Random

THE DONALD's 757 parked at the Eagle County Airport. (In our backyard) Huge plane, wouldn't expect much less...

Took Cayle out for a bike ride today. It was 66 degrees and sunny! Great weather! It was during his nap time. A 2 hour ride. He did great, as always! Slept for an hour and forty five minutes. When he woke, he was kind of fussy, so I took off his hat and opened the windows in the Chariot. He said he was hot. A couple minutes later he was still fussing, so I stopped to try to give him a drink. He didn't want it, so we took off, I was just thinking he would stop crying, but after a couple minutes of screaming his head off, I stopped again, knowing that he just doesn't act like this! When I opened the cover on the Chariot.... I saw what he was screaming about! There were chunks everywhere! He had puked all over himself! His ENTIRE lunch! And he was freaking out! So I got him out, and took his clothes off, and called Natalie, since we were on our way home anyway. I took him to the medical center to use the bathroom and clean him up, and Natalie came and picked us up. Once he finally stopped crying, he was fine! Came home, took a bath, put fresh clothes on, and.... fine! Sat on Natalie's lap for a bit, then started playing like nothing had ever happened. Had a great night! So... not sure what happened really. I was thinking a combo of things... just woke up/hot/hat over eyes and confused/panicked/puked... something like that???

Fun vs. Training

One of my favorite things about biking is getting new people involved with the sport. I enjoy it so much, and know that others will too, so always want to help them get a new bike, learn to train better, go on group rides, etc.... So it's always tough when someone says to me, "Hey, if you ever wanna just ride slow, let me know, I'd love to join you."

You see, I would love to say, ya that sounds great, let's do it (and sometimes I do.) But it's tough because of the time that I put into it and what my goals are (win races.) Especially on my training plan. I only train 6-8 hours per week, and the value is placed on quality over quantity, so there are not really any "wasted" go slow workouts. I am either going hard/all out, or resting. The system works for me to have a successful season, and works the best with my growing family, so I am not going to change that. The one day a week that there are no structured intervals is Sunday. 2 hours at a decent pace. Too bad, Sunday's don't work for a lot of people.

So there is often this dilemma: ride slow and get people more involved in the sport OR seem like a bike snob and shoot for my personal goals...

I'm sure a lot of amateur/elite level athletes face this dilemma all the time, and probably just want to say, "How about you just train a little bit more, then I don't have to ride so slow..." But that's actually pretty jerkish and insensitive. (and not like me...) :)

For now I will try my best to incorporate rides with people that want to get involved. That is after all, what I want in the big picture... you know since my chances of being a PRO cyclist are most likely past.... :-)

March Madness!

The best time of the year in sports is when college basketball starts. The 2nd best sporting time of the year is when the NCAA tournament begins. Then MLB and yadda, yadda, yadda. But you get the point. NCAA tourney begins tomorrow!!! 3 weeks of great and intriguing basketball games! Natalie and I each have 2 brackets filled out, well actually, I have one, she has one, Cayle has 1 and Baby B #2 has one. I have Missouri winning it all, Natalie has Missouri, Cayle has North Carolina, and Baby B#2 has North Carolina as well... go figure, and we didn't talk to each other about our brackets either! I did Baby B's and Natalie did Cayle's and we came up with the same thing.... hopefully Missou and Carolina do well!

Weather

Has been great! We hit just over 60 today, and it looks like that for the remainder of the week, before mid 40's and rain this weekend. That's gonna be a shock to the system, but I think it will be short lived... fingers crossed! Ready to get out on the Mountain Bike!

Looks like it hit mid 70's today back at my parents house in IL... That's crazy for March!! Wondering what all these warm spring temps will mean for summer heat??? Wait and see I guess?

Emotions

I cried myself to sleep last night. Did I get some really bad news? No. Did Nick and I get in a fight? No. I simply read the articles I received yesterday about helping Cayle transition from being an only child to a sibling. Here's how it all went down...

A few months ago, I received a flier from Dr Kohn about services offered by the hospital. Among the services they offer are some educational classes: for soon-to-be new parents, refresher courses for those who have had already been through the birthing process, and a class for children who are about to become siblings. I didn't feel any of the birthing classes really applied to us since I'll be having a C-section. But I did inquire about the siblings class. I found out the class consisted of avisit to the hospital to meet the nurses, see a birthing room, watch a short video, have a tour of the maternity ward, that kind of thing. I figured Cayle would enjoy the hospital, and it made me feel better knowing he'd be comfortable coming to visit me in the hospital. So, the class was yesterday. We attended the class with our friends Justin and Melinda, who have a son Macklin (Cayle swims with him on Mondays at the rec center). Macklin is about 7 weeks older than Cayle. And Justin and Melinda's baby girl is due on April 8.

The class went well, and the boys seemed to do a pretty good job. Cayle did not wnt to wear his scrubs when he took the tour of the hopsital, but he certainly did enjoy the popsicle he received at the end of the tour! Both Cayle and Macklin paid special attention to the 2-day old baby they got to see! At the end of the class, the boys received stickers and coloring books. All the moms and dads received some articles to read over with helpful hints on making the transition from one child to two.

Macklin and Cayle not quite sure what to think about such a small baby!

The boys enjoying their post-sibling class popsicles!

Cayle sporting his stickers from Macklin...on his face, of course!

Last night, I decided I'd read the articles before I went to bed. Big mistake. There were two articles and I barely finished one. I appreciated the information about trying to understand where Cayle is coming from, how he is used to getting all of our attention - immediately! - when he wants it, how to incorporate him and allow him to "help" with the baby, and to remember to give Cayle plenty of one-on-one time with both mommy and daddy. I also read about keeping Cayle on a schedule and not forcing him to think the baby is "all that and a bag o' chips!"

The part that really upset me was the reality that is setting in that Cayle won't be the very center of my universe. For almost two years, my life has revolved around everything Cayle needs and wants. Nick and I have both made so many sacrifices for this little boy who deserves nothing but the very best from both of his parents. Now I'm starting to feel sad for him to have to share that attention. Obviously Cayle isn't the first little boy to have to share mom and dad's attention...but he's MY first little boy, and it breaks my heart because I am worried about him being sad or not getting the attention he needs. He has made being a mommy so easy because he is such a good boy - so happy and fun to be around! I am so excited for the next phase of our family to begin (only 36 more days!), but you can bet that I'm going to spend every moment I can in the next 5 weeks giving my little boy every bit of mommy's attention that I can :)

System Break-Down

I had one of my top 5 worst days in education as a teacher today....

Ya, I hear ya, "but it's Saturday, how is that even possible???"

I worked Saturday school this morning. Saturday is supposed to be a time from 7am to 10am for the kids that are behind to come and have help from teachers to get caught up. It has in the past been a great thing, and a lot of the kids really use it to help them stay caught up. It just so happens that some of the kids that are so far behind, also some behavior issues.

When Natalie and I were kids going through the public school system, we never got in trouble... :-) Ok, so maybe we did once in a while, but if and when we did, according to our parents it was always our fault. Not once, not EVER was it even a remote possibility that it may be the teacher's fault! It was always up to us, to go back to the teacher/person in charge and apologize, or find out what we did wrong, and what we could/should do or have done differently. At the time, I thought it was so unfair that my parents wouldn't even listen to MY side of the story. Now I thank them for that lesson! From what I hear, Natalie's parents were the same way.

So here's the issue, if you haven't already figured it out, the kids with behavior issues, bring those issues with them to Saturday school. Defiance, disruptions, distractions, not listening, arguing every single thing you say, I think you get the point. And you say, why not tell them to be quiet or just to get to work? For one they don't listen, and two, there are different ways you are supposed to approach/instruct each kid, and if you happen to say anything that they don't like, they will go home and tell their parents, and then you (the teacher) get in trouble because the parents don't like how you told their child to get to work. The last time I worked Saturday school, I kicked a kid out for being a major disruption, then had to hear from his dad how I wasn't fair to him, and he just wanted to be there to get caught up on his work, and I was taking that opportunity away from him. 2 times ago when I was working, I kicked a kid out for being a major disruption, and then his mom called and accused me of not being fair to her child, and not being just, and she cussed at me, and told me that I just don't know how to deal with kids with learning disabilities... (I had a chuckle at that one...)

So what it has come down to is you have kids there that want to work and get caught up, and you have kids that are there because they refuse to do anything. ever. And teachers think they should go to Saturday school for punishment. Those kids distract the ones who are behind and use it to catch up on things, so then the Saturday school concept is no longer working. And if kids are being distractions, how dare you (the teacher) say anything to them and ask them to stop, cause they will have their parents take care of you. So you are just stuck.

Let them be distractions while still trying to help the others? Or Try to get them to stop being distractions and risk getting in "trouble" for doing so?

This morning about 9am, the other teacher and I were just at a loss as to how to proceed? What do you do?

The system (public education) is breaking down, and has been for several years now. Classroom teachers deal with it every day, and it's just a part of the job. I respect them for their ability to do this. Some are very good at it, and some not so much, and for that reason they tend not to stick around long, or are always involved in confrontations with kids and parents.

It's just so different from how we were raised, and I only see it getting worse.

It just scares me because I wonder what our society will be like when all these kids are grown up?

Happenings...

View of the valley that we live in. The big mountain in the background is Hardscrabble mountain. Home of the "real" mountain bike trails.
Sweet potatoe pancakes Natalie made for dinner last night! Awesome! Super smooth and yummy! I had mine with Light and Fit yogurt and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Fantastical!
Cayle loves laying on Natalie's lap and play the Iphone or Ipad while she scratches his back.
We got out for a good bike ride before school this morning. Took Cayle up a semi-dry dirt road for a little ride. He loved it! He HAS to ride his bike every day! He loves riding on rocks the best!