A hiking we will go....

Today we had the day off and since the weather was going to be ok we decided to head to Devils Lake for some hiking. After borrowing our neighbors backpack for Kate and loading the car with everything but the kitchen sink we were off.

When we got there and told the kids we were hiking to the top of this bluff they were a bit worried...and so was I!

We started with some lunch and fishing.

Then it was time to strap on the tennis shoes and the baby and we were off.

We decided (thankfully) to take the shorter of the routes. Balancing Rock to Devils Doorway to Potholes. It was still all the way to the top. I made it about 3/4 the way up the bluff with Kate on my back before Jared took her and he had the rest of the way. The kids used every photo opportunity they could find so they could sit and rest.

I was wondering if we would make it back down before the rain hit. Along the trail we saw some rock climbers and this guy...

Grace looked at him and said "He looks like Aunt Deb!" We of course wanted to know how she figured that and she said "He has the same hair style in the front". Sorry Aunt Deb...you either get 'franked' or compared to a dog with my kids..

The view from the top is fantastic!

Well worth the hike...and not as bad I thought it would be. Then you get a nice break as you walk across the top for a little bit and then you start climbing down. For the kids they were worried they were going to fall or Daddy was going to fall with Kate. Luckily no one fell and we made it back to the car in about an hour and a half.

Kate didn't fall asleep in the pack until we got to the bottom and then she crashed. She slept on a blanket for another couple hours after that! When she woke up she wanted some chips..it was hard work for her to ride up and down the bluffs and take a 2 hour nap!

Then Jack and Grace got their suits on and swam in the lake for a while until I noticed Grace sitting there shivering uncontrollably...goofy kid just sat there freezing until I asked if she wanted to get out.

I got Grace out and dryed off/changed and she played frisbee with Jared while Jack fished.

We headed out shortly after a guy (that had many open sores and blood on his legs) asked to use my cell phone. I told him it didn't work up there and he smiled and said "really?"...I packed up the girls and got them to the car. Jared was fishing down along the shore so he wasn't even around when it happened. It was creepy!

It all worked out fine because as we pulled out of the parking lot it started raining..good time to go. All in all it was a great day and the kids are all sleeping before 11pm! Maybe we will have to go back again tomorrow!

A dream come true!

Jack may look tough...but inside he is a softy...especially for Kate :)

Jack's dream has come true...he can now play football. Real, hit 'em hard, full pad football. All the mom's cringe with me at the thought of your baby...ok, he's 9 1/2 but still...getting hit hard by another kid.

I asked him if he would rather play tennis (NO), golf (NO), swim club (NOPE), math team (YEAH RIGHT)...football it is. In Verona, kids start full tackle football going into 4th grade. They even have to weigh in. So if they are over 95 pounds they are blue-starred. That means that they play the line. They do it to protect the 55 pounders from the 120 pounders. Jack will be a lineman...yep, he is 106 pounds of energy...ready to tackle anything that moves. The smallest kid on Jacks team is 58 pounds (same size as Grace) and the biggest kid is 121 pounds! That is quite a difference in size!

We picked up his equipment 2 weeks ago and I find him wearing it every morning as soon as he wakes up. I make him take it off for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He even watches tv with his helmet on. He heard the coaches say they should wear their helmet as much as possible so they get used to it...he is taking them very seriously!

He started practice last week (helmets only) so the coaches could evaluate the boys before the draft that picks the teams. This is some serious business! Practice is 3 days a week for 2 hours a day and then games on Saturdays all over Dane County. No more playing Verona vs Verona for the Rec Department.

Jack has been hoping and praying that he would be placed on Verona's White team (vs Orange or Black) so he could play against his cousin's team in the 3rd week. We got THE email Friday afternoon...he made the ORANGE team. He was bummed. I was bummed...the Orange team is the team that travels the most and the furthest! Lucky us. We get to drive to Poynette, Monroe and Wisconsin Heights for 3 of the 5 games. One of the home games is against Waunakee...my hometown.

Real practice starts this week and already we have conflicts with 3 of the practices...what do I do? Do I make Jack miss a Brewers game (probably not), miss going early to Nana's for a family reunion (probably), miss Grace's birthday dinner (?)....I love sports...

If anyone would like the schedule of Jack's games so you can see him play let me know. It should be fun!

Go Pack Go...almost!

In June we bought tickets (again) for Packer Family Night at Lambeau Field. It's offense vs defense so at least we knew the Packers would win! Jeremy and Jenn and the kids also had tickets with us so all the kids were SUPER excited. This year we decided to tailgate in the parking lot...a whole new concept for me...having a picnic in a concrete park :).

The day of the game we woke up to HORRIBLE thunderstorms and even more HORRIBLE rain. It was as dark as night at 8 am...very weird. We got on the road, after dropping the dog off at the pet resort, around 10 am and got to Lambeau Field around 1:30pm (5 kids + potty stops, "we're hungry", baby crying to get OUT of her carseat = and extra hour in the car). We were so happy the skies in Green Bay were clear and sunny with a light wind. It was wonderful! We unpacked the 2 vehicles and started our tailgating.

The kids were happy to run around and see this guy walking toward us:

Around 5 we started up the grill and ate some brats and hotdogs. Jenn brought face paint and green hairspray (Grace was in Green Heaven).

Then it was time to go into the stadium (still nice and sunny...anyone see where this is going yet?). We got in and found our seats (50 yard line, 50 rows up).

We did the wave a couple hundred times, we sang along with the SpongeBob Square Pants song that they were piping into the speakers and held up our signs we made to try to get on the big screen (ours said "Mr. Rodgers, Won't You Be Our Neighbor?" )...we didn't get on the big screen.

Then......they brought out the Oneida Indian Tribe (Grace again was thrilled with the guy wearing the total green Indian outfit...wish I had a picture). They didn't even all make it to the field before the first bolt of lightening was seen over the stadium.

Lightening + Metal Bleacher Seats = EVACUATION of the stadium. YEPPERS...we all had to go to the inner hallways of Lambeau Field.

This happened last year before the game started and we sat for 2 hours before they let us back out onto our seats. This year we sat for 2 1/2 hours before they informed everyone that the scrimmage was canceled but if you wanted to stick around they were going to shoot off some fireworks. Here is Jack when he heard the news that we were leaving and the game was canceled (he was so sad).

We still had a 2 hour drive home and we had to be up early to get the house cleaned before a realtor was bringing some buyers in. Even though we sat in a hallway for 2 1/2 hours we had a great day. Tailgating was fun and we got to see the field for a little while as they warmed up, but lesson learned (I am learning a lot of lessons lately...hmmm). We will not be going next year. By the time we got everyone home, semi cleaned up and to bed it was 2 am and we needed more of this.... and less of this..... (seriously, can't you feel a major breeze?). This was some lady in front of us...not with us or an ice cube would have found its way in there :)!

A lesson learned...again...

One year ago, we were making sure everything was ready for the baby. Kate was due in about a month and we had the diapers, wipes, clothes washed and bags almost packed. I spent extra time making sure our accounting software was all up to date so I wouldn't have to sit at my computer after she was born typing in everything for our office. I usually am a HUGE procrastinator, but this time I was all caught up. All bank statements were entered, all credit card transactions entered and all payroll up to date before Kate arrived. Life was grand. I even made a back up disk of Quickbooks. Then the month after Kate was born I had to do payroll....imagine that, employees like to be paid :)! My computer crashed. It crashed and burned. I couldn't do anything but restore it back to its original settings. Before I could do that I had to figure out what to do with my files....mainly my pictures. Since going to a digital picture I have taken thousands of pictures over the years (ok, maybe months). I started putting them on CD's but that was taking FOREVER. We bought an external hard drive. Just copy and paste them...took no time at all! Then we got the computer restored. I got Quickbooks re-installed and put in my backup CD....it wouldn't download. I called Quickbooks and tried to stay calm as I held our newborn in my lap and explained that my backup disk was not working and I didn't have any other backup disks and the ENTIRE year was on that disc. They had me send the disc to a specialist and about a week later I got a call....THE call....the disc had the same virus and was wiped out. All the work I had done was gone! I ended up going to our CPA's office every morning for about 4 hours (after dropping the kids off at school), WITH the baby, and re-entering in all our data for the year. I was so glad to have that external hard drive so if my computer ever crashed again, my pictures and files would be safe.....
Fast forward one year (almost).....
My computer took a dive, again. I knew I would have to restore it, again. So, I tried getting my pictures to transfer off my computer and onto the external hard drive so they would be safe. Tried is the key word here....my external hard drive won't work. You can hear it trying to work...but then it clicks. They say that a machine that clicks is bad...GREAT! I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and some 10 year old (looking) geek basically told me it was broken and would cost me between $800 and $1600 for them to send it to the highest computer geeks so they could try to extract any pictures off it. I took my broken hard drive and drove it home and sat and looked at the little black box that is holding pictures from July 2006 to Oct 2008 hostage. I was sure that when we bought this I was doing everything to keep my pictures safe...guess not. Here is what I have learned...maybe someone will see this and keep their pictures safer than mine where!
1. If you get an external hard drive: only plug it into the wall & computer when transfering files. Otherwise, unplug it and keep it on a shelf.
2. Maybe get 2 external hard drives so you can back up the back up....hmmmm...maybe a 3rd to make sure they are all safe!
3. Computers are great...when they work.

Ok, so I probably didn't tell you anything new, but I am hoping and praying that a friend of a patient will be able to get my pictures out of the prison they are in.

1st Picnic!

We took Kate to the park to have her 1st picnic. She was not sure what to think of it. We made peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, sour cream & onion chips & cheese sticks. I had brought Cherrios for Kate and she wanted nothing to do with those :). So, I broke off some sandwich and she LOVED it. She loved the chips & cheese sticks more!

She would take a bite and share with Jack...and laugh. She is so sweet.

Grace couldn't wait to play at the park so she ate quickly and was off running. Jack couldn't wait to take Kate down the slide for the first time.

Kate was not sure about that either. She just sat on his lap and didn't even crack a smile. We put her in a swing (her favorite)....no smile. She just looked confused by the whole ordeal....poor baby. So, I just took her and sat down to watch the other kids. That made her happy.

I Tri'd!

Last year a very good friend asked if I would do a Triathlon with her....I got pregnant instead :). This year I didn't have any excuses (except: I didn't want to die/drown, I am not in shape, I just had a baby/I'm afraid of fish...you get the idea). I signed up and started training. We joined a local gym. I got my butt in there 3-5 times a week (for a while). Then....school got out. All training stopped and the tri was July 12th. The time got closer and closer and Jared got more and more worried that I wouldn't survive this! I am happy to say, I tri'd and succeeded! Here is my story:

July 6-11th: We sent Jack to Camp Fairwood. This was his 1st overnight camp and it was the 1st time in his entire life that I wasn't able to talk to him for 5 days! It was a bit stressful the first couple days. He had a great time and we found out that his cousin, Josh, prayed to accept the gift of salvation! At Camp Fairwood you have to kiss a fish that is mounted on the wall if you get 3 letters from home or 1 package. Jack and Josh had to kiss the fish A LOT...thank you to all of our friends and family that sent letters :). They got to ride horses, play paintball, shoot bb guns at targets, drink way too much pop, stay up late, never shower and swim in a pond....Jack says there is more that he did but it would take me all day to write about it so we will have to trust him!

Josh kissing the fish :)

July 11th: We had to be up by 6 am to leave and pick Jack up at camp (1 hour north) and then turn around and drive to Pleasant Praire (near Racine/Milwaukee) so I could register/check in for the triathlon.

I was so nervous going into this because I didn't know the venue. I didn't know how the baby was going to handle being without me Sunday when I was racing. I knew Jared didn't know the area so driving and parking would be a challenge (especially with 3 kids).

The day before the Tri:
We got to the Rec Plex and I was able to look across Lake Andrea and see the distance. I had only trained in a pool so 16 laps wasn't hard to invision....16 laps end to end is another story. When I stood at the shore, I knew it was do-able. I wouldn't drown.

The sand on the far side of the picture is the start point and we are standing at the finish line.

Then we got my number/packet, my arm marked (the kids wanted their arms marked too), my pretty yellow swim cap and shirt. We got my bike racked (way in the last row) and we headed to the hotel. We got to the hotel and threw Jack into the shower. He had only taken one shower at camp all week and informed us he didn't use soap....you can imagine the dirt and smell in the car for our 3 hour drive from camp to the hotel. He got out of the shower (after using soap) and started drying off and the white towel was BLACK...how many layers of dirt where on him? I was amazed. Jared took a nap and I headed down to another friends room and we started planning the logistics of getting to the race the next day. We had 10 girls total that signed up. Then we all got ready for dinner at Olive Garden (carb loading). After dinner it was time for bed....for everyone else.

I couldn't sleep...seriously...I am pretty sure that doing a tri with NO sleep the night before is NOT a good idea :). I finally got to sleep around 1 am and Kate woke up at 2 to eat. I fed her and was back to sleep by 2:30 and Grace fell out of bed at 3. I was back to sleep at 3:30 and Kate woke up at 4 to eat (she NEVER wakes up at night...I think she was filling up because she knew I was going to be gone most of the next day). Then I had my alarm set for 4:30 so I just stayed up.

Getting Ready:

I got dressed and made sure I had everything I needed and headed to Nicole/D's room. They were all ready and the rest of the girls came out shortly after. We all looked a bit shell shocked. For the majority of us, this was our 1st triathlon and we really didn't know what to expect. We piled into Kristi's huge truck and made our way back to the Rec Plex. You have to set up your transisiton area the morning of. Lay out your towel/shoes/socks/helmet and any food/power bars that you will need between swimming and biking. At this point I realized I have never worn a swim cap...that was fun trying to get that on! If you can't have fun at 5:30 in the morning when can you? Here is what no sleep+no food+nerves gets me.....enjoy and laugh with me (or at me...it doesn't matter ;) ).

how does this go on?....... not like this..........................and we are ready!!!!!

We were done and kicked out of there by 6:30 am and the race started at 7.

Andrea, Nicole, D & I ready to go!

We sat along the lake shore and watched the Elites take off....Teresa, I give you a lot of credit...they are FAST! Then they started the Survivor (cancer) wave of people (not as fast). Then the waves of age groups are sent out 100 women at a time. After the age groups it is our turn....mixed age groups. We wanted to all go as a group and since some of our posse is older than the rest of us, this is our catagory :). It was amazing to watch the Elites take off AND finish the race before we even touched the water! They were done by 8 am. We got into the water at 8:30.

The Tri:

The Swim:

When your waves start going (100 women at a time), you stay with your posse and get hurded through cattle gates...yep, I even moo'd while we waited. Then you get to stand in waist deep water for about 3 minutes while Sally Edwards gives everyone a pep talk that goes something like "We are FABULOUS swimmers"....she is just hoping not to pull anyone out of the lake ;). Then they count down from 10 and raise the pool noodles that are keeping us back and we are off and swimming! I was nervous until we got into the water and then I knew there was no turning back so I must go forward...or a little of course to the feft! It was amazing to see the Elite swimmers go in a pack in a straight line across the lake. All the other waves of women start as a pack and then start drifting all over the lake :)...it is great! Lifeguards are stationed on rafts and in kayaks blowing their whistles constantly trying to get some ladies attention so they get back on course! You can even choose to swim with a "swim sister" and/or a pool noodle. I was determined NOT to use either (and I didn't). The swim was my biggest worry and turned out to be my easiest event. It took me 22 minutes. At one point a women swimming on her back crossed in front of me going the completely wrong direction so I grabbed her foot and pointed the right way...who knows how long she was in the water :).

The bike:

Getting out of the lake and walking up a sandy hill is not that easy after swimming a half mile. I made my way to the transistion area and found my bike. Got my socks/shoes and helmet on and was off on the 12 mile bike ride that Nicole had told me "was pretty flat...no hills"...liar! Granted the hills weren't horrible but I did pass some ladies walking up the hills. I couldn't believe I had only hit the 6 mile mark and was feeling tired...only half done with the bike and then they wanted me to run 3.1 miles...could I just swim again? The bike was nice and peaceful and all the ladies doing the tri are very encouraging as the they pass you....at least they are polite as they fly past you on their $2000 racing bikes! The bike took me 50 minutes and it was very hard to get off the bike and walk...let alone run. I don't know how people do that! I obviously need to train on the bike/run more for next year...YEP, I said NEXT YEAR!

The Run...errr...walk/run:

I started out walking because even that was a chore after swimming and biking. I walked for about 1/2 mile and started jogging....slowly..I think I was actually walking faster! I think I jogged for 2 of the 3 miles and walked for about 1 mile. This was by far the hardest event for me. Part of it was due to the swim/bike before the run, but I am pretty sure I would have struggled with the run even if it was first. I hate running. I don't understand runners. The only reason to run is to either get done faster so you don't have to run anymore OR because someone is chasing you with a weapon. I was so happy to see the finish line. Granted, once you start getting close to the end you can't stop running because of all the people cheering you on. Jared and the kids were at the finish line waiting for me with huge smiles! I was sooooo happy to be done and know that I completed my first triathlon! Here are my times:

Total Clock time- 2:03:44 (with transitions)/ 1 hour 52 min (without transitions)

Swim- 22:05

Trans 1- 00:05:06

Bike- 00:50:42

Trans 2- 00:02:54

Run- 00:42:55

As I was biking and running I told myself that this would be the first and LAST tri I would do. Now that it is over I know I can do better and I will prove it next year...so yes, I will be doing it again next year. Who else will tri with me...I know YOU can do it! It is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and I hope that next year we have more girls going down to have some fun...trust me...it's fun! **Check back soon for more pics from the bike and run***