russia.

Apparently, when one leaves the country and then returns and kinda forgets to water the plants like they are supposed to be, they shrivel up and go away.

Sadness.

I blame the jet lag...

Anyone got some tips on keeping strawberries going and growing?!

A Glass of Wishes

My son came inside from the backyard and got a glass and put some water in it. Then he took it outside with him. When he came back in, he gave to it me and said, "here's a glass full of wishes for you mom!".

Then my heart melted.

Part 2 of A Girl Who Likes to Ride Her Bike.....and Swim and Run (sorta)

Race Day.

4:30AM. Alarm. Ugh...

Thankfully I had packed all my gear the night before. I think I checked over things like 100 times too. Things I did NOT want to forget:

-Sunglasses

-Sunscreen

-hat for the run

-gum

-WATER!!!

Plenty of other things too. Like snacks....I'll get to that in a minute. :)

Meanwhile...I had planned on getting some good rest. HA! I did not know an allergy of sneezing was gonna hit late the previous afternoon and cause some serious crazy tickle-y nose and throat. The tickle-y throat caused me to awake coughing way too many times...

I got up, dressed and decided to stick to my usual oatmeal that I had been having during all my training. I would either have that or a breakfast bar. The day before they talked a little about what to eat/not to eat and mainly said stick to what you've been doing as this is NOT the time to try something new.

I took a couple bites of my oatmeal and thought I was gonna puke. To the breakfast bar I went! My sister arrived and I decided to nibble on the breakfast bar and sip some water on the way there.

We arrived a little past 5:30am...good thing too! We only had until 6:45 to set up our transition area. AND there was a looong wait for the shuttles to take us, so by the time we got into the transition area, we had less than 30min. to get things set up. Whew!

And not that it took THAT long really. Just that I had to air up my tires cause they said to let a little air out because of the heat and no one wanted to hear all the "pop, pop, pops" that happens when such high temps and bike tires are concerned.

So, I had let some air out of my tires. I made sure to bring my own pump, even though they did have people on hand to help out with that, it was highly recommended to bring your own just in case.

Well.....things were going just fine until I went to pump up the tires. My pump woud.not.work! My sister brought hers over and we still could not get it to register right. By this time we had less than 10minutes before transition was to be closed down. Once that happened too bad charlie if you forgot something! I quickly got the rest of things set up for T1 (transition 1) and grabbed my swim cap and goggles and headed over to the long line awaiting the fabulous people to put air in our bike tires....

I got through the line and had like TWO minutes to get outta there and over to where the swim started. Whew!

For those wondering, this is what I basically had to transition to the bike set out:

-Beach towel folded up to step on.
-Extra bottle of water to swish the extra gunk off my feet and a little towel to dry 'em off before putting on my socks. Came in VERY handy!
-My shoes already set out, laces ready to just tie up. Sock in the shoes so it was easy to locate and put on.
-My new Bondi band...LOVE! I usually wore a bandana under my bike helmet to catch the extra sweaty-ness from the Texas heat. Well, I discovered these at the Expo and I am never going back! They rock.
-Bike helmet of course and my bike gloves
-GUM!
-Water bottle already in holder ready to go.
-Snacks in the pouch I put on my bike to carry stuff. What kinda snacks? Extra breakfast bar, some energy beans and shot blocks. More on this to come....

OH! And something to think about, get a cheapy pair of flipflops you can just toss off before heading into the water. It also makes it a little nicer if you have to run to a port-a-potty before the swim too, just sayin'. :)

We headed over to the swim start. We had a little bit of a wait seeing how we were in the LAST swim wave. It was pretty awesome though seeing the start and all the different waves and colors of caps ahead of us. It was almost like a rainbow of sorts. Amazing seeing the survivor wave go....wow.

I have to say, by this time my nerves were pretty darn calm! Time came for us to start heading down to get in the water.

My sister looked at me and said, "Whoa! Butterflies!". I have to say, the swim, the open water swim I thought would freak me out? It didn't. Everyone around me was having all the same feelings. I was actually just in this zone and ready to start.

Then the countdown began....and we were off!

Now, let me stop here to tell you....there were some serious feet and elbows happening. Sheesh! It's probably where I ended up with the strange bruise on my arm I have absolutely no recollection of getting, but it was there when I crossed the finish. Oh well...

The swim. I survived it just fine and even finished 3 minutes before I thought I would!

Then, off to the bike!

There were some hills. Especially one giant one....at the end of the bike course! But, it went well. I met an awesome person when I had to stop and walk up one hill. A hill I didn't think was all that bad until I started going backwards as I was trying to peddle upwards....oops.

No matter, my new friend Jules and I, we buddied up for the rest of the bike. It was awesome and we were able to keep each other encouraged. I even shared some of my energy beans with her!

Speaking of, of all the different gel vs not gel and stuff, my favorite energy deal was jelly belly energy beans. They did not make me want to puke and they were easy enough to eat during it all. And heck, it was like eating candy! Made it more fun I think. :)

It was hot. I hydrated plenty while biking. Had to since it was supposed to be like 100 that day. In reality, the "feels like" temp was said to be 115 degrees....oh yeah, I felt that! Especially when it came to the run part.

Now, I knew I was going to be walking part of the run....little did I know I was to end up walking most all of the run. The cloud cover let up and it was just HOT! I knew my limits and I knew to finish I had to take it slow and steady. This was my first tri and it won't be my last. Next time? I plan to run all of it and train accordingly.

There was another hill. Again, didn't seem too bad. Another gal and I buddied up on the walk part. She was a few waves ahead of me, but had some bike trouble that caused her a pretty significant delay. She had planned to run the run too...she and I encouraged one another and helped each other get.up.that.hill.

At the top they kept saying "you're almost there, you'll see the finish line when you get here!". Haha....that hill truly seemed never ending.

But! We made it. We saw the finish and we were motived.

We got closer to the finish and I see this little person running towards me....it was my son. My son!

He ran to me, took my hand, we walked a little ways and then we ran across the finish together. That was the most awesome feeling ever!

We finished! I finished!

I am now officially a triathlete. Seems so surreal, but it is so!

Now, the countdown to Russia!

More on that to come....

A Girl Who Likes to Ride Her Bike.....and Swim and Run (sorta) Part 1

I haven't really talked too terribly much about the triathlon I have been training for. The triathlon that I completed this past Sunday.

WOW!

I chose to do the Danskin Triathlon because:

1. I like that it helps to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

2. It is a super friendly first-timer triathlon.

3. It's something I could train for and do together with my sister.

4. The training required was easy enough to manage throughout the week...for the most part. Illness and little one(s) to care for can factor in some creative timing/scheduling.

I started training with my sister back in February. I was NOT a strong swimmer. I liked biking enough....I am NOT a strong runner.

Through the weeks of training, I became a stronger swimmer. I learned that I LOVE riding my bike, even for longer distances and up hills. I am still not a strong runner, but I can accept that it is just not my strongest event. Something to work on I suppose....

At first, the thought of swimming 1/2 mile did not seem too terrible. Then, I counted how many laps that was in the pool....wha?!?! I could not imagine doing 10 laps, much less 17. Then, before I knew it...18, 20, 25 laps.....I was doing more than I needed and wanted to do more!

My first bike ride past 2 miles was quite tiring! There are some great trails close by and we would go on those. They are both paved and crushed granite. Yeah, trails not paved are much harder work, but worth it for the strengthening! It's kinda like running on the beach as opposed to just road. Maybe not as bad, but close.

Running, well, as my running instructor had told me months before when I said I was determined to run the whole 5K part of it....."Don't pressure yourself too much. It's OK to walk it. A lot of people do. Just take it all in and enjoy it". She was right and I am glad I listened. I did walk...almost ALL of it! And it gave me the time I needed to just soak it all in.....and before I knew it I was a mile from becoming a triathlete! Now, that is not to say I will not work on attempting to run more of it the next time....oh yes, there will be a next time!

The Day before the race there was an Expo along with packet pick up. They had a course and race day overview and I am glad I attended that part of it because the day before?! I had a serious case of the nerves....I suddenly was wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into! Swim, Bike AND Run (for me walk)...all back to back?! But mainly, it was the transitions that made me nervous. However, after going for packet pickup, my nerves were calmed and I was excited! If you are a first timer and they have such a thing, I recommend attending it.

Then, I got emotional. Why?! Because this race was about more than just doing a triathlon. There were some amazing women involved. And several of these women? They are cancer survivors. This is just a quick pic I took at the race day overview, when they asked all the cancer survivors sitting in the audience to come up on stage. This is just a handful of these women. Wow, talk about putting it all in perspective:

I got teary-eyed. Here I was sweating about T1 and T2 and these women had survived the biggest battle of their lives!

I can do this.

After that, we had to go to the transition area and "rack our bikes". I had NO clue what I was doing, but thankfully they had covered a little of that during the course/race day overview.

I found the location for where I was to rack my bike. I counted the rows to and from and put a little marker to make it easier to find my bike in the masses. Basically it was a bright colored bandana that I tied to my bike and the pole...just enough of something that was familiar to catch my eye. Some people tied balloons, others swim noodles all spiffied up. My little bright colored bandana worked just fine for me.

Here is it, all racked up for race day:

Oh! And here is the lake I was going to get to swim in...

And don't be fooled by this pic....it makes the water look more blue, but it was gross and green.
Then, my sis and I drove back to our homes. It was time to relax, and for me? Obsess and triple check all my gear. Cause, ya know, that's what I do. And I did.

Then? I REALLY needed to get some sleep because it was gonna be an early morning! As in, we needed to be there at 5:30....