Jackson County Triathlon

Tracy and I did the Jackson County Triathlon today. It was a beautiful, foggy morning, and Linda and the kids were out to watch the race. Lucky for me, the swim course was accidentally shortened to around 300M because of the overnight currents in the lake. A short swim made for a fast day.

Lincoln's License to Ride

For Lincoln's fifth birthday, Scott and I bought him a used bike from the Trek store. He had been riding a 12-inch bike with training wheels that Scott's mom bought at a garage sale, but we thought having a new bike would motivate him to try riding without the training wheels - and free up the other bike for Guy. We had Lincoln try out the bikes at the store, and at the advice of a Trek employee bought him another 12-inch bike, which is small enough for him to put both feet on the ground while he's riding (very important, as we've discovered!).

Lincoln's been diligent about practicing, and yesterday on the way home from Tracy and Joni's the practice paid off. We filmed him riding all by himself - a huge achievement! He's also pretty good at stopping, and can sometimes get himself started, too!

Now that it looks like bicycling is well underway, all he needs is to work on his swimming and he can start entering some triathlons!

Lincoln's almost 5 years old

This weekend we celebrated Lincoln's 5th birthday (his actual b-day is next week). Lincoln had a few school friends over to the house, and of course Mary and Randy and Tracy and Joni (and families) were there for the festivities. The weather was perfect, so we were able to turn the kids loose outside.

Linda's big experiment was creating a doughnut mountain instead of the typical birthday cake. The kids loved it, and we still have tons of doughnut holes left over. Note: One 50-pack of Munchkins from Dunkin' Donuts is enough to feed eight pre-schoolers. We opted for two packs (to be safe) and are now paying the price.

Our big gift to Lincoln was a new bike - a two-wheeler. Our hope is to transition him to the new bike (sans training wheels) by the end of the summer and transition Guy to Lincoln's old bike (with training wheels).

He was excited about the bike, but he's not too sure about this whole "no training wheels" thing. Results TBD.

Hospital Hill

Last weekend was my second running of the Hospital Hill half-marathon. As the name implies, it is hilly - and on race day it was also very hot. I managed to finish, though, and get a very nice medal.

I tried to train "smarter" this year by running lots of hills during my training, but it was still a very tough day. I started out faster than I should have, and the heat didn't help. Luckily there were sprinklers along the route to cool us off, and a few spectators even offered us ice!

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The best part of the race, though, was seeing Guy, Lincoln, and Scott along the route cheering me on. They stopped at two places(and the finish) and gave me high-fives as I went by. It was awesome having them there and helped keep me going. Now to start training for Hospital Hill 2012!

Guy's first week of "big boy school"

Last week marked an important day for our family - both boys are finally at the same daycare! Scott and I were sad to be leaving his old daycare, as the teachers there were wonderful and Guy really liked being there. We had always planned on moving him to Lincoln's daycare, though (since it has the Montessori preschool attached to it), and Memorial Day weekend seemed like a good time to make the switch.
Guy has handled the transition pretty well. He does fine at drop-off since Lincoln is there with him, but the teachers say he has some trouble when it's time for him to go to his own classroom. His new teacher is very nice, though, and he really seems to like her. It also doesn't hurt that his new school has "frosty treat Monday" - every Monday during the summer they get a visit from the ice-cream man!
Here's a picture of Guy on his first day at "big boy school".

Soccer Season Finale

Last weekend was Lincoln's last soccer game of the Spring season. The Stompers won convincingly, as they have most of the season, and afterwards they got medals and took a team photo.

Lincoln had a fun season, and he got steadily more excited about the games as the season progressed. Guy also enjoyed the games (and practices) as he got to run around with all the younger brothers and sisters. We're looking forward to taking the Summer off and then gearing up for the Fall season.

Running, Digging, and a Parade

It's been another busy few weeks for us. Scott ran the Lincoln Half-Marathon two weeks ago, setting a PR, and we both ran the Corporate Challenge 5K last weekend. This time, we both set PRs (although it's been a couple of years since I've run a 5K). Both Guy and Lincoln were on hand to cheer us on at the 5K - men and women run separately so we didn't have to leave them unattended.

After the 5K, we took a quick break and then headed to the Spirit of Mission Days parade. Lincoln's favorite part was the real, working tank at the end of the parade. It was actually pretty awesome - it took up almost the entire two lanes of Johnson Drive.

Of course, last Sunday was also Mother's Day. Scott cooked me breakfast, and the boys gave me an awesome card and some chocolate. We got a lot of outdoor work done, too. I planted beans, peas, carrots, and potatoes in my garden, and Lincoln and Guy helped me pick out some flowers to plant in our planters. Our house is ready for spring!

Run, Run, Run

It's Spring-time and racing season has begun once again. Everyone in the family has run one race already. While the boys and I are only doing running races this year, Scott will be doing some triathlons again.

Rock the Parkway

I ran the Rock the Parkway 10k for the second time in early April. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was out and I managed to beat last year's time by five minutes. Lincoln, Guy, and Scott made a nice cheering section near the finish line, and Lincoln even gave me a big "high-five" as I ran past.

Brew to Brew

Two weeks ago, Scott, Tracy, Randy, Kevin, and Nancy did the Brew to Brew 44 mile team relay race from Kansas City to Lawrence. The "brew" comes from starting at Boulevard brewery in KC and ending at the Free State brewery in Lawrence. It was a lot of fun, but the winds topped 30+ mph and the heat was in the mid-80's. Overall, our team finished in 10th place - not a bad showing for a bunch of amatures.

Trolley Run

Lincoln and Guy ran their own race on Sunday - the Kid's Trolley Run. Scott and I have ran the adult race in the past, but it didn't fit in our training schedules this year. It was fun just cheering the boys on this year. Lincoln did great, but Guy was a bit afraid of the mascots and I ended up carrying/dragging him across the 10-yard race course. They both still got blue ribbons, though!

Spring has sprung?

I realize it's snowing outside as I write this, but I'm still thinking about Spring. To celebrate the new season, Scott and I have made some big changes to our house. One thing we've never really liked about the house is that there was no way to get to our backyard without going downstairs or through the garage. That made it difficult to grill or to have outdoor dinners. We decided to build a deck off of our dining room, and replace the window in the dining room with a sliding-glass door.

We had one of Scott's fellow Ultimate frisbee players, who is also a contractor, do the work. The result is amazing, and better than I imagined. With the new door Lincoln and Guy can easily get to the back yard to play, and we've already had people over for dinner. We're looking forward to a fun summer with our new deck!

We don't have any good deck pictures right now, but I'm sure we will soon. We do however have pictures of the kids riding their bikes outside during this afternoon's late-Spring snow storm. We're tired of snow pictures, but the weather hasn't cooperated lately. We are all anxiously waiting for warmer weather when hats, gloves, and coats aren't needed.

Ski trip!

Last week we took our (mostly) annual family ski trip to Colorado. This year was special because it was Lincoln's first year on skis and in ski school. The trip was great with good weather, good snow. Somehow we also survived nearly 24 hours in the car together.

Our family narrowly escaped the flu and the sickness that's been traveling around town, but our niece Madeline wasn't so lucky. Tracy and Joni needed a vacation from their vacation as they didn't get much sleep.

Lincoln enjoyed skiing, and he survived a day of ski school - but he did have matted, sweaty helmet hair and was ready to go home when we picked him up. His most memorable moment on skis was when get got away from my Mom on the bunny hill and nearly plowed into a girl on a snowboard. Mom had to run after him (in ski boots), dive, and knock him down to prevent the collision. We got a good laugh out of it, and I caught the aftermath on film.

Guy isn't so fond of the cold, but we got him out of the condo for a couple of days to hang out with us on the slopes. He spent a lot of time watching Lincoln ski - one day sitting on a bench (below) and the next day in a sled. Getting a little time in the snow coupled with watching Despicable Me about 100 times kept Guy entertained.

We can see clearly now the snow is gone

February is only half over, and so far it's been pretty exciting. The beginning of the month hit us with snowpocalypse 2011, with both boys being out of daycare for two days and Scott and I taking some half-days. Lincoln loved the snow and took advantage of the weather to practice skiing. Guy wasn't too fond of being bundled and wanted to go inside as soon as he was outside.

Shortly afterward cousin Madeline celebrated her first birthday party and Grandma and Grandpa King came for a visit. It warmed up enough for snow-building, and Lincoln, Mike, and Scott built an awesome snow fort.

Yet another snow and more temperate weather the following week got the boys outside again and building snowmen and snow-chairs.

The cold snap broke this week (just in time for Scott's birthday!) and Guy got to finally cruise around on his bike. Lincoln was a typical boy and spent some time knocking down the snowman and snow fort. We are all looking forward to spring and lots more (warm!) time outside.

Second Son Turns 2

When Guy was born, everyone told us that we wouldn't have as much time to chronicle his every milestone like we did with Lincoln. It seems that advice is coming true, as it's been almost a week since Guy's 2-year appointment and I'm just now blogging the results. In the meantime we've had lots of fun playing in the snow, building a snowman, and watching Cars again and again and again (Guy is the same age that Lincoln was when Lincoln fell in love with that movie).

Guy clocked in at an impressive 27 pounds at his checkup. He's in the 50th percentile for height and weight, and 80th percentile for head size. Luckily he didn't need any shots, and it looks like he's on target for all of his developmental milestones.

Below is a collection of Guy photos that Lincoln, our budding photographer, took with my iPod. Enjoy.

Winter Fun

We finally got some real snow this week - enough to cancel school for two days and leave us with cabin fever.

Earlier this week the high temperature was 10 degrees at best, but we still ventured outside for some snow fun. Guy has proven to be a summer boy. He doesn't care much for the below-freezing temperatures. Lincoln, on the other hand, really enjoys it.

Today, with the temperature climbing into the low 30's, we went back out to do some sledding. Guy wasn't into it, so he stayed inside with Linda. Lincoln and I did a little sledding and practiced skiing a bit before we hit the real mountains next month.