FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND

For the 4th of July weekend we took a big leap and headed to a camp out mountain bike festival. Michael and I were both still recovering from a small stomach flu. But the biggest challenge was the "what if" factor of camping with a baby. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to all of you that know Gilbert, but he was a gem. Being that he thrives off of social situations, he did well. He even went to sleep at the right time, slept through the night and didn't get up too early.

The racing was pretty good. The first night was a night time trial. This means riding your mountain bike through the woods with a headlamp through more roots, logs, and narrow drop offs into a river. Luckily Michael did well and came back with only a few falls. The next morning there was the seven mile trail run on the same course. Yes, I that was my event. It was good, but I was a little dehydrated from the night before. :) Then there was the long course mountain bike day. Not such a good second day of racing for Michael. Two flat tires caused him to drop in the rankings. With only the hill climb and the short course race left the following day Michael decided to just have fun with it and even raced in costume for the short course. In Portland the costume idea would have been the norm, but here in PA he stuck out a bit and even stuck it to the field by leading out a few fast laps.

So all around the weekend was successful. Everyone had fun, and we even got to "chill out" in the river after each race. Ah, what a nice routine.

SNOOP DOGG GOT A JOB

Okay, so in this scenario I am Snoop Dogg...pretty cool.

Yes, I did get a job. But really it is just a slow start to something bigger. I am in my second week of working in the Kids Fitness Center at the YMCA. I only work four hours a week, but that is perfect for now. I'm planning on getting my personal training certificate so I can train people one on one in the Fall and also pick up teaching spinning class at the same time. Ideally I would like to be around ten hours a week at the time Gilbert is a year. But for now four hours is enough. Plus the kids use to just goof off in the fitness center, now I get them to fill out personal workout cards and have them leaving in a sweat.

I think Snoop would be proud!

GRANDMA JUDY PART II

My mom came through again on her way back to Alaska. One of the highlights of this visit was a trip to a local creamery, run by the Amish, and located in a farm like setting. They have some of the best ice cream, but part of the greatness might be that the servings are enormous. Really how could you go wrong. What are the odds that places like this leads to the fact that Franklin County has the high rate of obesity in Pennsylvania? But being that all three of us have a sweet tooth, we headed there on my mom's last day here in Chamberburg. I think that the photo taken at the creamery has to be one of our favorite family photos to date. Thanks for the great pic mom!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

We had an active father's day weekend. On Saturday we took Gilbert out in the bike trailer for the first time. It really looks easy when other people do it. But next time you see someone out the hauling their children around in a bike trailer, bow down to them. It is really hard, especially when you are surrounded by hills in every direction for as far a the eye can see. But since it was father's day weekend Michael got the privilege of doing the pulling, getting a pretty good workout in about fifteen miles!

Then on Sunday the family headed out for a group run. I usually do the pushing of the baby jogger since I am the runner. But once again since it was father's day Michael got the privilege. The picture above was taken about three miles north of our house on the Wilson College farm. This hill is a real ass buster and the top is the turn around point. It you can enlarge the photo you and see the pain on Michael's face.

No pain, no gain.....Happy Father's Day!

MY FIRST PIE

I think that for this one, a picture is worth a thousand words. But for those who want to know, yes it is a strawberry rhubarb pie and it was REALLY good!

I ALMOST DIED

Okay that might be a little dramatic.

Over the weekend I did my first post-pregnancy half-ironman, the Eagleman, in Cambridge, Maryland. My friend Jen flew out from Portland, Oregon to also do the race. For her this was part of her training plan leading up to doing a full ironman in Wisconsin in September.

For those who don't know, a half-ironman consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. It was my post-pregnancy goal for getting back in shape, and I really just wanted to finish it with dignity. I did train for it, but it is really hard to get distance training in when you are balancing many new life changes. I knew I could finish the race, but wasn't prepared for the unexpected. On race day the heat index was 104 degrees with humidity in the 90s. YIKES!

Let's just say that I did finish the race and was doing okay until I hit a wall at mile eight on the run. I literally was running and came to a screeching stop. From then on it was a slow walk. But was least I didn't DNF and was able to run across the finish line. I felt a little better when I heard that out of 2100 racers, 600 didn't show up and 10% didn't finish. But I think from now on I'm going to stick to the shorter triathlons, at least for this season. I need to work on speed anyway.

Jen did come back with me to Chambersburg, but just for a short visit. But we did have enough time to get in lunch at the Big Oak Cafe. Really this is the only place to take people in Chambersburg. But she did love it, so all was good. :)

GILBERT'S FIRST BIG TRIP

My best friend Adria tied the knot with her sweetie Daniel on May 31st in Chico, California. Gilbert was a gem for the entire trip. Doesn't he look picture perfect with my friend Melinda's daughter, Sonoma? Really too cute! Gilbert was a real charmer and everyone was very impressed with him. Even the people on the airplane loved having him around for entertainment. Thank goodness, because I was nervous about that part. The wedding was beautiful, and the newly married couple are on their five week honeymoon to Hawaii and Alaska. Hum, must be nice!