A Day in the Life – Summer 2016

Sunday July 3rd, 2016

Steve is 39

Laura is 35

Kai will be 2 in 12 days (hold me)

This day in the life was recorded as we were camping in Door County for the holiday weekend. It will probably be slightly less detailed than usual but I will do my best. Also WordPress editor is being a jerk and will not let me add spaces between paragraphs. Maddening.

7:37am – I hear Kai awake on his side of the camper after rough night of sleep. He was up crying for a few minutes seemingly every hour starting at midnight. I’m pretty sure it’s because he was over tired from camping (this was our second night of three). I change his diaper and get him dressed, and then pour his milk and set him up with his videos in the camper.

8:05am – Kai is ready to head outside, so I help him out of the camper and he goes to sit with my mom. I make much needed coffee for my mom and myself.

While drinking my coffee, I whip up some pancakes on our outdoor camp stove. I forgot to bring syrup, so my mom rides her bike over to my aunt and uncle’s campsite to borrow theirs.

Pancakes are literally one of Kai’s two favorite foods, along with mac and cheese. Today he is being a stinker though, and refuses to eat anything for breakfast until we offer him cheerios.

After breakfast we get ready for a bike ride. A bunch of family members arrive at our campsite on their bikes and we are ready to go. I load Kai into the Burley bike trailer and put his helmet on. He selects a dinosaur, a giraffe, and his yellow car to accompany us on the ride. Kid loves bike rides.

9:00am –  We leave for the ride. We take a scenic road with great views of the water and decide to make a stop at the lighthouse to enjoy the views. Please excuse my sweaty helmet hair.

10:15am – We arrive back at the campsite. My mom and Joe leave to go play tennis. I start packing up all of our stuff to head over to my aunt and uncle’s house. We are bringing Kai’s pack n play and all of his sleep equipment in hopes that he takes a great nap over there so it will be possible to take him to the fireworks tonight. He probably had a snack and watched some videos so that we could get ready.
11:15am – We leave and make the 10 min drive to the house. I get Kai’s stuff set up in my cousin’s bedroom and we hang out for a bit.
11:45am – We walk over to the tennis court/playground area where Kai watches a little tennis before hitting the swing.

Though you can’t see it in his face, Kai loved swinging with Auntie Beth and Grandma Joanie.

We all played at the playground a little longer, just hanging around.

12:15pm – We walk back to house. There is a conversation about the perfect blue sky today, and how we could not have asked for better weather this weekend.

Back at the house, Kai eats strawberries and string cheese for lunch. There is also half of an iced donut on his plate that he refuses to touch. Crazy kid.
12:55pm – Kai goes down for his nap and everyone else attacks some snacks that have been put out on the counter for lunch. We all just hang out for a bit, and I sit down on the couch. I am so tired. I also have no pictures from this entire part of the day apparently. Oops.

2:00pm – Steve leaves to go golfing with a few of the guys on the little community par 3 course. Almost everyone else goes to the pool, and I take full advantage of a quite house by falling asleep on the couch for 30 mins or so. When I wake up, Kai is still asleep and I browse the internet on my phone. I find a sweet pair of shoes that I decide must be mine. You know, for the olympics and such.

3:15pm – The guys are back from golf. I show Steve the shoes and he basically offers to get them for me. He’s a keeper, I tell ya.
3:25pm – I crack open a Mang-o-rita. OMG is is so sweet, like drinking syrup. Not until I am almost done with it do I get the idea that it would be much better mixed with a beer like Corona or something. Too late. Kai is still asleep. I am SO glad he is taking a long nap as he needed it so bad.

4:00pm – Some of the family returns from the pool and my cousin’s dog starts barking so freaking loud. Kai is awake. Oh well, three hours is a pretty darn good nap. I get him changed and he wants to find Grandma of course. I get him a plate of chips and pretzels and he goes out on the deck to eat.

For the next couple hours we all hang out, eat snacks, and drink wine. At some point before dinner we all shower. Normally Kai loves being in the shower with Daddy, but today in an unfamiliar shower you would think he was being tortured with razor blade water or something. He screams the entire time, and Steve does his best to get him clean quickly so he can get out. Very traumatic. I enjoy my solo shower and actually get to shave my legs (it’s kind of difficult in our tiny camper shower). We are all fresh and I hang out on the couch for a bit with Kai.

My cousin Emily and her friend Nicole make banana cream pies and show them off.

6:00pm – The pizza’s arrive for dinner. The family completely demolishes five large pizza’s, two salads, and a vat of mac and cheese. Kai steps up his game and actually eats the Kraft Dinner even though it is not his beloved Annie’s mac. I am shocked, as last time he tried the Kraft he immediately spit it out and wouldn’t take another bite. After pizza we enjoy the pies with whipped cream and frozen custard. Kai says he wants ice cream, but won’t try it when I offer him chocolate custard.
7:30pm – We leave for the fireworks in Egg Harbor. It’s a 10 minute drive, and we find a parking spot that is about half a mile from the target area. We get one block away, and Steve realizes he left his phone in the car. He gets it, and I ask him if he wants to bring his fleece jacket since we are still right by the car. He responds that he’s fine, it’s not cold out. Earlier in the day, some of the family members stopped and set out a bunch of chairs and blankets to save our spot. It was right down in front, perfect.

Kai immediately demands to walk around with Grandma. My mom and Joe take him for a walk and are gone for quite a while.

We hang out in our chairs and drink a beer.

We are right by the water, and the sunset is gorgeous. As the sun sets, it gets chilly and Steve is cold. He walks back to the car for his fleece.

My mom and Joe return with Kai, and we pose for a picture with our firecracker shirts circa 1992. Not everyone still has theirs, but six of us busted them out for the occasion.

I give Kai his flag and try to get a picture of him smiling. Not so much.

Steve plays with Kai, giving him a shoulder ride and then flinging him into the air, resulting in my favorite pic of the day.

Kai plays with his cousins, and is especially smitten with Mason this weekend. Mason is 13, and he is so great with the younger kids, they all love him.

While the big kids do sparklers, we bust out Kai’s dollar store glow wand, and it is a big hit.

9:30pm-ish – The fireworks start. Kai is sitting on Steve’s lap, and after the first few go off, he says “again!” Great, he likes them.

Then they start going off a little more rapidly, and Kai says “turn it off!” Haha. He says it a few more times, then says “I sit by Grandma.” He went down and sat by my mom on the blanket, and then all was fine. From then on we got a running commentary through the whole thing. “A green one. Oh, a red one. White lights, etc. etc.

Towards the end of the show I look down to see Kai sitting with my mom next to Mason, and he is holding both of Mason’s hands. So cute.
10:05pm – The fireworks are over and we walk back to car. When we get there, I decide to lay Kai’s pack n play mattress on the grass and change his diaper and get his jammies on since it might take a little while to get out of there with all of the cars.
10:27pm – We drive back to the house to drop off my mom and Joe at their car. I also run in to grab Kai’s milk that I accidentally left in the fridge. He downs it immediately. We drive back to the campsite and let Kai watch videos for a few minutes while I quickly get all of his sleep stuff set back up.
11:15pm – We put Kai down for bed. I really hope he sleeps well tonight with going to bed so late. Thank goodness again that he had a great nap and we were able to make it though the fireworks. I am so tired at this point, my mom goes straight to bed, and Steve is making a fire. Really, so late? He says it’s our last night and he wants to enjoy one more fire. I agree to sit out there for a few minutes with him and Joe.

11:45pm-ish – I go to bed and leave the guys out there. Pretty sure I am asleep almost immediately. I do not even hear Steve come in to bed. Good night!

Door County Half Marathon 2016

This past weekend, Steve and I went on a little weekend getaway to Door County and ran the half marathon there on Saturday. Steve got off work a little bit early on Friday, and when Kai woke up from his nap we loaded up the car and headed to Steve’s parents house, where Kai would be spending his weekend. We got him all settled in and hung out for a bit before hitting the road around 5:30.

We originally planned to eat dinner in Sturgeon Bay, but I realized we wouldn’t be there until around 8pm, so I consulted Yelp and found a brew pub in Green Bay instead called Titletown Brewing.

The restaurant was across the street from the actual brewery, and inside of an old train station. The beer was excellent (we both had the IPA), and the food was delicious as well. I had a cranberry turkey melt which was served on freshly baked zucchini bread. Genius.

After dinner we made the rest of the drive up to Door County, arriving in Fish Creek around 9:15pm. We stayed at my aunt and uncle’s house and they have been having problems with their internet, so Steve worked on that for a little bit while I passed out on the couch watching Modern Family. Super exciting start to the weekend!

Saturday was race day, and I think I woke up a little after 6am. The race didn’t start until 10am, so it was nice not to have to rush around. I had my coffee and then around 7:45 I ate a larabar and a banana.

We left around 8:25am and made the 5 min drive to the park. Once inside the park, we had another few miles to drive to get to Nicolet Bay where the race was starting. I was wondering where they were going to park all of the cars, and when we got there we found out the answer – on the campsites! We ended up parking on a site that was really close to the one we camped on last year. We walked over to the beach and picked up our packets, then headed back to the car to wait. It was around 54 degrees, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to wear arm warmers or not. There was a cold wind coming off of the lake, so in the end I decided to wear them and ditch them on the course if I got too warm. I ate another half of a banana around 9am and sipped on water with Nuun until the race start.

Pretty soon it was time to use the port-o-potties one last time and head to the start. Little did we know, the start was actually a 5 or so min walk from the beach, so by the time we got to the starting area (along with many many others), they had already sung the national anthem and it was minutes until race time. We snaked our way up in front of all of the slower pace groups because I didn’t want to get stuck running around people for the first mile or two. Pretty soon it was go time. I gave Steve a kiss and we were off.

I didn’t have a major goal set for this race. I knew that it was hilly and though I am in much better shape now than I was a couple months ago, I still don’t feel like I am in great running shape at the moment. I figured I would be happy with a 1:40, and my main goal was to enjoy the course. Peninsula State Park is my favorite place in the world to run (and one of my favorite places to be period), so I was excited to take in the scenery and see some areas of the park that I don’t normally get to see.

I hit mile 1 in 7:38, and was surprised to see the 7’s. I felt like I was running over 8 min pace, so it was a nice surprise. The first 4 miles were fairly flat compared to the middle of the course, with some gradual and rolling hills. Miles 2-4 went by really fast, splits were 7:21, 7:14, 7:27. I thought maybe I was going a little too fast, but I knew there were some major hills coming up and I decided to just go with it since I was feeling good.

The biggest hill on the course started just before mile 4 and ended just after mile 5, so it was pretty much uphill for a whole mile. My legs were feeling the lack of hill training that I did, and I knew I was slowing down. I made a new goal to have all of my miles under 8:00. My watched buzzed for mile 5 and it was 8:05. Dang. At least the huge hill was almost over, and there was an aid station at the top of the hill that was run by pirates, complete with a wooden pirate ship. I ate a gel here, hoping it would give me a boost. Miles 6-7 were 7:48, 7:55 and my legs did not feel like they were recovering from the big hill.

Somewhere in these middle miles, my attitude about the race became really laid back, which isn’t like me. I just didn’t really care that I was slowing down. I was still enjoying the course and I guess I kind of decided that I wasn’t going to kill myself in the second half. My stomach was not feeling great (what’s new) and I just didn’t feel like pushing it. Not much of a race mentality, but whatever. Miles 8-9 were 8:01, 7:38. Mile 10 was 8:03 even with the start of a big downhill in there, and then we were back out onto shore road for the last three miles to the finish. I was kind of dreading the last miles thinking they would go by really slow, but they didn’t. In fact, the entire race seemed to go by really fast. Miles 11-13 were 8:02, 7:51, 7:36. Before I knew it, I was crossing the finish line.

Official Stats:

Time: 1:40:39, 7:41 average pace

19/943 women

6/169 age group

I am happy with how it went (I did say I would like to run a 1:40 after all, but I would have like to be a little under rather than a little over). I hung out at the finish line waiting for Steve, who finished in 1:48. We walked back to the car to get our warm clothes (it was probably in the upper 50’s at this point and I was freezing). Then we hung out and watched the awards while drinking our free beers from Door Co. Brewing Company.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to the house for beer and snacks. At the house we devoured almost an entire wedge of aged apple cheddar with crackers and then his the hot tub. We also played a game of horse in the pool (I lost) before heading back to shower. We waited for the cable guy to come and luckily he was able to fix the internet problem. By the time he left it was almost 6:30 and I was famished.

We went to dinner at The Cookery because they were one of the restaurants that was offering a free beer to racers. Steve and I split fried cheese curds, pulled pork nachos, and a club sandwich, all of which was delicious.

After dinner we drove into Peninsula State Park again to check out the campsite we have reserved for the 4th of July weekend. On the way out the sun was setting, so we parked and walked down by the water. Imagine our surprise when we saw two huge bald eagles sitting in the tree!

So cool! Once the sun was set we stopped for frozen custard for dessert, obviously.

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I could not finish that turtle sundae. We were pretty beat by this point, so we headed back to the house, watched a movie, and went to bed.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to sleep in so badly. Of course I woke up at 6:25, womp, womp. I spent a nice early morning relaxing with coffee and my iPad before I finally woke up Steve because I was starving. We went out to a late breakfast at Julie’s before heading home, and it was just nice enough to sit outside.

I was missing my little stinker pants and couldn’t wait to see him. He was still napping when we arrived to pick him up, so we went in to wake him. Instead of being excited to see us, all he wanted in his tired state was Grammy. Ha. Once he was fully awake he did seem happy to see his parents after all. We hung out there talking to Steve’s parents for a little while before heading home. We had stopped to get flowers for Steve’s mom, and Steve also bought me a beautiful waterfall orchid. My goal is not to kill it like I have every single other plant I have ever owned.

Mother’s Day evening was spend unpacking, giving Kai a bath, and eating Qdoba (for some reason I was craving a burrito bowl). Even though Kai was really acting up last night (I’m sure he was tired and a little out of sorts from the weekend), as I put him to bed I couldn’t help but think about how lucky I am to be his Mom. He brings me so much joy and so much frustration and everything in between and challenges me on a daily basis to be the best Mama I can be for him.

I also can’t finish this post without a shout out to my own Mom (we gave her her Mother’s Day present on Friday before we left). She is the most selfless, generous, amazing lady around, and I don’t know what we would do without her.

 

 

 

Cruising on the Norwegian Escape 2016

Photo credit

The last week in January, we took a break from wretched winter and boarded a ship bound for the sunny Caribbean. It had been seven years (since our honeymoon in Belize) since we took an actual tropical vacation, so I was just a little bit excited to blow the literal popsicle stand that is Wisconsin in winter. We were traveling with my mom and her husband Joe, and my step brother Justin and his family (wife Ashley, kids Ashtin (2) and Lily (11 months)). It was so nice to be traveling with family that has kids the same age as Kai, as he is right in the middle of their two kids.

We left on Friday 1/22 and boarded a 6:10am flight to Fort Lauderdale. We woke Kai up around 3:30am, and though he seemed a bit confused, once he was up and dressed he was running around the house ready to go. We used a private parking lot near the airport that had a valet service for a very cheap price, so we were able to leave our car at the entrance and hop right on a shuttle. We got to the airport, checked in and went through security with no problems. There was a kids play area near our gate, so we let the kids get a little bit of energy out before boarding.

We flew Southwest so there were no assigned seats, but luckily families with small children get to board right after the A group, so there were plenty of seats left when we got on.

Of the whole trip, I was the most nervous about the flights. We took Kai on as a lap child, so he did not have his own seat. The flight down was totally full, so we had another person in our row. She ended up being a super cool lady, a marine going to FL for a drill weekend. She even offered to help with Kai if our laps got tired because she was the oldest of 5 kids and was used to taking care of them 🙂 I was relieved to have an understanding person with us in case he started to act up.

Kai enjoyed looking out the window and watching the de-iceing process. Then he was asleep within seconds of takeoff. I was both surprised and relieved.

He slept for about 40 mins, and for the rest of the flight we kept him entertained with toys from the dollar store and a few small toys from Christmas that we had put away for this purpose. He also watched some videos for a while towards the end. Two other passengers commented on how good he was during the flight, and I was so happy not to have a screaming toddler on the plane. It did get a little long for all involved when the plane ended up having to circle for an extra 30 mins before landing because of weather, but overall Kai’s first flight was a success!

Finally we landed in Fort Lauderdale, got our bags and found our shuttle that would take us to Miami.

There was a small problem when we got to the shuttle, in that they only had a booster seat for Kai instead of a carseat. Justin and Ashley had brought their own carseats, but we didn’t, knowing we couldn’t use it on the plane. Definitely not an ideal situation but there was nothing we could do about it (and carseats actually are not required in commercial vehicles in FL). So Kai rode in a booster seat made for a much larger child, and Steve kept his arm across Kai in case of a sudden stop.

Kai loved looking out the window until he passed out for the last 20 mins of the trip.

Eventually we arrived at the hotel only to be told that our room was not ready yet. It was about 1pm and official check in time was 4pm. I had called the week before to request an early check in, but apparently they couldn’t make it happen. The lady at the front desk was less than helpful and slightly rude, and when I asked about a restaurant within walking distance where we could get lunch, she recommended a steak house. Mind you we are 4 adults and 3 less than happy kids 2 and under. It was raining, but I consulted Yelp and found a Gastropub about 5 blocks away that sounded good.

We ended up having a delicious lunch, and the waitstaff was awesome with the kids. Good choice! We got back to the hotel around 3pm and our room was ready, finally. We stayed all together in a 2 bedroom condo type deal, which worked out well. Unfortunately, the crappy weather stuck around all day so we didn’t get to use the pool or anything. We just kind of hung out, ordered pizza for dinner, and got excited about boarding the ship in the morning.

Saturday 1/23/16 – Embarkation day

This morning we basically got up and started to get everyone ready to leave. We had the front desk call for a cab around 9:30 I believe, and the cab company sent a regular sized car to transport 7 people and a mountain of luggage. After much standing around waiting for a bigger cab to arrive, a minivan finally showed up. It was not really big enough for us, but there’s no way at that point that we weren’t going to make it work. We sat 3 in the back with a kid on each lap and one in the front.

A short while later, we arrived at the port. We got checked in for the cruise and headed to the boarding area where we met up with my mom and Joe. They were in boarding group 4, and we were in 10. We just went in with them and pretended it was all legit. At the boarding gate where they were letting people onto the ship, there was some kind of hold up (mechanical problem with the gangway I think), so me, Steve, my mom and Kai got held back after the rest of our group had already gone on. We waited for another 20ish minutes until they finally let us board. We met up with the rest of the group who had already gotten a table for lunch. I immediately ordered a cocktail and felt like vacation had officially begun.

I also had chicken fajitas which were tasty, Kai had a grilled cheese, and Steve had a burger which he said was not good. After lunch we went to our rooms to see if they were ready, and they were! We immediately checked out the balconies, and Kai was super excited.

His running commentary at this point was awesome. “A ocean! A fish! A cars!” He was so excited to point everything out. The best part about our rooms was by far the balcony situation. Our three rooms were next to each other, and we were able to open the balcony dividers so we basically had one long triple balcony where the kids could run around and we could go from room to room. We hung out for a little while before it was time to go to the safety drill. Kai fell asleep in the stroller and slept through the whole thing, which was perfect. He is used to sleeping and napping on a pretty consistent schedule, but he was a champ about going with the flow as far as sleeping on the whole trip. After the safety drill we headed outside to watch the ship set sail at 4pm, with more cocktails of course. We had the unlimited beverage package which was a promotion when we booked the cruise, so we definitely tried to take advantage 🙂

Bye bye Miami, see you in a week!

Somehow I have no more pictures from this day. We all went to dinner at 6:30pm, and there was a problem with our reservation which involved waiting and a makeshift table for 9. I remember having some sort of steak and ordering mac and cheese for Kai. He was really excited about it until he tasted it and it wasn’t the same as his Annie’s Mac that he has at home. He promptly spit it out and wouldn’t try it again at all. Thus began his weeklong diet of french fries, banana bread, bananas, chips, cereal, and the occasional grilled cheese. He did also eat some sort of pancake or waffle and bacon most mornings, and of course he drank plenty of his beloved milk each day. I’m sure no one was up too late this night, as we were all tired from traveling still.

Sunday & Monday, 1/24-1/25/16 – Sailing

The first two days of the cruise were at sea. The weather, though much better than WI, was a bit of a bummer. It was low 70’s and kind of windy and overcast. It wasn’t ideal for swimming or water slides, but luckily there was other stuff to do on the ship. Each morning the Guppies program had an activity for kids under 3 with their parents at 9:30am. We took Kai and Ashtin to it on Monday, and they got to paint a picture with vegetable based paints. We were very glad we stripped them down to their diapers before starting, and most of the other parents followed suit.

Kai and Ashtin were hard at work on their masterpieces.

Their artwork was hung on the wall when they finished.

There was a very cool ropes course on top of the ship that Steve and I did.

Not my photo

Also not my photo

It had beams and ropes to walk across, as well as zip lines and a plank that literally walked off of the side of the ship and was wobbly (see above). I did not do that part because I am a chicken, but Steve did. The whole thing was challenging but fun. I don’t have any pics of us doing it because we weren’t allowed to have anything at all in our pockets, so we left our phones in the room.

The ship had a bar that was all craft beers, so naturally we hit that up several times throughout the week. I got the Dogfish Head IPA every time, it was so good.

We spent some time exploring the ship and Kai did some laps on the running track to warm up for some Bocce Ball.

Kai and Ashtin both wore their animal backpacks that they got from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas pretty much any time we left the rooms. Kai’s was a monkey and Ashtin’s was a dog, and they both had a detachable “safety tether” (AKA leash) on the bottom. Yes, we put our kids on a leash, and yes, it did come in handy on more than one occasion. Those kids are fast, man. Kai’s backpack held some small toys, his water cup, and some hand wipes, so it was nice to have that stuff along anytime we were eating as well. He loved putting it on because he knew it meant we were leaving the room.

There was a Guppies playroom that was open all of the time where you could take your little kid to play with toys. We took Kai there a couple times, but he only really played in there for 5-10 mins before he wanted to get out of the room and sprint down the hall.

Our first towel animal was a dog notifying us that there would be a time change so we would have to set our clocks forward.

We hung out on the balcony while my mom and Joe went to a show, and we stole all of their bedding to keep us warm.

Monday night, we signed all three kids up for the Guppies Nursery where you pay $20 per kid and drop them off from 6:30-8:50pm so that all of the adults could have a nice quiet dinner. We started at the wine bar where they had a delicious cabernet that I went back for several times later in the week.

We went to dinner in one of the smaller dining rooms, and the service was so.slow. It was awful. The food was great as usual, but we were there what seemed like forever waiting for our food. Around 8:15, our pager went off from the nursery and we were told that Kai wouldn’t stop crying and we had to go check on him. Ugh. I was surprised because he does fine at the gym day care at home all the time, but when we got there he was really upset. I’m not sure what set him off, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to calm down, so we had to take him with us. Now we had one kid at the dinner table (past his bedtime), and still no main course. By 8:40, we STILL did not have our main course and Justin and Ashley now had to pick up there two kids from the nursery because it ended at 8:50. They got back and we now had three cranky kids at the dinner table late at night. They finally brought our main course and we ate, then requested our desserts be sent back to the rooms. They weren’t going to do it for us, but finally the waiter said ok, probably just to get us out of there. The whole thing was ridiculous. Dinner should not take 2+ hours to come out, especially when you order everything (appetizer, salad, main course) at the same time. So basically it was a waste of paying for daycare, since we didn’t even get to enjoy the quiet dinner. Oh well.

After dinner we hung out on the balcony and noticed the very apparent shift in temperature. Warm Caribbean air at last!

Tuesday 1/26/16 – St. Thomas

Around 8am on Tuesday we pulled into port in St. Thomas. Again, having the balconies was so cool because we could go outside and watch our ship approach the island. It was a perfectly sunny, hot day, exactly what I had been waiting for! We had plans to go to Sapphire Bay beach, and meet up with my friend Robin who lives on the island (I know). After eating breakfast at the buffet, we got off the ship. Now, there were open air taxis right there that we could have taken for about $8/person, but my mom said last time they were there they walked “just a couple blocks” and took a bus to the beach for $2/person. Ok great. Well about 2 MILES later, we got to the bus stop, dripping sweat from pushing the strollers and carrying our beach bags. I declared then and there that we would be taking a taxi for the return trip.

We were finally dropped off at the beach, and after walking down a huge hill we were treated with the beautiful Caribbean sand and water.

We got situated under a tree for shade, and waded into the water. True to form and unsurprisingly, Kai was not a fan. He didn’t want his feet to touch the sand. He didn’t want to be held where our feet were touching the water.

He whined and whined until we finally asked him if he wanted to sit in his stroller and he said “stroller! stroller!” So we had the one kid at the beach who just wanted to sit in his stroller. Figures, he is such a pickle sometimes.

After a little while my mom took him for a walk and he thankfully fell asleep for over an hour.

We just hung out and soaked up the sunshine, and a little while later Robin arrived with her two kids.

It was great catching up with her, as I hadn’t seen her since Kai was a little baby and she was in Wisconsin for a visit. Kai eventually woke up, and lo and behold, he warmed up to touching the sand. Before long he was actually enjoying himself with the beach toys we brought.

We ordered some food and drinks and hung out a little while longer before heading back. My mom and Joe opted to hike back up the hill and take the bus again, while we opted for a taxi. It ended up being $10/person, but at that point it was worth it. Steve, Kai and I got dropped off at the shops right by the ship, and we did a little shopping. We were waiting for Robin’s husband Matt to get off work. When he did, we met up again and went to one of the bars nearby for some beers. Kai played with their kids while the adults sipped some cold drinks.

It was great being able to hang out with them for a while, but before long we had to board the ship again.

Bye bye St. Thomas!

This night my mom and Joe offered to go to dinner early and then watch the kids while Steve, Justin, Ashley and I went to dinner. We took the kids to the buffet while they were eating, and then it was our turn.

We stopped for a glass of good wine from the wine bar before dinner, and then had a nice meal without the kids. After dinner, we stopped back at the room to check on things. Kai was asleep, and Justin and Ashley put their kids to bed before the four of us headed to the show that we had reserved at 10pm. The show was Million Dollar Quartet, and it was so good. It was probably the best show I have seen on a cruise ship, all of the actors were so talented. It was about a day at Sun Studios where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins were together for a recording session for the first and last time. The music was awesome, and I stayed awake for almost all of it despite being out way past my bedtime.

Wednesday 1/27/16 – Tortola

When I woke up on Wednesday, we were already docked in Tortolla, and a brief downpour produced quite a rainbow.

My mom and Joe got off the ship bright and early to go on their excursion to The Baths, and the rest of us opted to stay on the ship all day and enjoy the less crowded swimming areas with the kids. We were only in port until 3pm and there was really nothing for us to do on land that didn’t involve a taxi, so the ship it was.

After breakfast, we took the kids to the splash pad for some fun. Again true to form, Kai did not want to be put down or get his feet wet for a good 15-20 mins.

After a while he warmed up to the idea, and before long he was running around.

Lily is just so darn cute with her little teeth.

After the splash pad we dried off and got the kids dressed back in the room. There was some talk of getting off the ship to check out the shops, but in the end we decided to go get lunch at the buffet. After lunch, I decided to take a nap when Kai did, and Steve and Justin went to the hot tub. We dressed up for dinner that night and I literally have no pictures. I’m pretty sure the kids were being terrible and this was the last time we attempted the big group dinner. It was just too much for the kids and they were miserable waiting around at the table for dinner to be finished. The only picture I have of Kai in his fancy outfit. Total fail. Kai had also developed a runny nose this day, which lasted through Thursday and he had a pretty bad cough for the rest of the trip. He probably caught it in the nursery, but what are you going to do.

I think this night involved drinks on the balcony and possibly the bar, I can’t remember. Oh, the vacation life.

Thursday 1/28/16 – Sailing

Thursday was our last ‘at sea’ day, and we spent it enjoying the fun stuff on the ship like the waterslides.

Photo credit

The green and blue slides on the left are the “drop slides,” and the blue one on the right is the tube slide. The yellow slide on the left is a small basic water slide. Steve was most excited to try the drop slide, and I was most nervous. You stand in a capsule, and when the guy pushes the button the floor slides out from under you and you literally fall straight down before going halfway upside down and finally coming to the bottom. The whole thing lasts only 8 seconds, and I don’t think I have ever screamed so loud in my life. It was very cool and we ended up doing it twice. The big tube slide was fun as well. Steve and I went together on a double tube and if you look at the picture you can see a small clear section in the slide. That part is over the side of the ship so you can look right down to the water. I don’t have any pictures from during the day on Thursday, because we left our phones in the room. This one was on the balcony.

After a day of fun, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the balconies.

This was another night where my mom and Joe ate early, and we took the kids to the buffet before going to our own dinner. We also saw another show this night, After Midnight. It was ok, but not nearly as good as the first show and I could not stay awake to save my life.

Friday 1/29/16 – Nassau, Bahamas

We were scheduled to be docked in Nassau from 12-7pm on Friday, so we had the morning to enjoy on the ship. We took the kids to the farewell disco party in the Guppies room where they each got a little stuffed Nemo fish to take home.

The party was complete with music and disco lights, which was cute.

A little before noon, we watch the ship pulling into port. The air was cooler, which didn’t surprise me since we were pretty close to Florida again, but I was bummed that we had left the tropical feel of the Caribbean already.

Steve and I booked a SCUBA diving excursion this day, and the rest of the group went to the zoo. I have no pictures of our dive trip because we didn’t bring our phones, and I never picked up a disposable water camera to use. Really wish I would have, but oh well. The dive trip was not the greatest. It was a 45 min shuttle ride to the dive shop clear on the other side of the island. The first dive was a wreck dive at about 70 feet of water. Steve thought it was cool because the ships were very intact, but I thought it was a little boring. I much prefer reef dives where there are tons of corals and marine life. We did see a big sting ray and a shark, but that was about it. It was windy, so the seas were rough, and back on the boat after dive one I was freezing cold and getting nauseous. I really didn’t want to dive again because I was so cold, but I knew that I would get sick if I stayed on the boat.

The second dive was a “reef” dive, again about 65-70 feet of water. We were told it was one of the top 5 dive spots in the area, and honestly there was not much to see at all. It was less of a reef and more of a mound of sand with a few corals, kind of disappointing. We did see a big sea turtle which was cool, but not much else. It seemed the seas were even rougher when we surfaced, so between that and the diesel fumes on the boat I was just trying not to be sick on the way back in. Once back on dry land I felt fine, and we made the 45 min trip back to the port. Overall, I do not think diving here was worth the money we spent, but then again we have been spoiled with our last dives done in Cozumel and Belize.

The rest of the group had fun at the zoo, where there were apparently a lot of flamingoes.

The boys were wearing their matching outfits that day, but of course it was impossible to get a picture of them.

Steve and I didn’t get back to the ship until 6pm or so, and again my mom and Joe went to dinner first. We spent that time packing since it was already our last night on the ship 😦 When my mom and Joe returned, we put Kai to bed since it was already almost 8pm and he had only napped for 10 mins in the stroller all day. Then we went out to enjoy our last dinner. I sure will miss ordering a 5-6 course meal every night, including chocolate lava cake. Can’t believe I don’t have a picture of that one, as I enjoyed it 6 out of 7 nights. We didn’t stay up too late the last night because we had to be up and off the ship by 8:30am.

Saturday 1/30/16 – Debarkation

I woke up around 6am on Saturday and took a quick shower, then Steve and Kai were up shortly after. We finished packing up our last few things and went to the buffet for one last breakfast around 7:30am. We opted to carry all of our luggage off the ship ourselves because otherwise you have to wait until at least 10am to get your luggage back, and we needed to get back to Fort Lauderdale for a 12:40pm flight.

The debarkation process was very smooth, thanks to Justin and Ashley having an extra luggage strap that we could borrow to make a luggage train with our four suitcases.

Once we were off the ship, we went through customs and found the shuttle we had booked to take us back to Fort Lauderdale. They assured me they had a carseat this time, but when we arrived at the shuttle we saw it was actually a high backed booster seat. Whatever. At least we could buckle Kai in with the full seatbelt this time. We arrived at the airport about three hours before our flight and waited in a huge long line to check in. Then we made our way through security and to the gate, where we had maybe an hour and a half more to wait.

Don’t even care that he’s laying on the airport floor at this point. On Southwest, families with kids under 6 get to board right after the A group. This is huge, because there are no assigned seats on Southwest, so this pretty much guarantees that families will be able to sit together. My mom carried Kai on and Joe carried Ashtin so they could board with us too. The flight was once again totally full, so my mom sat in the row with us, Joe sat right behind on the aisle, and Justin & Ashley’s family was right across the row. This time it took Kai a good hour before he succumbed to a nap, which he needed badly. He slept for about 40 mins again and then we entertained him with some videos.

Back in Milwaukee while we waited for our bags, I let Kai get out of the stroller and after he ran around a little bit he had a full blown meltdown when it was time to corral him and put his jacket on. He screamed, cried and kicked the entire time we walked out to the shuttle and rode the shuttle back to the parking lot. He finally calmed down when he saw our car with his own familiar carseat, and I was glad that it was the only full boar five alarm meltdown of the trip. We made it back home, and it definitely took Kai a few days to adjust to being back on his schedule. The first few days were a little rough with a super tired and crabby toddler on our hands. It was totally worth it though. As always, the entire vacation that we had looked forward to for nearly a year was over in the blink of an eye. Until next time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

35 in Chicago

A few weekends ago (October 17-18), we headed down to Chicago to visit my brother and sister-in-law and celebrate my mom’s and my birthday (hers is the 7th, mine is the 18th). We arrived around 11:30 on Saturday and hung out at their condo for a little while while I fed Kai his lunch and put him down for a nap. While he was sleeping, my brother Mike made the rest of us lunch and we made a plan for the rest of the day.

Kai slept for about an hour and a half, and then it was time to go. My brother suggested we check out Maggie Daley park, so we drove downtown and parked in a garage. We had debated taking the L, but thought it might be a pain with the big stroller, and it worked out just fine to drive the couple of miles.

I had never heard of this park before, as it just opened in 2014. It was probably the coolest park I have ever been to. It is 20 acres, and right at the Lake Michigan shoreline within Grant Park and near The Bean.

Here we were walking on the ice skating track and to the left you can see the four huge rock climbing walls. The park had tons of different areas to go into, and a sign on the outside of each one said what age groups that area was geared towards. A favorite was the garden of mirrors.

Of course we had to go on the swings.

We checked out the nautical themed area next.

We didn’t go into any of the areas that were geared towards older kids, but the slides and play equipment in those areas looked really cool. I highly recommend this park as a family activity if you ever happen to find yourself in Chicago. We will definitely be back. Once we were done at the park we walked over to The Bean for a photo op, because how could we not?

Nerd alert:

We walked around the area a little bit more, but once the sun started to dip behind the buildings it got cold in a hurry, so we headed back to the condo. Mike got started on his famous home made pizza crust, and I made Kai a grilled cheese for dinner, which he did not eat. He wore his skeleton jammies because I knew Omoleye would love them (she is an orthopedic resident). When she saw him, she immediately went and changed to match.

Kai went to bed around 7:30 I believe, and somehow I have no photographic evidence that the rest of the night happened at all. We ate pizza, drank wine, sampled several chocolate porters, ate pie, and played games. It was a wonderful night. Guess I was too busy enjoying it to take any pictures.

Kai, Steve and I all slept in the same room, and I remember not sleeping well because I could hear Kai moving around, his sound machine was going, etc. So I was the first one up on Sunday, my birthday. I sat on the couch with my iPad for a while until my mom came up and made coffee in the French press. Yes.

Our plans included going out to brunch. Unfortunately Omoleye was on call and had to go in to do surgery on a broken elbow, so she wasn’t able to join us. We walked to the restaurant, and though Mike warned us that we needed to be there at 9am when they opened, we didn’t arrive until 9:20 and there was a 30 min wait. We walked down the street to a park (Chicago has the nicest parks, I swear!) to pass the time.

Kai was obsessed with this bridge and probably went across like twenty times. Mike and I showed off our jumping skills because we are cool like that.

And Kai did some more swinging with Daddy and Uncle Mike.

Brunch was delicious (again no photos, darn it). I had a bloody mary and portobello mushroom and egg tacos. We walked back to the condo and hung out for a little while longer before packing up our things and saying goodbye. We timed it to leave at Kai’s nap time so he could sleep in the car. He fell asleep for about 40 mins (his usual max in the car). Since he was awake, I decided I wanted to stop at the outlet mall on the way home to spend some of my birthday money. Sadly, I found nothing to buy. Also on the way home, we stopped at Kopp’s for some frozen custard when I discovered they had turtle sundae as the flavor of the day. Coincidence that they had this amazing flavor on my birthday? I think not.

After we got home and unloaded our stuff, we all walked to the park near our house so Kai could burn off some energy after sitting in the car for so long. More swinging!

Then he got brave and wandered pretty far away from us.

Once Kai was fed dinner, bathed, and in bed, Steve picked up some Chinese carryout for us to enjoy for dinner. I had a sushi roll and a veggie stir fry while watching a movie, the perfect end to a great birthday weekend.

Devil’s Lake Camping Trip

A couple of months ago, Steve and I decided we wanted to do one more camping trip this year. I have very fond memories of camping at Devil’s Lake when I was a kid, and I thought it would be beautiful to go in the fall. This past weekend we headed up on Friday evening. We got there around 6:30, checked into our site, and got set up. I don’t have any pictures of the first night because it was dark and I was trying to feed Kai a quick dinner while Steve was setting up the camper. It always takes a while to get everything set up, but we eventually did, and I think we put Kai to bed around 8:45 that night. He has always slept great in his pack n play and in the camper, which is awesome. Steve and I roasted weiners on the fire for a late night dinner because we are super classy like that. We followed it up with s’mores as camping law requires.

Saturday morning we all slept in a little bit (for me at least) and I think we all woke up around 7:30-7:45. I made pancakes in the camper and Kai and I ate them all up (Steve is not a breakfast person, which I will never pretend to understand).

After breakfast we all took a walk down to the camp store for a trail map.

Devil’s lake is surrounded by bluffs and is known for it’s awesome hiking trails. By the time we left for our first hike it was probably almost 10am. We decided to start at the north end (where we already were) and headed up the East Bluff Trail.

I carried Kai on my back because I knew I wanted Steve to carry him on our more difficult afternoon hike.

We stopped at a few look out points and snapped some photos. It was so pretty up there.

We didn’t hike too long because before long it was time for Kai to eat lunch and take a nap. We headed back to the campsite and I made Kai a sandwich. Kid loves dining al fresco.

Steve got to work setting up the new to us screen room on the camper. Not really necessary on this trip, but we wanted to try it out. Verdict – love it!

Kai went down for his nap, and Steve and I enjoyed a beer by the fire. Yes.

We also made pudgie pie sandwiches for lunch.

Kai slept for about an hour and a half and then he was ready to party. He loved walking around the campsite (and into the road, silly boy). Good thing we brought his cage play enclosure along.

For our afternoon hike, we drove around to the south shore of the lake to do the Balanced Rock Trail. Let me just say that since it has been years since I hiked this trail, I did not recall exactly how difficult and treacherous it is. Thank goodness Steve was carrying Kai and felt confident in his footing, because there is no way I would have felt comfortable with him on my back. The trail is all steep rock steps that are uneven and slippery, and some of them move. One wrong step or slip and you could literally tumble down the bluff.

On the way up we somehow missed the off chute of the trail that leads to the balanced rock itself. The views however, were amazing.

On the way back down we did find the balanced rock and stopped for a photo op.

I took this shot on the way back down so you can see how steep and technical the trail is.

Once we reached the bottom I stopped having a heart attack and spotted a giant rock that I knew I must pose atop of.

After the hike we stopped at the concession stand and I got ice cream, obviously. We let Kai loose to play on the playground there for a while before heading back to the camp site. I should have snapped a pic of the playground because it was pretty cool. Instead of wood chips, the ground was covered in ground up tires so it was nice and soft and bouncy.

Back at the campsite, I put Kai in his snuggly suit because it was kind of cold and windy, and because it is adorable. I made him a quesadilla for dinner which he would not touch (even though it is one of his favorite foods at home).

Kai was pretty worn out and I think he went to bed around 7:30 this night. Steve and I made tacos for dinner and sat by the campfire. The wind was a little ridiculous and was blowing the smoke every which way, but we finally figured out where to put our chairs to get the least amount of smoke in our faces. I practically fell asleep in my camp chair before calling it a night. I slept horribly this night due to the wind being obnoxiously loud and a pole above our bed in the camper falling on me no less than five times (yes, the parts have already been ordered to fix this little problem for next time). Kai was up around 7am Sunday morning, and I made pancakes again. We all felt lazy and hung out in the camper for a long time before getting motivated to start packing up. Kai made himself useful in rearranging one of the cabinets.

I chased Kai around the campsite while Steve popped the camper down.

Turns out our little man is very handy like his Daddy and helped get the trailer hooked up, no problem.

We tried to stop at the nature center on the way out because I thought Kai would enjoy it, but turns out it was 300 yards straight up a steep trail from the parking lot. After all of our hiking the day before, Steve vetoed that plan immediately. It turned out ok, because Kai was asleep with in three minutes of leaving the park.

And with that, Claudette is safely stored away, ready for the camping adventures that await us next year.

Door County Ladies Weekend 2015

Labor Day weekend represented our third annual family ladies weekend, in which my female relatives get together to eat, hike, hot tub, and drink copious amounts of wine. Previously we had ladies weekend in November, but we decided to try moving it up this year because our usual weekend happens to be Halloween this year. We arrived on Friday just in time for dinner.

This is everyone except my two cousins who arrived the next morning. I shared a Cajun pasta dish which was delicious. We sat outside on the covered patio and there was live music for entertainment. After dinner we headed back to the house. We stay at my aunt and uncle’s Door County house which is awesome. Sadly I could not partake in the wine on Friday because I had a 20 mile run on the agenda first thing Saturday morning. I did decide to have dessert (I made a mandarin orange cake and a chocolate bourbon pecan pie), and I had a cake travesty while trying to remove a piece from the pan.

I believe I was in bed by 10:30 this night (wild, I know). I wanted to get an early start for my run in the morning. I woke up Saturday at 6:50 and freaked out a little about how late I had slept. Ear plugs and my own bed were a glorious thing. I had coffee and eventually headed to Peninsula State Park for my run. The trail in the park is literally my favorite place to run in the world, so it worked out to do my 20 miler this weekend.

My plan was to run from the parking lot to Nicolet Bay Beach and back twice. That way I could break the run up into 4×5 mile segments so the distance didn’t seem so daunting.

It is always advisable to wear brand new shoes for a 20 mile run, yes?

It was foggy when I started and the trail was very pretty. My run went really well. I haven’t blogged about my training for this marathon, but my long runs in general have not been going well. All of my workouts during the week have been fine, I can hit prescribed speedwork paces, etc., but the long runs were killing me. I just never had one where I felt really good, I had a lot of stomach issues, etc. So getting this one in and feeling good was an awesome confidence booster for race day. I took it really easy for the first 5 miles and then slowly dropped the pace from there. I ran the last 11 miles at sub-8 min pace and the last 5 around marathon goal pace (7:37).

I walked around a little bit after I was done and found this view that did not suck.

When I got back to the house my cousins had arrived, so I talked to everyone for a bit before taking a much needed shower. When I came out there were bloody marys and a great spread of snacks for lunch. If only every long run could end that way.

After lunch we drove into Peninsula State Park to scope out campsites for our 2016 trip. It is a huge fiasco to reserve sites at this park (you have to do it 11 months to the day in advance at 9am or you will not get a site), and getting multiple sites together or near each other is no easy task. After we had walked around one of the entire camping areas, some of us trudged on to the next area while some of us thought it a grand idea to get ice cream instead. Can you guess which group I was in?

Eventually we headed back to the house and spend some time lounging in the outdoor hot tub with adult beverages. Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner at Alexander’s.

We had a delicious meal (I split the ahi tuna with my mom) and then headed back to the house for our traditional dance party, where the selfie stick once again came out to play.

The blurry photos and sweet dance moves are fairly indicative of the amount of wine that was consumed.

After several rounds of dancing, we took the party out onto the deck since it was still nice out. This resulted in my favorite photo of the entire trip. Can you see my Grandma Joan peeking her head out right in the middle? Classic.

Post dancing activities included several card games and a very short lived (and not too well thought out) walk around the neighborhood before the last of us headed to bed.

Sunday morning we made a delicious breakfast at the house, and my mom, aunt Beth and I took a short hike while a few of the others hit the pool.

Once everyone was back we headed to the park one last time for a hike with everyone.

We returned to the house and ate lunch, and then it was time for me to head home with two of the other ladies. The rest of the group stayed until Monday, but I heard that Sunday night was slightly more subdued. All in all it was such a fun getaway that I look forward to every year. I just love these ladies!

Door County Camping 2015

Last week (August 8-15) marked our annual weeklong family camping trip at Peninsula State Park in Door County. We weren’t able to camp last year since Kai wasn’t even three weeks old, so we were extra excited about the trip this year. Between everyone we had four campsites and my aunt and uncle’s family stayed at their house nearby with my grandma. We left on Saturday and our departure became a huge ordeal and did not go as planned. Steve had two separate problems with the camper that needed to be resolved, and Kai sliced his finger open on the edge of a full length mirror hanging on the back of our linen closet door. So while we aimed to leave around noon on Saturday, we left around 4pm and arrived in the park shortly after 7pm. The huge campsite dinner was in full swing with about 32 people at the campsites. Luckily they set aside some food for us, because by the time we were all set up and got Kai to sleep it was at least 9:30. Not the greatest of travel days, but at least we made it and were able to enjoy the campfire for a bit before going to bed.

Sunday morning they guys left at 7:30 for golf, and I went for a 6 mile run while my mom watched Kai. I was supposed to do my long run this day, but with the long packing/travel day and late night dinner I wasn’t feeling it. The ladies and kids met at PC Junction at 11am for lunch. PC Junction is a fun restaurant where your food and drinks come out on a train car, and they have lots of outdoor pay spaces for the kids. Kai perused the menu and decided upon the grilled cheese with applesauce.

Then I got out my selfie stick and went to town. Thank goodness Steve wasn’t there, he would have been mortified.

After lunch (Kai ate his entire sandwich and applesauce), we headed outside for some fun. Kai chose the swing and as usual seems nonplussed, but he really does love it, I promise.

My mom and I took the boys (Kai and his cousin Ashtin) for a lap in the pedal carts, and nearly died of laughter when I could not steer us over a small bump.

More selfie stick action. How did I not have one of these sooner??

After all of the fun, we headed back to the campsite and Kai took a nap. I couldn’t believe how well he slept this whole trip in the camper. He took naps like a champ and slept though the night no problem. We had his pack n play set up on one of the bed platforms in the pop up camper, and had his noise machine going just like at home.

Sunday night we had pudgie pies for dinner and enjoyed the campfire.

My memory is already fading and I failed to take several billion pictures this trip (too busy enjoying it!), so I can’t give a daily recap of every day. From here on out I will just show a lot of pictures and attempt to remember some of what we did.

We definitely enjoyed soft serve on several occasions. Kai was a fan.

We spend a lot of time hanging out at the campsite. I set up a play enclosure for the boys, and they demanded that grandma and grandpa get in and play with them.

We brought Kai’s walker thinking that it would keep him off of the ground since he is not quite walking on his own yet, but now that he has been walking with the aid of just one finger, he wanted nothing to do with the thing (despite his happy expression here).

Several wagon rides were had around the campground, and Kai’s expression here is my absolute favorite. So not impressed.

One night we rode our bikes to see the sunset at one of the neighboring camp areas. Beautiful.

Kai really enjoyed outdoor story time with Grandma, which happened on a daily basis.

We also brought Kai’s own little camp chair along, knowing that he probably wouldn’t really sit in it. This shot was taken the one and only time he sat in the chair, and seconds before he tipped it over and landed face first in the dirt. Poor guy had dirt in his mouth and a bloody lip. Guess he will be more capable of sitting in a chair next year.

On Wednesday night we had a pizza party and my aunt and uncle’s house to celebrate Steve’s and my cousin Kelly’s birthday. My mom made a chocolate cheesecake since that is Steve’s favorite.

On Thursday we took a trip over to Whitefish Dunes State Park to go hiking and to the beach.

Dork alert! Steve actually allowed me to take multiple family photos with the selfie stick.

The hike was really beautiful along the lakeshore. The water is usually really rough over on this side of the peninsula, and you can hear the waves crashing into the rocks below.

Our whole hiking gang. See how awesome the selfie stick is??

After our hike, we went to the beach, where Kai loved walking around in the sand and surf.

Kai loved the sand in general, and he most definitely got it everywhere on this excursion. He needed to be hosed off that night in a major way.

Overall the weather on our trip was very good. There were a couple of storms that came through, and those are the times it is so nice to have a camper to hang out in instead of a tent.

As I mentioned, Kai slept really well throughout the whole trip. Most days he just took one long nap in the afternoon, but a couple times he fell asleep while we were running with him in the mid-morning. Then he took a short nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon.

Before we knew it, it was Friday. We went out to dinner on our last night and enjoyed some delicious food.

The trip was so much fun and I felt really sad when it was over. Why does vacation always fly by so fast?? Luckily this is a trip we can look forward to every year, and we do get to visit Door County somewhat often. We are going to see if we can squeeze in one more camping weekend this year in the fall since we do have a heater in the pop up. I have great memories of camping as a kid, and I love that now we can bring Kai with us and make more great memories as a family.

Camping at Pinewoods

Saturday night we took Kai camping for the first time. We recently upgraded our pop up camper, and wanted to try it out at least once before our annual weeklong camping trip to Door County in August. We packed up, stopped at the grocery store for supplies, and made the 25 minute drive to check in at Pinewoods campground around 4:00 on Saturday afternoon.

We brought Kai’s walker along not thinking he would really be able to get around much on the dirt and gravel, but he was immediately driving that thing all over the campsite without too much trouble at all. He was very helpful in making sure Daddy was properly setting up the camper.

As Steve was finishing all of the set up, I gave Kai his dinner. Dining al fresco is his favorite.

We still had a little more setting up to do in the camper, so we made use of a Friday night rummage sale purchase.

It’s a plastic play enclosure, and we just spread out some blankets underneath. Kai loved it. He was busy with his toys in there for quite some time, and his favorite thing to do was pull up on the sides and let go, seeing how long he could stand all by himself and how much he could impress his parents.

Steve made a fire that we got to enjoy for a few minutes before Kai’s bedtime.

A little after 7pm, we got Kai ready for bed. He only took one nap this day, so he was extremely tired, but he never got crabby like he would have at home. Kid LOVES to be outside, and I hope he never outgrows that. We made his bottle and heated it in a pot of water on the stove. His sleeping arrangement was a pack n play up on the platform for one of the beds in the camper. We took the king mattress off and doubled up mattresses on our side, so the pack n play sat directly on the wooden bottom. He also had a curtain that blocked off his sleeping area from the rest of the camper. I failed at taking a photo of the set up, but it was kind of like he had his own little bedroom. We brought his white noise machine, and hoped that it would stay on all night without killing the battery. I gave him his bottle and read him some stories, then zipped him into his sleep sack and put him in bed, hoping for the best. He immediately cried when I closed the curtains and left, but it only lasted a minute or so and he was quiet. We could hear him moving around for a little bit, and he was out.

Steve and I enjoyed sitting by the fire, then we cooked our gourmet dinner of weiners and potato chips over the fire (the weiners, not the potato chips). Of course no campfire would be complete without s’mores, which we had as well. It got a little bit chilly outside, and I was worried that it was getting too cold in the camper, so Steve went in and turned on the furnace. When he turned it on, it ended up killing the sound machine (something about the inverter blah blah whatever). I was a little worried about Kai staying asleep since he is used to having the sound machine all night, but there’s nothing we could do about it if we wanted heat.

Kai cried a few times in the night, but never enough to warrant checking on him or even making him aware that we were in the camper with him. He made some noise around 5:30am and I thought he was up for the day, but he went back to sleep and the same thing happened at 6:30. It started raining pretty hard (and it was loud!) around this time, and we could not believe that he went back to sleep. He officially woke for the day at 7:20, which would be seriously sleeping in at home. Since it was raining, we hung out in the camper for a while.

Also since it was raining, Steve and I tested out the toilet in the camper (yes, our pop up has a toilet and shower) to avoid walking to the pit toilets with an umbrella. I gave Kai his breakfast, and around 9:30 it was done raining. We decided to go for a hike with the stroller. Our campsite backed up to the Scuppernong hiking trails, which I have run many times.

The BOB did a great job off roading, even on the hilly rocky sections.

Kai fell asleep during our hike, and when we got back to the campsite I kept walking with him so he could continue his slumber while Steve started packing up. He slept for about 40 mins, a nice little morning nap.

We finished packing up, and once again Kai was very helpful with the trailer.

Though it was a short trip, I deem it a total success. Kai seemed to really love being out at the campsite, and the pop up was great. We even made a list of a few things we need to get for it before our big trip in August. I am hoping we can find another weekend to go camping before then, but that may prove difficult with all that is going on in the summer. Either way, I can’t wait for our trip this year, which will be Kai’s first week long camping experience.

 

 

OBX Vacation 2015

We spent the first week in May on our first real family vacation in the Outer Banks, NC. We stayed in a huge beach house with Steve’s whole family, which is a perfect set up for a trip like this. We took our first trip there in April of 2012, and I was excited to go back for a relaxing week on the beach. What I was not excited for was the drive to and from, which google maps tells me is just over 17 hours, but it took us 22 hours to get there and a little less to get back. Of course I was nervous about how Kai would do on such a long drive, how he would sleep in a strange house, etc. Of course he surprised us and did great.

We left around 8pm on a Friday night in hopes that Kai would sleep through a good chunk of the drive. He was asleep by 8:30 and slept soundly until 10:40, when he decided to wake up and serenade us with the song of his people for the next 45 mins. Then he went back to sleep until about 5:30am the next morning when we stopped for gas. We gave him a bottle and he slept again from 6:30-7:30 before waking up for the day.

We stopped for breakfast and much needed coffee at Starbucks and Kai got some of his wiggles out before getting back into the car.

I won’t lie, Saturday was a very very long day of driving. I sat in back with Kai all day and tried to keep him entertained, but by the time we got there (actually about an hour or two before we got there) he was done being in the carseat. I had packed a bin of his favorite toys and some new ones and kept it in the back seat with us, but Kai’s favorite game was to throw each toy over the opposite side of his carseat where no one could reach them until we stopped and opened the door and the toys avalanched out of the car. We also had a tablet rigged up with some movies for him, but not his beloved Little Baby Bum or Baby Einstein videos, so they didn’t hold his attention as much as we had hoped.

Rest stops in PA were very pretty.

I think Kai took two naps on Saturday after much fussing and crying, and they were 45ish minutes each. This kid is just not a huge car sleeper. We sang, played with toys, read books, ate snacks, stopped when necessary, and finally made it to the house around 7pm on Saturday (6pm our time).

We got settled in, set up Kai’s pack n play in his own bedroom and got him to bed. I had ordered a pack n play mattress and sheet from Amazon so it would be more comfortable for him than the crappy little pad that it comes with. We brought our video monitor (so glad we did that!), and I was surprised that he went to sleep without a fuss. I was scared that he would wake up crying all night long because he was overtired and in an unfamiliar bed, but he didn’t make a peep until 7:30 the next morning! In fact, this trend continued throughout the whole trip. He napped and slept great the whole time, which I couldn’t believe.

Sunday morning we checked out the view from our balcony, and it didn’t suck.

We also walked down to the beach to check it out. It was high tide and the waves were coming right up to the dune so we didn’t go all the way down to the water, but we watched and listened to the waves for a bit. I just love the ocean, and it makes me happy to be near it.

Later that morning Steve and I went for a five mile run barefoot on the beach, which was great. I forgot my running belt to hold my phone, so I didn’t bring it on the run to take pictures since there would have been an 83% chance of it ending up in the ocean, but you can picture us frolicking happily in the surf.

I couldn’t tell you what we did every day during the week because we actually didn’t do much besides hang at the house, run, shop, go out to breakfast a couple times, and hang out by the beach. It’s just that kind of relaxing trip. We brought Kai’s walker which turned out to be the best thing because he was able to tear it up on the huge wrap around balcony at the house and chase around his cousin Aiva. (Side note: Kai and Aiva share a birthday, exactly one year apart, which I think is pretty cool. Also, she only weights two pounds more than my chunka monka).

Action shot:

The kids both got a bucket with sand toys from their Grammy, and were testing them out inside.

The weather was beautiful all week, mid 70’s and sunny. It is always a little windy there, but it wasn’t too bad compared to the last time we were there. Kai liked to start his mornings with a little yoga on the deck.

Note that the 24 month summer outfits I bought on clearance last fall already fit him perfectly.

One day we went down to the beach for a little photo session.

Kai loved stomping his feet in the sand. What he did not love was getting his feet wet in the ocean. I dipped his feat in a wave and he promptly freaked out crying, I think it was because the water was so cold. After that, Steve was holding him and standing in the surf, and every time a wave would come up by Steve’s feet, Kai would whimper a little.

The best we could do for a family selfie on the beach:

And my favorite pic from the whole trip, which I have already printed out and framed:

Kai got his first taste of ice cream at Dairy Queen.

He approved.

One late afternoon we walked down to the water to look at a school of dolphins that was hanging out near the shore.

On our last night, Steve and I got to go out on a date while Steve’s mom and sister watched Kai and put him to bed. We went to a restaurant in the town that was about 15 miles down the highway called Pangea Tavern.

All of the draft beers were from North Carolina, which I thought was really cool. Steve and I both tried a local IPA, and for dinner I had shrimp and grits, which was delicious.

Before we knew it, the week was over and it was time to drive home. We decided to leave at night again in hopes that Kai would sleep, so we headed out on Friday night around 8pm. Kai did not sleep nearly as well on the way home. He woke up every 30-40 mins all night while Steve was driving. I took over at the wheel around 5am, and luckily Kai slept for almost 2 hours so Steve could at least take a nap before getting back behind the wheel.

In the car on Saturday Kai took 2 naps again, but they were only 20 mins and 30 mins respectively. All day. Surprisingly, he remained somewhat chipper the whole time and seemed slightly less crabby than on the way out. Steve was able to download his two favorite videos on youtube, and he spent a lot of the ride home watching them which was fantastic. We stopped at a service plaza in PA or OH, one of those, and after changing Kai’s diaper I had to go to the bathroom. I noticed that the handicap stall doubled as a “mommy and me” stall, where they had this:

Brilliant.

The drive went smoothly until we hit Chicago, where we were stuck in stop and go traffic for an hour. Despite that setback, we still made it home by 4pm on Saturday afternoon. I don’t think we have ever been so happy to get home and out of the car. All in all we had a great trip, but it was a very long drive that I don’t care to repeat any time soon. Kai was so tired that he slept for 11 hours the night we got back, and took a 3.5 hour nap the next morning. It took him a few days of extra sleep to get back into his groove, and almost a week later he is right back to his normal schedule.

So long OBX, until next time!

Rock N Roll San Diego

Last weekend I travelled to San Diego with Team in Training to coach at the RNR San Diego Marathon. We had a great group from WI ready to tackle the full and half marathon races. We got into San Diego before 10am thanks to our 6am flight and a two hour time change. Luckily they let me park my yacht right outside the hotel. It’s right behind that little boat.

After getting checked into the hotel we headed next door to the race expo. After having our fill of plenty of free samples, we found out that Chrissie Wellington was going to be speaking as part of the tour to promote her new book, A Life Without Limits. In case you don’t know, Chrissie is without a doubt the greatest female triathlete in the world. She is undefeated at the Ironman distance, having won 13 times, including 4 times at the world championships in Kona. She also happens to be one of the most smiley and genuinely enthusiastic people I have ever met. That’s right, I met her!

Clearly we are now bff’s. She signed a copy of her book to me, and I cannot wait to read it. She is so inspiring.

Speaking of bff’s, later that day we happened to run into my favorite marathoner Deena Kastor.

Deena will be running at the 10,000 meter Olympic trials in a couple of weeks. She also had a baby just a year ago and is the tiniest person I have ever met. Once I was sufficiently geeked out on spotting incredible endurance athletes (we saw Ryan Hall too but didn’t get a chance to meet him), it was time for dinner.

We decided to eat at one of the restaurants at our hotel to make things easy. My portobello mushroom sandwich was good, but the star of the show was obviously dessert.

That would be Bruce about to dig into a warm brownie baked in it’s own cast iron skillet, drizzled with chocolate, and topped with ice cream and whipped cream. Here is a close up for the full effect.

I think I fell asleep in approximately four seconds once my head hit the pillow on Friday. It was a long day.

Saturday we took it pretty easy to get ready for race day on Sunday. We attended the TNT Inspiration Dinner on Saturday night, which was great. Over 2500 TNT athletes raced on Sunday, raising 7.3 million dollars for blood cancer research. Pretty amazing.

After dinner I decided to do a little bit more fueling at the frozen yogurt shop that was conveniently located right at our hotel.

What? This coaching stuff is hard work!

Sunday started with a 3am wake up call since our team planned to meet in the lobby at 4am on Sunday to catch a shuttle to the race. I was so excited for my WI team to rock the race. We hung out at the start for a while before I wished everyone luck and they headed into the starting corrals.

I met up with another TNT coach from Santa Cruz and together we figured out how to take the trolley to our assigned station at miles 19-23 of the marathon. As we were walking to our position we saw the race leaders fly by mile 22.

They were not even sweating. It wasn’t too long before we saw the female leader with a decent lead.

Once we were at mile 19, it was time to wait for the TNT purple jerseys to start coming through. We didn’t have to wait long, there were some fast people out there. Whenever I saw a purple jersey, I would try to run with them for a bit and see if they needed anything. Some were feeling great, and some were struggling big time at this point. That far into the race, you never know if someone is going to want the company or if they would rather just be alone and get through the thing. Most people were grateful for whatever I could give them, whether it was water, gel, salt, or just words of encouragement.

I couldn’t wait to see my guys come through, and I was careful not to miss them in the loop section that I was in. Pretty soon I saw Mike, who ended up rocking a big PR. I ran with him for a mile or so and then headed back to catch the others. Pretty soon my two other guys were running towards me together. I was so pumped to see them. Colin was feeling good and decided to continue on his own, while Bruce was having some trouble with his leg cramping. I stuck with him and told him to just keep moving forward. I ended up running with him all the way to mile 26 because I couldn’t bear to leave him struggling. He was in so much pain, his back was killing him, and I am so incredibly proud of him for sticking it out and finishing his first marathon.

I ran back to my zone and tried to catch as many purple jerseys as I could. As the 7 hour cutoff neared, the coaches started to gather near the finish line in preparation for the “Sea of Green”. The coaches wear green jerseys, and we all get behind the last TNT finisher and walk them across the finish line.  The chant of “Go TEAM, Go TEAM” as we walked gave me goose bumps. From the back:

And the professional view from above:

What a seriously cool experience.

I am guessing I put in somewhere between 20-25 miles between running and walking throughout the day.

There wasn’t much time to rest by the time we got back, so we did the next logical thing, which was meet at the hotel bar. From there it was to the TNT victory party where we got our fill of snacks, and then it was out to walk around a little bit. There was a cool area right by the hotel called the Gaslamp District.

We had a celebratory beer. I am ashamed to say I could not finish my 24 oz mug.

Of course the night would not have been complete without one last stop.

Refueling at its finest right there.

I always knew Team in Training was a great organization (I ran my first marathon with them in Alaska back in 2003), but after being part of such a huge national event where there is inspiration everywhere you turn, I am even more proud to be a part of it.