From top left to bottom right: Jen & Mom, Katie & Clarke, Denise, ilan & Soda
Dave, Laura, Lori & Ashley, Jason & Jello Shot.
watkins, Hudzik, Christy & Matt, Cummins & Bad Attitude.
Tyler & Jordan, Laura/Denise/Meagan, Matt working the grill, Dad guarding the trash can.
Frank, Farrell, Carrie, John w/ State Trooper shades.
Colleen, Bob, Soda, Melissa.
RECAP:
We hosted a 4th of July party on Saturday evening. These are the photos that I took before my camera battery died. Good food, drinks, company, and 80s music!! It took me a couple of days to recover from this one...
I started running on a team 21 years ago when I joined my middle school cross country team. It's hard to believe that it's been that long. The only reason I joined the team in the first place is because I only have one kidney and my mom was afraid of me taking a kidney shot while playing on the football team. I loved baseball, basketball, and football back then and fell into running by chance and eventually grew to love the sport of running as well. I enjoyed the camaraderie and head to head competition that the sport had to offer and also liked the fact that on race day I was the only one that could control whether I succeeded or not. Over the years running has taught me great values such as hard work, dedication, patience, and leadership. It also opened doors for me that normally wouldn't have presented themselves such as going to Marquette University on a running scholarship and meeting my wife Jen on the team.
Over the past five years I transitioned away from running and into the sport of triathlon. At the tail end of last year I decided to give myself a break from endurance sports because my life seemed a little out of balance and we had our first baby on the way. Recently I have had the itch to run again. I miss competing and running offers a way for me to compete locally without having to train countless hours. I don't have ambitions to break any records or see what my max potential is with the sport. Those years are over for me. I'd like to get to a level of fitness that I can compete at the local 5K races and be in the mix for the win. I really just started back running about three weeks ago so I'd like to build a solid foundation of easy running over the summer, fall, and winter to build up some durability and enjoy the process of getting fit again. I don't plan on spending more than 10 hours a week training so I'll have to be efficient with my time. Right now I'm training about three hours a week so I've got about 7 more hours to give.
Some things that I'm looking forward to are the simplicity of the sport of running. For training you just lace up your shoes and go out for a run. The only equipment needed are socks, shoes and shorts (no shirt required). You don't need to drive to a pool, prep your bike, etc. You can run from any location at any time.
I also miss the purity of the sport. When competing there is no equipment that is going to make one athlete faster than the other and you there really isn't a way for your competition to cheat to beat you. You line up next to them wearing running shoes, shorts and a shirt and when the gun goes off you go at it. The best runner on that day wins. There's no question after the race about whether they had an advantage on the bike by drafting or if their equipment was better than yours. Everything is apples to apples and pure.
All that being said, my main goal is to start exercising again on a consistent basis. I'm in a competition with Jen and our friend Curtis to see who can build the biggest streak of running at least one mile every day. The idea behind it is that we most likely will end up running more than a mile once we get out there but at least running a mile a day will build consistency and durability. So far we are three weeks in and I'm hoping to have the streak going by this time next year!!
Claire is now 18 weeks old and is 12lbs 4oz. She's a very talkative and happy baby. She smiles all the time and is an overall great little baby. She brings us much joy!
Here's Jen with Claire rocking her Claire Bear 10 jersey that Kate made for her. She later went on to stain it after William Shatner gave her diaper a visit.
Claire prefers eating her hands over her bottle of milk. They do look tasty!
We replaced the window with a sliding door this week. It's so much more convenient to walk out the door versus climbing out the window.
All that's left is to prime, paint, install trim, and stain the deck. I'm hoping to get that all done next week.
We had the Houser's over for dinner and drinks on Saturday night. They live two doors down and I run with Curtis. It just so happens that their baby Rosalie Marie was born two weeks after Claire.
Their dog Lucy was send home for breaking deck rule #23: Barking too much. Luckily she only had to travel about 75 feet to get back home.
This Sunday was my first Father's Day. I can't speak for Claire but I was a little tired from having a few margaritas the previous night. We'll make naptime a Father's Day tradition.
I recently finished up my mid-year goal setting session and the main themes were relationships, staying healthy and enjoying life to the fullest. I just finished up building the deck so that is going to play a big role in enjoying life and strengthening relationships. Here are some of the key points that I want to focus on for the next half of 2010.
RELATIONSHIPS:
Jen and I have been grilling and eating dinner out on the deck every night for the past week or so. We used to eat dinner in front of the TV which really didn't lend its hand to much discussion and interaction. The new dinner setting will be a great way to keep our relationship strong for another 10+ years. It's hard to believe that Jen and I will have been married for 10 years in August. Time flies when you have a great wife!
Aside from Jen I'd also like to continue to be the best dad I can be. I think I'm doing a good job so far but will continue to read up on the different developmental stages to ensure that I understand (as much as I can) what's going on in Claire's head. All I really need to do though is show her love and have fun with her which comes very easy for me. I'm pretty lucky that I get to spend so much time with Jen and Claire now. Since our families still live in the midwest I also want to ensure that we spend enough time up there for them to get to know her and for us to play a positive role in the lives of our neices and nephew. We've got a two week trip planned for the midwest around Christmas time so we'll be able to also see some of our extended family that we haven't seen in quite some time.
The deck will also help to build and strengthen relationships with some of our friends. Since I've left the triathlon arena I haven't seen or heard from most of the triathlon crew. I'm realizing that all of the training hours together weren't really quality friendship building hours. I've gotten to know a few of the guys really well because we would spend one on one time together or travel together for races. Group settings are not the best way to build great friendships....especially in a competitive environment. That being said, Jen and I like to have people over on the weekends and the deck will be a great place for us to hang out and have dinner and drinks with some friends and get to know each other a little better in a smaller setting.
PROFESSION:
I don't foresee any changes in profession over the next 6 months. I've got a great job and couldn't ask for a better manager and team members. I'll continue to read up on new technologies and continue to learn more about the different businesses within our company.
HEALTH & FITNESS:
I've put fitness on the backburner lately and would like to reintroduce it into my daily routine. My goal is to run at least one mile every day for the rest of the year. I'd also like to do some form of strength training twice a week. I'm not sure if I'll race before the end of the year but if I do I'd like to run between 15:30-15:45 for 5k. I'm not in any kind of shape right now so that would take some consistency and smart training.
FINANCES & REAL ESTATE:
By the end of the year I would like to put a screened in porch on our half of the deck and then also screen in underneath the deck as well. Along with that I'd like to lay pavers down underneath both sides of the deck. Jen would like a hot tub under the deck and I'd like a hammock down there so screening in the top with a roof and drainage is key to keeping water away from under the deck and will create a nice living space for hot summer days when we want some shade. We eventually plan to turn the duplex into a single family home so we'd have a sun area and a screened area. If those projects don't take me to the end of the year then I'd also like to build a fence around the perimeter of the back yard as well.
SELF IMPROVEMENTS & HOBBIES:
Jen and I have three weddings coming up before the end of the year so I'd like to enroll us in ballroom dancing lessons. I think it would be a great way for us to spend some quality time together and will be fun to put into action at the weddings. I'll see about setting those lessons up for August/September. I also want to focus on reading at least one book per month and continue to cook better food on the grill. We've got to eat so it might as well taste good! Aside from that I'd like to go sky diving in August or September.
Claire is 15 weeks old and 11lbs 15oz. She started sleeping a lot through the night this week. She even went a stretch of 8 hours straight. She also caught her first real cold this weekend. She is coughing and congested.
Here's the view from Claire's crib. She loves to look at and talk to her animal friends. When she's not looking at them she is looking at pooh bear, tigger, eor, and piglet.
We celebrated Mother's Day in the mountains this weekend. It was a couple weekends late but we wanted to take the extra day for the holiday.
We ran with Claire at Moses Cone each morning around Bass Lake. Quite the relaxing weekend.
We rented a cabin in Blowing Rock for the weekend. Our nightly routine was dinner with wine followed by hot tub (with wine). Can't beat that!
I've really been enjoying fatherhood. It's a pretty amazing gig. I haven't been doing much in terms of exercise lately but am working on some of my other goals at the moment.
One of those goals is to become more handy. The railings are now complete with the slats and top rail in place so the next step is to build the stairs and the stair landing. I'm going to lay pavers at the base of the stairs this weekend and try to get started on the stairs if I have time. We're looking forward to enjoying the summer on the new deck!
My sister's family dog, Steeler, passed away on Saturday. He's been a part of their family from the beginning and will be deeply missed. He was great dog and lived a long and happy life! Above is the last photo that I took of him. He was tired out from all of the Christmas activities.