Mud Run June 2009 - Proud Mom Report

Yesterday as a family we participated in a fantastic event called the Mud Run (www.mudrun.ca). Billed as Canada's dirtiest trail run, they build in a 50m mud pit with landscapers dirt and a whole lot of water for the last 50m of the course. My husband who still runs off and on and my son Declan (age 6) did the 5K and my daughter at 4.5 wanted to do the 1.5K race. Both included the mud pit. The 5K also had a stream crossing (up to the waist for Declan) hay bails to climb, a 'cliff' which required a rope to ascend, and many more bridges, hills, trees to jump over. Two other neighbourhood families joined us (the boys all get into trouble together) and we headed out early Sunday morning. It was supposed to rain all day but the clouds cleared at about 10am and bright sun stayed for the rest of the day.

Declan has been a big runner at school, he can't wait until he's old enough for the cross country team next year, and loves to do laps on the school field. He really wanted to do the 5K ("1.5 is for the babies mom"), even though the 1.5 was billed as an event for kids up to age 12. There was a kids category for the 5K so we entered him in it. I think he and his two friends were likely the youngest ones to race that distance. Dec was off like a shot at the starting gun. After the first 2K loop we could hear daddy yelling out "Declan slow down so I can catch up!!" Apparently Dec was stopping for dad on a regular basis during the race. They rounded the corner at the finish to hit the mud and dove right in. The last 50m section took them easily 5-10 minutes, losing shoes, getting stuck etc etc. Declan crossed the line in 49:56. He finished 175/310 finishers (overall) and as I mentioned before could easily have run faster if Dad could have kept up. (as a point of reference the winner ran a 23:55 - so its not a fast race). He was likely one of the fastest kids his age out there. Mommy is very very proud. When asked if he wanted to do the race again next year he shouted out "the 10K!!" I think we'll stick to the 5K for a while I'm not sure I want him running much further until he's older. He hasn't stopped smiling yet, although he did fall asleep while eating dinner last night. He strutted off to kindergarten this morning wearing his race shirt and clutching some photos I'd printed of the race.

Greer and I did the 1.5K which started once all the 5 and 10K finishers were done. She had been crying as soon as she saw all the chaos of the mud pit with the older runners in the 5/10K so I wasn't even sure if we were going to be heading out. When I told her she didn't have to do the mud pit at the end she decided to run. Number proudly pinned on her chest we lined up and watched as the 9-11 crowd left, then the 7-8's and then it was time for 6 and under. Most had a parent accompanying them. We waited for the "GO!" and off we went. She's also much faster than I expected. She hasn't shown us her running skills, other than short bursts on the soccer field, so I was a bit surprised. Mommy tried to keep up, but the lack of running training in the past 4 years showed next to the little speed demon. We rounded the corner to the finish and she promptly sat down to take her shoes and socks off and gingerly step onto the edge of the pit. Quickly she decided that it was not for her and we carefully walked around the edge. At the end she got her legs muddy to the knees and announced that she was done. She proudly wore her participant medal and race shirt off to school today.

There are photos up on facebook - if you're interested and can't see them there, I can send a link.

Thanks for listening...

traveling again

Okay here I sit in Malvern PA. Where is Malvern you may ask? Well fly to Philadelphia and then drive for about 40 minutes out of the city. Its beautiful countryside, horse farms, rolling hills and lovely homes. But its not "home".

I've been traveling a bit lately, I know it comes with the job, but three times in the last 4 weeks is a bit more than I planned for this winter. I have mixed emotions when I travel. On one hand I enjoy having my side of the bed to myself and knowing that it will stay that way all night. No scary dreams courtesy of Bakugan's or the TV promos for Coraline. No lost dolls that require finding at 3am. On the other hand I miss Star Wars stories with Declan, and Greer's insistance that the next story will be the last, "I promise promise promise Mommy".

I'll be home soon - remind me once I'm there that I said I missed this stuff :)

Kids and Sports

Don't take this the wrong way. I want my kids to be active. I want them to participate in sports. Heck I'm hoping that a healthy interest in sports will help me stave off the tween years for my daughter. But as I look around as my kids start to get involved in sports. I wonder if everything there is as good as it should be.

I want my kids to have fun while they play soccer, or do gymnastics, or try a kids triathlon, or anything else that their hearts desire. But, I worry that exposing them to the pressure to "win", even when scores are not kept, might start everything off on the wrong foot. At every event we've been to with our kids, there are parents who are truly supportive; encouraging, sympathetic and overjoyed when things go right. And when the 5 year olds are playing soccer, things going right might just be that they are headed in the correct direction on the field. But there always seem to be those parents that are a bit over the top. Cheering and urging on from the sidelines perhaps a bit more than is needed when the athlete is 4, getting a little too upset when kids stop to notice that the clouds above look like a pony, rather than that a goal was just scored by the opposing team. I want to be the parent who can gently suggest that we look at the clouds later and focus on helping our friends play the game now. But I wonder how easy it is to become the "other" parent. How easy it is to get caught up in the game and wanting to be best, wanting to win?

I know that sports are fabulous for kids. I just want to be sure that in this family we make sure that kids enjoy the sport for the sake of sport and not because its all about winning. Each time we head out the door with equipment in hand I try and remind myself of this because it seems the parental peer pressure can be a bit crazy.

Weekend Walkers

Why is it that seeing someone do something as normal as walking can bring me to tears? Give me a lump in my throat? Over this past weekend three dear friends (that I know of - and possibly more) walked in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Its 60km through the streets of Toronto, raising money to fight this and many other cancers. Its an incredible sight...4,757 women and men walking in long lines throughout the city. Together these people raised over $13 million dollars for cancer research. That's almost $3000 each.

As all these people trudged through the rain over the weekend I was reminded of my trek last year. I'm not sure I realized at the time what an amazing experience it was... I was too caught up in blisters and sore feet.

Yay to all of you who were out there. You inspire me. You inspire others.

Farewell to the (rainy) summer....

Wow - its been *forever* since I wrote anything.... wild. But the summer has flown by and I can't believe that Buckaroo is back at school and the littlest munchkin is in Sr Preschool. Wow.

Things are coming along on the house and Ken's job search continues. He's put his portfolio up on line just recently and is now concentrating more on the Graphic Design side. He's had some bites on the design side so now we need to turn one into a job :) Wish us luck.

We accomplished a few things on the house this summer, got ourselves a finished mudroom and some little improvements in the backyard and elsewhere. It never seems like enough gets done... story of my life.

We've been having fun going to the local farmers market for dinner each Thursday evening this summer and are planning to keep going as long as the weather holds. The market will run until into October - but who knows how long it will still feel like picnic weather. With a sweater almost anything is possible.

Dinosaurs and Soccer Balls

Its been a busy busy week around here.  The kids were super tired after the long weekend, as evidenced by Dec's refusal to get out of bed the other.  Those who know him know that he is up and at it as soon as the sun rises every day.  And usually darned happy about it.  That has not been the case this week.  In fact everyone has been feeling a little sluggish and some days it seems like I have three teenagers in residence instead of two pre-schoolers and a husband as I try and get everyone up and out the door in the morning.

Wednesday Declan's kindergarten class had a trip to the museum and I took a day and volunteered.  The morning and afternoon class went together so it was just less than 50 4 and 5 year olds on the TTC and off to the ROM.  Thankfully there were enough parents helping that it was one parent for two kids and we walked up to the subway, rode over the Bloor viaduct (a VERY exciting moment for the munchkins) and even changed lines so we could exit in the Museum station with all its new totem poles and Egyptian hieroglyphics.  The tour leader was an ex-school teacher and wonderful with the kids.  They paid attention almost until right at the end (they were getting pretty hungry for lunch by then) and had some free time to explore the North American exhibit and the interactive areas before we had our bag lunches and left.  By the time we returned to the school they were exhausted.   To compound the issue we headed off to the local police station's Community Picnic that evening.  So by the time the kids hit bed they were DONE.

The next day all Declan could talk about was the dinosaur exhibit and what they saw and did while at the museum.  I guess that means it was a success.

Then yesterday was the first of the 'double duty' days when the kids having swimming followed closely by Declan's soccer practice/game.   He was a trooper and gobbled some dinner in between the two events and had a great time at soccer. There are a couple of kids from his kindergarten class on his team and he made fast friends with several others.  His smile was as wide as possible the entire time and he cried when we had to go home at the end of the evening. Here's hoping that he continues to love it as much as the summer rolls along.  We'll be playing soccer until Labour Day :)   

Long Weekends!!

Well its always nice to have a long weekend and even better when we can schedule it so that we aren't running all over the place seeing multiple sets of grandparents. Due to scheudling we are in Muskoka this weekend and will be making a different trip to Peterborough when MC is there too.

Unfortunately the weather hasn't been too cooperative and there's been intermittent rain and cloud all weekend. Kudos to the kids who have been able to find fun things to do without driving their grandparents completely over the edge.

Saturday evening we went to the Rush cottage to watch fireworks. The Whites had a big stash and Ted had purchased a bunch so we didn't need to bring any along. Dec had a lot of fun playing and watching the festivities with Owen and they have become fast friends. The kids applauded after each firework ended and although completely exhausted they were disappointed it was all over.

Monday I've had to do a little bit of work but the kids are having a late breakfast and being really good.

Back to the grind tomorrow - lots of work to do - but thats life....

Are they trying to drive me nuts?

My kids are normally quite good in the mornings.  They get up and get dressed, usually without too much hassle - although munchkin girl is getting a little picky about what she wears - and eat their breakfast before heading out the door.  We went through a phase where they seemed intent on not listening to a thing I said but that appeared to have passed.  Now we've moved into the "how can I bug my sibling" phase.  This morning was exceptional.  Pinching, poking, stealing each others toast...  you get the idea.

By the time I got them on their bikes and heading to school I was ready for a nap.

After dropping both off (quite painless this morning) I headed home, swinging up to the Danforth to get a coffee on the way.  As I walked up my front steps I had a sad realization.  In my happy 'drop the kids off at daycare' state I'd managed to leave my keys in Greer's cubby.  I was locked out again.  (for those not up to speed - I did it last week too)  Rather than climb through the slightly ajar and unlocked window in the living room I decided it made more sense to walk back to school and delay the start of my workday.  

It was a beautiful morning for a walk - but I wish I wasn't doing it to correct an earlier mistake...  

Fun on the Street

When we bought our house we really had no idea about the family makeup on our street.  We knew there were lots of kids in the area as we'd seen them in the local park while we were looking in the area.  But were they on our street?  Close by? No idea.

We lucked out.  

In our little block there are 8 kids who like to play outside every time they can...  and a few more chomping at the bit, they just need to get a little but bigger.  I am so glad that my kids can experience street hockey, hide and go seek, bike rides up and down the block and all those great things that I loved growing up.  I had thought it no longer existed in the big city.  But we found a great street with some great neighbours.  The sad part is that four of the kids are moving in  a couple of weeks.  But I think the rest will rally and keep the street spirit alive.  

What a wonderful world....

What a great way to spend a Saturday...  start by getting some good deals at my favorite mom's consignment sale ever... The Great Kids Stuff Sale.  Then spend the rest of the morning playing with the kids on the street....then walk to the local bike shop, find a bright pink bike for the littlest Kelly and a new helmet for the bigger one... back and lunch at McD's with across the street friends... then off to a birthday party for a friend since 1978.  There are a group of us that went to school together from Grade 7 to 13 and we still see each other and hang out a lot.  All were there with husbands and kids in tow and it was incredible to see them all playing together and having fun...  We were so tired at the end of the day that we crashed as soon as the kids were asleep....  *yawn*

off on another busy day today....

Today I learned something new about my neighbourhood

Today, while reading the monthly newsletter from our community association I learned a little history about our new neighbourhood. It used to be called the Midway Annex and its 99 years old. Pretty cool. It sounds weird but I like knowing that my neighbourhood had a name. It's easier than describing it as "further east than Riverdale, but not as far over, or south, as the Beach". Now if I start calling it the Midway Annex, its not like anyone is going to know what I mean. But hey - I can glow in my newfound knowledge.

Here's the excerpt from the newsletter.

The Midway Annex is just one year shy of its centennial as a part of the city. Midway was the name of an area between the City of Toronto (the eastern boundary was just east of Greenwood) and
the Town of East Toronto (the western boundary crossed Danforth about a half km east of Woodbine). In its entirety, Midway, which was annexed in 1909, almost ran down almost to
Queen.

It was a dusty rural road with small wooden bridges over swamps and creeks until pavement and streetcar tracks arrived in 1913. Its market gardens supplied fresh produce and dairy products to the
nearby city, but gave way to a 1920s building boom that followed the end of WWI and the opening of the Bloor viaduct. The name Midway was largely forgotten as this hybrid streetcar/automobile
suburb developed. Also largely forgotten is that for more than 40 years, people from north and south of Danforth walked to the Midway s Midway stri p -- for streetcars into the core, for employment and for nearly ever kind of shop and service imaginable. There were movie theatres,
bowling alleys, several supermarkets, scores of independent food stores, lots of bank branches and a wide range of clothing and shoe stores.

Things changed rapidly after the subway replaced streetcars in 1966. With transit stops suddenly much farther apart, with traffic speeding up in the absence of streetcars and with major retailers
shifting to larger-scale car-dependent business models, Danforth as a pedestrian-friendly destination went into decline.

Okay - so its been almost a year...

The chaos of buying a house, renovating a kitchen, moving into the house, changing daycares, eldest starting Jr Kindergarten, my new job and life I haven't found time to make note of life here.  However, spring has sprung, the grass is riz, so its time to start again.  

Two important things will happen here... 

1. I am going to try really really hard to keep notes on my fitness activities and lifestyle good/bad choices.

2. I am going to try and keep a running log of what goes on in the daily lives of our crew...

So there - I've said it...

Lets see if I can keep it up.

k

Time Marches On

The end of the school year has made things a little busy and a little over programmed around here. Between starting to get things organized for the move, Declan's birthday party and Ken's end of year commitments its been a little crazy. But things are falling into place and that's a good thing.

Last Friday a woman I have never met made my day, my month, my summer. The Childcare Director for the daycare at Declan's new school called (I've met other staff - just not her) and told me that Declan and Greer have spots in the daycare starting in September. They will both be in the same facility (different classes), and its a three block walk from home. Declan can be walked *across the hall* to Junior Kindergarten. Its all good.

We also bought a dishwasher and found a sale on the appliances that we want. More good.

Ken is finishing up his marking - should be done in the next couple of days. More good.

And Declan had his first birthday party. He and a friend from nursery school have birthdays right next to each other so the mom's decided to have a joint party and invite the whole class. We held it at an indoor playground and served pizza and nut free cake. Everyone had a great time (from what we can tell) and Declan came home with more loot than we stuffed into the loot bags.

Now we just need to finish the school year, take possession of the house and do a complete kitchen reno! Not much.....

Wow - my last post was in April?

Thats a surprise... it doesn't seem like that long since I've written here - but the computer doesn't lie. Unless you tell it to.

Hmm what has happened since then?

• Finalized a kitchen design, at least until we found a new sink we like better... need to do some measurements
• Booked kitchen installation contractor
• Spent a work weekend at my parents cottage - the kids had so much fun raking and hauling leaves - really they did!!
• Started "toilet learning" with our 2 year old - she's doing really really well - but we are doing a bit more laundry than normal
• Attended the Mothers Day Party at my son's pre-school - the kids sang a great son and then served all the mommies snack and juice. I now have a lovely orange lucite-ish necklace that he made for me to wear.
• Mothers Day weekend with the kids - lots of play in the park and picnics and dinner out with Grandma and Grandpa.
• Sleep
• And somewhere in there I did some work and began to plan a business trip to ....wait for it.... Cincinnati! Woo Hoo

I think I'm allowed to rest now right?

We're going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

Yesterday we took advantage of the great weather and headed out to the Zoo first thing in the morning. The kids were all excited and Auntie MC came along for the trip. We packed up the red wagon and after renewing our membership were off. We started with the Tigers, headed over to the Polar Bears, the Seals and on and on... Declan pulled the wagon with Greer in it and not in it, and in it and not in it (rinse and repeat) most of the day. The kids ran (and walked) their little butts off and crashed immediately after loading ourselves into the car 5 hours later. It was a good walk for all of us. There was the sleep of the dead in our house last night.

I struggle sometimes with the idea of a Zoo. Should these animals really be in enclosures for us to look at? But then I read about conservation and re population efforts that the zoos are involved in and I feel a bit better about it. So this time, instead of just looking at the animals I tried to talk about them with Declan - how some of them were rare and how the zoos were helping to keep them and their families alive. I'm not sure how successful I was - but I'll keep trying.

A Pita-bird

What you may ask is a "pita-bird"? I'd ask too. In fact I did. My son kept pointing to trucks this morning telling me to look at the pita-bird. After asking for clarification several times I finally got an answer that made sense to me. A pita-bird is a Peterbilt. As in a Peterbilt truck http://www.peterbilt.com/ He knows about Peterbilts from the Cars DVD in our house. Which we watched incessantly immediately following Christmas. Its a little better now - once a week or so it is played over and over again.

And its about my mom car. Once upon a time I promised myself I'd never have a mom-car. You know the kind; toys all over the place, crumbs from goldfish crackers that were consumed in the last calendar year still on the seats, empty water bottles and extra clothing cluttering the floor. I have failed. There are endless trails of food particles strewn across the seats, plastic straw from the Easter craft at son's nursery school still on the back seat floor, four toys cars, one book, a butterfly craft hanging from the rearview mirror and more water bottles in various states of empty than I care to admit. There must be a self help book for this. But then again - I'd probably lose it under the seat. Maybe for mothers day I'll ask for a car detailing.

Benign scissors

My children are demanding benign scissors. As they were leaving the little one's daycare on Tuesday they found a craft basket sitting on a table in the common play area. Inside were some pieces of construction paper, some glue sticks and the now beloved, all plastic, can't cut a human, scissors. So being the ever co-operative mom I headed out yesterday to buy some for my small fry. I'd left my lunch hour free for this task. Apparently I should have left the whole day free. Who knew these were items that are hard to find?? I figured the lovely people at Crayola would be able to help me out, so I headed to the local Zellers which has a significant Crayola section... nope, nada, nyet. Two more stops at places that sell paper and crayons and the like and I was no more successful. Who the heck makes these things?? Each day the kids ask for the scissors, this morning darling daughter was asking for them before breakfast. So I'm off again this afternoon. I feel a bit like I'm looking for the holy grail of crafting. With all this focus on scrapbooking these days you'd think that someone would sell these things. If you have a suggestion - please feel free to send it along. I'm almost ready to dip metal scissors on resin to de-sharp them.

On other topics; trying to find someone who can clean my carpet which is currently in basement storage and will be adorning our new living room. I'm willing to drive it to the location so now its just about finding the best price... oh and actually going to the basement to measure it so I get an estimate that is at least fairly accurate. And the purge has begun... last night hubby and I went through the kids toy basket area in the living room and liberated the Happy Meal toys, the dollar store potty training incentive toys and other various broken, missing pieces and less than complete toys. It was cathartic. On to the next challenge - the basement storage room. Or maybe just my closet, its smaller.

Looser pants!

Its only been a week or so - but I swear my pants I'm wearing today are a little bit looser.... baby steps people. Baby steps.

Hubby's sister is in town for a while and the kids are quite excited by it all. She's been over for dinner the last two nights and they've been very good with manners at the table. Getting to bed has been a bit different, but still fun. They are calling for a crappy weekend on the weather side so our planned trip to the zoo may fall apart. Bummer.

I went back and looked at the new IKEA plans that I created and I'm really quite annoyed that I lost six inches of counter top due to the official measure. Means my sink moves and ends up in a corner... and then the cupboard over the fridge gets all complicated.... If I find a way to make this all work well I may just have to consider a career change. The file of ideas for the house, decorating, furnishing, painting etc etc is getting larger by the day. The good news is that the things that we like are frighteningly consistent - bad news is that we are going to have to pare it all down sooner or later. Sometimes I think that there is no way we are going to get the things done that we really *want* done before we move in, and some days it seems much more plausible. I guess only time will tell.

Well must head out and make some dinner for the troops.... "I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight" (and if you recall that jingle you are as old as I am).

What a weekend!

Well - sunny and warm all weekend long - it doesn't get much better than that. The kids enjoyed every minute of it, playing outside and meeting new friends. We decided to go and play at the park near our new house on Saturday morning. Declan and I had already been up and around the neighbourhood for a jog stroller power walk. Unfortunately someone was late to open up Mt Pleasant so we just meandered through Leaside. Once everyone was up and ready to go we headed over to East Lynn Park and the kids played on the equipment and Declan organized a full on construction party in the sandbox. We all left reluctantly for lunch and a few errands before heading home for naps and quiet time.

Sunday Dec woke up and announced that he wanted to go to the fun park near our new house. So after a failed attempt to go to church (note to self - one hour is not long enough to get everyone ready and all the way to a church in the new neighbourhood), we did the grocery shopping in a very empty WalMart and then (after dropping the groceries back at home and having an early lunch) headed back to the park. Declan made more new friends and Mommy and Daddy got to chat to some new neighbours and then Declan and his new friends found an old tire hidden in a corner of the park and proceeded to push it up a small hill and then let it roll down, spewing the pine cones they'd filled it with, over and over again. They were so proud of their new game and they had no help from the adults at all. What was most impressive is they way the four kids worked together each time with no fighting, no arguments and no trouble. It was a thing of beauty.

As the kids started to show visible signs of exhaustion we headed home for naps and dinner. Unfortunately no one napped and Ken had them all make rice krispie squares instead. I spent some quality time with the IKEA kitchen planner (amazing to note no two walls of our kitchen are the same length - not that I expected square - but I thought two might match) and have what I think is the new and almost final version of the kitchen. Now we meet with the PEG guys at IKEA and finalise the plan.... its a process that's for sure....

No more incandescent lightbulbs

So day two. Well lets see, I didn't eat with reckless abandon, I did have lots of water, and I went for a walk with the kids after dinner. It wasn't exactly a fitness actvity - but it wasn't a sloth activity either. So - baby steps. Baby steps.

Got the kids off to school this morning with minimal effort - they only took their shoes and socks off after I had already assisted with putting them on, once, each. That's progress. I did stop for a Vente Misto on my way home. I needed to get more beans so I bought a coffee. Small indulgence.

Upon my return I actually had a few moments to glance at the paper before sitting down to work. It seems that my local municipality has voted to outlaw 'traditional' light bulbs by 2012. I am impressed. Its actually something that I agree with from city hall. We've already started replacing our incandescents with compact flourescents. Its important to make sure you don't buy that version called "cool white". Nasty. Makes my rooms look more than a little bit institutional. A throwback to bad dorm lighting. No one needs to go back to that.

So today's goals.... salad for lunch, more walking, more water, a visit to a potential daycare and oh - getting my job done :) Have a good one.

And a big shout out to my sister - HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANNE