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I’ve been running “weekend warrior” style for a couple months, meaning that I rarely exercise during the work week, but I try to do at least 5 miles any day I have off work.  I have gotten up to a 10K on the bike path with Brian and Isaac in the stroller a few times.  Once spring weather arrived and Isaac started sleeping through the night, at least occasionally, I got in a spunky 5 mile tempo run at sub-8:30 pace and thought it might be time to sign up for a race.  The Westford Road Race seemed like just the right event – local, small but well run, and a short enough distance that I wouldn’t have to “train” – just use it as a check in on my fitness.

I managed to get out on Saturday afternoon for a 5k through the woods to work out the kinks from the week.  On Sunday the weather was gorgeous, sunny with a slight cool breeze.  I skipped social hour at church, got home, fed Isaac and put him to sleep for his nap, and got myself packed up to head over to the race.  I found parking, walked to the starting line area to pick up my race packet, and checked out the scene.  There were TONS of kids and families doing the fun run (2pm) and 5K (2:20pm), but a smaller set of more serious runners registered for the 10K.   I had plenty of nervousness, especially since Brian wasn’t there to pace me or talk me through the plan.  I tried to stay calm by warming up, chowing down on a granola bar, and watching the kids and dogs sprint around the lawn of the school.  Finally at just before 2:30pm, it was time to line up for the 10K, and with a short blast of the horn, we were off.

The start of the race was downhill, so I hoped to be warmed up enough to take advantage of it.  Sure enough, I came through the first mile at 8:10, right on pace.  Then I picked up the pace a bit more as there were MORE downhill sections, for a 7:04 and 7:52 at nearly halfway.  I passed a father and his young son (maybe 8 years old?) running together, and smiled thinking about the possibility of Isaac running with me one day.  I told them that they looked great, encouraged them as they started the uphill section, and then took off to try to catch the next pack.  Through miles 4 (8:23) and 5 (8:59) I mainly settled in to the grind of the hills, trying to run smart and not let anyone pass me.  A small group of us kept passing one another and then getting caught again, depending on the terrain or who took water breaks.  Then it was the 6th mile, time to pick it up and see what kick I had left!  The answer was not much as I got passed at the end by two of the women I had passed on the hills, but I still came in at a respectable 50:40 for an 8:10 pace.

I walked around to cool down, wheezing a bit from the effort, and chatted with some of the group that paced together with me through the hills.  I grabbed an orange, bottle of water, and banana, and headed back to the car to head home.  It was a surreal 3  hours of time to revisit the racing side of me that I hadn’t experienced for over a year, but then it was back home to tag back into “momma mode” and feed Isaac.

I’m not sure what event is next for me.  Though I gravitate toward the longer distances and the feeling that I can keep going forever, I don’t really want to spend the time to train for anything longer than a half marathon right now.  I have been loving the trails at the park, and thinking about the North Shore Trail Running series.  Mainly I want to try to ramp up the intensity and frequency of my running to get back into a normal schedule, and maybe add in the elusive strength training and yoga that I often consider but never seem to make the time to do.

If you’re up for a run sometime this summer, definitely give me a call!  I now feel officially back into the swing of running.

Last Monday was the Red Sox home opener and Isaac and I planned to watch it on television. I got Isaac dressed up in a cute baseball outfit and started preparing breakfast.

What’s a baseball?

Then the phone rang and it was Mr. Dunn offering us his extra ticket to opening day.

I said hold my calls. I’m reading!

We said we’d love to go, had a quick breakfast, packed the car and then we were off for Isaac’s first trip to Fenway. The Sox won and the weather was gorgeous. Isaac managed to nap on my lap during the 2nd and 3rd innings and we took a feeding/diaper break in the 5th and 6th but were back in time to watch the 7th through 9th.

So many new things

On Tuesday we had a relatively quiet day at home. We built a fort on the couch and played a nice game of peek-a-boo. If you can’t see the video below in the email/blog you can click HERE to see it.

On Wednesday we were at home playing on the couch when one of our friends noted we had a lot of photos if Isaac sitting in a corner.

What a cute surfer outfit

We decided to fix that by showing the camera one of our new tricks.

Hanging out with daddy

Isaac has been easily finishing 9 ounces bottles for about the past two weeks and has started expressing an interest in what Su and I are putting in our mouths. We’ve given him some tastes of food on our finger so on Thursday we tried some oatmeal with a spoon. Results were mixed. Most of the oatmeal went out. Some stayed down. The stewed raisins went over the best.

Oatmeal time

Nope!

You said this would taste good

I’ll just chew on the spoon instead

On Friday Susan was off of work and both of us had dentist appointments so we loaded up the car and took Isaac to meet our favorite dentist/triathlete. After the dentist we stopped in Newburyport to buy some fresh produce from Tendercrop Farm and to have lunch at Agave. When we got home Isaac and I spent some time hanging out on the couch playing with our feet. Then Isaac discovered Slinky.

Hmm, this looks more interesting than pulling off my sock

I’ll pull on the cat instead

Isaac is apparently very literal as he took the title of this book to be instructions for what to do with it.

Does it or does it not say “Chomp Chomp?”

Topping off our big week was Susan’s first Sox game this year and Isaac’s second. The weather was chillier than opening day but still quite pleasant for April. We bought Isaac his first little Red Sox cap and headed to our seats. We discovered the usher who works closest to our seats has the exact same birthday as Isaac. She was very happy to make goo-goo eyes at him and take this picture for us.

The Sox are 2-0 when I go to their games. Draft me!”

Saturday evening Susan and Isaac went to the Fortunetide Ball so Susan could catch up with old friends and introduce them to Isaac.

By Sunday morning we could only eat breakfast and check our seedlings which have started to sprout before passing out for a nap in the middle of playing. First Isaac pulled down his playmat and pulled it on top of him to snuggle with. The rest of the day hopefully should hold some yard work and hopefully a run although naps may win out as the preferred activity.

Seedlings have started well”

Play time or nap time?”

I’m not sure whether the fact we still have isolated patches of snow is a testament to the amount of snow we received, the fact that we have a lot of shade in our yard, or both. In any case the danger of snow appears to have passed and it’s time to start gardening. Last year at this time I hadn’t even started clearing the space for the raised beds so we’re certainly in better shape than last year.

This year we ordered our seeds from High Mowing Seeds. Because we got a head start on last year we decided to start some plants indoors and also direct seed some early season seeds in the hope of getting an early first harvest. Here’s a picture of what we started indoors on Saturday.

Seeds started indoors

Our sunroom has large windows which face south and west so that’s where we’ll be putting the seeds to germinate and grow. At some point very soon we have to figure out how to keep Slinky away from them.

No, kitty!

On Sunday we got into the yard and worked some bags of composted manure into two of the six beds. Then we planted radishes, lettuce, beets, peas, kale, spinach, chard, and cilantro.

Sundays planting

We’re planning on doing another planting of these same crops in about two weeks. Hopefully by staggering them we won’t be stuck eating beets and radishes for 1 straight week in June and we’ll be able to harvest gradually.

Shh, don’t tell her parents, but Susan willingly planted peas.

Thursday was our last full day and we decided to spend it at the Boone Hall Plantation that was conveniently located near the Isle of Palms. While there we took a guided tour of the grounds in an open air trolley, learned a bit about the Gullah, walked through nine slave cabins, and did about half of the plantation house tour before Isaac informed us it was time to go home.

The plantation still grows produce which is sold locally. In its past, the plantation has belonged to several families who have grown cotton, pecans, and indigo among other crops. They still grow a small field of cotton for show which was very pretty. After we left the plantation we went to their market and bought some of their strawberries and peach cider.

That afternoon all of us walked down to the beach to take some final photos with the Kennealys. The next morning Susan, Isaac, and I went back to the beach to try to get a few shots of Isaac. He mostly wanted to keep his head down and not look at the camera but we managed to take some cute shots anyhow.

The end of a successful vacation

Too bright!

Mmmmm sand

We cleaned up the house and left midday on Friday, drove as far as Richmond, VA, and continued the final 9 hours home on Saturday. Things learned this trip: vacationing with another family is fun, driving (if you make the time) is better than dealing with airlines, Charleston is a lovely city, and even a cold day in South Carolina is warmer than Boston in March.

Our complete set of vacation photos is uploaded at flickr.

Day 3 started with our first (and probably only) day of rain. The girls declared this to be a sign that a spa day was in order and the boys decided this would be a great day for napping.

The couples ended up going in separate ways for dinner. We had dinner at the Old Village Post House in Mt. Pleasant, about 20 minutes from our house. The restaurant was recommended by our favorite farmer from Newburyport who just happened to see via Facebook that we were on vacation in the Charleston area. We both had very delicious meals with Isaac cooperating from the time we sat down until the entrees arrived. While Susan enjoyed her salmon with some of the tastiest tomatoes we’ve had, Brian held Isaac in the entryway. Brian ate the best duck breast he’s ever had while Susan did parenting duty. It wasn’t exactly the long dinners we’d enjoyed pre-Isaac but there’s a lot to be said for sitting down with great food in a relaxing atmosphere and having someone else do the cooking, serving, and dishes.

Wednesday the weather cleared so we decided to would be a good time to go explore downtown Charleston. We both ran in the morning which was sorely needed exercise and fresh air. When I got back from my run I found Susan and Isaac on the patio on our turret. Note: Su loves wraparound porches and turrets on houses so this is a clear winner.

Wraparound turret? Sign me up!

All 6 of us piled into the car around noon and headed into the city. First stop was Charleston’s City Market. We browsed the vendors for a while looking at the local artists and sampling some local flavor. Next up was lunch at an Irish pub. Susan had a crazy sounding, terribly unhealthy, yet amazingly tasty burger with fried oysters, cole slaw, jalapenos, and hot sauce. A tasty lunch and good time was had by all.

As happy as his daddy

After lunch we wandered our way on foot up to the visitor center taking in the historic Charleston architecture. Heather particularly likes Spanish Moss so when we were walking down a street heavily shaded by moss I snapped a picture of them.

Old buildings and Spanish Moss

One of Charleston’s many steeples

The diaper blowout on the walk over was tiring

What? I’m not tired

Finally we headed back to the car and headed home for a quiet evening of bath time and early bed.

Day 2 started perfectly with everyone, including Isaac, sleeping in. We woke up, had breakfast, and checked the schedule for Fort Sumter tours. Fort Sumter is only reachable by ferry so we had an actual schedule to keep. Isaac made things adventurous by having a diaper blowout in the car on the way to the ferry. Once we managed to get that taken care of, our adventure could begin.

Issac got on his first boat ride since he was born. The ferry to Fort Sumter left from where the USS Yorktown (now a floating museum) is docked.

USS Yorktown

After a short 30 minute ride to the island the ferry docked for a little over an hour letting us explore a bit and learn a little more about the battle for Fort Sumter than our history books taught us. We got on the ferry back to the mainland, did some grocery shopping, and headed home to a tasty home cooked chicken dinner with the Brian, Heather, and Liam.

Approaching Fort Sumter

Boom!

Flags on top of the newest gun battery

Brian K with Isaac

Liam giving kisses

Back in February we finalized plans to go to Isle of Palms, SC for a much needed vacation. Our friends Brian, Heather, and their son Liam live in North Carolina and after discussing with them we decided to rent a beach house for the week and enjoy some warmer weather and some new scenery.

This trip would also mark Isaac’s first plane flight. We booked early and got one the few direct flights from Boston to Charleston. On Friday, the day before we were to leave, we got a foot of snow in Chelmsford. I cleaned up the driveway enough so Su could go into work, and immediately set to doing the laundry, packing, and cleaning that needed to be done before we left. The snow continued to fall…

Su got home from work early and took her afternoon telecons at her deck in the dining room. I kept cleaning and doing laundry and the snow continued to fall. I decided to take a short nap while Su finished her phone calls and wake up to clean the driveway one last time when the snow stopped.

I woke up and was greeted by a message on my phone; our flights had been cancelled. No worries, they had rebooked us they said. So I got on the computer and checked our new itinerary. Instead of a direct flight at 10am we now had a flight on Sunday morning (a day later) at 6am (a terrible time) with a connection in JFK (a terrible airport) and the connection was only 45 minutes long (yeah… try taking a 4 month old across JFK at 6am to make a short connection). This was not going to work so I called Delta. After waiting on hold for 45 minutes they transferred me to an operator who promptly hung up. At this point I was becoming rather irate. I called back, waited 45 more minutes, and discovered my options were to wait until Monday or Tuesday, take the crappy 6am on Sunday, or to flying Sunday at a better time but have 2 connections. So Su and I huddled and did the only reasonable thing we could think of; we got a refund on our plane tickets and decided to drive the 1000 miles!

I went outside relieved to have made plan, cleaned off the driveway, came back in, had dinner, and finished packing. We were in bed by 11pm and planned to leave the following morning sometime after 7.

The drive ended up taking 18 hours (for a 15 hour drive). Isaac did great again. A few more stops to feed than our last roadtrip but by far the biggest delays were NYC traffic, Washington DC traffic, and a backup in Virginia caused by the setting sun. We rolled into the beach house about 3:15am (would have been 2:15 except for DST) and went the bed happy, warm, and safe.

Isaac got to travel through 7 new states and Brian got 2 new states (the Carolinas). Susan had been to all of them previously. Brian has now been to 47 of the 50 states (Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia) and Isaac has been to 12 states. Not bad for only 4 months old!

Susan practiced using our new camera taking state line shots as we traveled. Brian took the final shot going into South Carolina. I was a little tired by South Carolina and the shot looks nothing like a state line marker. Oh well!

New state for Isaac

New York smells funny

Maybe New Jersey will smell better

Wow, what a big bridge

An even bigger bridge

Wait, where’d Delaware go?!

The setting sun is about to irritate Isaac

New state for Brian and Isaac

Yes, that says South Carolina

Sunday was a slow day around the house as we got acquainted with the area. We walked down to the beach and explored before heading back to the house for naps and a nice dinner out. The rest of the week will likely include a plantation visit, a trip to Fort Sumter, exploring downtown Charleston, and definitely more beach time. More pictures later!

Ready for the beach

Beach time with Daddy

Last week we celebrated Susan’s birthday in a manner which we frequently do; playing in the snow. Back in 2008 we celebrated with our first big out of town snowshoe trip. Since then a few minor things have changed in our lives like buying a house next to a cross country ski area and having a child.

Not to be thwarted and since we had several inches of fresh snow on top of the base from the previous storm, we decided to see what it was like cross country skiing with Isaac.

Sunday morning we woke up and seeing the snow falling decided to get bundled up and head over to the ski center. One way to take a small child in the snow is to use a pulk. The ski center rents them so we decided to try it out.

Note, neither Susan nor myself are good skiers. We manage pretty well on flat terrain but add some gentle rolling hills in and there’s likely to be a fall or two. Since I have a bit better balance than Su we decided I would pull the pulk first.

Isaac bundled up in the pulk

Yah mule!

We skied about 1/4 of a mile and decided to stop and check on Isaac. Since he’s so young he’s a tad small for the pulk so we had to pack him in with blankets to get the harness tight enough on him. It’s turns out we didn’t have to worry as he fell asleep shortly into the journey. We also didn’t have to worry about the temperature either. By the time we stopped he was already steaming up the plastic window that keeps the elements out.

Doing just fine in here

We did a loop around one of the fields and since things were going well decided to ski over to the cow barn before looping back to the ski center. As we neared the center Susan took a turn pulling and I got to ski “sled free” for the first time that day. As we both discovered, pulling a baby in a sled is harder than it looks. I was so much faster when set free and Susan ended up doing a little huffing and puffing as she pulled Isaac uo to the ski barn.

Faster, Mommy, Faster

Below are two videos we shot testing out the new camera. Shooting with a new camera, in snow, with gloves/cold hands is certainly a challenge but the basic point across. I keep looking back while skiing to make sure I haven’t dragged the pulk into a lantern post. We were on a trail that can be lit for nighttime skiing and I was not sure whether or not I’d run Isaac into a pole. Better safe than sorry.

We had a lot of fun although I’m not sure if we’ll get enough snow again this year to re-open the ski area. We are thinking of taking short weekend trip to Vermont in a few weeks in search of one last hurrah before Spring.

The past two weeks Isaac has been very interested in sitting up. Ok, maybe not sitting fully under his own power, but being propped in the corner of a chair. Of course he also is interested in lurching from a sitting position onto his face which combined with his new ability to scooch means we can’t leave him unattended. Being able to put him in his Pack ‘N Play has been very nice as it gives him something else to do in addition to laying on his playmat.

I fell over but my giraffe was there to catch me

They won’t let me ride the cat so this sock monkey will have to do

We’ve been reading to Isaac every day and for the most part he just sits quietly in our lap and stares at the book or possibly off into space. Last week he finally showed an interest in holding a book on his own. He managed to hold it like a real book for a little while before tipping face first into it.

What this?

Kitty!

These pages are hard to work!

Finally, last week we had some friends over for a wine tasting. The Sheldons spent the night for the first time in many months and Theo and Max got to read Isaac a book at bedtime. Theo did an outstanding job reading “That’s Not My Dragon” while Max read “Little Blue Truck” complete with animal and horn sound effects.

Bedtime books

Theo reads to Ias

Little blue truck goes BEEP BEEP BEEP

I’ll spare all of you the details as there was plenty written about this storm but here’s the summary from Chelmsford. It started snowing early afternoon on Friday. We got about an inch an hour and had 7 inches by 9pm. We went to bed around 11pm and there were 11+ inches so it had picked up. When I woke up at 6am there was about 18 inches on the back deck. I checked the radar and decided to wait it out before trying to dig out. By 10am the snow had pretty much stopped and the winds had died enough that it made sense to start the snowblower. Thankfully we kept power the entire time. Final total in a relatively drift free spot was 21 inches.

I’ve used the snowblower twice now for about an hour each time. We could get both cars out if we needed to but I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. The turnaround by the garage is particularly painful to clear because the snow swirls against the garage, bushes, and fence. I’ll have to go out at least one more time to clean up the blowing and drifting.

We decided to dress Isaac up and take some photos with him and his first big snow storm. He’s a tad young to enjoy it right now, but Su and I will certainly be snowshoeing and cross country skiing over the next few days.

Why are they putting these flannel jammies on over my clothes?

This blue bomber hat is AWESOME!

Why are they dressing me up like a smurf (whatever that is)

Only 21 inches? I was taller than that at birth!

This will be awesome when I can sit up by myself!

New stimulus, must react like I do to every new sensation. Close my eyes and DROOL!