Weekly Mileage #70 and Swimming Lessons

This past week was much calmer than the last couple weeks- no more road trips for awhile. We still had some busy-ness, though in the form of swimming lessons for the boys.

It was past time for River to start lessons (he's almost 5, after all) but we didn't do lessons last year because our our trip. Waiting until this summer also made it easier to keep Ocean under control, since he was in lessons with River. I knew if I tried to have River take them by himself, Ocean wouldn't be happy. We were very lucky and were able to arrange things so they were in the same class with another little girl who's just starting out.

The little girl ended up not attending due to family issues, so the boys had the teacher to themselves, which actually worked out really well. They were already comfortable getting their faces wet and jumping in the water, so they had a good start. They learned basic safety and River can swim short distances (with lots of splashing). Ocean can swim shorter distances, but hasn't quite figured out how to come back up out of the water- he needs to be retrieved by a grownup. It doesn't bother him to be under water that long, which is actually a bit worrisome, since it means his sense of self-preservation is not quite as strong as we'd like.

Like many things, learning to swim comes with a learning curve, and at barely 3, Ocean is making a good start. In the meantime, he'll continue wearing his lifejacket when he's in the water. River is able to take his off on occasion, if I'm in the water with him, but it'll be awhile before Ocean reaches that point.

This week my mileage was very close to what my half marathon training plan called for, and I got some good running in that felt pretty good, even if it was on the treadmill, rather than outside. That 8.55 miles on Saturday? I ran 5 of those miles- the most I've run in quite awhile.

And this week I passed my initial goal of 365 miles this year! My secondary goal is at least 365 foot miles and 365 bike miles, so I'm working towards those numbers now.

view from the lookout point on our hike

During our hike on Friday we stopped for a photo shoot for a project I'm working on, which was a bit more difficult than I'd anticipated. It was hot and humid and my camera lens kept fogging up and I had sweat dripping off my elbows. SO gross. But we got some pretty good pictures, so at least the effort wasn't in vain.

part of the project I'm working on

Oh, and here's one for you, Dad:

We found a travel size banjo on eBay (a Cripple Creek Mini) and River will be starting banjo lessons with Sunshine's teacher next week :)

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 3.00 miles on the treadmill
Tuesday-10.00 miles on the bike
Wednesday- 2.50 miles on the treadmill
Thursday- 5.00 miles on the treadmill
Friday- 1.95 miles hiked
Saturday- 8.55 miles on the treadmill
    total- 31.00 miles

15 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

164.22 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
215.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
381.36 miles total

Swimming Lessons

This summer Sunshine did swimming lessons again with our favorite swim teacher, but we did them at a public pool since the family that owned the pool we used to use sold their house.

Pro: This meant Sunshine was able to practice swimming up and down the Olympic-length swim lanes and really work on the different strokes.

Con: I couldn't get any great pictures this time.

Pro: River had fun with the baby pool and the splash pads.

Sunshine has really progressed with her swimming skills and really likes being in the water now.

River really likes being in the water as well, which is a nice change from Sunshine at his age. Back then she was terrified of the water and would hang on to us with a death grip around our necks whenever we took her in the water. Unfortunately, River also likes dipping his hands in the pool water and then licking them. So gross!

Mr M came with us one day and we had River slide down the baby slide. It didn't go quite as we'd hoped.

yay! this looks like fun!

{note that Mr M and River have the same swoopy curl in their bangs :) }

wait, I'm not sure about this...

maybe it'll be ok...

get me out of here! I don't like this!

Yeah, he wasn't impressed with the slide. He does like everything else though :)

Swimming Lessons

Like the last couple summers, we spent part of June running to swim lessons.

Our swim teacher is an awesome teacher and so great with kids. Two years ago she managed to get LMS to jump off the diving board and I got this great photo. LMS has continued to progress and gain confidence and loves being in the water.

Working on diving form:

Fun with her snorkel set:

Coming in to give daddy a hug and get hime all wet (he was the one holding the camera):

Jumping off the diving rock:

I love the mid-air jumping shots!

Fun pic from swimming lessons

My very favorite photo of Little Miss Sunshine at swimming lessons.

I can't believe I managed to get this shot!

Swimming Lessons

Last summer was LMS' first round of swimming lessons.

We did them at the HOA pool and it was an... educational experience.

I originally signed her up for one two week class. The teacher was very good at teaching kids how to swim, but she was much more suited to teaching older children rather than younger children. Her method of 'just do it' didn't work so well with LMS. She needs active encouragement. Needless to say, she didn't pass the level one class.

After talking with other moms, I discovered there was another teacher who was much more nurturing and much better with younger children than the other teacher. So I signed up LMS for a second two week swim class with the other teacher. Talk about night and day. This teacher had been a preschool teacher and worked a lot with younger kids, and it showed. She was just what LMS needed to gain confidence: encouraging, supportive (literally and figuratively), and full of praise for every little accomplishment. By the end of the two weeks, LMS had progressed enough to pass the level one class.

Since we moved we no longer have access to the HOA pool, so I had to find somewhere else to do swimming lessons. Unfortunately, I dropped the ball on the timing and by the time I realized I needed to get going the class LMS needs was full at the city pools and the private athletic club pool. Not a huge loss, since both were on the expensive side and not the most conveniently located. But I was disappointed that LMS wouldn't get some more swimming instruction before we go on vacation and do lots of water sports.

Then my visiting teachers stopped by and as we talked I discovered that one of them homeschools and she does swimming lessons in the summer at private pools. Score for us! So LMS has two weeks of swimming at a pool owned by a couple in our ward. It's a very nice house- built in the 1700's, gorgeous rolling fields edged with trees, and the pool has a great view of the hills and trees.

Barns in the distance, faithful watch dog at the pool's edge- he paces around the edge of the pool, keeping a sharp lookout for drowning kids

The first day LMS was cautious, but the second day she really took off. After her class I hopped in the water to play with her and it was so fun to see the progress she's making. We even went diving for rings on the bottom of the (shallow end) of the pool- she was on my back and wrapped her legs around my waist, then I counted to 3 and we each took a deep breath and then went under to get the rings. She kept saying "do it again mommy, do it again!". Huge progress for the little girl who used to hate getting her face wet at all.

The next day the swim teacher was able to convince LMS to try diving off the edge of the pool in the deep end.

 It ended up more as a bellyflop than a headfirst dive, but we're not complaining :)

She then convinced LMS to try jumping off the diving board (aka "the mermaid rock"). First they jumped together.

 Then she held LMS' hand as she jumped in. Love the hand holding her nose!

She's doing so well and feels so much more confident. Now we just need to teach her to tread water so she can move around in the water without hanging on to someone.

I finally went swimming again

I finally went swimming yesterday- the first time in about 6 months, and I could definitely tell it had been that long. I haven't finished the car seat cover yet, but I did finally get some stuff finished for Primary. Now that those things are done, I can get back to the car seat cover.

This morning there was a Stake enrichment meeting, and my mom had said she wasn't going to go and would watch Little Miss Sunshine for me. I decided to go to the temple, instead, though. When I told LMS that I was going to the temple, she said she wanted to go. We've had this discussion before: she really wants to go to the temple, and isn't thrilled when I tell her she has to wait till she's older. I think it's really neat that she's so set on going to the temple. It was a good session and I'm glad I was able to go.

Some progress today

This morning I swam laps for an hour, logging a total of 66 laps. I tried to work on form and do some drills, and if I can keep this up, come spring I should be a lot faster and more confident in my swimming abilities. This is important since there's a triathlon I want to do that has a 1500 meter open water swim. The bike ride is 23 miles and the run is 6 miles. Those I can handle, it's the nearly-one-mile in open water that worries me.

Today I bought wood for shelves for the closet and to make a trundle bed box for DD's bed. The toddler bed I bought her is too big, unfortunately, so I have to make a bed for her that will fit in the space available. We finally got the electrical in DD's room done, so I can put up the last two pieces of drywall and start mudding and taping tomorrow. Once all the mudding is done, I can paint and then put the shelves in the closet and finally organize some of my stuff that's been stashed wherever I can find a spot. I can also paint DD's room and get the carpet and pad down and finish things off in there. It's taking longer than I hoped, but about as long as I expected.

The other night I finished one of my quilt tops, it turned out to be just a lap quilt size, so it didn't take too long. DD took a fancy to the fabric, so I used some of the pieces to make a doll-size pillow and quilt. She is loving them! Her lambie is constantly taking naps, wrapped up in the quilt and laying on the pillow. It's very cute. Since I finished the second quilt top, I started the third, but this one will take longer to finish- there's a lot more pieces. After that, one more and then I'm done with the piecing.
Nap time for DD and lambie, lambie using her new pillow and quilt, with 'blankie' on top.

A sad day

What a sad, sad day. Our daughter is no longer in her crib. She hasn't tried climbing out of it or anything, but I'm starting work on her room on Monday, and the crib is in the way. There won't be room for it in her room, so I'll be moving her into a toddler bed. I took apart her crib and carted it off to the storage unit. She was rather upset when I started taking her bed apart, but then as I put her toddler bed together, she realized that this was her new bed and was no longer upset.
In fact, she was very eager to put pillows on the bed, take her shoes off, and hop on.

I spent the morning working on my quilt, but got slowed down when it came to matching up the final edges. I'm not an exact seamstress, and that seems to be a bit of a problem when doing a pieced quilt. I'm making it work, but I have to do some seam-ripping to get to that point. I have one more edge to match up and then I'll be done. Pics tomorrow.

I swam laps for an hour (just over a mile) while DD was taking her nap, and then while in the locker room, shared some of the wisdom I've gained in my one triathlon with a lady who's doing her first in another month .

Tonight will be a long night. In a couple hours I will be heading to the local Wal-Mart and buying a copy of 'Breaking Dawn', which I will then proceed to read in its entirety (I'm thinking 4 or 5 hours). I pre-ordered a copy, but it won't get here till sometime in September, with the new Christopher Paolini book that comes out in September. Amazon and their silly rules to get free shipping. Anyway, I decided I couldn't wait that long, so am buying a copy tonight, then giving it to my brother for an early birthday present. He wanted to get it also, but has no money, so was quite willing to get it in this way.

Up date on goals

Today I finished removing the cracked grout in the shower and dad re-grouted it. Tomorrow we have to buff it or something and then we can seal it and get the shower put together.

While DD took a nap I went swimming. I needed to know how long it would take me to swim 800 meters (24 minutes) so I can sign up for the triathlon. Which I was going to do today and forgot about till just now, but I'll do it tomorrow because it's too late now. After swimming 800 meters, I swam another 800 meters, for a total of one mile. I'm concentrating more on my form, and I've managed to speed up by about 9 seconds per 25 meter length, even though it's a lot further than the 500 meters I swam the first triathlon. Yay me!

Other goals I've been working on: I finished reading the Book of Mormon reader to DD in English, so I'm now reading it to her in Japanese, and I'm also making more of an effort to read her Japanese storybooks to her. I sing 'I am a Child of God' in English to her, but I've started singing it in Japanese as well. I have the first verse memorized, but still need to memorize the other three verses. I bought the Conference issue of the the Liahona in Japanese, so I can read along as I listen to the audio files from LDS.org. Now I just need to start reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese and the first Harry Potter book in Japanese. Those will take a lot of concentration, though, so I've been putting them off.

I bought the gospel art picture kit finally, so this coming Monday DD and I will be holding FHE. We'll see if I can keep it short enough to keep her attention.

This past weekend I realized why I do something that I do a lot. (how's that for a confusing sentence?) Anytime I'm around my SIL's kids, I always find myself riding herd on them, making sure they're not wandering off, they're staying out of trouble, etc. I finally realized why. When I was 12 or so, my 2 year old brother wandered off during a family reunion. We were cleaning up after dinner and didn't realize he wasn't there anymore. He ended up being lost for 24 hours, and search dogs, men on horses, and helicopters with heat sensors were brought in to find him. He was found, and he hadn't fallen into the lake and drowned (there was a scare when they found what turned out to be a floating log). However, I'm now hyper-aware of how quick and easy it is for a child to wander off and get lost, or worse.

Family Reunion

We've been really busy the last few days and I've been staying up late, so I haven't had time to write lately. Thursday we spent cleaning and organizing the house and yard in preparation for all the siblings coming. DD had no problem staying occupied playing with her sand and water table all morning while I cleaned the yard.

Friday we played with cousins (they all got in late Thursday night), and DD got her first taste of sharing her toys with others. She hasn't had to do that since before we moved, and back then she was not in the possessive toddler stage. All things considered, she's done quite well, though of course, not without problems. She seems to feel that because it's hers, she should be able to play with it whenever she wants, even if someone else already is. My sister and I went to the pool and swam laps, and she gave me some good pointers on form (she has a group she swims with every week, so she knows way more than I do). I ended up swimming one mile! The farthest I've ever swam (swum?).

We each were supposed to come up with an activity to do; mine was a birthday party for all the grand kids, which consisted of a pinata and cake and ice cream (the kids helped Oma and Opa make the ice cream). I made little bags with cheap little toys for each of the kiddos, and then put a bunch of loose candy in as well. The cheap little toys have actually been quite a hit and have kept them occupied in spare moments.

Today we did family pictures. We had the most people present than we've had in years: 21 out of 22 (DH was the only one not present). Later we did bottle rockets and had a water balloon fight. After dinner we had our book discussion (which went about as I expected: dad and older bro managed to find something to disagree about, and the rest of us had to change the subject quick, though other than that, it went pretty well), and then we played Wisconsinopoly, courtesy of another sister who inherited it from a roommate. We also played Pit, which can be a really noisy game. When we were younger we would sometimes play it in the back of the van on road trips, though for some reason, dad never appreciated it when we did that.

One goal almost accomplished

This morning I swam laps (24 in 20 minutes), and tried to work on my technique as I swam. I could tell a difference, but it's going to take a lot more work before I can be consistent the entire time.

On the way home, we stopped by the library for a minute that turned out to be a lot longer than a minute. Since it was supposed to be in-and-out, DD and I stayed in the car, which was really hot. So my mood was already deteriorating, and then I heard my cell ringing, but by the time I got it out of my bag in the back, it had stopped. Of course, it was DH calling, and I missed it. Mom and my brother finally came out, and DH called again just as I was backing out of the parking spot. I normally never drive while on the cell, but since it was DH, I made an exception. Not the smartest thing I've ever done, since I then proceeded to pull out in front of a car I hadn't seen and almost got us hit. So I asked DH to call back in a little while, but he never did. I'm guessing everyone else was using the phone and he didn't get another chance. Whatever the reason, he didn't call, and my mood didn't improve.

Even though I was in a bad mood all day, I did manage to get a lot done. Last night I finished the second continuing ed class I'm taking, and today I finished the third one. So my classes are all done, now I have to send in my paperwork from the classes and pay my fees, and my certification will be up-to-date! Yay me! I do need to do some more practice massages to integrate the stuff I learned in the classes into my massages. Come the middle of July, once I've got my massage room furniture, I'll be in business.

This evening, I went to pick up a log bed I found on craigslist. It was a good price, so even though we won't be using it for a year or so at the earliest, I went ahead and bought it. I didn't realize till I was unloading the car just how tall it is. It's a twin bed, but the headboard is a couple inches taller than me (ok, I am short- 5'1" on a good day)! Hopefully by the time DD is using it she'll be able to stay in the bed (or I'll be buying those side rails that keep kids in bed).

After dropping the bed at the storage unit, I ran to the grocery store, and then headed home. As I left the store, the rain was pouring down. I haven't seen it rain that hard in a long time. As I was driving home, it looked like the rain was bouncing off the road, it was coming down so hard! There was some spectacular lightning, too.

Thursday and Friday (I'm too tired to think of a cute title)

The first part of our road trip was spent looking at some lots that are for sale- working toward our goal of buying land soon. Realistically (financially) we need to wait till fall before we buy anything, but it's still good to get out there and look and see what's available and what areas are just not an option. Two of the lots are definite contenders, but they're 5 acres each instead of the 10 we really want (though my mom says we really want 20, based on my descriptions of what we're looking for). If we could find 20 acres reasonably close to job opportunities, at a reasonable price, and with the terrain we want, I would be ecstatic. Don't know if it's going to happen, though.


After that, we drove to a small town to scope it out. I'd found it on the map, but wanted to check it out for the setting of my book. It looks good, and it was good to actually visit it in person- I can visualize everything a lot better now.

Thursday morning we (DD, my mom, younger bro and his friend) went to the rec center to go swimming. My mom and I took turns swimming laps (20 minutes, 25 laps for me) and working with DD. It's been about 8 months since we last had her in a pool, but she did quite well. Mom had her kicking her legs and putting her face in the water, and I managed to get her to walk around in the shallow end without hanging onto me (a big deal, since in the past she's had a stranglehold on whoever was holding her in the water). Unfortunately, by the time we got home her temperature had gone back up (she picked up a cold on our trip, but her fever was gone Thursday morning), and she was pretty miserable the rest of the day.

She slept well last night and woke up feeling a lot better, which is definitely good. We went on a bike ride today- I loaded everything in the car and we drove into town to use the bike path. I wanted to do 15 miles, and I thought the bike path would be easier since it's flatter than the roads we live on. Not so much. I was in the lower gears (the easy ones) the entire time, which doesn't happen when I'm on the road near home. I got some great sunburn lines, too, courtesy of my sleeves, watch, and gloves. I even brought sunblock with me, but forgot to use it. Way to go me! I ended up doing just 12 miles- that was enough for now. I was wiped out the rest of the day- the exertion and the sunburn (which always makes me tired) definitely got me. DD slept most of the ride, which was nice, except it was a little early for her nap, and since she firmly believes that one nap a day is enough, wouldn't take another one later, even though she was still tired and not quite over her cold.

Swimming, Take Two

I swam laps again today. I almost didn't- I've been detoxing (something I have to do every once in awhile because of the systemic yeast infection I have), which always makes me feel crummy and less than motivated. In reviewing this week's schedule, though, there wasn't any other time I could go, so it had to be today. Once I actually got in the car and got going, it wasn't so bad, it's just the getting started part that can be difficult. The swim went well: I only swam front crawl and backstroke (last time I did breast stroke as well), and managed to cut 3 minutes off my time. My goal is to be able to swim all 20 laps using just the front crawl. We'll see how quickly that happens. My breathing technique sucks and I need the backstroke laps to really catch my breath. I noticed today that when I was swimming backstroke I could actually think about other things, like what I was going to write in my blog today. When I was swimming the front crawl, however, it took all my concentration to swim and try to breathe without breathing in lots of pool water. I'm not the most coordinated person, that's for sure.

On the way home, I stopped and picked up my bike. I took it into a bike shop for a tune-up this past weekend. The front brakes have been rubbing (which is really annoying to listen to) and it hasn't been tuned-up since about a month after I bought it more than a year ago. I'm biking tomorrow, so I'll get to see if they did a good job or not.

Thanks to Kimberly at http://kimstemplatetesting2.blogspot.com/ for all her help with the layout of this blog.

Swimming

Tuesday I swam laps at the local rec center. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would: I started with the goal of swimming ten laps, but after I did that and realized it had only taken me ten minutes I decided I could manage the full twenty I need for the triathlon. All told, it only took twenty minutes to swim twenty laps. Not too bad for someone who hasn't swum in years! Ok, so I'll admit that my form is crap, and I have to keep switching strokes every couple laps, and I can't swim a straight line even with the floating lane markers right next to me, but hey, I have to be able to improve in something, right? My main concern is the chlorine. I have a lot of chemical sensitivities and last time I tried swimming laps on a regular basis I had to quit after a week or so. It was an outdoor pool and I was still getting massive, splitting headaches. I'm only planning on swimming twice a week in the hopes that I won't have a repeat of that. If it becomes a problem, I can stop swimming laps and just hope for the best come race day. Not the best scenario, but doable as long as I'm not actually trying to be a competitive triathaloner.