7.31.2008

Priest Lake

Tomorrow we are headed to Priest Lake for 9 glorious days in the sun!! My grandparents have been going up to Priest Lake since the 50's. They started out camping with my mom and aunt. Just before my cousin and I were born they purchased 'the cabin'. After many a remodel it is more of a house than a cabin. They now spend most of their time at the lake and are gracious enough to give us (my parents, eric and myself and emma, as well as my aunt and her boyfriend) a week to ourselves. I love spending time up there, lounging in the sun and swimming in the lake. And I'm so happy to share it with Emma. Hopefully she will love it as much as I do!

Here is Emma at the lake last year:

7.30.2008

toilet play

You know you've achieved official mom status when you don't hesitate to pull a bracelet out of the toilet- put there by none other than your sweet little angel child. At least it wasn't my toothbrush.

7.28.2008

sunbathing

emma, getting her sun on, with the help of some spf of course! disregard the beverage ;)


checking in on the sprinkler



7.25.2008

bad karma?

oy vey! first of all, a warning, this post might possibly become littered with expletives...ok, not most likely, it will. the expletives will help in relaying the frustration of this week. read further if you don't mind a few F bombs here and there.




Monday- Met up with the mom's group at Bothell Landing for a 3 mile run, led by the awesome Cory, who is currently 23 weeks pregnant! I know, she's superwoman, seriously. And of course her not quite 1 year old Elizabeth is adorable! I met some great new mom's and got a fabulous run.

Tuesday- I dropped Emma off at my mom's and headed off to an appointment with my dermatolagist for a follow up on my sun/heat allergy. As I'm nearing downtown, WHAM!, rear-ended while stopped at a light. No real damage to the Element, just a few scratches. I was too nice to the old lady who hit me, realizing later that I shouldn't have told her it was ok and that I wasn't mad. I was mad! Damn woman hit my car! PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE!! She's lucky she wasn't going very fast.

Wednesday- Somewhat of an overcast day which put me in a mood. Emma and I went for our run at Greenlake with Beth (running coach) and Cory. Both Cory and I were totally dragging ass and not feeling the run. My legs were killing me. But we managed to run ALMOST the whole 3 miles so that was a pretty good accomplishment. I was proud of myself at the end for sticking it out and finishing.

Thursday- Emma wakes up at 6am, already I can see this isn't going to be good because she has soccer at 10:30. We go by my mom's to pick her up so she can watch Em play soccer. We made it 30 minutes before extreme tired set in and had to get her home for an nap. Picked up her new Keen sandles, so cute, and were on our way. For how tired she was she really didn't sleep long enough. After her nap we played outside for a bit and more extreme tired set in around 6. Emma was in bed before 7pm and slept til 6am.

Friday (this is where it gets rough)- Meet the mom's group for a walk at Mill Creek Town Center. Pretty good turn out of about 8 moms, all with kids in tow. Emma is grumpy and not cooperating. This kind of behavior I like to refer to as "holy terror". Eric took the Element for work today so I am stuck with the shiteous Nissan that is so hard to get Emma in and out of, not to mention the jogging stroller doesn't fit in the trunk so I have to wriggle it into the backseat next to Emma. We get there early and walk around. I let Emma walk so that she wouldn't be so upset about sitting in the stroller for an hour walk. We meet up with the mom's and I try to put Emma in her stroller and she has a complete meltdown, in front of the new mom's who I haven't met. Basically, she created a scene and was an embarassment. I was flustered, hot, and my muffin tops were peeking out of my shorts. FUUUUUCK!!! Very irritating. We get going on the walk and half-way through Emma is whining and begging for other kids' toys. I don't typically bring toys for Emma to have in the stroller because she just throws them on the ground. We finish our walk and all the mom's are standing outside Starbucks with their nice, sweet, well behaved little lads and Emma is full on flipping out. I let her get out of her stroller to walk around and she starts trying to steal the other kids' snacks and toys. Why didn't I feed her, you ask? Well, I did! I packed plenty of yummy snacks but she always wants what isn't hers, naturally. I try to pick her up so that we can go and she melts down, crumbling to the ground in a heap of temper tantrum hell. All the while I'm thinking "Eric is so lucky he gets to go work today!". Stupidly I forget to pack a binky and she is wailing for one. Eventually I get her calmed down enough with a bribe that we will head to the grocery store for a new binky. Why am I investing in new binkies when we are trying to wean? Insanity I tell you. I pay $6 for two overpriced binkies and we are on our way. By this point I am starving- teriyaki here we come!!! Grab some lunch and head to the car. More screaming as I load Emma up. Near tears as I try to shove the jogging stroller into the car- fucking hate this car I mumble under my breath, although really wanting to yell it out loud for all to hear. But also don't want my daughters next word to be FUCK. Shocking, I know. And now, the icing on the cake of shit, I step in gum that someone spit out next to my driver's side door. What damn idiot would spit out gum next to someone's car? On our way home, she of course falls asleep in the car, great...naptime is officially fucked for the day. And I was right, we get home and she sleeps maybe 30 minutes before hollering at me to come get her out. The house is a wreck, I am tired, Emma is grumpy.

Luckily the day is almost over. It's nearly the weekend and thankfully (thank you thank you!) Emma is going to my mom and Bill's tomorrow night so that Eric and I can attend a BBQ. Can't wait for a little baby-free time.

7.16.2008

gotta run




This morning Emma and I headed off to Greenlake for a morning run. Despite our running class being cancelled for the day we decided to go anyway. I'm so glad that I did. I had a great run and I finally feel like I'm crossing that line between "this sucks" to "this is awesome!". I already can't wait for my run tomorrow, which may be a little hard to fit in but I will figure it out. I'm ready to make running a priority in my life, for myself and it's a really exciting journey. I can't wait for the 10k at the end of August. I know that if I keep up the training that I'm doing now the 10k will be no problem at all- well, that may be a little bit of wishful thinking, but I know I'll be prepared. I'm so glad that I found Coach Beth, she is a great cheerleader, as well as all the gals in my running group.

I've also found a great new blog called Marathon Mommies and just reading a few posts this morning gave me that much more motivation to get out there and run.

7.14.2008

STP

This weekend Eric and his friend Matt rode the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. They rode a total of 205 miles in two days, departing from the University of Washington on Saturday morning and arriving at Holladay Park in Portland on Sunday afternoon. I met up with them at Centralia College (the mid-point stop) to camp for the night before hitting the road again early Sunday morning. I am so proud of you Eric, way to go baby!! And thanks to Matt for making the trek out here all the way from Martha's Vineyard! You both did an awesome job, Congratulations!!

Day 1: Leaving from UW


Eric saying goodbye to Emma
































Matt and Eric, all geared up and ready to go



















End of Day 1- Camping at Centralia College, the mid-point of the ride, 100 miles in:

TIRED!






























Matt, surveying the HUNDREDS of tents













Day 2: Finish Line!


You did it!! Looking thrilled to be finished!























7.10.2008

STP




This weekend we are off (slowly) on the Seattle to Portland ride. Well, I should re-phrase that, Eric will be doing the actual riding and I will be driving as his "PSV"-Personal Support Vehicle. The ride starts bright and early on Saturday morning at 7am from REI in downtown Seattle and follows backroads to the mid-point stop of Centralia Community College which will be our camping spot for the night. They will be broadcasting the Tour de France for all the riders at the CC, as well as having food vendors set up and...a BEER GARDEN, which will I'm sure be much needed for all the riders after such a long day! The next day will be the finish, riding backroads again until they reach Portland.
Eric has a friend from high school riding with him; Matt is flying in tomorrow from Cape Cod, MA. They reconnected at their 10 year reunion last October and finally committed to this ride, after years of talking about it during and shortly after high school.
I know Eric has really been looking forward to this and I'm really excited for him. He's going to be exhausted for sure, but I know he'll do awesome!!

7.02.2008

portland



This past weekend was spent in Portland. We stayed with Eric's best friend from high school, Tony, and his awesome wife Tiffany and their little boo, Curtis. Curtis is 16 months and he and Emma had a BLAST playing together!




Friday evening was spent at Bridal Veil Lakes for Eric's cousin Lindsey's wedding. It was a really beautiful area and the weather was absolutely fantastic. It was an awesome ceremony, very reflective of the bride and groom. We didn't stay too long because Emma was worn out from playing in the pool with Curtis earlier.
Saturday we did a little shopping- no sales tax in Portland! Eric got a few items of much needed new clothes, finally! And Sunday Eric did the Livestrong Challenge ride. Despite the 90 degree temps he did a fabulous job and I'm so proud of him!!! Way to go babe! Here he is crossing the finish line after 70 miles:




Monday Tiffany took us downtown for a walk along the waterfront, then to a great fountain for the kids to play in before meeting Tony for lunch. The kids both ended up stripped down to their skivvies in the fountain pool.




We had so much fun in Portland, thanks so much to the Tom's for their hospitality. There's no other bungalow I'd rather sweat in than yours!
See you in two weeks for the STP!