Yam Scram & Vermont City Marathon

This past weekend we headed up to Vermont.  Jason had been training for the Vermont City Marathon and the weekend had arrived.  I think he was ready to just get the race underway.  When Jason signed up for the race we saw that there was a kids race.  The kids could choose to run a 1/2 mile, 1 mile or 2 mile race.  The girls immediately opted for the 2 mile race.  The timing of the race was perfect becuase they were working on their marathon fitness challenge for school and were running just over 3 miles a week.  We drove up to Vermont and it was cold, windy and rainy.  Not quite the weekend we had envisioned. 

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed down to the kids race which started at 8:30am.  We weren't quite sure how it would all work but the race was very well organized.  The kids ran four loops in waterfront park and then were funneled into a shoot into a tent.  They had to wait there until a parent with the corresponding bib number showed up to claim them.  It was a nice way for parents and kids to not have to worry about meeting up.  Despite the cold and rain the girls did great.  They stayed together and ran a very steady 10 minute mile pace.  They didn't get bothered by some kids coming out of the start really fast and they never walked.  It was fun to cheer them on in their first solo race with out a parent.  After the race they got their medal and goody bags and we headed back to the hotel to hang out in the pool.

On Sunday we got up bright and early again to head to the start of Jason's marathon.  It was again cold, rainy and windy.  I bundled the girls up as best I could but it was still cold.  We stayed with Jason until right before the start but then headed to our spot to watch him run past.  Fortunately two runners gave up their trash bags early and I ended up putting them on the girls and that helped them stay warm.  We watched Jason run by and then headed into a cafe for hot chocolate/cappucino.  Just before Jason was going to run by again I popped outside to cheer him on.  The girls finished up their hot chocolate and we headed to our next viewing point.  The nice thing about the Vermont City Marathon is that is crosses the city center 4 times.  We watched jason run by at mile 15 and gave high fives and cheered him on.  After that we made our way to the finish area.  I knew he was on pace for a 3hr 40min finish.  We waited and waited.  When the 4 hour pacer came through the finish I knew something had to have gone very wrong.  I hoped it was not so bad that he could finish.  I was happy to see him round the bend and finish at 4 hours 6 minutes.  I was sad for him becuase having something go wrong in a race that you have spent so much time and energy training for is a big dissappointment but it would have been evern worse to not finish.  It turns out he strained his calf muscle so had to jog/walk his last 7 miles.  He stopped into a medical tent to have it checked out along the course and wasn't sure if he could make it to the finish but he did and that is something to be proud of.  I know the feeling of not getting the time you anticipated.  It is not a good feeling and while everyone can say "oh it is still a great time. You should be proud." I know it doesn't make a difference until you can get back on course and reach the goal you set for yourself.  I'm waiting to see what marathon he will choose next.  Will it be a new course or will we be back in Vermont next year?

Loosing Teeth

Ali has been waiting FOREVER to lose some teeth.  She had the dentist pop out her first loose tooth at her cleaning appointment in February because the tooth was so loose.  She has been waiting ever since for more teeth to fall out.  This month it has finally happened....a month before her 8th birthday she has finally started to loose teeth.  One of her bottom teeth was very loose.  One night she went to bed but came downstairs because her tooth was hurting so much when she was sucking her thumb.  We told her there wasn't much we could do about it.  She could either stop sucking her thumb to fall asleep or she could pull her tooth out.  She opted for pulling it out.  She sat with us and wiggled her tooth back and forth until it came out.  It was pretty gross and I could really watch her do it but she managed it and was so happy to have it out I don't think she cared that it hurt a little bit.  She was happy to be able to suck her thumb to go to sleep and was super excited for the tooth fairy.  Last week her top tooth was very loose.  Sofia accidentally popped Ali in the face which continued to make it loose.  She went to bed and woke up in the morning with another tooth gone.  This time she had to write a note to the tooth fairy since we assume she swallowed her tooth because we couldn't find it.  Her other front tooth is loose now.  Pretty soon Ali will have to start eating with her gums!

Colonial Craft Day

In third grade the kids have a "Colonial Craft Day".  They dress up in colonial clothing and spend the day (it is held on a half day of school) making colonial crafts...braided rugs, straw dolls and other crafts of the time period.  My friend let Sofia borrow an entire colonial outfit so that I did not have to make a bonnet.  Sofia was excited to have an entire outfit.  She had a playdate after school with her friend Olivia and they continue their Colonial times.  They sat outside at her friend's house and had decaf green tea and continued their pretend play. 

Swim Meet

Sofia had her first swim meet with her new team in the beginning of May.  This swim season is the Long Course season which means the kids swim in 50 meter pools rather than 25 yard pools.  It would seem like it wouldn't matter because 50 meters is the same whether you swim it straight or do a flip turn and swim a lap.  it is not the same.  When you see the 50 meter pool is is HUGE!  The kids also don't get that quick break and push off the wall half way through their fifty.  This is also the first time Sofia has raced anything longer than 25 yards.  It is definitely an adjustment.  Her races are in the 12 and under category so she is racing against older kids as well.  I think it is a good thing though because it forces her to think about her own personal best times rather than comparing herself to everyone in the race.  She has entered a new world of swimming when she stepped out of rec swim and into club swimming.  These kids are fast!  She has to really focus on her strokes to break bad form and relearn the proper form being taught to her by her coaches.  Practices are times to push yourself and learn how to be better.  She does not leave the pool with loads of energy these days as her coaches work the kids hard.  She still enjoys swimming though even when they push her to the point where she is actually tired.  She is making some good friends within her group as well as the two levels above her.  She has one day a week where she is in the pool with the group one level above and one day a week when she is in the pool with the group that is two levels above.  She has a lot of fun with the older kids and gets to see how fast she can become if she works hard.  The coaches really create good team spirit and have the groups combine for relay races.  It is fun to hear the kids cheer each other on.  Sometimes I worry that it will be too much for her but she never seems to get sick of swimming.  She leaves the pool happy after every practice and swim meet even when she is tired.  Her coaches are good to her and only ask her to do what they know she is capable of doing.  They encourage and grow the kids on the team.  I keep my worry to myself and watch my baby grow up doing what she loves.

Dinner Cruise

One of our friends turned 40 recently and celebrated with a Boston Harbor dinner cruise.  Jason and I sent the kids with my parents for the night so we did not have to worry about getting back for a babysitter or waking up early with the kids the next morning.  The cruise was fun.  We boarded the boat along with some high school prom.  They were on a different deck than us but it was fun to see them all dressed up.  Of course we got a couple looks as "the old people" but that is fine with me.  The insecurity of prom is not something I would want to repeat unless of course I could repeat it with all the knowledge I have gained since then.  Anyway, dinner was nice and then went up on deck to look at the city from the water.  It was too cold to stay out there for very long so we headed back in for some dancing.  It has been a long time since I have been dancing.  There was another party there as well with adults who were about our age.  There was some old school music played and they broke out in dance moves I remember from high school.  I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who stills remembers the moves.  After the cruise we headed back in the limo to our friends house where a few of us hung out until 4AM.  I haven't been up that late in ages!  Jason spent a lot of his time playing darts but I played ping pong for about 2 hours straight.  I had no idea I had any skill at ping pong.  When I told my dad I was surprised he responded with, "I'm not surprised.  You played it all the time when you were little.".  I remember having a ping pong table but I emember being horrible at it and my brothers ALWAYS creamed me so I didn't end up playing very much.  I guess my defeats stuck with me longer than the knowledge of my ability.  I am glad I had those formative years becuase ping pong was so much fun!  I did play darts for a little bit but there was no surprise there...I wasn't very good.  All in all it was a great night.  We crawled into bed and went to sleep happy and didn'
t have to wake up at 7AM which made it even sweeter!

Round off Back Handspring

Ali has been working on her back handspring as well as making the connection between her round off and back handspring.  Today she trained with the head coach and she got it!  She still needs to work on it but she completed it!  The video isn't the best because I was so far away but you can still see it.

Hip update

I do not have good news to report on my hip.  I haven't quite digested it all yet so bare with me.  I saw the doctor on Monday.  My expectation was he was say to have surgery then rehab and then back to normal activity.  Well, he did say surgery and then 6 months of no real activity and NO MORE RUNNING!  He said if I wanted to run it would be a 2 mile maximum.  This is awful news to me as most of you know I love running.  He said that if I was planning on running after the surgery then there was no point in doing the surgery because I would just end up needed a total hip replacement. I was in such shock I couldn't think of any questions.  I had Sofia with me in the room as well and while I was trying to be brave and not cry for what I was losing so that Sofia wouldn't be worried she broke down in tears because she felt bad for me.  It was very sweet and I guess was a good distraction for me so that I held it together.  On Tuesday I sent an email off to the Doctor's assistant with a bunch of questions that I couldn't think off after hearing the shocking news.  I received more unexpected information.  I thought I would be on crutches for 2 weeks.  I was wrong.  His PA called me back and told me to expect to be on crutches for 6 weeks and I won't be able to drive for 4 weeks!  I have worked on shifting schedules and finding friends to drive the kids around for the beginning of summer as my surgery is scheduled for June 24th.  I'm feeling a little better emotionally and can now talk about it without choking up.  It will be an adjustment but I will just have to find another sport to enjoy.  Such is life! :)

Kirsty's visit

My girlfriend from Prague sent me an email asking if I wanted a visitor to which I of course responded "YES!".  She booked her flight and arrive on April 17th.  I was so excited and happy to know she was coming.  Kirsty is one of the first people I met in Prague and has been such a great friend.  I was excited for her to come and show her around New England as she had never been to this area before.  As when I would come back to the States I would shop, when Kirsty came we also shopped.  Clothing is so much cheaper her especially with the outlets that is just makes sense to buy things here (although I do miss Promod and Vero Moda in Prague).






Between shopping and toting the kids around to all their activities we managed to bring Kirsty up to the white mountains.  We had to share Polly's Pancake Parlor with her as well as Fraconia Notch.
We did a short hike a mile up a trail to lo
ok at some waterfalls and then headed back down.  The mountain still had snow on it though so going up any further without proper footwear was not advised.  It was beautiful to just walk in the woods and see the waterfall though.  We headed back home with a stop in at the Tilton dinner for another slice of Americana...milkshakes, cheesy fries and fried pickles.  It is fun to have guests because then we can eat the crazy american foods we almost never indulge in.  We had never even had fried pickles before.  I will admit they were pretty good although I can't ever

see ordering them again.

I then took Kirsty down to RI while the kids were in school.  I love RI and love to share it with people.  The beaches are just amazing and the sand is like powder so I took Kirsty down to Sand Hill Cove, Gallilee, Iggy's Chowder House, out on the rocks off Ocean Drive and Narraganset Pier.  After a tour of the shore we headed into Johnston to D. Palmieri's bakery because there is no way to describe bakery pizza to an outsider.  They have to tast it for themselves to understand just how delicious it is!  After picking up bakery pizza it was off to Smithfield to show her the neighborhood I grew up in but more importantly we went to Del's.  Again there is no way to accurately describe Del's.  She just had to have it and she loved it.  How could you not!

As a final night of sharing our area we took Kirsty into the North End for dinner at Giacomo's.  It was worth the wait as usual.  The dinner is excellent.  After dinner we went to get cannolis but along the way we saw a fireman responding to a call and we started to talk to him.  He believed that Modern pastry was the better cannoli where as Jason and I have always gone to Mike's pastry.  We decided to finally give Modern a try.  After taking a bite I headed to Mike's to get some cannoli.  Kirsty preferred Modern pastry and Jason and I agree that the shell at Modern is better but we like the filling at Mike's pastry better.  Either way they are both delicious   It was beautiful night in the city and a great way to end Kirsty's trip.

Athletics

The girls are busy as ever with all their athletic activities.  Sofia started with a new swim team at the beginning of April.  The team is awesome.  The coaches are fantastic.  They work the kids hard and expect the kids to give full effort.  The coaches are engaged with the kids and truly want the kids to improve.  Sofia has had more coaching in the last month than she has had in the last year and a half.  Her new team incorporates dry land training along with the swim training.  Some days it is shoulder work, push ups, squats, lunges and some days it is a mile and a half run before getting int he pool to swim for an hour.  The kids in the program are very nice and Sofia is already friends with her team mates.  She has her first swim meet with this team on Friday night.  It will be her first 50 meter race in a 50 meter pool.  She is scheduled for a 50 freestyle, 50 breast and a 100 back.  Unfortunately I can't be there for the meet but Jason will be so I will let you know how she does.

Sofia also started Softball at the beginning of April.  Her coach is impressed with her arm.  She told me she has one of the best arms on the team which is surprising since this is her first year playing softball.  The problem with softball from a spectator view is that it is painful to watch as ground balls roll past the kids.  Unlike soccer you can't fudge your way through beginner softball.  If you miss a grounder or don't catch a pass it is glaringly obvious.  I will say though that the kids have already started to improve from the beginning of the season.  Jason is working with Sofia in the back yard on her hitting since she either checks her swing into this wimpy swing or she goes big and lets the bat fly out of her hands.  She needs to learn the art of big strong swing with an easy drop of the bat.

The girls school also has a program called "The Marathon Fitness Challenge" in which the kids get a shirt of they rund 13.1 in 8 weeks and a medal if they complete a full 26.2 distance.  Sofia did the 13.1 last year and it was a struggle.  This year I told the girls I would find the time in the schedule to run with them but that I was not going to fight them over it.  For the most part they have been doing great.  We have been running 2.3 miles after school on Tuesdays and then getting in another 1.5 miles during the week.  For Sofia that is usually at swim practice so that leaves the weekend for Ali to run with me.  The girl
s are on track to meet their goal.  They have also signed up for a 2 mile race on memorial day weekend.  They had the option to complete a 1/2 mile, 1 mile or 2 mile race and they opted for the two miler.  The two mile race is no parents allowed to run with the kids so it will be their first solo run.  They have agreed on their own to run together and to encourage each other if the other one tires during the race.

The two mile race is in Vermont on the same weekend Jason is running his first marathon.  The girls are excited to be involved in the marathon weekend activities.  Jason has been training and is now on his taper so things are winding down.  Hopefully the race goes well for him as we is currently struggling with a tight calf and a rotator cuff tendinitis.  (Sucks to be getting old!)  I assume he will beat my time so I joke with him that in order to make all things equal he has to run faster than my time to really beat me as he is a guy.  We have a debate going about weather the difference should be the boston marathon qaulifying time difference or the difference between the elite male/female winners.  It is all in good fun though and I'm sure he will do great!

Swim Banquet

Sofia's swim team had an end of year banquet. Sofia had a blast with her friends.  When we arrived we walked in together but she quickly shooed me over to a table with parents so that she could sit alone with her friends.  It was very cute and hard to believe.  The kids talked and ran around until dinner was served and then they were on the dance floor.  One of the older kids on the team was Dj-ing the banquet and he wanted to shoot a harlem shake video.  While it took forever to get it all sorted out the end result made me laugh.  Sofia really busted out the moves.  It is great to see her being herself and being silly even in front of parents and older kids. You can see her in the bottom right (in the front) of this video.




At the end of the night the coaches gave out the trophies to all the kids as well as all the ribbons the kids won over the course of the season.  Sofia took in quite a haul of ribbons.

Second Grade Science Fair

This year Ali had her turn to participate in the second grade science fair.  Thanks to the handy book Sofia received from Auntie Carlene last year we were able to find a fairly straightforward experiment for Ali to complete.  I mainly let Jason take on the job of science fair.  I tend to want to just get the job done but he is very good at explaining the process and letting the kids work their way through the problems.

Ali decided she wanted to grow crystals.  It didn't require a lot of materials and did not require me to tote containers of water into school so I was happy with the choice.  I have to admit the project was pretty cool and Ali was able to discover what made crystals grow big or small and if they developed quickly or not.  She hand wrote all her notes which I thought was great and I agreed to type them up since they needed to be written quite large to fill the display board.  She writes more neatly than Sofia did at that age (and neater than Sofia now too!) so it was easy to follow her notes.