Water Fun

We LOVE the water around here. Sunday we celebrated my FILs 74th birthday here at the house with a little cake, a little icecream and a whole lot of slip 'n slide. The kids received lessons from one of their older cousins on a better way to crack your head open slide down the slide...snow disk surfing, of course.

Yesterday we decided to use the the kids' birthday gifts of entry into Wings and Waves Waterpark at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.

We were there for 10 hours! It's 111 steps up to the 747 where the slides start. By the end of the day, my calves were actually cramping from the stair stepping. We fell in to bed with dreams of our next trip there. Today...another slip 'n slide party with friends, of course  : D

Monday Morning Dance Party

TGIM!

Ya start poppin ya fingers and stompin' your feet
and movin your body while you're sittin' in your seat

My Leg of Hood To Coast

Can you believe after all that hard work Mai put into sidewalk chalking notes to Jess @ Blonde Ponytail that Mother Nature would have the nerve to send us thundershowers yesterday morning and wash it all away? Well, that is what happened. H2C started off with a bang this year with dumping rain and thunder and lightning. Fortunately the Nuun Lady Bloggers teams had a 12:30pm start so they were still sleepless sleeping in Seattle.

Some of you mentioned yesterday how lucky it was that Jess was going to run right by our house. Not quite so, but Mai and I were blogger stalkerish enough to drive about 30 minutes to Boring, Oregon to sit and wait...

...and wait...

...and watch...

....and try to figure out why Jess still wasn't passing us by.

At 88 degrees, people varied between thankful for our high fives and looking like they wanted to punch us in the face. The little boy with the hose was everyone's new best friend until he actually sprayed them. He was taking no prisoners.

Finally a Nuun van pulled up and parked by us and I saw Jess inside. Inside? Yes. I got her leg wrong. Darn it! This way we got to visit more, though!

I got a great big humongous hug from Marjorie at Taking It On and that was the last I saw of her until she crossed into the finishers chute of Leg 12. It was almost 10pm and too dark for her to see the sign we made her in reference to This POST ...

...but I got an e-mail later that she saw our sidewalk chalk notes - Hooray!

At the hand off it was finally My Time. Well, not really...it was leg two for Tricia @  Endurance Isn't Only Physical.  When I had told Tricia I would be on the waterfront to cheer her on, she invited me to run part of this leg with her. 10pm and no sun, but still pretty darn warm. We ran across the Hawthorne Bridge and the night view was just lovely over the river, then down through the waterfront, past the Steele Bridge and made it just in time to get stuck behind a train for 13 frickin minutes!

...and then Tricia serenaded me with I Play Chicken With The Train when we started moving again. At about the 2.4 mile mark, I had to turn around...it was after 10pm afterall... and I now had to run back to my car by myself through the waterfront, which can be sketchy at night. I gave her a hug and headed back the way we had come, singing out "good job" and "lookin' good" to every headlamp I saw coming my way. About 100 people told me I was running in the wrong direction and before I knew it, I was back at my car and headed home after a very fun bloggy meet-up day.

We've Got Spirit Yes We Do...

We've got spirit...
How 'bout you?

Mai and I have been having fun doing a little Hood To Coast prep tonight...

Can you guess what's going on here?

Three Things Thursday: Dexter, Canada, HTC

This summer seems like it is very close to its end. School clothes shopping with Mai yesterday, Duck Football tickets arriving in the mail, and a new season of all of our favorite shows to start soon...

1) I finished my first season of Dexter last night.

Steve is hooked and I think already finished with the first 4 seasons. I took my time, started with one of the original books: Dexter in the Dark and then decided to try to rent the first season from the library. The hardest part is not actually watching the show, but rather keeping my kids out of the room where it is playing. They now are trained that if the family room door is closed, Dexter is on and they dare not enter...or I'll send Dexter after them :p
Think I can catch up on 4 more seasons by the time Steve wants to watch the current one? You know that old saying about the family that watches serial murder shows together, stays together, right?

2). I have lots of TNT teammates arriving in Canada for IM Canada. I'm jealous. I'm not so sure that I'm jealous of the race they are doing, but maybe more jealous of the massive amount of teammates/friends that are camping there to support those amazing people. I. Want. To. Be. There. For now...it's just virtual cheering.
Maybe next year...

3) Hood To Coast time is here. Lots of local friends running and lots of blogger friends, too. Between work,  bedroom painting, and a soccer jamboree, I'm hoping to get out to cheer on these athletes!...maybe hand out a little candy...mmmm...sugary orange slices anyone?

What about you?

• Have you succumbed to Dexter's deadly charms?

• Do you know anyone racing at IM Canada? Or do you have aspirations to get there yourself someday?

• Have you ever run Hood to Coast or do you ever want to?

My 7 Links

Elizabeth at Running For Bling nominated me some time ago to list my 7 links. The goal was to unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again. I think this "endeavor" is over because this tag was from some time back...so I'm not going to tag anyone, but feel free to bring some of your posts back to the light of day along with me. Because I don't have 8 million hours to work on this post, I have to admit I did not go back very far in my archives to do this...BUT HERE GOES>>>>

Most Beautiful: Picture wise, I would have to go with my hike with Dad and Bro up Mount St. Helens.

Most Popular: Based on comments, my most popular post proves you guys like to see me suffer in a Brutal way.

Most Controversial: I have to say this broke my heart a little lot. The day I lost the most followers was a day Michael and I shared our faith a little more on his birthday post.

Most Helpful: I'm not sure how helpful I am, but I think I got some people thinking about working on their tire changing skills when I whipped out this  2:48 Baby post.

Surprise Success: How much fun I've had doing Monday Morning Dance Party with you all!

Not Enough Attention: My dancing girl Here and definitely the second video Here.

Most Proud: Well, it has to be when I shared the day I realized I had a Butt Butt.

Actually it was probably my first Half Marathon earlier this year in Eugene. I was so happy to be running again....  Or having Mai follow in Mama's footsteps Here.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Monday Morning Dance Party

Feelin' a little lazy today...like it's hot smack in the middle of summer...and I should be on the beach with a drink in my hand...

4 For 4

Um...ya... that would be 4 days out of the last 4 spent at the river. What can I say? We've hit a hot spell here in Portland. After fueling with FroYo on Friday, the kids wanted to show me a great swimming spot their dad found for them at Mary Young Park. How I've never found it in all the times we've nature hiked or run in there, I do not know. The kids and Ki had such a good time...

Let's go swimming already!

Catching the waves from the boats.

Glissading down a hill.

...that they wanted to go back yesterday as well, so off we went...

A little mud bath for softer skin.

Wishing we had a boat or a jet ski.

Today I'm all about reading (I'm about two chapters away from finishing a really enjoyable book called Blue Like Jazz) and then I'm pulling out Jack Canfield's The Success Principles, which is one of my favorite self-help books of all time. Here's what is on my mind today:

What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. - John Ruskin

Bad = Good

Confession: I went for my 2nd run in almost a month today. You might remember I had an awesome week of Run Less, Run Faster right before I headed out to SoCal to visit my girlfriend. My left leg was bugging me, but not too badly. Then came a second vacation of camping the following week and then...well...before I knew it, almost a month had come and gone with only one 20 minute run being done. My left leg is obviously messed up. It has been since last Fall. From glute to ankle.
Today I headed out thinking I would do 4 miles, but from the start knew I should keep it to 2 miles today. The good news is that my right leg feels fantastic and fast and strong and I still managed to run a 9:25m/m!!
The bad news is my left leg really hurt the whole time :-(

The GREAT NEWS is that without feeling compelled to run long runs I have had much more time to spend on the river....

Mai had Cousin Katie spend the night last night, so we headed back down to the cove for some swimming. Now we're just waking up and heading to Nectar for some froyo for breakfast. Yum. Summer is good. Very very good.

A Day With Mai

As I mentioned yesterday, Mai was needing some Mama time and so I had promised to spend the whole day with her. We did pretty good. After a quick bit at my desk in the a.m. I was ready to head out to a client's office, which happens to be right by...

...so we each had the "teensie" serving of gelato, which is really just the right size of this rich yumminess.
Mai has been wanting some new workout clothes so we headed to Sports Authority and she now has a cute running outfit that I'm jealous for...and I bought some new Frees...in the hopes that maybe this will help my left leg issues that are getting worse. It might be time for some medical help :-(

She wanted to hit up the gym in her new digs, so we headed to 24Hour for a workout - she playing basketball in the kids club and me lifting HEAVY weights. I've been doing some Afterburn workouts at home with lighter weights - doing more of a superset/cardio workout, so it felt good to hit the heavy stuff.

We decided to take our sweaty selves down to the river to rinse off and cool off...

and the kids made an immediate friend when they saw his toy...

...and then Mai tried to stand on her tube...

...and then we followed a little duck family around...

...before realizing we were late for a dinner date with Grandma and Grandpa at The Ram, where I ordered something so spicy that I woke up this morning to find that the spot where I dripped some sauce on my chin is still burning. I guess when the menu describes something as "fiery" I should pay better attention. With our bellies full, we wandered over to watch a Journey cover band play at the mall...

...and I realized I like Journey as much now as I did back in the 80s.
Which is Not At All.

We ended the night with a slumber party in Mai's new room, but I've apparently lost my slumber party spirit, as I just wanted to sleep. I remember her waking me up three times as she tried to get me to cuddle and tell secrets, but this mama was tired! I was out like a light once my head hit the pillow.

Ya...I AM that cute =D

Zombies At The Golf Course

I love waking up to a house that has been open all night. The cool fresh air has invaded every inch of my house and it feels so GRAND! The sun is bright, the birds are chirping in the tree outside my office window, my coffee is hot and strong and the pile of work on my desk looks pretty small. It's going to be another great day!! I promised Mai I would spend as much of today with her as possible, ending with a sleepover in her new bedroom tonight.

Last night we headed out to my girlfriend's golf course...

for some music and pulled pork sandwiches...

and a little putt putt...

 ...and then it was time to head home, but first Mai wanted to visit the driving range, which required walking down a hill or taking an elevator. Of course, the kids wanted to jump in the elevator to catch some air, but (and I blame their McDonald's breakfast when we were on the road and the 7-11 slurpees they had for lunch while in the care of their father) the little fatties managed to break the elevator. While their dad started to have a major anxiety attack (he's claustrophobic), I snapped pictures of the zombie apocalypse that was going on in that small hot enclosed space....

Eventually, I realized I was taking pictures with my phone and I could probably use it to call for help...which I did. After about 5 minutes, we were saved. Now, that's fun family time!

So, I haven't talked much about running, biking, or swimming lately have I? I'm kind of in nowhere land right now. I guess I need to concentrate on some hilly running, archery, and tossing back beers...oh wait a minute...I think it's tossing around beer kegs - for my October 1st Event, but besides that, I have a feeling this summer has taken over and things aren't going to get back to normal until school starts.

You might remember that about a year and a half ago I worked my butt off and received this for my efforts...

...but I've not done much with it since then. I'm determined that I WILL continue on my dream path this year and it will probably include leading something that looks like this...

...maybe being held somewhere like this...

...but in the meantime, I've finally taken on my very first client, received my very first $$ as a personal trainer, and I feel like the ball is finally rolling...

All Hail Chuck E. Cheese

The best thing about my family?
They're mine!
From Parents to Aunts to Uncles to Grandmothers to Cousins to Siblings and their Sidekicks...and all the wee ones we've produced...I know I'm incredibly fortunate to have this family...even if it's time spent together at Chuck E. Cheese. A quick trip down to Eugene last night for a family birthday and now we're back and I'm pondering where I should first try out these new shoes I scored for $6.47 the other day...

...BUT... it will not be while I'm doing this...

 YES! We're going camping again in two weeks!

...or while I'm doing this...

...ok...well...I'm not REALLY running Hood To Coast...but I'm going to be out cheering on some fabulously fun bloggers like Jess @ Blonde Ponytail and hopefully (if my IT Band perks up...or calms down...whatever) running alongside Tricia at Endurance Isn't Only Physical for a mile or two along the waterfront...and maybe even catching a wisecrack in some shape or form from The Boob Follower...

...or while I'm doing this...

...at the HAG Adventure Series that my team Don't Stop Believin' is doing on Oct 1st at Ski Bowl. (anyone local want to join? It's going to be A BLAST!!!) Contact me if you're interested!

So...where should I wear them? ...I know...but for $6.47...how could I resist buying them? Maybe to putt putt tonight when we hit up the golf course for Blue Daddy's Twilight Tuesday BBQ and LIVE MUSIC?

I'm outta here.