ENTERING THE TERRIBLE TWOS

I would like to first state that today Gilbert turned two and it was the worst (half) day I have yet to experience with him. He was either whining, crying, pouting, and simply putting on his best display of being two. But after he woke up from his nap he was doing better and I felt that I could make it through the family festivities scheduled for the remainder of the day.


It was a good thing that we are not yet doing birthday parties for him, since one at a time all of us have come down with a little flu. Being that the media has everyone so freaked out about the flu right now, I'm sure no parent would have wanted their child to be around Gilbert. Perhaps next year we will start having kid birthday parties for him with the golden rule of inviting the number of kids in correlation to the age of the birthday boy.


So what did we do? I love traditions, so we came up with the first one of always carving pumpkins on his birthday with one of the pumpkins being a carving of his age. Simple, but perfect for now. When he gets older we can elaborate on it. So we ordered pizza, had the traditional pumpkin spice cupcakes from the local bakery, carved pumpkins, and opened presents. I know he still doesn't really get it, but I could tell that he had an idea that it was something special and about him....especially when the presents came around.


What are his major milestones? He jumps in puddles, will give you knuckles, requests chopsticks for eating, asks to drive the car, hikes mountains, feeds the pets, brings dishes into the kitchen, says thank you and please, weighs 29 lbs, loves to play with worms from the garden, asks to see the moon every night, rides his balance bike, loves the bike trailer and jogger. Oh and we estimate he has about 600 words, is starting to speak in sentences, and repeats EVERYTHING you say, so be careful as to what you say.


Yes, he also insists on wearing his boots every day. Very Portland, actually very cyclocross of him!

PUMPKIN PATCH & FIRST DOUBLE CROSS WEEKEND

Wow what a weekend! Michael took Friday off and had Monday off as a holiday. Friday we were greeted with a package from Baltimore; C3 Athletes Serving Athletes gear. We headed up to Olympia to visit with friends, Derik & Michelle, and to race the first "double" cross weekend. But before being on the road North it was off to Sauvies Island and the pumpkin patch. The weather was perfect and it wasn't very crowded being that it was a Friday. Gilbert was as cute as ever and loved riding in the wagon with Michael pulling it. We managed to get enough pumpkins and still leave room for Gilbert in the wagon for the ride back to the farm.

But Gilbert was still stepping out on his own part of the way.While at the farm we saw and heard roosters, Michael grunted back and forth with the biggest pig I ever seen, and we ate carmel covered apples with the thickest layer of carmel ever...gotta' love it
After being at the pumpkin patch for the morning we headed up to Olympia for two nights. On Saturday we raced in Washington at the Oregon vs. Washington cyclocross race. We both had pretty good results with two eighth place finishes a peace. Well there were only ten in my category, but this year I am racing as a Cat 1/2. At the WA. State event was really deep with talent; I was at the start line with a pro to my left and right and thinking in my head,"Um, how did I get here?" So not bad for an almost rookie! Sunday morning we heading back into Oregon for our second race at Rainier High School. The venue was beautiful but the start was directly up hill and the finish was a really big hill that you had to climb on every lap. Ouch! I had a pretty bad start, but managed to fight my way up to a seventh place finish which put me into sixth place for the series. Michael had to start at the back of his pack of almost 60 racers since this was his first race of the series. He was doing really well and almost in the top 20 when he lost a rear spoke! A "quick" wheel change and he was back on. He passed many riders in his last laps but just enough to get back to where he was before the mechanical. Hopefully we have our mechanicals out of the way. But considering this was our first in nine races, we can't complain.

Monday we were in Portland and had a great family day with a little breakfast at the J&M Cafe, shopping at Anthropology & Icebreaker, and then some chillin out at the house. Very relaxing....for now. We still have many races ahead of us and are signed up for Cyclocross Nationals in Bend this December for our end of the season. But between now and then there will be a lot of rain, mud, racing, parking lot diaper changes, warm-ups, cool downs, packing, unpacking, and simply good times!

Here is a link to our series if anyone wants to check it out. www.crosscrusade.com

Oh and Gilbert is now breaking into sentences. His first one is "I want to drive the car." He says it almost every time we get in the car. Here is a picture of him in our friend's truck. It is going to be a long fourteen years.

ANGEL'S REST BUT YOU WON'T

Above is the first line of the description of the hike I did with Gilbert on Tuesday. It is a 2.2 mile hike up 1400 feet to Angel's Rest. This is a great training hike that I did as a run in the past. I think back then I did it in about 50 minutes. This time around it was about three hours, but just as rewarding. Gilbert hiked up at least half of it, only needing to be carried when airplanes got too close. (If you want to know about the airplanes, just ask me or Michael about the Red Dawn incident.) People were amazed when they saw him at the top of the hike and assumed that I must have carried him. But he is a trooper and seemed to get a thrill out of the view as we got higher and higher which was a motivator for him. The rest of the day he talked about the river, blue sky, and birds. So cute! He is my little mountain boy!

OFF THE MARKET

Welllllll okay so we might have had a slight gap in the blog postings for our site. We are bad...I am bad. But it has been because we are actually so good. Here is what has gone down...

We had an offer on our house the day after it went on the market. Oh but it was for an FHA loan so to get qualified we still had to do some work. Never ending I tell ya'! So scraping off the paint on ALL exterior windows, refinishing the back porch, putting windows in the upstairs sun room, etc. But we did it. I even got to break out my climbing gear to secure Michael to the roof, via the attic, so he could paint the trim. We were both sweating through that. But we finally passed the inspection and Michael was off to Oregon in the Subaru.

Which was the last time I saw my beloved Helen, as her engine blew in Iowa between to cities. So $350 of towing, two nights stay in Des Moines, and a new to us 2005 Subaru Outback later...Michael was back on the road. Did I mention he traveled with Mewosey? What an adventure!

Here is the car broken down on the side of the road. Michael and Meowsey are sitting under a tree in 90 plus degree weather.

Gilbert labeling moving boxes.

So started the packing process while Michael worked for about two weeks in Oregon, then he flew back. We finished the packing, loaded up the Penske with the Golf being towed behind, and drove across this great country of ours.

Not a bad trip except poor Gilbert was a little sick from the start and proceeded to get worse. By the time we hit Utah we couldn't keep his 104.5 temperature down and he was starting to hallucinate, so we took him to the ER. An IV drip and five hours later we were in a hotel with a baby who was starting to act like himself again. Oh, he has tonsillitis!

Here we are at our first Oregon rest stop...with a recycling bin! Getting closer!

A little behind schedule we drove 700 mile on the final day and made it to Portland in six days.

So here we are back in Portland! The first four weeks I think I was in a bit of a daze. To be quite honest it seems like I never left. Almost like we never went to PA. But now I return with an almost two year old, a husband, and no job. So I guess things are a little different. Gilbert and I do similar things as when we were in Chambersburg, but with more activities to add as a family and with friends. We have been to a few BBQs, dinner outings, hiking, meeting up for drinks, gatherings within our condo complex "The Rosegate", etc. All of these thing were missing in PA and I am so happy to have that social side of things back. Oh and when you go the the playgrounds here there are actually people there with their kids and they TALK to you. I think there were times when I went weeks without talking to anyone outside of the YMCA.

BUT MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL........Cyclocross season has started! So that means every weekend is racing through mid-December! Right now it is a bit of a love-hate as we are trying to figure out how to manage being at the races with a two year old who is a runner. So for now we are trying different combinations of his bike, the portacrib, the umbrella stroller, the jogger, etc. It is tough because our races are back to back and right in the middle of his nap time. So either way I don't think we can win on this one. Oh and the rain and mud that goes along with the races hasn't even started. Looks like we are just going to have to chill out and take it as it comes.

But for our two races we have both had top ten results, so things are looking good. Well and we are both a little out of shape with everything that we just went though to get back to Portland. But our room is booked for Nationals in Bend in December, so with that as a goal, I think we will be fine.

Most important thing of all is that Gilbert is doing well. Um except for this is how he feels about no longer being at the YMCA. Boy does he miss those ladies and all of his friends there.

But for all of you that know Gilbert, this is what he is really doing....just chilling and enjoying life!

ON THE MARKET

As of yesterday our house is officially on the market. We still have a list of projects to do, but the list is MUCH smaller than it was two months ago. I am going to attempt to do a few before and after photos.....

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Bathroom before:

Bathroom after:


Dining room before:

Dining room after:


Backyard before:

Backyard after:


Things you don't see. All rooms but one were painted. The downstairs ceiling was ripped out and replaced. All the hardwood floors were sanded and refinished. The dining room to kitchen became a roundabout with two wide entrances. The front porch was scraped and repainted. Boy that sure was easier to type than actually do! We did it all ourselves with the help of about 30 hours from our handyman Ray.

Would we do it all again? A blind move cross country, no. Major home fix up/remodel, no. Forever house with minor projects, maybe. But now we know what we can and can't take on and still have the time to do what we want. You can't imagine just how happy we are to move back into our maintenance free condo in Portland, OR...I love HOAs.

But wait just one second, this we just might do again. But the clock is ticking. Hurry up and let's get back to Portland.

Baby before:

Baby after:


Happy, happy, joy, joy!

BUSILY WORKING WITHIN THE SHELL

Where have we been?!?!?! Are we still alive? Well yes we are doing fine just REALLY REALLY REALLY busy. Here is our deal and these are our quick updates. First off, we are moving back to Portland!!! So inorder to do that we need to finish remodeling our house, get it on the market, sell it, pack up and get a baby, dog, cat, two adults, two cars, and all of our STUFF across the country! When will that go down? Well we are still waiting on that government start date, which is also waiting on military orders. SOOOOOO maybe the end of July? Um, stay tuned, as that is what we are doing.

Sneak peek at one of the "In Progress" photos. When we are all done we will post some before and after from before we even moved in!

Michael went to Kuwait for three weeks for work. He was offered 130K to work there for a year, plus they would move the family.....we said NO!

Gilbert participated in his first race, a Half mile kids race. Here he is sizing up the future competition.

And with his ribbon.

Being that time is limited I have been doing shorter races. But I have been placing top three in the local 5Ks and PRd in my last one with a time of 20:58 a 6:45 minute mile.

How do I train? Rocky style by digging up the backyard to plant grass, one scoop at a time. And drinking Coors Light tall boys!

But most important of all is that Gilbert is as cute as ever.

One of his many creations:

Oh, and Michael and I did manage to squeeze in a date one night.

Please note that I am getting high while writing this.....off of the varnish and lacquer fumes on the kitchen floor. And I can hear Michael scraping paint off the front porch without a mask. Can we talk about lead poisoning? Gotta' go!

SNEAK PEEK AT EASTER

Here are a few photos from our Easter Sunday. We awoke to quickly made cups of coffee proceeded to watch Gilbert searching for the few eggs hidden by Mr. Bunny.

Then proceeded to make Oven Cake, inspired by my sister-in-law Heather, and asparagus with bacon. Yum!
Then it was off for a family hike. Gilbert was amazing in the woods, hiking about a quarter mile on his own at a pretty good clip and over some rough terrain. We'll try and attach the video when we figure out how to get it vertical.

WHAT'S GILBERT UP TO?

Really folks, this is what it is all about....

Well, and maybe a little bit of this....

I KNEW SHE EXISTED!!!

Before I moved to Chambersurg I told my friends in Portland that no matter what there has to be one girl out there with kids who kicks ass as an athlete and it trying to balance the whole thing. We'll I spied her last Spring at the YMCA. She was working there and I overheard her talking to a guy about doing some adventure races, and shooting to do a century ride. I knew I had to make my move. Well to make a long story short, "The Girl" is Trish. She has two boys and is a high school science teacher. She moved here from Colorado with her husband and boys. We have thus far done an adventure race together(and won), a ten mile "run the sites in DC"(see above), and just completed the Chambersburg half marathon together (see below). Just yesterday we did a 45 mile group bike ride, as our first Spring ride, and survived.

Well anyway she rocks! She is my "get a grip on life" sanity. We both struggle with lack of life in Chambersburg. Oh and sometimes my margarita and/or growler partner...but she is on the wagon right now for training...which I guess I can deal with. Does she think she is setting a good example or something? Oh the pain of the guilt! Yes, a good friend in deed!

Oh, did I mention we have matching cars? Really, the same make, model, year, and color, both with racks! Oh how that totally rocks. Wait and we both have the Darwin emblem on our cars...thanks to Trish and a few too many margaritas.