Who Needs Those Little Ones?

Seriously, who needs those little wheels hanging off the sides of your first bike anyway?  Sam, who rarely rides his bike because it has never been nearly as fast as his Razor, asked me this weekend if he could take off his training wheels.  Friday he had witnessed the overwhelming family joy and over-the-top praise and celebration that a 4-1/2-year-old gets when he rides without training wheels after his friend Nathan did it for the first time.  There were applause and high fives and fist bumps (the exploding kind) and picture taking and lots and lots of smiles, so the next day when faced with his slow "baby bike" Sam asked if we could take off the training wheels.  And after some quick work with a socket wrench the bike was ready.  But Sam wasn't quite.  Not yet.  I think part of it was that his mommy was hanging over him and despite evidence that he has great balance (which he displays while doing tricks on the Razor) she clearly hadn't accepted the fact that he was capable of doing this without scraping all the skin off his legs.  And she perhaps needed to get out of the way.

When I dropped him off at Jamie's Monday morning, I noticed a new bike leaned against the house.  And his friend Owen also brought a bike without training wheels ("We're trying that," Owen's mom said) and dropped it in front of me as I headed to my car.  A little piece of me thought "Sure, he'll probably finally do it when I'm not here to watch."

Fast forward 2 hours and Jamie sent me a picture on her phone, and off I went to witness the milestone.  My boy.  No more training wheels.  Thanks to Jamie's Bike Riding School which is far superior to anything Mommy could do.  (As are her noodles and mashed potatoes and tomato soup.)

Is this a midlife crisis?

BK5K in June with Kristen and Sarah

I’m not sure what I was thinking.  Maybe I wasn’t actually thinking.  Mostly now I think “midlife crisis.”  Why else would a 45-year-old single mother of two children under five commit to something as time consuming and crazy as a Ragnar relay?  For anyone that doesn’t know what these are, they are running relays in which you hop in a van with a bunch of other people and take turns running legs of 3-8 miles for roughly 200 miles.  It’s a 2 day undertaking, if not more when you count recovery time.  Two days of riding in a cramped van filled with sweaty runners and funky smelling gym bags.  Running alone at night along country roads.  Running uphill through city streets in the heat of the afternoon sun.  Running, God help me, in funny costumes or women’s lingerie or t-shirts that say “wiggle, wiggle, wiggle” near your ass.

 Chileda Classic 10K - July 2012

After I finished my first half marathon in May, a half marathon that I said I was glad to have behind me because I simply didn’t have time for all the training, I rested a few weeks and then looked for my next running goal, something to keep me going to the gym so I could continue to eat cheeseburgers well in to my 50’s.  A woman I work with did Ragnar last year and she was going back for more, so it seemed like a good idea. 

At the time.

That was months ago.  Before school let out for the summer and tee ball started and I began using lunch hours for pre-school swimming lessons.  That was before the heat and humidity arrived making me crave air conditioning and naps on the couch rather than treadmills and bike paths.  That was before my 1-year-old started eating everything in sight making daily trips to the grocery store necessary.  That was before it dawned on me that my car had 180,000 miles on it and it’s not terribly convenient to bring children in car seats along when you test drive a mini-van.  Simply put, that was before I realized how little free time I actually have.  Ever.

And so here I am 3 weeks away from getting in a smelly van with a bunch of strangers (did I mention that I don’t know anyone on my team?).  I’ve been kind of lax in my training so I’m panicking about whether or not I did enough hill training (did I mention that one of my legs is 3 miles uphill without a break?) and whether I’ll be trapped in a van with a bunch of passionate conservatives (please, please no) and whether or not my old body that hates temperatures over 70 will stay upright during my final leg in St. Paul during the peak of the afternoon (Why am I doing this again?).

The good news is that, thanks to my amazing friend Jamie, my children will be well cared for and enjoying the air-conditioning while their crazy mother dips her toe in the pool of the non-mommy adult world for a few days.  And if I make it back in one piece I might not even care that my ass says “Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle” on it.

 Fools Five Road Race in May with my inspirational running buddy Sarah

 This story originally appeared here on thenextfamily.com

Sharing with Friends

I know we were just there, but we had so much fun that we had to go back.  And this time, thanks to our new car, we were able to bring a few friends along with us.  I'm pretty sure Becky and her family are wondering why they waited so long to make the trip to the pizza farm, and I'm glad they invited us to join them.  Sam and Eva and I loaded up a cooler and a blanket and picked up Z and E and counted cows and looked for turkey on the 30-minute drive out there.  The kids loved the animals and the gardens and the pizza and the playground... though the surprise rainstorm as we were packing up to go was not something Z was happy about.   Good pizza, good music, (mostly) perfect weather, and lots and lots of room to run made for a fantastic night on the farm.

Bay Beach Redux

 

Cousins grabbing some grub before hitting the rides 

Wow.  When you consider that TT's company picnic at Bay Beach last year was cold and rainy, it's hard to believe this year's picnic was even on the same planet.  It was HOT.  And dry.  But it was so fun to share the rides and TT's 70th birthday cake with Ann and Sarah and Zack.  Eva was still too young for the rides, but Sam was big enough for some of the big rides... and the bumper cars, which he's STILL talking about.  Eva was happy to push around the stroller and visit with all the people she hadn't seen since last year before collapsing in the stroller for a much-needed nap.

 "I do it!  I do it!  Eva's stroller.  I do it!"

 Me and my favorite niece who looks just like her mommy did at that age

 Sarah loves the big 3-level slide

"What?  What?"

 Mommy and Sammy on the helicopter ride

 The little man visits with TT's dearest friends

 The girls on the bumper cars

 The fighter pilot ride is still a favorite

 The breeze while riding the train is a break from the heat

And so is the wading pool

Nap time

Coolness

 "Mommy, I love Grandma's car because the cover goes off.  Our cover does not go off.  Our car is not cool."

Even if she looked cool, I'm guessing TT was not feeling all that cool in the 90+ heat last week.  Ann and her kids didn't think it was really that bad, but they get months of this in Sarasota in the summer.  We're tired of it.  Thankfully they knew some really fun ways to stay cool.

Razors and Fireworks and Spy Missions

Ann helps Eva get comfortable with Bailey and Teddy

I missed the first few hours of our Saturday with Ann and the kids (because I was running in the Chileda Classic 10K) but the rest of the day was filled with lots of running and playing and noise-making and eating and general joy about being together.  After we tackled the hike to Delta Point, we spent some time playing in the almost-too-cold basement before heading out to the shaded back deck for lime daquiris and spy training followed by fireworks and Sam's heartbreak over the fact that he had to separate from his cousins for bedtime.  What a great day!  (Stay tuned for more photos from our time with Ann and the kids.)

 Eva and TT share fresh blueberries from The Berry Patch

 Auntie Annie and Eva adore each other

 Sam loves that his cousins come bearing treats

 Eva shows Auntie Annie that she can wear Sam's old shoes

 One of many walks around the neighborhood with the kids Razors

 Sarah is "training" Sam to do spy missions

 A Spy Mission Conference

 Unbelievable fireworks in our backyard

Riveted by the awesome display