Going TP'ing

Um, leave the child home sick with the husband and you find out your child went TP'ing.

OK so he didn't really go TPing but he did proceed to unroll the toilet paper.  I swear this kid just loves to see things go round and round - I mean it's no surprise he loves his "spinners".  And I've shown you the measuring tape fettish.

So now that we're potty training, Drew's now into toilet paper.  Lovely.

Park Tour

After being gone for the better part of two weeks, Dave and I really wanted to find things to do as a family.  And since the weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend, we wanted to do everything we could outside.

We started the morning by hitting a few garage sales - and managed a great pick-up, but more on that in a minute.  The first round of garage sales were a dud though, and Drew was getting antsy since we didn't let him out of the car.

That's when we spotted our first park - in the tour of parks we did that day.  It was at an area elementary school.  Nearby they were playing baseball, which of course really grabbed his attention - he can't wait to play himself.

I did capture a shot of Daddy & Drew at this park.

After a bit, we went home, got a shower in, and then wen to the store to get the fixings for a picnic lunch for yet another park.  That's when we pulled out the garage sale find I mentioned a moment ago.

That's right, he has a big boy T-ball bat and Tee.  It was a total steal for $2 and  Dave couldn't stop talking about it all day Saturday.  So we gathered a few hard balls from the house and set out on our adventure. 

 

After a few rounds of batting practice, things got a bit heavy for Drew and he was getting frustrated.  So he played on the playground for a while.  I didn't take too many shots of that fun, I guess I was busy watching Dave and Drew and soaking up the sun. 

Sleeping Beauties

After two weeks of being on the road, I came back exhausted!  I suppose the fact I had a few 7am flights mixed in with some late nights didn't help.

So I successfully napped Friday, Saturday and Sunday - I can't remember the last time that happened and I wasn't sick.  I tried taking one with Drew on Friday and Sunday, but we succeeded on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Daddy thought it would be great to capture the moment.  Did I mention that Drew hasn't wanted to leave my side since I've been back?  I think he's afraid I'm going to "disappear" again.

Child Labor

It's never too early to teach your child responsibilities.  Case in point, this weekend when we put Drew to work washing our cars.

On Saturday it was Jean Gray - Mom's car.  He was riding his bike before washing the car... thus the helmet.

Then on Sunday it was Bo Jackson's turn - Daddy's car.  I have to say Drew was really looking forward to day two of the car washing.  It's all he talked about on the way home from church.

You have to love the enthusiasm.  Let's see if he's still this excited about washing the cars when he's older and we force him to do it.

Oh we didn't break it to him that it's supposed to start raining today for the next three days... therefore ruining all his hard work.

Anniversary Celebration!

As you saw, Friday was our 5th Anniversary.  I got home from a full week of travel and had Dave get Drew from day care.  Then we had a family lunch of McDonald's.

Then it was time for a much needed nap - for Mama anyway.  Drew finally crashed on the couch.  By the time we woke up we were running late.  We were sending Drew to a sitter for the evening while we went out to dinner - Benihana - mmmmmmm.

Yes that would be us doing sake bombers in that second picture, and the picture above is a heart that our "cook" made for us.  Lucky for us we had an awesome group of people at our table - they were out for a birthday party.

It was a great evening!  Can't wait for the next 5!

Video in Lieu of Scrapbook Saturday

Sorry about missing a Scrapbook Saturday - I've been out of town most of the past two weeks and I haven't had a chance to put this together.

So to tide you over, here's a video.  Apparently while I was gone this week, Dave made a MAJOR breakthrough in Drew's eating habits.  To catch you up, Drew has refused any fruits or vegetables since he turned about 13 or 14 months.

Here he is eating a new kind of "chips".



That's right. We had to disguise the fact that Drew was eating something healthy as something unhealthy - chips. Voila! He will eat it. Now to find other "crunchy" fruits that he'll eat as "chips".

I tried carrots before I left for my trips. That was a no-go.

"I'm Not Perfect"

This is the email Dave sent me yesterday...


He was such a good boy [Wednesday]. He had no accidents at Stephanie's. I decided to take him out for dinner. We went to Applebees. He had his favorite meal. After we ordered he asked to go to the bathroom.


He kept saying the toilets no scary, it won't flush. So thank God it was not an automatic flusher. He went and wanted to get out of the stall before I flushed. We washed our hands and went back to the table. I kept telling him, good boy and I was so proud of him etc.


Our food arrived about 15 minutes later, he started to eat and then looked up at me and said...........I went pee! I looked down to see the wet pants and thought.........well eat up because I had no change of undies or pull up's or anything with me.


So the poor kid ate his food in his pee pants. He was almost perfect for the day. No accidents at home last night either.


It was kind of funny because when I was changing him into P.J's and was telling him.......".We were almost perfect today with no accidents". His response cracked me up.


Are you ready for this?


He said......."I'm not perfect!"


I had to laugh and say..."You're right, nobodies perfect". I love our boy.


Enjoy the pics. Oh! I took these pics after he finished his lollypop and put on my slippers. We were looking at his blue teeth, and mouth and tongue in the mirror prior and he loved it. I just thought he was funny especially with the blue tongue and my slippers.

Don't worry we brushed our teeth before bed.

Celebrating 5 Wonderful Years

I'm hurrying home today after a full week on the road for work (and a few days of personal time for Pat's Run).  That's because it's our Anniversary!  Hard to imagine it's been half a decade since Dave and I tied the knot.

That's right - today is our 5th Wedding Anniversary.  It's amazing how much time flies when you're having fun.  It was a wet rainy day, and I made a last minute decision to move the outdoor Ceremony indoors.  However it stopped raining just long enough for us to take photos outside.

It was a wonderful day - one I'll never forget.  And a day Dave and I still talk about.  Yes we compare everyone's wedding to our own.. I mean who doesn't?

I love this man who is my best friend.  My supporter.  My confidant.  And the father to our beautiful little boy.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

Mixing Business and Pleasure

So this work trip has been not only long - Friday to Friday - but I've had a chance to mix both business and pleasure this time around.

It started on Saturday morning when I participated in Pat's Run.  Then on Sunday I had to move to the hotel - Pointe Hilton Tapatio.  It's in rather deserted, but luckily there were a few restaurants on the property - and NUMEROUS pools to choose from.

I managed to get a nice red glow while laying out and working poolside on Monday. I'm still a little tender 3 days later.  I also had a chance to enjoy coffee on my balcony.  Look at this awesome view!

On Tuesday night I met up with a College friend and had drinks and some good conversation. This was the first time we had a chance to see each other since we both became parents. 

So while I was there for business I do try and take advantage of as much pleasure as I can.  Today I'm in Philadelphia and hopefully will be able to do something fun after working.  I have to call it an early night though since I have a very early morning flight home!  Now that I can't wait for.

Bachelor Boys

For the past week the boys have been bachelors at home.  I traveled first to Phoenix and now I'm headed to Philadelphia.  So the boys have found entertainment where they could.  This weekend they found it at a local park.  Lucky for them it was opening day for the Little League Teams!

America's favorite pastime is also Drew's favorite pastime.  Whenever he passes a field and sees games or practices he gets mad when you don't stop to let him watch.

So on Saturday Drew was in seventh heaven watching all the kids play.  Of course he enjoyed playing on the playground as well.  So here you can see what the boys are up to when I'm gone.

It's so nice to get emails of what the boys are up to.  You better believe I give them a ring every chance I get.  Can't have that little boy forgetting who his mama is or anything.

Oh and if the pictures weren't enough cuteness for you... here's Drew singing his new favorite song "Centerfield".  Apparently someone was playing it at the park.  Yes Drew knows the words.

Another Sign of Too Much TV?

How do you know when you've watched too much TV?

Does this count?



Or what about when you can sing the opening theme song to a Sitcom?



Well for the record Drew has learned a lot from watching TV.  He can read some sight words, he can sign, he can speak some Spanish.  So it's not all bad.  Right?

Pat's Run - 2010

What an amazing experience I had this weekend.  I ran my second Pat's Run - only this time I ran it in Arizona.  You may recall I ran this race in San Jose last year - here is the post from that experience.  San Jose is where Pat Tillman went to high school.

I can't even express how amazing the race was this year - running through my old stomping grounds, Arizona State University.  Where I spent four of the most amazing years, and watched Pat Tillman play for the Sun Devils (yes we were students at the same time - he is about 4 months younger than me.

What you are about to see and read is my photo journey of this 4.2 mile race - yes I ran with a camera (the San Jose race last year was so amazing I had to bring a camera for the "real" run.  I was joined by an estimated 28,000 other race participants (only 20,000 attended last year).  To put this into perspective, my largest race participation before this was about 6,000.

 When my friend Rachel and I picked up our race packets, we decided to walk around a bit.  We ran into an old friend of mine....

That's right, meet Sparky the Sun Devil Mascot.  I can't be sure, but I think he did 42 push-ups before the race began.  For those that don't know, Sparky does push-ups for every point we get during football games.

With 28,000 people on the course, you can imagine that the bathrooms were especially packed!  I tried 3 different times to use the "facilities"  before taking my mark - only to give up because it was getting too close to the start time.  Lucky for me they announced that the race was going to be about 10 minutes late starting (trouble blocking all the roads).  Then they had to do the wheel chair start (which was about 10 -15 minutes before the rest of us.  And then, they were sending us in groups based on how fast we ran.

My place - was "corral 8" with an average 11 minute mile pace. I mean how fun would it be to get trampled by some 20,000 people?!  After the wheelchair group, they sent corral 1 - those who run a 5 minute mile pace.  A minute or two later they send corral 2, another minute or two later they send corral 3 and so-on.  So needless to say it was some time before I even got near the Start.  In fact they were announcing that the leading runner was coming in about 2-4 minutes before I even hit the start!

And then finally we were off.... lucky for me this is a chip timed race, so my time doesn't count until I actually get across the Start line.  As you can see here, I'm still a bit off... but we were finally "called" to start the race.  This is how many people were in my "Corral".

For those familiar with the ASU layout, we started on Packard Drive between Packard Stadium (baseball field) and Sun Devil Stadium (football field), then turned left onto Rio Salado, and then right onto what used to be the "main drag" Mill Avenue.  It was shortly after I made the turn onto Mill that I reached the 1 Mile mark...

My pace here was under 10 minutes a mile (kind of fast for me).  I knew I needed to slow down a bit if I wanted to make it.  At this point it was about 8am, and the sun was starting to get rather warm!  Oh if I haven't mentioned it before, I've NEVER run in Arizona - let alone this kind of heat!

We ran up Mill Avenue until we reached Washington, and then turned right.  Here's a shot of some of the crowd - don't you love all the Tillman spirit?!  And yes, that's people as far as you can see!

We rounded the corner into some residential apartments - where a lot of students live near Papago Park - and hit the mile 2 marker.

My pace here is starting to slow - a few hills and the sun are really starting to get to me.  One of the things I love about this race is all the spirit that people have.  I saw military men in their fatigues running, I saw another service man running with a pack-like thing that I believe was supposed to represent carrying "dead" weight over his shoulders (everyone was giving him high-fives and cheering him on) and then those that were carrying American Flags...

It really is an inspirational race! (oh and forgive the "not-so-great shots" I am after all taking pictures while running!)

Then we turned right onto Scottsdale Road/Rural and came upon a few more hills.  This is where I finally had to walk a bit.

This hill from the photo above may not look like much - and frankly I drove down this road a million times and never considered it a "hill".  But when you're running it, in the scorching heat, and are nearly 3 miles in... it's the biggest damn hill you ever came across!

When I was nearly at the top of this "hill" I could see the finish line... Sun Devil Stadium!

Then I hit mile marker 3.

My pace obviously slowing by the minute.  Although I did take another moment to try and capture some of the quotes that lined the race route - this one from former ASU coach Bruce Snyder (the coach while I was there - and Tillman's college coach).

I did take pictures of other banners... however they really didn't come out while I was running - imagine that.  This is the one that came out best.

We made a right then onto Sixth Street - Fraternity Row, and then a right onto Packard Drive.  This means we were getting near the end.  Finally I saw the 4th Mile!

This is when the race got even more exciting - if that's even possible!  We were nearing Sun Devil Stadium.  I knew the race was to end on the 42 Yard Line (Pat Tillman's College number was 42), but the excitement and the energy that was growing as we approached the stadium was - amazing.  I cannot even put it into words.

Here we are entering the tunnel - and we're greeted with a very warm statement...

Then we come out of the tunnel the finish line in sight...

And then cross the finish line...

My official time - 48:31.  Not bad for walking a portion of it.  3:30 slower than when I ran the whole thing last year in San Jose.  I'm happy with it!

Here's what I'm greeted with on the other side of the Finish Line...

I have to say this wasn't my first time on the field, but it was the first time in 14 years!!  Yikes? Really it's been 14 years?  That was when I was among the thousands of college students who stormed the field in 1996 when our Football team lead by Jake Plummer, shut out the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  They were boasting a 26 game win streak (including two back to back National Titles) and we shut them out 19-0.  Needless to say we were some very excited students and the goal posts and the turf didn't survive the night.  (In fact I believe one of the goal posts was carried out of the Stadium and down Mill Avenue).  We went on that year to play in the Rose Bowl.  Yes Pat Tillman was on the field that night too.

Any way I digress.... Back to the race.  Since I had to wait for my friend Rachel - I decided to take a few pictures.

Then after a bit I finally found Rachel - as you can imagine it was a mob scene.  And I opted to run with the camera - not the cell phone!  So we ventured back into the stadium to take a few more pictures, and meet up with an old co-worker of ours.

If the pictures don't show it, or my words aren't clear, this is an amazing race.  Heartfelt.  Patriotic. Emotional.