Day 289 - Lake Chaparral Triathlon

GO TEAM ORANGE!


I was up & at it like a house on fire this morning to boogie in to cheer Jenn on & take photos of her first ever triathlon. A bittersweet training path, Jenn was thrown all sorts of curveballs to throw her off track, but she stuck it out & made it to race day. I'm so proud of her determination & dedication. She is unstoppable!


Of course, I was running late & when I arrived, I had about 15 minutes to find Jenn, Mike & the kids. I knew the kids & Mike would be wearing orange, but as it turned out, so were all the volunteer staff! Whoops! And finding Jenn... Hmm... Well, she was wearing a wetsuit with a red swim cap & goggles. Just like everyone else was! Thank Heavens I saw Mike & the kids & he was able to point her out. She was already in the water. I had wanted to give her a hug before she started & to my delight, she came out of the water to see the kids & I snuck in a soggy hug.


And with a blast on the horn, she was off! I would have drowned had I needed to swim that far! I ended up taking photos of chunks of the group, as I lost her in the flurry of water & limbs & figured she can pick herself out of the mass! 


Harrison played in the sand & water while Mike kept him from going into the water too far. I watched Heidi, who quietly smiled at me from time to time. That little girl is SO well behaved! She didn't make a peep the entire 2 hours! Impressive! 


Before we knew it, Jenn was nearing her swim finish. We went over to the exit point to see her come out. I took a few snaps & then it was a rush over to the transition area where she'd be coming out on her bike. YAY MAMA J! Mike, the kids & I then relocated across the street where she would cycle by twice before she started her run. The signs were a hit & Jenn told me later on that some random person hollered 'YAY MAMA J' as she ran past! AWESOME!!! (Thanks again Janis!!!) Even Harrison caught on & would randomly shout, 'GO MAMA!' It was adorable! 


Lastly, we waited for her to run across the finish line. I am so proud of her! What a great challenge & what an amazing accomplishment! Did I mention I'm proud of her!? :o)


Exhausted & starving, she left for home, shower, food, nap - in that particular order! I made my way home & also had a nap. I have had a brutal headache for a few days running now. I woke up to Mom stomping around the house - I guess she's home now! And the rumbling of thunder outside. It wasn't just your average rumbling of thunder, it was the loud crackling type. AWESOME! Yup, soon enough, the hail arrived. It was so cold out from the hail, every time I walked outside, I could see my breath! 


Unka Jer & Roxy have arrived, but I have yet to visit with them, as I went to bed early. My headache was slashing its way through my skull. Mom massaged my back with Tiger Balm, I slathered peppermint oil on my face & off to bed I went. It was 2200. I woke up at 0145 still feeling rubbish, in fact, nauseous, hot & horribly in pain. I put more peppermint oil on & a cold washcloth on my face. Somewhere in there I fell back asleep & didn't wake up until 1000! Thankfully without the headache! 


That's it for Sunday... See you on Monday! (Only 3 more sleeps until Jaco arrives!)
xxxx
Maria & Valentina

Good luck Mama J!

Can you see her? Now you understand my dilemma! 

Harrison finds some new friends

Okay, I'm pretty sure she's in here!

Video crew on the water

Boys will be boys!

Heidi Jo waits patiently. For 2 hours!

Harrison tries to get Daddy's shoes wet.

Good throw!

Watching the men start

Walkin' on the beach

2 Peas in a Pod!

A Whole Lotta Swimmers!

1st third done! Way to go!

Onto the bike!

Jenn's cheering section - we were tiny, but we were loud!

Spin Mama J! Spin!

...And the crowd goes wild!

Well, pretty wild... Note Heidi sound asleep in the stroller.

Video crew at it again!

Second lap nearly done!

Onto the run & we even got a shout out from our favourite Triathlete!

YOU DID IT!!! Across the finish line!!!

Yay Mama J! Congratulatory kisses!

Harrison is happy now that he's got his Mama back!

I've got hail photos too, but the triathlon was more exciting! Maybe another day!

Day 283 - Long Weekend?

I'm sure you'll all disagree with me, but this weekend seemed extra long! Probably because I'm rather bored (not for lack of things to do, just lack of motivation!) & I don't have a job to 'look forward' to after a long weekend! It was quite a rainy weekend, with a lot of thunder. I LOVE listening to the rain fall & the thunder roll. Tonight was quite spectacular. I counted for 40+ seconds of consistent thunder as it rolled on down the valley. Sweet!

I visited Shauna at EVIC & Dave, one of the Conservation Officers, happened to stop in. I haven't seen him since the end of June. He was going to shave his head at the party, but his scheduled was swapped around, so he couldn't make it! :o( In any case, he's a sweetheart & he always brightens my day! Rumour has it he'll be around this fall & I have yet to meet his new girlfriend... Gotta love romance in the East Kan! I'm excited for his happy heart! His girlfriend spotted the dogs & I the other day. She was driving on the highway & said she saw a girl with a shaved head & 2 wiener dogs in matching raincoats. I guess that fits our description! :o) Well spotted!

Valentina was excited to visit Shauna & Dave & her excitement peaked when Shauna picked up the pen/laser pointer. Shauna didn't even turn the laser on, but Valentina knew it could happen at any moment! What a dog!

We walked home & I threw the ball for her. It's a new ball & quite heavy. She kept dropping it out of her mouth, as it was slobbery & wet. She runs so fast by the time I get ready to throw the ball, I nearly hit her on the head! I'm not a great pitcher (yet) & yes, I throw like a girl! I always chuckle how she'll have the ball in her mouth, but pop her tongue out the side after she has ran for awhile.

I managed to jog to EVIC today! I was quite pleased I could actually do it! I haven't done much (any) exercise as of late, so I am quite unfit. Yesterday I fumbled through my yoga/ab video. I'm anxious to get back in shape, but a long ways from it! Sigh. The road to health is long & winding, not to mention challenging. In any case, I'll get there!

Alrighty, tomorrow is my only day in the city to run around. I'll end it here...

Sweet dreams,

Maria & Valentina

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Dave the CO

Tweet Pea & her ball.

Slightly blurry (my bad), but note the tongue out the side of her mouth!

Day 281 - Nothin' Like A Good Ol' Thunderstorm!

Another relatively uneventful day... Wake up, check messages, have breakfast, sit outside & read for a bit... Not too enthralling.

I had been up late last night helping Mom rescue one of her hard drives & this morning I took it to her first thing. She seemed quite ungrateful that I'd helped her out - not sure where her head space was at. But then later, all was revealed. She wants to give away Oceana. 

Yeah, I'm pretty much devastated. She hasn't even had her for 3 months & she's already trying to pawn her off. Worst of all on some fellow from her past that treated her like junk... What's he going to do to the dog??? Over my dead body will she give poor Oceana to him!

So, now it looks like I've got 2 dogs. I haven't done any training with Oceana because she's Mom's dog & I didn't want to interfere. I dug out my 51 Puppy Tricks book & the training will commence tomorrow. I get so frustrated with my Mother sometimes. I feel like she tries to 'fix' an area of her life, but gets confused at which one is the most important! The saddest part of all is poor Oceana! She is very submissive & has latched onto Mom like no dog I've ever seen. Mom can't go anywhere without Oceana hot on her heels. 

I'll start taking a list of anyone who wants to dog sit while I'm visiting Jaco this winter! :o) 

I joked with a friend of mine today that I'm sure Mom would have pawned my brother & I off had she been given the chance... Now that I think of it, I do have that one girlfriend who looks A LOT like Mom & she's a few years older... Hmm...

Needless to say, I wanted out of the house, so I put the girls' matching raincoats on & went down to EVIC. The thunder started to roll half way there & we arrived just in time for it to start pouring. We sat inside & observed the flashes while Joe counted the time between lightning & thunder. Some of them were pretty close!

I waited awhile before I walked back home in the rain. The girls didn't really like their raincoats. At one point, I felt like I was dragging both of them, instead of them walking on their own. I turned around & sure enough, I was dragging them! Their hoods had fallen down over their eyes & they couldn't see a thing! All I could see was a red or pink coat with a little black nose poking out the front end & a tail out the back! 

They were both caked in mud & dirt by the time we arrived home, so I carried them straight to the tub. A quick rinse & towel dry & they were good as new. They had a blast ripping around the house playing & drying off. One excited wiener dog is fun, never mind two of them!

I decided to bake something this evening. I found a recipe for banana bread in my Caribbean cookbook (Thanks Winners!) that sounded good. Of course, I don't use the regular ingredients & well, I think I'll have to bake it a few times to perfect it. I used raw sugar instead of light brown sugar, coconut flour instead of self-rising flour, almond milk instead of milk... The flour made things pretty dry. I added more milk & an extra egg. Additionally, it said to grease the tin, so I put olive oil on it. Then added the parchment paper. I'm not sure how it happened, but the bottom of the bread is oily & there was a bunch of water & oil in the bottom of the tin. Let's just say it's edible, but heavy. Next time, I'll cut out some flour & perhaps use butter instead of olive oil?

Seriously, someone needs to invent Culinary Bootcamp for people like me. I could be a Fruigivore like my husband. He'll eat oranges, I'll eat cherries & berries. Lord help us come winter! :o)

In any case, I decided to make myself a routine last night. It works for kids & dogs, so why not me? As I type this entry, I'm about 2 hours behind schedule, but I'll see what I can do to catch up! :o) Part of my schedule includes meal planning for the following day. I liked the look of a lot of the recipes in the Caribbean cookbook, so I'll see what I can find that's yummy! (& healthy!)

I finally hooked up my Magic Jack, after giving my husband grief about not having his set up! :o) I'm pretty excited about it! If you leave me a message, it emails me the message & I can listen to it in my email program! How cool is that? I love Magic Jack! (Did I mention you pay $20/yr for long distance anywhere in Canada & the USA?) And you can take it anywhere in the world & call Canada/USA for that same $20/yr??? What a great invention! **It costs $40 for the Jack, $20/yr or $70 for 5 yrs, plus $10 for a Canadian number** See website for details. Okay, my infomercial is done! :o)

I caught up with a girlfriend from Saskatchewan last night. I haven't spoken to her in awhile & it was great to hear her voice. She has two adorable boys, Buster & Huxley. She has caught a lot of flack for naming her first son, Buster. Agreed, it's not a common name, but it TOTALLY suits him! Last night we Wikipedia'd 'Buster' & there are a lot of famous 'Buster's' out there. Even I was impressed! One from South Africa & one from the UK who was involved in the early developments in IVF! Crazy! I hope her mind is at ease, knowing her son has a unique & meaningful name.

Our conversation was cut short when the lightning returned & every flash I saw made a click on the phone! Okay! Time to go! I fell asleep to the sound of the rain hammering down outside my window.

Have a great Sunday everyone! xxxx

Maria, Valentina & Oceana

Matching jackets for the sisters.

Please, Mama, play with me?

Tangled up!

I've got it!

Tug o' war!