Trunk or treat 2024

 

I forgot to post this picture from the Trunk or Treat. The Parkes pumpkins in all their glory!

Halloween 2024: The Pumpkin Patch

 Me and the kids had fun at Halloween this year. We missed Mason, but he has to work til 9 on Wednesdays and til 10 on Thursdays, so it wasn't in the cards for him to come this year. But he offered a lot of emotional support while I made our costumes and wished us luck trick or treating. 

Abby decided she wanted to be a Jack-o-lantern for Halloween this year. Calliope didn't care what she was, so Abby decided that Calliope also wanted to be a jack-o-lantern. The costumes were easy to make, I just hot glued some black felt onto some solid orange shirts. My felt was just safety pinned on. We stuffed our shirts with walmart bags to make us look nice and round, but Abby HATED them and took all of hers out, and Calliope's kept falling out her leg holes, so I ended up with all of the bags by the end of the trunk or treat. We decided to leave the bags at home during Halloween night trick or treating. We went with the Salters, our yearly tradition. This year the Barlows came too. It was a lot of fun and we had SO MUCH CANDY in our house. Luckily the kids mostly forgot about it after about a week and a half.

Halloween bats. Mom cut out a bunch for us on her silhouette!

We brought some burritos the the Gregson's house and played on their trampoline while we waited for trick or treat time. These kids had a blast on here! Calliope kept tackling Abby and they'd laugh and laugh. It was a different story when Ross got on though haha.

Abby and Ross. They've been trick or treating every year together since they were 1!

Abby finished soccer!

 We put Abby in soccer at the start of September. They met 2 evenings a week, for an hour each time. She had been asking to play soccer for a while, so we decided to give it another try (she was on a soccer team at the sportsplex when she was 2). She got her first pair of cleats (which she calls "fleets") and we all thought that was very cool. She improved and got tougher over the course of the season and even got a goal in one of the first games! She interacted with the other kids and didn't cry every time we went. She wanted to come off the field a lot, but we would do a five second countdown and that helped get her back on quickly. Mason got to come every Tuesday, and I was grateful for that. Calliope kept us on our toes by constantly trying to run on everybody's fields, including Abby's much to both of their delight. I don't know that Abby loved soccer with her whole heart; we were all glad when it ended, but I saw some growth and that's a win in my book! I'm proud of her for trying new stuff, playing with other kids, and learning new things. She's so inspiring to me!

Abby says: It was fun. At soccer I ran and kicked with shin guards. I liked the shin guards. I liked playing soccer. My favorite part of soccer was doing the soccer practice and the soccer games. But not running and kicking. I just wanted to watch. I love salamanders. My coach was Coach Mo. She was not a boy. I liked her because she wore an orange coat. She was fun. I had so much fun with my teammates. I remember one was named Conrad. I brought the snack for my team one day at soccer. I brought lemonade and pretzels. I want to do tumbling some day. I want to do gymnastics next.

Soccer practice

Flying high after her first game

Having fun on the field

Dam Tri 2024

 I DID A TRIATHLON!!!

It still seems a little surreal. It feels like a lie when I say it. But it's true, and I've got the leftover sharpie on my legs to prove it.

I've been weightlifting pretty consistently since last December. I started to get bored with my routine and was looking to mix up my program. I saw an ad on instagram for a free training program for a triathlon, and I applied. A few days later, I was invited to get the Tridot app and start my training!

I really enjoyed the workouts. The structure made them fun and filled me with a sense of accomplishment. It was really fun getting to do three different types of training every week, and I was motivated to conquer my anxiety about swimming and just bite the bullet and do it. I saw a lot of improvement with my ability to breathe while I was doing this training. 

A few weeks in, I was enjoying the training so much I mentioned to Mason I might want to do a triathlon someday. He immediately made me a spreadsheet with seven different upcoming triathlons I could sign up for, complete with location, price, my projected times for all three sports, driving distance to get to the race, and more. Talk about supportive. We sat down together and looked at it a few times, until I finally decided I wanted to do the Dam Tri in Lexington, SC. A "sprinternational" distance. I would be doing a 1000m swim, 21 mile bike ride, 6k run.

I signed up for it, the fizzy feeling of anxiety racing through my veins all the while, and had to visit the potty shortly after. 

After that, I continued with my training plan. I kept swimming and saw some improvements, which made me feel very cool and empowered. I learned how to ride my bike on the road, and practiced reaching down to grab my water bottle while on the bike. That was really scary and took me a while to get down. I learned how to change a tube, got a flat or two, and learned about brick training. I bought tri shorts. I got a new saddle and some stuff to make the handlebars closer since apparently my torso is much shorter than Mason's. I did a lot of zone 2 runs that flipped back and forth between being super boring and very relaxing. And I did it all with the upcoming race looming over me.

I just need to say that there's no way I could have done the training or the race without Mason's unwavering support. He had the kids during all my bike rides and most of my swims. He helped me stay motivated and plan. He believed I could do it when I was afraid to. I'm so grateful for him. I seriously never could have done this without him.

About three weeks before the race, I started to get a little cold. A few days in, I realized this was a terrible cold that left me feeling fatigued, headachy, and very pressurized in the head. There was more pressure in my ears and sinuses than there is at the bottom of the sea. I took a break from training. Then it had been a whole week. Then two. And my race was the next week! (I'm pretty sure it was covid.)

The Wednesday before the race, still not feeling 100%, I decided to practice my transitions. I did a short swim where I swallowed about half of the pool and took about 100 breaks, went on a short bike ride that left me wanting to lay down on the pavement and take a nap after about four minutes, and ran for about a quarter of a mile before my heartrate skyrocketed to the 180s and walked for the rest of one mile. I was devastated and so nervous. My race was in just a few days, and this was how I was performing? I was filled with dread, and I wished I hadn't told anyone about this race, so that I could just skip it. I told my friend Emma and all my sisters about it on Marco Polo and everyone offered words of encouragement that actually helped me quite a bit. I'm grateful for them.

Well, Thursday came around, and Mason and I packed up all my millions of things for this race and headed out to Megan and Sam's house. My emotions were all over the place. Once we had packed everything up and hit the road, I got a little misty because of how excited I felt. I spent the next couple days filled with anxiety. Thank goodness Megan had the great idea to go to the zoo on Friday. It helped to distract me for a while. I hadn't been sleeping well the whole time I'd been sick, but I slept even worse with the race looming ever closer. I picked up my packet and was told I couldn't go and check out the race site, because it was closed until tomorrow morning. 

Well, the next morning rolled around, after a fitful night of "sleep". I woke up around 4:20am and went and ate a bagel with peanut butter and bananas, despite my total lack of appetite. I milled around for a while, took half of an immodium, packed a duffel bag with everything I'd need for the race, took a shower, practiced changing gears on my bike with gloves on in the freezing outside, thought through my transitions, and sat on the potty while Mason loaded up my bike and put everything in the car. Then we woke up the kids and were on the road at 5:45.

The sun started coming up on our drive, and the kids didn't ever go back to sleep even though we were driving for over an hour. Abby requested to listen to the Frozen 2 soundtrack, and I got misty listening to Into the Unknown and Show Yourself.

We got to the race site, finally, right on time. A nice volunteer said that since our car was so little we could park right next the transition site! Hooray! We did so and started getting all my stuff out. I racked my bike, picked up my ankle chip thingy you have to wear, and got my body markings (they just write your bib number on your arms and legs with a sharpie, but man did it make me feel cool and official. Plus I also got and huge N on my calf, for Novice.) A quick visit to the potty later, and then all that was left to do was stand around and blow my nose 100 times and try not to freeze until it was time to go.

I believe my face here says it all. AAAAAAAAH!

Because it was extremely foggy out on the lake, they ended up changing the swim route at the last minute. The new route would be about 750m. The first wave started, and I watched them go. My wave was fourth/last to go. I waited around for a while, and then got in the water and was grateful and relieved that it felt warm.

See the fog? I think it got worse before it got better.

Megan and Natalie also got up at the crack of dawn and got there with plenty of time to spare. I loved having them there!

Seemed like the next thing I knew, it was time to GO!!!

I started off and immediately started to struggle. As soon as I put my face in the water, I ran out of air and couldn't finish a single stroke without starting to drown. I was just so nervous! I pretty much doggy paddled to the first turn, and tried really hard not to care that I was dead last (at least, I think I was. I didn't turn around to check.) After I went around the first bouy and started to disappear into the fog, I decided I needed to get serious about chilling out. I did the breaststroke for a while and forced my breathing to get deeper as I watched the people in front of me pull further and further ahead. Once I could get a deep breath I tried putting my face in the water and had much more success. I could swim! I went around one more turn, followed the people in front of me and hoped they knew where the heck they were going, (we couldn't see the shore because of the mist) and tried to finish my swim as relaxed as I possibly could. 

I finally started to see the shore, but I didn't know exactly where to go, and I didn't know when I was allowed to stand up. In this video, I'm the one close to the front who looks very confused. Haha

I just kind of kept going forward, and then all of a sudden I saw Mason in his bright orange sweatshirt waving his arms, running along the shore, and pointing to the place I was supposed to go. I think it's my favorite thing I've ever seen in my life. 

I ran up the beach and took off my swim cap and goggles. Then I got the surprise of my life--Amber, Jenna and Kaylyn were there cheering for me! Word on the street is, Amber bawled her eyes out when I started the swim. I am so blessed to have people in my life who care so much about me!

My first transition! I had a hard time getting my clothes on, especially my shoes. I forgot to untie them! I decided not to wear the gloves, and went with a tank top and a long sleeve shirt on top. Then it was time for the bike. Longer than I'd ever gone before. Nothing to do but push forward!

I was very grateful I was behind some people as we started the bike ride. I would have completely missed the first turn. After I saw them turn, I realized there were small signs with yellow arrows on them we were supposed to follow. Thank GOODNESS. 

I passed lots of people on the bike, and I got passed by a lot of other people. Including two very fancy looking men on their super fancy bikes in their fancy trisuits with fancy tri bikes who passed me on the right side, which is against the rules. It made me very grumpy. I ate my stroop waffles and drank as much as I could. I got to pass my cheerleaders four times during the bike ride, and they were SO LOUD every time! They had cowbells, a megaphone, a poster, and a giant cutout of my face. It was AWESOME. I kept hoping they weren't bored. I was out there for a while. From what I hear, everyone had a good time and the kids did fantastic.

The bike ride was two loops. It was fun. On my first loop it was incredibly foggy over on the dam. At one point I was going down a big hill and visibility was so bad I took off my sunglasses and held them in my mouth. By the second loop it had completely cleared up and I got to enjoy the beautiful view while I went down and then up an enormous hill. I was pretty darn comfortable on that bike the whole time I was riding. A miracle!

After I finished the bike ride, I went down the hill to the transition area. They told me to get off my bike before I got to the white line. I did so, and almost fell over. A man said, "Careful." I was a little embarrassed but also kind of pleased; I feel like my legs almost giving out means I did a pretty good job on the bike. 

I walked to my bike rack, took some breaths, put on my hat and bib, and walked up the steep hill to start the run. My cheerleaders were waiting at the top of the hill, and I informed them my legs were very tired. And then I was off!

The run was pretty. 3.6 miles out and back. I took it easy on the out, and pushed it on the back. I picked a lady who had passed me and stuck with her the whole run back. The run felt really fun.

And then before I knew it, the whole thing was over and I was crossing the finish line!

We were all tired after that!

Overall, it was very fun. I'd do it again. I think I'd do an olympic distance next time. Only time will tell!

Fun Summer: Part II

 I did an internship this summer and realized how much I hate being stuck inside all day. So we spent a lot of time outside. If it was hot, we found water. 

Me and Abby walked Emma's dogs one weekend while they were on vacation. Abby walked Scout a bunch. I was proud of her for being so brave! She's not always a fan of big dogs but she liked doing this.

Both the kids love our strays we feed: Lucita, Blockhead, and Baby. (Baby is the white one)

Abby brought the empty recycling can all the way up by herself

The kids have started to love hugging each other all the time. It's a focal point of almost all the games they play. Abby has started picking Calliope up and spinning her around!

Popsicles at Grammie's house

Abby and Ross riding Belle and Sally

More popsicles

The kids have started PLAYING TOGETHER! It started as just a minute or two, and over the summer the time has gradually lengthened as Calliope's comprehension skills have grown and Abby has realized she can make up games for them to play together. They don't always work out, but when they do it is the best thing of my life. It's a different kind of joy hearing my kids laughing together while they play without me there!!!!

We took a trip to Winder, and it was nice to see some of my peeps. Abby's favorite dog in the world is Sadie; she uses it as a benchmark to describe how much she loves everything else. 

Picking maters with Aunt Shauna

Checking out Winder's new awesome park with Grammie

Chilling with Aunt Beck and cousins

We also got together with friends on occasion. A favorite was at the Kreher Nature Preserve, where they just installed a water pump with a bunch of split logs so you can watch the water run down and do leaf races etc.

One night Calliope screamed in her bed for about 3 1/2 hours straight and so we finally got her up at about 11pm. This was her reaction. She was very tired and went down again after some books.

Calliope riding a wooden horse that Ryan got for Christmas when he was little!!

Brushing up on our tumbling skills

Mason and I got a new game called Magic the Gathering. I love going on dates with him. It was nice that his schedule was super flexible over the summer so he could be with the kids most of the time I was doing my internship.