Soccer Practice

Last week marked a major milestone for our family: we became a soccer family as Lincoln had his first practice of the season. This week Scott got some great photos of him in action. Each practice starts with some drills and ends with a scrimmage. The scrimmages are fun to watch as all of the boys chase after the ball, knocking each other over, and occasionally making a goal. Lincoln loves it!

Guy doesn't play on the team, but he does have his own soccer ball. There's a little girl his age that he hangs out with during the practice, but mostly he just enjoys being outside for the evening.

Corn, Slippers, and a Triathlon

That's what we've been doing recently - eating corn from our garden, knitting slippers for Lincoln, and running triathlons.

First, we recently picked our second batch of corn from our garden. We've only got a few, small ears, but it's still an accomplishment for us to get anything edible from the garden.

Second, Lincoln went back to pre-school this week with a brand new pair of slippers (a mandatory item for pre-school). Linda knitted him a cool pair of red and orange slippers (he picked the colors). They look a little crazy in this picture because this is before they were felted and shrunk. After the felting they turned out great, and Lincoln was thrilled.

Lastly, I did my second triathlon last weekend. This time Tracy, Randy, and I all punished ourselves. We had a great time, and everyone (Joni, Mary, Linda, and the kids) came out to watch. The only bummer is that I won't be able to do another tri until next summer - the season is pretty much over.

Being neighborly

This weekend was our annual neighborhood picnic. As usual there was lots of fun stuff including a police car, a fire truck, balloon animals, and an ice-cream truck. It was fun seeing some of the other kids in the neighborhood, and chatting with the parents. Both Lincoln and Guy got balloon dogs, but sadly Guy's had an early demise after he tried to play with it on some dried grass.

Unfortunately we didn't take any photos at the picnic, so instead we have a video montage of Guy on his favorite ride-on toy. We have several "real" ride-on toys in and around our house, but Guy seems to prefer smaller vehicles that aren't really meant to carry actual children (in addition to this fire truck, there is also a tractor he rides on that is even smaller). I predict he'll grow up to be in the circus riding one of those teeny-tiny-too-small clown bikes.

Let the chase begin

Since we had great weather this evening, we got the kids outside and tried to wear them out before bedtime. As you'll see, they loved chasing Lincoln's remote controlled Bumblebee (the Camaro from Transformers). We only captured 20+ seconds of this on film, but the whole "chasing" event went on for minutes. It's amazing what can keep a kid occupied.

P.S. I'm not sure what Guy picks up and eats at the end of the video, but he's still alive at the time of this post so I guess it wasn't too bad.

Carb Loading

This weekend I did the Midwest Mayhem Triathlon (my first tri). I was dreading the swim, but I survived and it actually felt pretty good. Hopefully this will be the first of many tri's in my future. I've already got my eyes on the Jackson Country Triathlon, and I'm expecting Randy and Tracy to join me.

Of course, it's difficult to do a triathlon without some big-time carb-loading. Luckily Linda's been digging up potatoes in the garden. It's exciting to dig around in the dirt and discover real, edible food. There's also corn and bean plants that look like they might be providing dinner for us soon.

Summer Vacation

Last week the family took a much-needed vacation to Breckenridge, Colorado with Mary, Randy, and Everett. We packed a lot of fun into our four days there - one of the highlights was a ride on the Georgetown Loop Railroad's authentic, 1900's era steam train. The train itself was awesome, and the trip through the valley (about 1/2 hour long - perfect for preschoolers) was beautiful.

Scott and Randy took one morning to climb two of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks. They summited both Gray's and Torrey's peaks, and this now makes three "14'ers" for both of them. Mary and I spent the morning visiting the local donut shop and taking the boys to an old gold mine, where they got to pet real, live mules.

We also took advantage of Breck's new (free!) gondola. At the "top" (which is actually the base of the ski resort) Scott and Lincoln went down an alpine slide at Breckenridge's Peak 8 area. Much to our surprise Lincoln loved the chair lift (a prerequisite for this winter's ski trip) and the slide. Lincoln wanted to go again, but since it was *not* free, we appeased him with another trip on the gondola.

The biggest surprise of the trip was that we made the 10-hour trip from Denver in one piece. We made some stategically-timed stops to let the boys run off some steam, and were home in our beds a little after midnight.

4 years later...

It’s hard to believe, but our little baby is now four years old! While Lincoln's actual birthday is today, we had a birthday party last Sunday to celebrate. Luckily our family room is large enough to hold a lot of people, because almost everyone we invited was able to attend. We had seven 4-year olds, plus parents and assorted family in attendance. Overall it was a success!

We started off with a couple of semi-organized games – pin the tail on the cow and limbo. It worked pretty well, considering that there were 4-year-olds involved. Most of the game time, though, was spent playing with trains and determining who was best friends with who.

The highlight of the party was the cake and presents (of course!) Lincoln helped me bake white cupcakes the day before, and I added “Mickey Mouse” heads to them – ice cream scoops with two chocolate cookies for ears. At Lincoln’s request (or insistence, as it were), we also had a small round cake for blowing out candles.

As for gifts, Lincoln received some pretty cool stuff – including lots of car stuff, motorcycles, and games. Here he is wearing another of his gifts – a superhero cape customized with an “L”. After he put it on all of his friends asked him if he could fly. He can’t yet, but he’s still trying!

Tour de Grandparents

While Scott was off having fun bicycling, Lincoln, Guy, and I went on our own tour - first to Grandma and Grandpa Kings, and then on to Grandma and Grandpa Hauner's. To add to the fun (and chaos) we were joined by Everett and Mary. The boys had a great time together, and the adults had an interesting time trying to keep up with three very active boys.

At Grandma and Grandpa Kings, we spent our first evening at the pool where Lincoln, Everett, and Guy all had fun floating and kicking. Guy proved to be our water baby by wading out until he was up to his chin in water. We originally had hoped to visit the Loup River the next morning, but were met by rain. When we finally made it to the river, it was too high from the rain to wade in, so we played on the swings and headed to Jenner's Park (where there is an actual, old bear cage from when it was a zoo).

We headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Hauner's that evening so we could get an early start the next morning at the Lincoln Children's zoo. The weather cooperated this time, and we had a fun morning with Grandma Hauner visiting the animals and (of course!) riding the train.

It was an exciting weekend overall, and now we're ready for a vacation to recover from our vacation!

BRAN 2010

We're back home, unpacked, and dried out from BRAN 2010. Tracy, Randy, and I did 230+ miles during the last 3 days of the week, and Dad, Aaron, and Kyle did the full ~500 mile ride, 7-day ride across Nebraska.

The weather was pretty crappy with rain, wind, and thunderstorms almost every night and a few of the days, but in the end good times prevailed.

I've posted a few other BRAN pictures from the start and finish - but I didn't have a camera during the ride. Aaron took some great riding action shots that we'll try to share later.

Summertime, Here we come

Summer is not officially here, but it's getting close - and it certainly has felt like it lately. With Summer approaching Lincoln recently finished his first year of Little House preschool, and he got to sing in their annual end-of-year concert. The Little House kids did a few patriotic songs to open the show. Lincoln had been practicing the songs at home for days, and he did good under the pressures of the stage. It was fun to see him in his first "school program."

We also welcomed Summer with a trip to Jiggle Jam this weekend. It was fun (as usual), and this was Guy's first trip where he was old enough to enjoy it. Everett (and Mary and Randy) were also there, and the big boys really liked the "train" ride.

And lastly, next weekend Linda's months of training finally pay off - she's running the Hospital Hill half-marathon. We'll have pictures and stories to post after she's done. We wish her luck!

And, just because no post is complete without a cute picture of a toddler wearing sunglasses - here you go.

Our Busy May Days

Last week we were in Nebraska for the Lincoln Marathon. The kids got some good Grandma and Grandpa time, and I ran the 1/2 marathon on Sunday - it was a great day for running, and Lincoln always puts on a great race. After the Trolley Run the previous week and the Corporate Challenge 5K this weekend that makes three races in three weeks for me. Now I'm ready to get out my bike and take a little break from running.

The finish line of this year's Lincoln Marathon was on the 50-yard line inside of Memorial Stadium and included a brief appearance on the HuskerVision jumbo screen (that's me on the right of the screen about to enter the stadium). The second picture is me and Kevin post race (this was Kevin's first 1/2 marathon).

This weekend was the annual Spirit of Mission Days festival, which includes a parade, a carnival, and local vendors. Everett and Madeline (and their parents) watched the parade with us, and while I think they liked the rescue/police vehicles, bands, and the other attractions, our boys mostly enjoyed the candy. Afterwards we had fun riding a couple of the carnival rides.

The BIG DAY

After weeks of training, the Big Day finally arrived today - the Trolley Run. It's a family tradition for us - Scott and I have both run the 4-mile race for several years, and Lincoln has participated in the Kid's Trolley Run for the past two years. Guy got to enjoy his inaugural "run" this year - although I'm not sure he understood why I was dragging him across a small patch of grass. Scott and I both were both happy with our times (a PR for me and Scott was only 15 seconds off his Trolley Run PR), but the biggest "event" was watching Lincoln run all by himself - with no hand-holding by me (sniff, sniff).

As usual, this was a big family event. Scott's parents watched the boys and Madeline during the regular run and joined us for the Kid's run. Joni and Tracy both ran, and while Madeline was too small to run this year, I'm sure she'll be running circles around the boys next year! Everett also did the Kid's run, and did a fabulous job.

Overall it was a great (and tiring) weekend - we all took a two-hour nap today!

Zoo trip!

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day, and we took advantage of the nice weather to take our first trip to the zoo. Lincoln was mildly interested in the Tigers and Orangutans we saw, but he was mostly interested in taking as many train rides as possible. Luckily we bought a season pass this year with unlimited train, tram, and carousel rides. After two train rides, Lincoln had his first-ever carousel ride.

As Scott mentioned in his earlier post, we are trying our hand at gardening this summer. So far I have pepper plants sprouting in egg cartons in the kitchen, and the boys have helped me plant lettuce, onions, and potatoes in the back yard. I am now anxiously waiting to see what will grow.

A Garden Party

This weekend we took advantage of the nice weather and started prepping what will become Linda's first-ever garden. We're not totally sure that anything will actually grow there, but we're going to give it a shot anyway.

So far all that we've accomplished is confirming that Guy is afraid of the tiller and creating the boys a new, dirty place to play.

Running Around

There's been a lot going on with us the past two weeks - so much that we've not even had time to blog about it.

Two weeks ago I ran my first 10k at the very first Rock the Parkway. The morning started out cold and wet (41 degrees and drizzly) and it started pouring rain around the time I got to mile 2. I still managed to finish the race in about an hour and 4 minutes, and I was rewarded at the end by my own personal cheering section - Scott brought the boys out to watch my big finish. Lincoln and Guy stayed stayed warm and dry in our running/bike stroller.

Last weekend for Easter we ran down to Lincoln to visit grandma and grandpa Hauner. Both of the boys' daycare were closed on Friday, so we had a long weekend. Lincoln had fun hanging out with Everett and they decorated eggs on Saturday. That night, he told me that he wanted the Easter bunny to turn the "real" hard-boiled eggs into eggs filled with candy. That would explain why, on Sunday morning, he refused to collect the real eggs in his basket.

Easter was not quite so fun for Guy - or for Scott, who was up all night with him. He came down with a case of bronchialitis and spent Saturday night wheezing (when he wasn't crying). Luckily he seems to have recovered and spent today after daycare running around the house.