Triathlon

Back in the summer of 2009, I participated in a number of triathlons/duathlons.  I find these races to be a challenge because I don't excel at swimming, biking, or running, but I can accomplish all of them.  My challenge is to do better in each discipline at each race I enter.  So I'm always comparing my achievement to myself, not others.  Shortly after my last triathlon in 2009, I became pregnant with Cayle.  Then, I spent the summer of 2010 recovering from my c-section and didn't get back in to the races.  Last summer I didn't train for any races (not sure why??). 

Lindy was born April 16, and Dr Kohn cleared me to begin exercise May 30.  I, however (shockingly), had other plans.  I started working out (cautiously) May 16.  In the past, I've always made good progress working out with the "30 day shred" by Jillian Michaels.  So I started that tape May 16.  Then while we were on our trip to Illinois, I added some running (and a few disastrous bike rides) to the mix.  The running went well in Illinois, but not so good here in the mountains at altitude.  I'll have to keep working on that :)

Sometimes when you have lots of unstructured time on your hands, you make some crazy decisions.  I did that exact thing today by signing up for a triathlon to complete yet this year.  I'll be doing a triathlon that I've done before (in Highlands Ranch) in August.  So until then, I'll be swimming, running, and biking as much as I can.  My goal for this upcoming race is to beat my times from the previous time I competed in this race.

You're welcome to join me in that race :)     

Fire

The whole state of Colorado has been dry this spring and summer - so dry that wildfires have broken out all over the state.  There were obviously a few huge fires, like the High Park Fire up by Fort Collins and the Waldo Canyon fire down by Colorado Springs.  There have been some other, smaller fires, such as the Treasure Fire in Leadville, or an unnamed fire in Glenwood, but nothing terribly close to our house.  That all changed Thursday evening when a storm came through.  The storm left no rain, but brought some lightning and thunder.  Apparently one of those lightning strikes started a fire.  This fire was referred to as the Eby Creek fire.  

we could see the smoke from our front porch

helicopters left the airport behind our house, filled up with water from the river, and dumped it on the fire

an orange moon, colored by the constant smoke in the air

The Eby Creek fire is apparently mostly contained at this time and not spreading.  Continue to pray for rain, cool weather, and no winds so that fires statewide can be controlled and new fires do not start. 

Farmer's Market

One of the things Nick and I enjoyed most about living in Springfield, IL was using our cruiser bikes to ride around town.  We loved riding downtown to go out for a drink, or hit up Cold Stone Creamery, or the Farmer's Market, and arriving at church via bike.  But the cruiser bikes were so big we decided to sell them before we moved to Colorado. 

We could have made use of the bikes the first year that we lived in Eagle.  But once we moved to Gypsum, they wouldn't have been very useful since there is no downtown or real stores in Gypsum (aside from the grocery and now a Family Dollar). 

But tonight was a bit of a flashback to old times...we left the house about 430 pm and rode our bikes over to Eagle to check out the Farmer's Market.  The market wasn't at the park it's been at in the past, but we found fliers around town advertising its new location.  So we headed off on our bikes in search of the market.  Once we arrived, we got the kids out of the Chariot and walked around a bit.  Nick found some beets to make juice out of (hopefully he can explain this later), and we bought a loaf of bread, some mint and basil, and a cookie for the three of us to share before we headed home.  The find of the night was a new homemade pie store - and at her stand the lady happened to have strawberry rhubarb pies, which made Nick's night!

The ride to and from the Farmer's Market was a little further than it was in Springfield, and the market was a bit smaller than it was in Springfield, but we had a great time :)

Settling in to Summer

Although school has been out a while, we are just settling in to summer - aka "doing nothing."  Thursday, June 7 was records day for teachers, so Nick and I worked a half day, and came home to hang out with Cayle and Lindy.  About an hour later, we received the phone call that Grandpa was very sick.  We spent the rest of that day and the next morning packing things up and prepping for the long trip to Illinois.  We are so grateful we arrived in time to talk with grandpa and let him meet our little Lindy before he passed away.  Our trip home was fantastic and filled with so much fun time spent with our family and friends.  The kids did great and slept through most nights, they didn't lose it on the long drives, and they got to see so many family members!  But, all good things must come to an end, so our trip ended just as it began - with a long drive.  We left Illinois on Monday early afternoon and stopped at a holidome in Topeka that night.  We got up Tuesday morning feeling mostly rested and finished the drive home, arriving at our home sweet home about 6 pm MDT.  Since then, we've done a whole lot of nothing!  Nothing includes:
sleeping in, alarm clocks turned off
sitting in pajamas for long periods of time (all day is completely acceptable)
drinking pots of coffee
watching the Today show
watching the Olympic trials
going nowhere planned
exercising whenever we want
eating lots of fresh fruit and veggies
later bedtimes for Cayle
taking a trip up to Beaver Creek to see owls and ride a bus (a mommy and Cayle trip)
hitting up the Eagle Farmer's Market
spending time trolling the internet
watching Wimbledon
play baseball with Cayle in the backyard
watch Cyle swim at 8 am, and again at 9 am, and 10 am, and...

And the list could go on and on.  Mostly the point is there is no rhyme or reason to what we do or when we do it!  It's so much fun to hang out as a family.  The only concern I have is that we'll lose track of the days and forget to go to church on Sunday!    
   

Baptism Blessings

Lindy was baptized on Sunday at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Teutopolis, IL. This is the same church Nick was baptized in and attended as he grew up. Lindy was celebrated by many family and friends. Her baptism was the most personable baptism I've ever witnessed - thanks to Fr. Joe Carlos. She amused everyone by spitting her paci into the holy water twice during the ceremony :) After the baptism, we hosted a picnic out at Nick's parents' lake house. I haven't washed Lindy's hair since her baptism because I can still smell the oil she was blessed with, and I love the smell of it. She's such a sweet little girl. Her little personality is starting to show and she is amazing :)

godparents - Bobby and Lindsey

grandma greats - Alice and Agnes

Lindy not so happy about her cake?  I thought it was pretty!

Mommy and Cayle Adventure

On the long drive through Kansas I checked my email and found there is 1) a children's museum at Beaver Creek and 2) said museum was hosting an educational owl presentation this morning. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun for Cayle and I. He was so excited to learn about owls. On the way up to Beaver Creek, he said the word "owl" no less than 50 times. Literally. So we drove up to the Beave today and parked in the Elk Lot so that we could have the excitement of riding the bus up to the village. Cayle was not a fan (in any way, shape, or form) of getting on the bus. I was only slightly humiliated as he ran away from me and refused to board the bus. At least he didn't yell "kidnapper" or anything like that. I finally got him on the bus (strong-armed him, basically) and he did enjoy the ride up the mountain. He got to ride on an escalator and also really seemed to enjoy that experience! The Beaver Creek Children's Museum was great for him - lots of little play areas that kept his attention while the owl presentation was getting set up. Then, he lasted for about 40 minutes of the owl presentation, which was a pretty long time for him to sit still on my lap. I was worried he'd be freaked out by the owls, but he ended up loving them. He didn't really enjoy all the information they gave about each owl, but he did at least sit quietly and only asked "more" a few times when he was ready to see the next owl. We rode the bus back down to the car, and he seemed to be over his fear of the bus. I didn't have the heart to tell him that a bus at Beaver Creek isn't a real bus - most buses don't have leather seats :)

He loves these types of "puzzles"

He loves trains and tracks

The Owls

More owls

Friends

We have been meeting up with our Springfield/Chatham friends the past few years at a park as we drive through from L-P to Effingham.  This year we got to show off little miss Lindy :)  Although not everyone can make it each year, we have a good time catching up with lots of our old friends.  Everyone brings a dish to share and we let the kids play at the awesome park.  The adults get a chance to hang out and chat and the kids get nice and tired for their afternoon nap - a win/win for everyone!  One of the hardest parts about leaving IL was our great group of friends.  We still miss these guys like crazy, but have made lots of great new friends too :)  There are so many great memories...

PS - Each year I tell myself to make sure I get a picture with everyone who's there and yet it still never happens...I missed over half the people this year.  Boo!     

Miriam (her son Anthony), Tammi, Meghan, Kyle (holding Lindy)

Bob and Lori

Sally

Fish

Help!!! We have lost Cayle!  But we have been blessed with a little fish in his place :)  Cayle has been going to the Gypsum rec pool for over a year now, usually on Monday mornings.  Nick takes him and just lets him play in the indoor pool and get acquainted with water.  Cayle has recently branched out and is really enjoying jumping into the pool from the ledge.  However, on this trip, he's becoming a swimming fool!  He's loved swimming at the lake with his life jacket on, or in grandma Hammers' shark pool, and just playing in sprinklers, or playing on a fantastic "white trash" slip 'n slide uncle Stephen made on Father's Day!

throwing noodles into the lake...a little game he likes to play so that daddy has to go pick them all up!

Cayle a bit leary at first of walking into the lake...

poor cousin Finley

Father's Day slip 'n slide...classy

at cousin Sophie's cool pool swimming with his little sister :)

cousin Finley's super-cool sprinkler

running and splashing into the shark pool at grandma H's house

more noodle fun

walking on the beach with Anne Marie (not really long, but perhaps someday he will enjoy long walks on the beach??)

Hair Cuts

The average price for a haircut in the U.S. is about $45, according to the Professional Beauty Association, a trade organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz. Frederique’s haircuts at Prive in New York City’s Soho Grand Hotel are moderately priced--at least by upscale Manhattan standards--at $125.
But if you're paparazzi fodder, needing to look as impeccable as possible from every angle, you might have your hair done by Frederique’s boss, Laurent Dufourg. He charges clients, who include Cameron Diaz and Salma Hayek, $350 and up.
And, he’s not the priciest around. If you can even get an appointment with Orlando Pita, owner of Orlo, in New York City, you will be expected to cough up $800. His clients include Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Hmmm.... I just bought a new clippers for $50, which I thought was kind of expensive. Definitely the most expensive clippers I have purchased. The ones I usually buy are about $30 and lasts for about 2 years on average. I decided I liked the features on this new one, and it was on sale for $50, so I decided to splurge...

I was feeling a bit guilty for spending 50 bucks on a clippers, then I got to thinking how much each hair cut actually costs me if the clippers works effectively for 2 years...

That would be 730 days
104 Weeks

I cut my hair every other week.

That would be 52 haircuts over the course of 2 years at a cost of $.96/haircut....

If it happens to last longer than 2 years, then it's even cheaper... I think it's probably ok to spend $50 on a new clippers when you compare my costs to the average.... just sayin :-)

Fathers Day

Was celebrated in Peru, IL with Natalie's family. It was a great one! We made a slip and slide for the kids to play on after having a big lunch with the family. It was a blast! Cayle played so hard with his cousins outside the entire day. Natalie got me a juicer as well... excited to try it out soon!

Cayle loves to clean! Imagine his excitement when finding out Grandma has a mini vacuum!!!

Playing hard with cousins Finley and Sophie!

Finley on the slip-n-slide

Cayle loved the slide!

Happy Fathers day to my dad (bittersweet saying goodbye to grandpa the day before Fathers Day)

Goodbye Grandpa

A few pics of my Grandpa Brummer who died last week. We had the Wake service on Friday, and the funeral on Saturday. It brought the family together, and it was nice to see everyone. Sad week in the Brummer family though. I have lots of good memories and was so excited that Grandpa got to hold baby Lindy for a bit in his last week. It was really cool. He was a great man, and will be missed greatly. He always made time to visit with family. It was his time to go be with the Lord, and while sad to see him go, it was nice to see him be able to go fairly quickly and with little suffering in his last days.

My dad and grandpa doing dishes a couple years ago.

He loved to Dance!

Admiring little baby Lindy during his final few days.

Holding Cayle a year ago.

Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma was by his side the entire time!

The grand kids with grandma and grandpa.

The kids

12 kids

70th Wedding Anniversary

Dancing at their 70th wedding anniversary! How Sweet!

Wheelfast Wednesday Night

Got a chance to head down to my old stomping grounds last night for a bike ride. A 2 hour drive from Natalie's parents house in Chatham, IL. It was the easy paced Wednesday night ride from Wheelfast bicycle company. And it was an easy ride... we averaged 15 mph....

My good friend Matt owns the shop and just recently moved into a new, larger building. The new shop is SO nice! This is by far the best bike shop I've ever been too, as far as customer service and turn-around on repairs and quality of service. So happy to see things are going well for him and his business! It was really great to see a lot of my old riding buddies, and to catch up with Matt for a bit. If you are around the Springfield/Chatham, IL area and need a bike shop, this is the one to go to! 

Rite of Passage

It's turned into a rite of passage of some type. Each kid has to have nap time with Grandpa in the Hammock...

Cayle taking a good nap with Grandpa B in the hammock out at the lake. They both slept like babies!

Lindy taking a long nap with Grandpa in the Hammock at the lake.