Piano Recital

Today was the kids' piano recital. 

Sam just completed his second year of piano and performed "Green Frog Hop."

Maria just completed her sixth year of piano and performed "Minuet in G" by Bach.

Check back for video of their performances!

Maria Turns 12 Years Old!

One more year until we are the parents of a teenager.  I always say this, but the time sure flies by, and I just can't believe my little girl is this old.  But since I can't stop time, the best I can do is enjoy every second and be very proud of the young lady that my daughter is turning out to be.

This year, the celebrations began with a family birthday party that was actually a week early, so that we could celebrate while both sets of grandparents were already here for her dance recitals.  Her main gifts this year were a cell phone (her first), and a Nook (electronic reader).  We had a dinner of shish kabobs (her choice), and topped it off with an ice cream cake before we dashed off to the recital.

This past Friday night, six of Maria's friends joined us at Skate Zone 71 to roller skate and play Laser Tag. This went well, even though many of the girls had not roller skated before.  Then we brought the girls back here for a slumber party, which didn't go too late - the last noise Ben heard was around 1:00 a.m. 

Today, Maria's actual birthday, was pretty low-key.  Maria got two more gifts - a new baseball glove (which she had been asking for), and a new mirror for the back of her door.  And we had the kids' piano recital this afternoon.  Maria's birthday dinner of choice was last night at Red Lobster, where the staff brought her a piece of cake and sang to her.

It seems we did a lot for her birthday, although its the same as every year, it just seems longer since it was dragged out over eight days.  I'm sure she's a little disappointed its all over, but with only eight more days of school left, she has summer vacation to look forward to!

Dance Recitals 2011

Annual dance recitals for Maria were last weekend on Friday and Saturday nights.  Ben actually did too, since he danced with Maria in the Father/Daughter dance.  Maria has been taking some type of dance class for the last seven years.  This year, she was involved in three classes, Jazz Dance III (she was placed in Jazz III even though it was only her second year of jazz, and did great), Extreme Motion (a show choir type class in which students sing and dance), and Gymnastics.  Her performances were the same each night - a total of seven performances including individual class and larger group numbers, but require many costume changes as she goes back and forth between the three classes she's involved in.  Ben and I went on both nights, but Sam and the grandparents only attended Saturday night's show since it was three hours long!  Including the dress rehearsals for the shows and weekly practices and classes, Maria invests a large amount of her free time into these activities and not only enjoys it, but does very well.  I don't have video to post yet - we had to purchase the DVD from the company filming it - so you'll just have to take my word for it - she did a great job.  But, as with everything this time of year, we are relieved its over and ready for a break over the summer.

Last Soccer Game

Yesterday was Sam's last soccer game of the season, and it was a fairly successful experience.  Sam has had ups and downs, scored one goal all season but most of the time, he got in there and went after the ball.  Except when he sometimes didn't feel like it, and then he didn't.  It is an awful lot of running, and most kids had to play three out of four quarters, which was tiring.  I also have some doubts as to how motivating the coaches were, but since I'm not willing to coach, I guess I can't criticize.  They ended up with a 4-3 record, but two of the losses came form the same team, who went undefeated.  He seemed to enjoy himself most of the time, and will probably play again in the fall. 

Maria's Induction into NJHS

Yesterday Maria was inducted into Fairbanks Middle School National Junior Honor Society.  Out of the 81 kids in her school that qualified academically, 53 applied, and only 18 were selected.  Of those, 10 were 6th graders, out of a class of around 75 kids.  Needless to say, we're very proud of her, and so glad all of her hard work and pleasant, helpful personality shines through to the staff at school.  Three of her closest friends were inducted also, which reinforces the fact that she has chosen good friends as well.  The NJHS is very active, with many service projects throughout the year - she has to get in 5 service hours in the next two weeks already.  But I think it's a worthwhile activity, and it will be fun for her and a good experience to do some service projects and give back to the community.  The induction, paired with her dance recitals this weekend and her family birthday party today, is making this quite a weekend for my almost 12-year-old.

Mother's Day

This year for Mother's Day we finally came through with a promise we've been making to the kids for a few years.  Each summer since Sam has learned to ride his bike without training wheels, we've promised the kids that we would buy a bike rack for the van so that we could take our bikes to local parks to ride.  But each year we never got around to it.  Then when Ben started to do serious research on bike racks last year, he determined that my current bike would not ride on most racks that could sit on the back of the van.  So I would need to get a new bike - which I wanted anyway - but it did make the original promise harder to keep as now it would be much more expensive than we had originally thought.  So yesterday we went to a bike shop and I got to pick out a new bike for my Mother's Day gift.  It's actually pretty similar to the bike Maria got for her birthday last year (we are the same size, after all) and after trading the seat for a more cushioned variety, its very comfortable to ride. 


So my request for Mother's Day was that we take our bikes to Glacier Ridge park for a long bike ride this afternoon.  And we were all shocked when the weather actually cooperated.  I got my run in and house cleaning done this morning, then took a nap after lunch, and by the time we left around 3:00, it was partly sunny and 68 degrees - by far the nicest day we've seen in weeks.  So Ben got the bikes ready to go and we headed to the park.  In all, we rode 7 miles, and stopped in the middle for a restroom break and quick snack.  The trail had some puddles, and Sam's back got covered in mud toward the end of the trip, and that combined with an uphill ride meant he was pretty grouchy for the last mile.  But it was a long ride for him, and he was hungry and ready for dinner too.  So loaded up the van, headed to Chipotle for dinner (Ben's choice - my meal out was last night while we were in Columbus shopping) and then were home by 6:00.

It was a wonderful Mother's Day, and it felt kind of like an entire weekend was devoted to me since we did the shopping and meal out yesterday.  Ben also helped with the house cleaning this morning, and both he and the kids gave me cards and a new coffee mug this afternoon.  I am truly blessed and so appreciative of this wonderful family.

Sam's Spring Soccer Season

If my math is right, this is Sam's 10th soccer season - each fall and spring since he the fall he turned four years old.  That's a lot of cold, windy soccer games we've sat through!  This season's weather has not been great - a few practices have been cancelled due to rain, but we haven't had any wet games yet.  His team this year is doing pretty well, with a record of 4-1 so far. Sam has scored one goal, and has played pretty well overall.  He does tend to get tired toward the middle and end of the game, though, and then doesn't really feel like going after the ball.  That's how he seems to be about sports - either he's really in the zone, or he doesn't seem to care much and just follows the rest of the team up and down the field.  Keep in mind, its his idea to play sports - we don't push him in any way.  So I think sooner or later his attitude will go completely one way or the other, and until then, its the coach's job to deal with it.

Ben's First Marathon!

Here's Ben's post from his Daily Mile site about The Flying Pig Marathon today.  We are so proud of him!

Observations from my first Flying Pig and first marathon ever:

1. There will never be enough bathrooms before a race. How about y'all just let us pee in the river?

2. Rain during the race was a mostly good thing. The soles of my feet suffered down the stretch because of the wet socks, but it kept us all pretty cool considering the mid-upper 60's we were running in.

3. There were so many little things that went right on race day. I was dressed just right. I'm glad I took my water bottle and hydration was not an issue. Gu's went down well and I had no stomach issues and no nausea at any point. I suffered no light headedness or instability.

4. The big hills were not a problem while I was in them. I took it easy and thought my strategy was sound. Only in the end did they get me. 1500ft of hills was more than I was expecting.

5. The only problem I had the entire race is that I hit mile 22.5 and I just could NOT run any more. I walked most of 1.5 miles before resuming something that somewhat resembled running for the last 1.7 miles. I was steady...just REALLY slow. I don't think that any different strategy earlier in the race could have saved me from hitting the wall. I just have to go back and train differently last time.

6. The taper and carb loading seems like a load of crap to me. I had a faster and stronger 21.5 miles a few weeks ago with a normal diet and 30 miles that week before the long run. Unless it was the hills that did it to me.

7. The naked guy: Andy P. and I were running back into Ohio around mile 3 and noticed a guy ahead of us whose shorts were falling down in the back...bare assed. He pulled them up a couple of times, but they just wouldn't stay up. He took his shirt off and the shorts seemed to be holding...and then he veered off the course, presumably for a bathroom break, but he returned to the course totally naked. He ran about a mile and a half before we saw the cops coming...he was about a 1/4 mile ahead of us at this point. When we found him again, he was lying in the middle of the road, bloody, and cuffed...still naked. From what I hear, they had to taze him. I have no idea if running naked was his plan, or if it was just the last resort. Regardless, he obviously didn't want to stop or put his clothes back on. This might have gone unnoticed in NYC, but the repressed Cincinnati folk couldn't handle a naked guy in their race.

8. The worst part of the day was slowly watching my pace expectations disappear during the last few miles. I was passed by the 3:30 pace group at mile 14, then by the 3:40, 3:45, and 4:00 groups during my walking. I was also passed by a lot of runners in that last stretch, including a couple girls in tu-tus, and a guy running in a full kilt. My theoretical goal was 3:30. A more realistic goal for me would have been 3:50. Now I know.

9. The best part of the day was seeing my family waiting for me at finish line. They were so patient and waited WAY longer than I'd told them they had to. I got some good pictures which I'll post in a few.

10. The medal is awesome! The backpack was unexpected. The shirt...is somewhat disappointing. It's kinda "blah" and cheap looking. Otherwise the SWAG was pretty good.

11. It was an honor to run with Brandon B. , Andrew P. , and Andy S. They have been amazing training partners and it was so rewarding to see them finish ahead of me. Andy P. and I ran together for the first 6 miles but he attacked the course and did very well. Brandon passed me right before mile 22 and I got to chat with him. Andy S. passed me at some point in the race, but I'm not quite sure when. Great job guys!

12. I hurt. My legs really hurt and I'm still exhausted. We'll see if work is a possibility in the morning. I'm more tired and sore than I could have imagined. I'm taking a few days off, okay? :-)

13. Finally...I don't know if I'll do this again. It was an amazing experience, but if I do attempt another marathon, I'll be on a different training program. I don't like "the wall". I don't want to run into it again.