Sea World Sunday pictures

On our second day of Sea World, we were a bit more low-key. Kylie pet the sting rays again, we passed by the manatee exhibit


And moved on the the Penguin exhibit (where Kylie told us she could see just fine, thank you. She did NOT want to be picked up).


We saw some very happy-looking, sun-bathing seals




Then we saw the "Clyde and Seamore" Seal show. Kylie looked bored throughout the show but the next day, she talked about it quite a bit. Then we saw this lovely swimmer who was pretending to be a clam diver. Kylie thought this lady was an awesome swimmer.


She blew Kylie lots of bubbly kisses.


Kylie gave one last hug to Shamu and then we headed back to our resort to play in the pool.


It was a lovely weekend vacation! Thanks for hanging with me while I shared our pictures.

Sea World More Pictures

Enjoying more cotton candy. I love those floating planters in the pond.


Shamu show "Believe"


After the show, we waited for the aisles to clear. Kylie and I were making the V-shaped arm motion. During the show, the animal trainers encouraged us to make this V-shape to root the whales to splash people in the "soak zones".


I started smooching and tickling Kylie and Karen kept snapping photos. I just love these pictures.






We took in the Shark exhibit. Afterwards, Kylie decided to cool off under the water misters.


Then we were off to ride the carousel (where Kylie made a fish-mouth)


and the "swishy fishies" teacup ride.




Kiddo was getting a little tired on the walk out of the park so she got to ride on our shoulders.


We were almost out when we saw the Elmo characters posing for pictures. Kylie had seen the "Elmo and Abby Treasure Hunt" show earlier in the day. She wanted her picture with Rosita.





How sweet is that!

Sea World

This past weekend, we went to Sea World. It was our first trip there and we had so much fun. My favorite part was feeding the dolphins and the Shamu show. I just loved watching Kylie take it all in.

I have lots of photos to sort through but here are a few:

Touching the stingrays.


The stingrays splashed her which she loved.


Feeding the dolphins.




At the entrance to the manatee exhibit.




Lower viewing at the manatee exhibit.


Eating cotton candy for the first time.


More pictures to come!

Maps and Lists

Kylie's artwork is sprinkled throughout the house. Her new favorite thing to draw is either maps (the white ones in this photo) or lists.



She draws maps directing me to her school, to her swim lesson, to Starbucks, to TN and so forth. And she likes to make grocery lists and lists of chores for me.

It makes me wonder if she secretly knows how scatterbrained and directionly-challenged I can be.
Our little girl is a hoot!


Here is one more photo...just because I love it.

Triathlete- March 2011

Since some of you have shown an interest in my healthy living journey, I thought I write a monthly blog post to share how I'm progressing towards my triathlon goal. Here are my results for the month of March.

For the 31 days in the month of March, I trained 27 days and had 4 days off.

Bike
For my first full month with the new bike, I had 8 rides. Almost all of these were after a swim lesson. I feel like I'm making a bit of progress and am feeling steadier. On my last ride this month, I was able to lift my hand off the handlebars and adjust my cadence computer. Lifting hands off safely is a good thing!

Even with a good pair of biking shorts, I'm still having lots of discomfort from the bike seat. My trainer, Joy, suggested some name brands of other shorts to try. It's not my lungs nor my legs that hold me back in a bike ride. It's pain in my seat!

When I read about bikers and talk to a few of them, they talk about their day's bike mileage in the 20-100 mile range. And I just laugh. I'm still trying not to fall off! At first, I could only ride for about 30 minutes. Now I'm up to 55 minutes and I plan on staying on for over an hour in April. My maximum mileage for a ride is 11 miles. A far cry from 20 or more. But I have seen some progress this month so I'm happy with that.

In addition to 8 rides this month, I also attended 3 RPM spin classes.

Swim
I had 8 swim lessons this month and had 2 swim practices on my own. I was able to swim several 75's freestyle without stopping which I couldn't do last month. My kick has improved and I'm feeling more comfortable during practice. At the start of the month, I would complete around 1500 yards during a lesson but the majority of that would be with a kickboard and fins. Now I complete 1800 - 2000 yards per lesson and over half of that is without fins. I have a great rapport with my trainer Gus. I feel very blessed to get to have these lessons with him.

Run
On 4/11, I was doing a quick run on the treadmill at the gym. My trainer Joy came over and said, "You are killing me running like this. We have to fix this." When an Ironman champion wants to help you with your running form for free, you pay attention! She had me tilt forward and positioned my arms until she was happy with my form. Then she increased my speed and told me to keep the speed there and to memorize that form. I did and I ran faster than I ever had before.

Because of the tweaks in my running form, I was able to get some faster speeds this month. Check it out.

Tempo runs:
5 miles in 47 minutes. 9:40 pace Ran a negative split for the first time.
4 miles in 37 minutes. 9:25 pace The day Joy worked with me.
5 miles in 44 minutes. 8:80 pace. First time I've run under 9min mile pace.
4 miles in 35 minutes. 8:75 pace
3 miles in 27 minutes. 9:00 pace

Long Run:
11 miles in 1:50. 10:00 pace
7.56 miles in 1:11. 9:39 pace
12 miles in 1:55. 9:58 pace

Strength
My trainer Joy is still kicking my but every Tuesday morning. I completed 5 strength training sessions with her and did 3 sessions on my own.

Other
Body Combat
Oh, how I love my Tuesday morning Body Combat classes. I got in 4 classes this month and I simply love them. I get to "punch" out any aggression and the class leaves my shoulders and glutes sore for days.

Weight
All of this cross-training continues to shape my body. Even though I'm not trying to lose more weight, I dropped five pounds from February. I'm now at 120 and will be more than happy if I can hold my weight there for a while.

And that's the end of another month! Thanks for reading.

If you are interested, here are more posts about the journey.

February 2011 summary
January 2011 summary
December 2010 summary


Goal: Triathlon in 2012- initial post from December 2010
One Little Word: Triathlete post

Playing, scrapbook pages and help on selling toys

A few of Kylie's toys are kept out all the time, things like her pretend food and dishes. And the rest of the toys are kept in six cloth bags and stored on the bookshelf in our office. Our habit has been put one toy bag in the play room and to rotate the toy bags every other day or so.

But for several months now, Kylie could care less about her toy bags. I really don't think she's outgrown the toys but she certainly shows no interest in them. She would much prefer to spend her time coloring or on other crafts.


These fusion beads are a favorite. She puts the beads on whatever shape she's chosen (in this picture, it's a turtle) while I sort the beads from the bucket to the bin. At Kylie's Montessori school, they emphasize working quietly. So Kylie is content to work on her beads quietly. And the two of us comfortably share silence. It's lovely.



Another favorite is her sorting game. In her bedroom, Kylie has her Little Pet Shop Pets, her Barbies and some Little Ponies. She carefully looks at each one and sorts it between my pile and hers. As you can tell, my pile is quite small compared to hers. If I make a statement about why I would like one of the items, Kylie will calmly and emphatically explain why it needs to be in her pile instead of mine. It amuses us both yet I can't help rolling my eyes and thinking to myself, "She sounds like an self-righteous attorney."

She still plays with her leggos and tinkertoys but that's about it. She would much rather play in the park, make something in the kitchen with me...


and daily begs me to take her to the pool. On her two swim lessons this week, she moved her arms and kicked her legs and moved forward in the pool. She swam! I was so happy and proud.


We have a neighborhood yard sale in May.
I would love your suggestions on how to handle selling some of Kylie's toys. Do you think a 4yr old can help pick the toys she's tired of? Should she be involved with the picking? Or should I just sneak them out to the sale table?

Lastly, I'll leave you with some recent scrapbook pages. Just click on the picture to see the credits. Have a great weekend everyone!

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break from Kylie's school. She is attending camp at MyGym from 8:30 - 12:30. Monday's theme was a glow-in-the-dark space adventure. For a craft, she painted a ufo made of black plates with glow-in-the-dark paint. Tuesday's theme was a wild west roundup and she made a cowgirl fringe vest out of a paper bag (with lots of glitter paint and sequins added).

Yesterday's theme was superheroes.


And Kylie made this cape.


I'm grateful that we found a camp with the same hours as her school.

Thanks to those of you who have commented and emailed asking about Karen's sister condition. Amy has less pain in her sacral region which enabled her to come off her pain meds. On last week's visit to the doctor, she was told that the tumors in her liver have grown. Her next procedure will be to have radiation beads put into her liver to treat those tumors. We aren't sure of the date but this procedure should occur in next 2 weeks. You can read more about it all here. Please keep Amy and her family as well as Karen in your thoughts and prayers.

Lastly, head on over to Sacha and Alayna's blog, Two Girls and One Boy, to congratulate them on the birth of their third child, beautiful baby Rosa Jane!

Blowing bubbles

Today I needed to pack away our winter coats and sweep out our garage. Instead I found myself sitting in the grass of our front yard with Kylie. She blew bubbles. She sang songs, and talked and talked. And I made myself stop the busy work and just hang out with her and the camera.

It was lovely. Have a great weekend everyone!

At the beach

Karen's sister Amy and her family spent yesterday afternoon with us. We romped around the beach and had some fun.