Just another day...

In case you're wondering what we do around here....

SLO TRI

After the race, showing off the T-Rex tattoo Nolan picked out for me to race with.

In post labor tradition, I participated in the SLO triathlon on Sunday. This time I had 6 less days of training than I had after I gave birth to Nolan. All in all, it was a fantastic tri. I beat my time from 2 years ago by 6 minutes with a final time of 1hour 50 min 21 sec. I had set a goal time of 1hr 45 min to 1hr 50 min so I was pretty happy with the way things went.

The swim was fine, not bad - not great just fine. My transitions were the fastest I had ever done. The bike was awesome. I had every endorphin firing and was trying to tell myself to watch it, there was still a run after this but I couldn't stop myself from pushing full throttle. The run spanked me! I felt ok the first mile, walked most of the 2nd mile and ran through major quad cramps the whole last mile. Nolan had given the announcer at the finish line the heads up that I had Gabby 3 months ago so the guy announced it as I crossed the finish line. It was a nice little boost after feeling so crappy!


Martin had his own mini-triathlon trying to manage 2 kids for the 4+ hours we were at the race.
After 45 minutes of pure Gabby meltdown, Martin finally had both kids asleep just as I crossed the finish line.

Vacation Madness: Part 3

The rest of vacation was spent just doing random stuff. We tried taking Nolan to the La Brea Tarpits but instead sat on the fwy for 3 hours stuck in an accident until after the museum closed. So what else do you do with a Grandma, 3 mo old, 2, 8, 10 and 12 yr old? Take them to Hollywood until late into the night of course!

My niece refused to take a picture of the 6ft + black man in stripper heels wearing no more than a white bikini bottom and larger than life angel wings. Oh, and did I mention the red cat eye contact lenses?

My sister got a picture with the hunky gladiator who attempted to cop a feel while setting up the pose.

Michael Jackson's Star.

The rest of the vacation was just visiting family, eating good food and celebrating the 4th of July in the Malibu Hills. When we got back home Nolan was worked. We still had another week of my sister and kids in A.G. so we were a long way off from recovery. For the first time ever Nolan actually cried, "No go to Grandma's house. Nollie stay here! I so tired!". He got over that pretty quickly after my sister and kids got him all hopped up on S'mores & whipped cream. We are definately in detox now.

Vacation Madness: Part 2 Legoland

Of course this would be the 1st picture Martin would take of Nolan at Lego Land!

We had orginally planned for Disneyland but were talked out of it by my sister since her oldest son had been dying to go to Legoland and her kids are a little whimpy (hey, they admit it themselves) about rides. Now, I don't know if Nolan would have been more into it if he hadn't have spent 12 hours at Sea World the day before, gone to bed at midnight and was up by 7 am to leave for Legoland. He was a little cranky but considering the circumstances I thought he did great.

Brenden, Nolan, Hannah & Riley in front of Dinosaur Land

We met up with the Weaver cousins for Legoland and Nolan was so excited to see his Idaho-ian cousins. The first stop was Dinosaur Dig Site where Nolan got to dig for dinosaur bones. He also went on his very first bonafied roller coaster - fittingly a Dinosaur Rollercoaster. He went on it once with Daddy and was a little unsure, went on it again with Grandma and then very matter of factly decided, "No do that no more".

For those of you who haven't seen Nolan lately.. FYI - Nolan no longer talks he mainly roars like a dinosaur now. Here is a picture of him in mid roar.

Grandma, Gigi & Papa

Grandma and Papa Joyce could think of a million and one places they would rather be than Lego Land! They opted for a nap in the car mid way and didn't come out until closing time. They were troopers though for as long as they could last.

Martin kept pushing to go to the water rides. My sis & I couldn't figure out why he was being so insistent, like it would be the worst thing ever for the kids to miss this section. Then we saw him go to town with the water cannons and we understood....this was HIS section! He returned from round 1 with a wet & crying Nolan and said, "Here, he's freaking out". Plopped him in front of us and then took off in a full sprint for round 2 with Brenden. Jen & I couldn't stop laughing.

Vacation Madness: Part 1 Sea World

For this year's vacation we hung out in Southern California visiting theme parks and hanging with the cousins. It was a long vacation and quite a bit to take on with two little one's but it was really fun and totally worth it.

The first stop was at Sea World. We went with Uncle Russell, Aunt Noelle and cousin Makena. Here we are watching a Sea Lion show.


This was by far Nolan's favorite part of the trip. Once he realized where we were he spent the whole time instructing us on who we needed to see: Stingrays, Nemo, Sharks, Whales. He was very adamate that he wasn't going to miss a thing.

Martin & Nolan visiting Shark Reef


Later in the afternoon my friend Terah met up with us with her hubby Tyler and boys Aiden (4) and Oliver (3 mo. just 10 days younger than Gabby). It was so awesome traveling with people who had little ones like us. We all had to stop to change diapers and feed babies at the same time. Our snail's pace would have driven anyone else bonkers but it was perfect for our groupl


Nolan got to go on the Elmo ride and spinning cups. There was a huge play area that he had a blast running around with his daddy. The next morning we asked Nolan how did he sleep and if he had any good dreams. He said yes, he dreamed about taking Riley Mae on the Elmo ride. Ahhh!

Terah is probably the only friend that is as kickback (read crazy) about doing stuff with kids as I am. After Sea World we went to dinner at 10 pm at IHOP with an overstimulated 4 yr old, 2 yr. old and two 3 month old babies. The kids had the Decorate-Your - Pancake Face meal for dinner because really, the best thing for a sleep deprived, adrenaline filled toddler at 10 pm is whipped cream! Ahhh, vacation...this is what it's all about.

It's Potty Time!

I have so much to post about our most recent vacation but I couldn't resist posting about Nolan's Potty Training first. He has quite a few friends that are ahead of the curve and almost 100% potty trained so he declared at the last play group, "I DO THAT TO!"

Hmm, I wasn't really sure I was ready for this so I watched a little Dr. Phil, read a Parenting Magazine article and followed my friends lead. This is the result:

*Potties everywhere - in the bathroom, in the living room, outside, in the car.

*Naked Nolan - lots & lots of naked Nolan

*Rewards (I'm not admitting to bribes) - 1 jellybean for #1, 2 jellybeans for #2, he gets to call a dinosaur on the phone, a sticker for his potty chart - and when all 16 boxes are full he gets to watch a movie of his choice...usually Dinosaur

All in all it is going really good. We are on day 5 and he went the first 2 days with no accidents. On day 3 he experimented with peeing around the house. He came out of his room one time with both hands in the air and said, "Stop Mommy! Don't go in my room." Sure enough, he had peed on the floor. He does better naked than when he has underwear and better with underwear than with Pull-ups. So I'm not quite sure how long we can or should keep up with the Naked Nolan.

A special THANK YOU to all my friends who have accomidated Nolan with his dinosaur phone call reward. We really appreciate the time you have spend growling "Good job going on the potty, Nolan" and roaring like a T-Rex.