Photo Dump - June

 Photo Dump. It has been a wild month. And since it has been month, I have a bit to catch up on and if I don't do it now, it won't happen.
We had a major storm here at the end of June which left us without power for about 24 hours. We were very lucky. Lots of people were without power for much longer - up to a week and it was blisteringly hot and humid. Think 106 and no power. And with humidity, shade isn't cool. It made for a miserable 24 hours. But really, I can't complain. Though we got power back on quickly, we didn't have internet for over a week. Who knew life could be so hard without internet. I had no idea what to do with my billions of eggplants and zucchini. And thus, no blogging. So here is a major catch up. I'm into instagram lately, so excuse my funky filters, but I like them.

 

 This boy loves his kung fu panda hat. He wore it all day long. Had to practice for the big SF Giants game.

 Happy anniversary to us (next month). We bought ourselves a new lens! I like it. It makes our camera look so beefy.

 Lego architecture exhibit. Pretty cool, and you can build stuff too. Bill and Asher were in heaven. Until Asher got bored, which was shortly after this picture. In due time, Bill. Be patient.

 I couldn't help myself, I had to buy Asher these euro swim trunks. I see why mothers eat their babies. He is delicious!

 Cousin's birthday!

Asher's cars had been disappearing one by one. We opened up the sub-woofer and their was a parking lot of cars in there.

 Bill has been playing on the firms softball team. All the firm league games are played on the Ellipse (behind the White House) pretty cool.

 Firm league baseball. Yep, we live in kind of a cool place.

 More baseball. We went to the Giants/Nationals game. Again, was blisteringly hot. So hot Asher could only wear his hat while Sandoval -the Kung Fu Panda, hit. We think Asher was lucky, because Sandoval hit a homer. We left before the 7th. We spent a small fortune on beverages trying to keep cool and still couldn't cool down.

 4th of July fireworks were view on the roof of Bill's firm. We were just off capital hill, so we could hear the show they were putting on at the Capitol and see all the fireworks going off down by the Washington Monument- as seen in the background.

 Another game, but with awesome firm seats. 2nd row behind the Nationals dugout. Who knew professional baseball players were so big? And, it was blisteringly hot. Again. But shade kicked in and we were able to make it through the entire game. Our friend Jeff, who came with us, was sitting next to Ben Bernanke - the Chairman of the Fed.

Fini!

My Tri

 Warning: this post will probably only be interesting to me. It is a lot of me.  I'm writing this down so that I don't forget how the race went and all the mistakes I made. I figure if I write them down, there is no way I can forget them for future races.

I can't believe it is June. In January, after years of harassing from Bill, I signed up for a triathlon. He has been bugging me to do one for a long time and I'm not sure why I haven't. I guess I've just felt the need to get my running under control, then when I was somewhat satisfied with that, then I could try some other things. So in January, I signed up for a June triathlon, that way, I could get some good spring road races in before I focused on 2 other events.
I was really nervous going into this. There was always guilt about not getting in more workouts. I felt like my scheduled bike rides got rained out every week, fitting in two a days was hard (or I was lazy), Bill tends to work a little bit later with this new job, yada yada yada. I'm full of excuses. Plus I always felt like my running was getting the shaft, which made me grumpy since I like running the most.
I felt pretty confident in my swimming and running skills. My biking is weak. I'm the first to admit it. I hate riding, I don't hate it, it just stresses me out. There is way less control, you could get a flat tire, gears aren't shifting properly, cars don't share the road, etc.  But I was as ready as I was going to get. And the morning of the race, after looking at the swim course, I was little panicked. It was 1,000 meter swim and it was really far out - in the Chesapeake Bay (waves and salt water). But I got over it all and it was really fun.
Anyway, after the first 200 meters of the swim, I felt like I got in a good rhythm and didn't feel like there was too much jostling for position and hung on for the ride. I came out of the water in 11th place (of the women's wave) and was happy with the results, especially since the 10 people in front of me were all within less than a minute.

 My transition was super slow, I fumbled around, I lost my Gu that I shoved in my pocket, and turned around to place my wetsuit out of the way. It was ridiculous. Lost lots of time on the transition.
 

  And I lost even more time on the bike. I know that cycling is my weak event. But everyone was passing me left and right and they were all on awesome/expensive triathlon bikes. I'm sure they already had a lot of skill, but I think having an amazing bike could have helped me, even just a little bit. I still would have been destroyed but maybe not quite as bad. The leading women were about 10 minutes ahead of me. And the Athena's were flying past me too.
 

Above, the home stretch, the announcer called my name and said I was looking strong - thus I gave the pose which Bill managed to catch. Below, though I dislike posting pictures of my backside, Bill wanted to document how salty I was - literally, not figuratively.

 Luckily, I'm a runner. I had yet another ridiculously slow transition from bike to run. But overall, I was feeling fine. I grabbed a Gu and my water bottle because it was getting hot and that salt water made me really thirsty. In the end, yes, it was one more thing to haul along, but I think it paid off not having to grab water at an aid station. Anyway, I flew through the 2 lap 5 miles course. Felt great and was surprised at the pace that I was able to hold through the whole thing. Passed a lot of people and made up some time.

 My run time was number 1 of all the women, by about a minute. So I guess I learned that my running wasn't suffering by having to split up my workout between swimming and biking.

Anyway, the race was awesome. Loved the distance, it was between a sprint and an olympic - with the distances being 1,000 meter swim, 20 mile bike, and 5 mile run. Bill loved it way more than watching road races. And, he was a great support. I spotted him a couple times running around to different locations with Asher in one arm and the camera in the other. Asher was a good sport kind of. He woke up at 5:30 and didn't fall asleep the night before until around 11pm. So by 9:30 after the race, he was just crying. A sippy cup full of sprite can only do so much. I definitely think I'll have to do more tris. Lots of fun and a good little challenge.

North Face Endurance Challenge

 Tis racing season. I love it. My latest race this year has been the North Face Endurance Challenge- marathon relay. Can't think of a better way to run a marathon than in a relay. Best. idea. ever.
I had an awesome team that consisted of my sister and two good friends from church - Lindsay and Maren.  I had zero expectations for the race since it was a trail run. I usually hate trail running. It's hard and trails (non-paved) are few and far between in the greater DC area. But we all had a great time. I would definitely do it again. And of the 3 teams participating in our ward, our team won. Always an added perk. We didn't win the whole race, but we were all happy with our individual portions. Anyway, somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of our whole team, so the three of us will have to suffice. Above it the start/finish line. Sister started the race and I ended it.

 Did I mention that it rained like crazy the day before the race? The trails were a slick muddy mess. And the last 400 meters leading up to the finish line was basically a wading pool. So by the time you finish the race, you are spattered with mud and soaking wet.

It really was a perfect day. Great company, great course, smaller race, and perfect temperature with very low humidity.  All in all, it was a success!

Trains

 We were supposed to take a trip to the library this afternoon, but alas, it is pouring and the news has taken over all channels with weather/tornado warnings. So instead of the aforementioned trip, blogging will have to do. Hopefully the 5 pounds of zucchini in my kitchen can last another day until I can find some cookbook to give me ideas as to what to do with all of it.

A while ago, I took some pictures of Asher playing with his trains, per the request of my mother in-law. I think I got a few gems out of the little shoot. For example, the above picture. Asher is showing me how he smiles. I also learned a valuable lesson. Playing with trains requires lots of concentration.

Changes, better than 2-Pac

Oh my, it has been 2 months and 1 day and so many things have changed. First of all, blogger is different. When did that happen? I reopened my blogger hopping I hit a wrong button, but alas, that's just the way it is. C'est la vi.
Where shall I start. I'm doing bullets again. Sorry.

• Asher and I made the pilgrimage out to Utah. It was the first time we had been back in 18 months. Far too long. Flying with a 2 year old is a pilgrimage, as it comes with great sacrifice.
• We had a lovely trip to Vegas with Bill's best friend from Brentwood. I left Asher in Utah with my parents where he had way more fun playing with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. And cars. And Bill and I met up for a weekend of friends and fun.
• All my siblings made it to the great state of Utah for a couple days! It seems to be a rare occurrence for my siblings to all be together anymore. But so fun when it happens.
• Did I mention, Bill and I had a vacation sans kid...yeah, it was great! So I thought I'd just throw it in there again.
• Asher turned 2 in April. He is a funny boy. He talks our ears off and loves to point out everything he sees as we drive. He LOVES his cousin that lives close by and asks for him daily. They are the best of friends until someone steals a Lighting McQueen. But all is quickly forgiven.
• I raced a 10 miler and a 5k every Friday for the month of April. Just the 5k's were weekly. It was actually really fun. Took the pressure off by racing so much. I didn't feel like all my training was for nothing if things didn't go as planned.
• Bill's firm suffered a massive Lehman Brothers like melt down. It was very stressful. As of this coming Tuesday, Bill's firm will no longer exist.  Did I say it was very stressful, it was.
• Luckily, Bill starts his new job this Monday. Hurray! I'm just grateful that Bill felt like he should start talking with headhunters when he did. Otherwise, we'd be out of a job like so many others.  Don't you worry, I've been praying in thanks like you wouldn't believe.
• Bill is very excited about his new firm and will be working solely in their energy practice group. At Dewey, he was doing energy and antitrust, but decided energy was the place for him.
• Since we had a week of downtime between the firm collapsing and the start at the new firm, we took a quick trip up to Rehoboth Beach, DE. It was great! Who goes to Delaware? We do.  And we at tons of sea food. (Hoda & KLG go there too)
• And then the usual stuff. We've been going to Nationals games, playing in the sand (much to my chagrin, it is impossible to contain), bbqing, eating fresh strawberries, relaxing (this week), and training for a triathlon (me).

 Nats game

 Asher's 2nd birthday. It was a banner day.

 Naked in an effort to keep the sand out of the car.  Despite nudity, the car and his bed were still covered in a layer of sand. Darn that mop of hair...

 I take it back. I like the new blogger. I guess all these changes are pretty good.

An Update!

It's been a month and I don't feel bad. Like always, I have no idea what we've been up to. So we're going bullet style.

• Asher has been sick lately with a cough. It is a bummer. He think he gets extra privileges since he is sick, hence the feet on the table while he eats.
• He had another hair cut. He generally has long hair because I LIKE IT! But there comes a point where he needs a trim. And getting a trim is like murder. Much screaming and gnashing of teeth. It is painful for everyone involved or around. Believe me, I've got huge biceps just from holding his arms down.
• We bought a new car! Hurray. It really isn't that exciting. You see, this is our third car in 3 years. How does that happen. Well our second car, was a heap of #@&*! It was a lemon. We poured money into it and it never got better. So the day that smoke started coming out of the engine and hot tears were streaming down my face, my trusty mechanic told me (again, this wasn't the first time) that we needed to get rid of our car. Now. So we did. It's embarrassing all the problems we had with our last car. I think we put our mechanic's daughter through a year of private school. All I have to say is, I'll never leave you again, Toyota. I'm sorry, I've learned my lesson. Well, I'll never leave Japanese cars again. Amen. (If you want to know what not to buy, ask me. I should do a smear page). It is nice to have a reliable car again. It starts every morning without a problem, it's amazing!
  
• The weather has been quite delicious here. In fact, next week is supposed to be in the 70's every day. I got a sunburn last week from spending 2 hours at the park.
• We celebrated Fat Tuesday here like usual and bought a King Cake. But lo and behold, there was no King! It was very disappointing.
• I went to Chick Fil A yesterday for lunch with a friend and it was delicious! That house sauce and fries are so good.
• Asher is of course a silly boy. Although he thinks I'm the silly person and tells me "you're so silly" about 80x a day. I like it.
• Bill convinced me to participate in his fantasy baseball league this year. There was much negotiating since I've been resisting for the past 4 years he's been doing the league. I'm getting a Sunday walk as a family for my participation. The draft is next week. My teammate and I are ready to go in and dominate.
• And last but not least, I think we have finally cured our cat's severe halitosis. Who knew a cat could possibly have that bad of breath. Cass would open his mouth to yawn and it was a stink fest. But a little teeth brushing and new food seems to have solved the problem.
• One more, I've started doing Instagram. My ability to document our life seems to be sporadic so I'm doing this and it's kind of fun. Anyone else doing it? Tell me and I'll follow you.
  

The deep thoughts of a SAHM

*Wow, this picture quality is terrible. Sorry.

My kid loves cars. This shouldn't be news to anyone. Hot wheels, matchbox, airplanes, tractors, trucks, you name it, if it has wheels, he likes it. A lot. He is also really good at making car noises. How is that? Bill and I were lying on the couch playing with his cars one night and we discovered I make a really bad car noise. But after much coaching, I've got the shifting down. I've been driving for 12 years. How is it that my 21 month old can make a better car noise than me?

On to more pressing questions? Out of desperation, (4-5:30 is a hard time of day) I've put on the movie Cars. Scoff if you will. It is a happy movie, sans bad guys. Nemo makes an obviously dumb decisions and thus endangers his father with sharks and bombs and other scary things in order to find his lost child. Come on, a parents worst nightmare, losing your kid. He doesn't get UP. Toy Story is great, but since Asher likes cars so much, we watch it occasionally. It hasn't turned into an obsession for him and we both like it. But every time I watch it, I come up with new questions? What do the cars eat? How come there are no baby cars? Where would they put a baby car, does it already drive everywhere? How did the Cozy Cone get built, I mean the cars have no hands? Who knew a tire could be so versatile, it can wave a flag, but how? Can anyone answer these questions???