Catching up to do! Halloween

I've got some serious catching up to do ... so I'm going to do it in the Clif Notes version.  Halloween seems to have flown by us as completely illustrated by the fact that there are Christmas ornaments popping up in every store now.  We enjoyed a great NQACC (the boy's preschool) Halloween.  We got to school at 3pm for a "parade" around Seattle Pacific University campus (good birth control for the students I think).  Wilson hugged it out with his friend Ella.

Then we made our way to Queen Anne Ave. to trick or treat at the stores.  It was SO packed it was too much.  After escaping the crowds on the ave, we went around Queen Anne and the boys overloaded on candy.

The weekend after Halloween, we went to Ella's house for apple butter making.  I had no idea what went into apple butter - turns out it's 12-hours of mixing a giant pot of apples, sugar, and butter. 

Weekend roundup: birthday bliss

My birthday was on Friday so I took the day off work to have a nice staycation in Seattle.  I woke up blissfully late and watched the news while drinking tea, then took the bus downtown.  Downtown, I enjoyed a long coffee at a little cafe near the museum and caught up with Lisa.  It was amazing how many people were in the coffee shop having brunch or working away on their Apple computers - very Felicity.  Post-caffeine, I made my way to the SAM to take in some culture.

 After the museum I hoofed it up to Penelope and the Beauty Bar for a completely blissful facial.  An hour and a half, and the feeling of a new face later, and I went back tot he SAM to meet up with Matt for lunch at Taste.  Dining on a Friday afternoon with just the weekend ahead of us was awesome.  Post-lunch, I walked home stopped at Pike Place market and a couple shops along the way.  That night we had a great birthday dinner and made it an early night. 

 

Saturday was also pretty mellow with some house cleaning, Saturday afternoon I met up with some friends for girl time (aka, Thai food and tea). 

Today was an awesome kid day (for the boys and for the kids within Matt and I).  We went to the Museum of Flight.  We had no idea it was "museum of fright" day with special Halloween events all over the museum which made our visit double the fun.  The boys ran around all the planes and space exhibits, and then ran around again doing Halloween spooktacular events including making ghosts, racing spaceships, making candy corn paper airplanes, and more.

Cole decided his ghost needed a little ... anatomy ... and now I'm trying to keep a straight mommy face anytime he points it out saying "not appropriate for public."  But so funny.

Race report: Magnuson Park cyclocross

Another week, another new sport to try - this time I gave it a go with cyclocross at Magnuson Park.  The race was AWESOME and I can't wait to do another cyclocross race.  It was funny, too - I showed up and was the only person out of hundreds in running clothes (everyone else had matchy spandex outfits and clip in shoes).  For those of you who don't know what cyclocross is, here's the Clif Notes - you bike on dirt trails in mud and on some cement trails, then pick the bike up and carry it over two 2' high "walls" (the pros often bunny hop where they jump the bike over the walls), then bike more, then pick the bike up and run up a flight of stairs, then bike bike bike ... and do it all again.  I completed 3 rounds of the course - here's the loop:

 

All in, a TON of fun.  I can't wait to do this again ... 

Pumpkin patch!

Last weekend my dad was in town and we had an awesome Fall time.  One of the highlights was going to the pumpkin patch to get our Halloween decor.  It's amazing looking back at our trip to the same farm three years ago (three years!!!)

We spent hours finding the perfect pumpkins to decorate, then the boys hopped on the hay truck for a ride around the farm.  All in, awesome.

Race report: Defiance 30k

Fall is fully upon us and that means ideal running season!  This weekend my friend Asia and I ran the Pt. Defiance 30k trail race.  I won, but it was BRUTAL!  I'm now vowing not to race such a long distance without training again. 

The race was two loops around Pt. Defiance with a gain / loss of 1,300 per loop.  At the end of each loop was a rope to help guide down the hill - it was that steep.  The race was beautiful, though - behind Big Sur Marathon, this is hands down my favorite.  There are views of Gig Harbor, a 500 year old tree, and beautiful forests.  The race started with a flat road, then a stair climb up the side of the hill - after that, it was all hills. 

In the beginning I was having a great race - loving the views, loving the hard footwork.  At about mile 15, though, I crashed mentally - physically I was fine.  I more than crashed - I went from awesome runner's high to weird hallucinations where I was literally seeing the trees and plants glow.  Not rad.  The weird part of this hallucination was that there were teenagers on the side of the hill picking mushrooms - I'm sure they were going for a different type of hallucination.

From miles 15-18 I struggled to push through the mental wall - a little walking, a little running, and I made it, though.  Miles 19-20.5 (yes, this was more than a 30k) were just go time - I could feel the finish line and I was ready.

All in, this was a tough one.  I'm glad I won!  And I'm encouraged to reinvigorate the training (again).

Mammoth write-up

Last weekend we went to Mammoth for an awesome weekend with the Taylor clan. Selfishly, I LOVED the nature time with the boys - being in the mountains and away from the hustle / bustle was amazing.  One of my favorite moments of the entire trip was "painting" a bridge near our condo with sticks and water.  Speaking of the condo, Matt's parents rented an amazing place at the base of the mountains.  The last morning of our trip the boys saw a bear right outside the window.

The boys shared a bed in the condo and were like two peas in pod - or an old married couple.  Whatever the right analogy, they were darn cute.

 The highlight of the trip for all of us was going to see Gabe dance - he participated in Dancing with the Docs to raise money for Rhiannon's Kids (a fund Amanda started).

Bonney triathlon race report

What a weekend!  Last Sunday I decided I needed to "take it up a notch" so I registered for the Bonney Lake sprint triathlon.  That afternoon, I rented a wetsuit and made my way to Green Lake to test it for my first wetsuit swim.  Yuck!  The lake, not the suit. 

I took the wetsuit for a second test drive to make sure I could get it on / off and did a test in the bath.  Lame, I know, but when time is tight and the lake is nasty I take what I can ... 

Fast forward a week and the tri was Saturday morning and was awesome!  Matt and the boys came and it was fun getting ready and seeing the boys getting into the spirit.  I totally got into the spirit, too, chatting with triathletes ranging from 14 years old all the way to 80 years old - what a crowd.  The swim was HARD as I knew it would be - I hate to swim and stink at it.  The bike really wasn't bad except my bike only works on 3 gears which is less than rad. 

The run was OK, but I ran an extra half mile because the course wasn't marked on one hill. 

All in, though, I did OK - I came in 3rd in my age group with the following splits:
* Swim (.32 mi) - I was in 107th place and swam 0:10:43:7
* Bike (12.2mi) - I moved up to 96th place and biked 16.5MPH for a total time of 0:44:49:8
* Run (3.1mi) - I moved up to 45th place with a 7:41/M pace and a time of 0:23:50:3

My total time was 1:20:12:5 landing me in the 66.4%ile and 65th place, but 3rd in my age group (I prefer the last stat :) ). 

I have to say, this race led to one problem ... I want more! 

After the tri we enjoyed a great long weekend - proper roundup to come.