The Baseball Game that Wasn't

A little over a week ago, I bought baseball tickets to the "last game of the season" for the minor league here in Tucson. We hadn't been to a baseball game this year and I really love minor league games (less people, cheap tickets, you can see the players better, etc.). The tickets were for Monday, and I thought it would be a great Family Night activity.

Devin and I planned our whole Monday around this game. Devin went into work a little early, I took the kids to the school's ice cream fundraiser at the beginning so we'd have time for dinner, and then we planned on Papa John's $6 Monday Pepperoni Special for a quick, fun dinner.

The game started at 7, so we left the house at 6 so we'd be a little early to get great seats. We drove to the stadium and as we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed it was quite empty. We knew it was minor league, but come on!

We got out of the car and started walking toward the stadium. The boys were super excited. We pass the VIP Parking... with no cars in it...


...and saw the gates were closed and the ticket offices were all closed. hen Devin asked if we were at the right place. I took out the tickets and read the name of the field, which was where we were. I was like, It says it's here, at 7:00 on Monday, August 31--- As I said it, I realized that we were a WEEK early. Devin was like, "Are you kidding me??" The boys were too busy watching ants to notice our conversation.
Devin and I had a good laugh about my mistake and then we quickly decided to go to a nearby park. When we told the boys that there wasn't a baseball game that night, Dallin looked as if we had just stolen Christmas. I felt so bad! They were at least glad that we would go to the baseball game, we just had to wait a week.

We ended up having a fabulous time at the park. Dallin honed his monkey bar skills
and then we had a mad game of family freeze tag culminating with the Great Takedown of 2009.
All in all, it was a fantastic night, even if it didn't go as planned. :)

Bus Trauma Part II

The other day I picked up Kevin from school and he was ticked off at his teacher because she wouldn't let him get on the bus. I had to explain to him that she couldn't let him on unless I gave her permission (which, for the record, I had no intention of doing). So, the next step was him asking me if he could ride the bus forever.

I was a little hesitant to commit to riding forever, but I decided to let him ride the kindergarten bus home (cause it's half day so it's only kindergartners riding it) for a few days. The first day I got to the bus stop about 15 minutes early, and Ethan and I waited on the street corner with cups of water, the camera, and Ethan's snack. Ethan had fun playing on the sidewalk and in the rocks while we waited. Finally, I saw a bus coming into the neighborhood, so I snapped a quick pic.
And the bus kept coming....
....and then proceeded to pass us. It didn't even slow down. I KNEW it! Some drug dealer was driving the bus and was going to kidnap my kid! I grabbed Ethan and threw him in the stroller with the camera and my cup (at least I had my wits about me to quickly dump out my water) and I totally took off running down the street after the bus. I'm not really sure what I thought I would accomplish by doing this, but it just was instinct, I guess. Right before my little scene started, a man from a nearby house came out to wait for his son off the bus. He watched my spaz episode and then as I was running down the street, he decided to yell out and tell me that that was the bus picking up the afternoon kindergartners and that the bus dropping off would be by shortly. Oh, right. I knew that, I just decided to practice my sprints. Without my water.

I really don't think I was made to be the bus-riding-child's mother.

A little while later, Kevin's bus actually did show up, and he got off without a hitch. He actually really likes riding the bus and I think we'll continue it at least for a little while. It's probably psychologically healthy for me to get over this phobia. At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

Goals, Sweat, and Cheerleaders

Back in High school, in my "skinnier days," my hometown had "Toadsuck Days" every year. Now, before you stop reading my blog and hate me for life for offending you, Toadsuck is actually a park in my hometown (Don't be that surprised, I AM from Arkansas...). Toadsuck Days is a little carnival/craft fair thing that they have downtown the first weekend in May. They also have a 5K race with it and when I was a teenager - again back in my skinnier days- my Mom and my sisters would run in the 5k. I never ran with them because I just didn't think I could ever run farther than one block without needed CPR and possibly a Defibrillator. I secretly wanted to, but I had lots of phobias (sweating, failing, etc. etc.)

Anyway, fast forward more than a few years (and pounds) later, and for some strange reason I decide that I really want to set a goal to be able to run a 5K. I use the term "run" very loosely. It's probably more like a jog, but really what I mean is just something different (hopefully faster) than walking. Sometimes my run/jog is about as fast as a one-year old toddling a long, but at least it's not walking. So, I set my goal to be able to run/jog an entire 5k. I started mid-April and I decided to use a program called "Couch-to-5k, which is a 9-week (3 times per week) program." I had read a lot about it online and decided it would be a perfect program for me cause I was so out of shape it wasn't even funny and the program slowly works you into running. I armed myself with a Couch 2 5k app for my iPod (which I LOVED), a lot of Nickelback songs, and set out.

The first day of the program you alternate jogging 60 seconds and then walking 90 seconds for a total of 20 minutes. I totally thought it would be a piece of cake cause EVERYONE can jog 60 seconds, right?? Well, I thought it was going to die. I was SO determined not to quit though, because I wanted to tell Devin that I ran every time I was supposed to, so I finished the first day, but my chest was burning and I felt light-headed. Not a good sign.

The second day, I ended up having to walk the second half because I just felt like I couldn't do it. I was totally ready to quit, thinking that I just couldn't do it. My parents happened to be coming into town that weekend, so my mom suggested that she go with me on the third day of the program. I still didn't think I could do it, but my mom helped teach me about pacing myself (Hello! Who knew that you weren't supposed to run as fast as you could the whole time?? Apparently I wasn't ever paying attention in PE), and relaxing while I was running. When we were running uphill, she would say "right, left, right, left" for me to keep me on pace. We were able to finish that day together and she helped me feel more confident about finishing the program.

We ended up deciding to run "together" for the program eventhough we live 1,500 miles apart. We'd both put on our bluetooth headsets, then I'd call her and we'd talk on the headsets while I'd listen to the iPod in the other ear. I'd tell her when it was beeping at us to run or walk, and then we were able to talk together the whole time we were running. I'm sure half my neighborhood thinks I'm schizophrenic because I was quite a sight talking to myself (I also always ran with my pepper spray), but it was awesome to do it with my mom!

About week 5, I started running sometimes with my friend Ashlie, which was great because that was my first time running 20-minutes straight. I was really nervous about it, but it really helped having someone there. She and I would run in the early (for me) mornings, and I realized that my body really doesn't like mornings. But it was really good to do because our race was in the morning.

My mom and I ran in Hawaii together and then finished the last day of the program at my house when she came out to visit. A little over a week later, we ran a 5k in Little Rock together (actually together, not just on the headsets!) on July 4th. We didn't get the most impressive time (32:52), but we ran/jogged the whole way!

Here's a pic of us the night in AZ that we finished the program (and did the whole 3.1 miles)

Yes, we're wearing matching shirts (we got these super duper lightweight shirts for AR humidity-- they were awesome). Yes, they're freakishly bright. Yes, I was sweaty. I have sort of gotten over that phobia. Yes, this is a crappy picture. It was taken with a camera that I owned for 2 weeks and then took it back cause it was horrible.

Here are a few interesting tidbits:
Total time running: 17 hours 8 minutes 45 seconds
Total distance: 85.38 miles
Overall Pace: 12 minute 2 second miles
My shortest time: (3.1 miles) 31 minutes 45 seconds
My longest time: (3.1 miles) 36 minutes 22 seconds
Pounds of sweat I loose for one run in the AZ heat: 1.5

The most curious dinner plans

I'm not really sure what came over me yesterday when I was trying to decide what to make for dinner. Considering it's about 103 outside, you'd think I'd make a cool summer salad or something. Apparently the heat has done something to my decision making skills cause I decided on stew. So, we all enjoyed a nice hot bowl of stew after church today. It was a little weird, but yummy so I thought it was OK.

After dinner, I found some hot chocolate mix that I bought when we came home from Germany but we never tried. I still had a few points for the day, so I made a pot of hot chocolate, which we all enjoyed.

Later, I was looking through one of my Lion house recipe books (seriously we've never tried a recipe out of there that we didn't LOVE) and I decided that I wanted to try a new recipe this week. After looking around, I surprisingly chose chili. It made me think of a story about my Papa getting upset at my Nana for making chili in the middle of summer, so I told that story to Devin, who pointed out that we had just had stew and hot chocolate for dinner. Oops.

Ethan, waiting for his hot chocolate to cool off...

No Babies!

Our "baby" turned 3 today! I guess that pretty much means he's not a baby anymore, but I don't know if I'm ready for that just yet. :)

Ethan's been SO excited for his birthday for weeks now (since Kevin's birthday) so he's been really enjoying his day. He's been having fun singing Happy Birthday to himself sporadically throughout the day, and answering people's "Happy Birthday" wishes with an equally energetic "Happy Birthday" right back. He's been carrying around a set of good guys from Grandma & Grandpa and a train from Nana and Papa all day. He'll open the rest of his presents after dinner when Daddy's home.

We're so lucky to have such a joyful little boy in our family. We just love the little guy!


p.s. Thanks to Ashlie for these amazing birthday pictures!!