Determination

"You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction." - George Lorimer

Nicky and I are running in the Tough as Granite.  We've never been big runners, so when we made it a goal to complete a 5k run, we had our work cut out for us.  When we started we were winded after a 1 minute run.  Well, race day is less than 3 weeks away, and our training is coming along nicely.

Tonight was especially hard, we were both tired, we had a long weekend, and I didn't get off of work on time.  Neither of us were really feeling like running, and Nicky actually took a nap after the kids went to bed.  Used to be, that meant we'd skip the run.  Not today.. we ran that run SO HARD!

That's the really neat thing about running - The harder the run, the more satisfying the finish.

Pool Party!

Yesterday we went to a family gathering at Kevin and Lorraine's house.  It was great to see everyone!  We got to play in the pool and hang out for the day.  Kevin and Lorraine have a great setup and it was a fun way to spend a Sunday.

It's a blast to see our kids hanging out with family and here's a shot of AJ sitting with Star and Tim.  I love watching AJ spend time with people, he's such a social and happy kid.

Star really enjoys hanging out with the kids, it's good fun to watch.

It's always cool to see AJ and Taylor getting along... makes me think back to when David and I used to play like this, hanging out and having fun.

Somewhere along the line, that changed, so I guess with my own kids I need to make sure I enjoy it while it lasts.

Something nice about everyone playing together in the pool.  Nice, easy family time, no time pressures or rush to be anywhere.

Times like this make me appreciate the things I have.  There are a lot of people in the world who worry day to day about what food they're going to eat, or if they'll live to make it to the next day.

The term I've heard for it is "Maslow's Hierarchy" and I think that too often we tend to take things for granted.  It's too bad, because there's a lot to be thankful for if we go down the pyramid, things we don't even think about having.

Trying out a video post!

So mostly this post is to teach myself how to post a video... but it's a cute video, so it's not for nothing.

Went for a hike today up to Bassi Falls

So Nicky and I decided to take the kids on a hike today... We went to Bassi Falls

Great scenery, enjoying a nice walk through the woods, point out every single fallen tree.  Kids get enjoyment out of the strangest things....

We made it to where the waterfalls should be, but since it's late August, it's mostly a bunch of rocks with little pools of cool water to dip your feet in.

And dip we did!

AJ gets natural

Had Fun! We'll be back!

Tay's birthday

So Taylor recently had her 3rd birthday party, and it was good times!

Frogs were the theme, and we invited a bunch of Taylor's preschool friends to the park to celebrate.

Tay got 2 cards that play a song when you open them.  When she opened the first one, she was afraid of it and ran away and hid. We showed her how cool it was, and how it wasn't scary.  Now, she keeps them in the car and plays with them every time we drive anywhere.

It's AWESOME!

Just got this set up

After seeing a co-worker's blog and how they use it to reflect on the cool things they do, I decided to give it a shot. Hopefully this will be worth reading, and if not, at least I'll have fun writing it.

Quick note: "I don't like kids" started out as a joke between me and my 3 year old daughter. I was teaching her to say "I don't like kids" in a crabby old-man voice, hoping that she would go to her pre-school and start repeating it... So far, we haven't gotten a call asking for a parent-teacher meeting, so I'm not sure it worked. I won't give up though!