My Tri

Bike Transition with Sarah before the race

 

Ready to start the raspberry swim cap age group with Lisa

 

Home stretch of the bike

 

I merely finished but this guy won his age group!

Mother and Son Giving It A Tri

Swim to bike transition

 

I woke up in the middle of the night Thursday worrying about it.  Was I setting my son up for failure?  He hadn't been in a pool since last summer.  Would he freak out and be afraid to jump in the water?  Would he even remember how to scoop and kick enough to propel himself forward while wearing a life jacket?  Would he be the only kid wearing a life jacket? 

 

It was the middle of the night and although the kids were staying overnight at Jamie's so I could attend a Ragnar team meeting and rest up in preparation for my own coming triathlon, I was wide awake thinking I had failed Sam as a parent.  In less than 36 hours I'd ask him to jump in a pool and swim its length and then bike a mile and run another half mile, and although he was excited, until just now I hadn't allowed for the possibility that he wouldn't be able to do it.

 

After a long week of work and training (have I mentioned how freaked out I was about my OWN swim in Lake Winona?) I loaded up both kids and we headed to the Aquatic Center for a last minute remember-how-much-you-love-to-swim pool reintroduction.  And although I was exhausted and I generally don't react kindly to crowds, we had a blast.  Sam got right in the water and paddled around into the deep end.  He practiced scooping and kicking and putting his face in the water and climbing in and out of the pool.  And every time I tried to get him out of the water he'd say "One more lap.  I don't want to get out yet."

 

I won't go into details about how I'm crowd averse and not necessarily patient and how I don't always have the best attitude when I'm not sure what's going on, but I'll say that as emotionally challenging and exhausting as the 3 hours leading up to Sam's actual race were for me, they were worth it.  Three hours of wrangling my tired, whiny, stubborn 3-year-old daughter were quickly forgotten when I saw Sam beam with pride coming out of the pool and running to his bike transition.  And as soon as the race started and she could cheer for her brother, Eva paid attention and listened to directions as we ran to watch Sam on the bike and then for the final lap around the track near the finish.

 

It was all over with so fast... way too fast for this mom of a first grader.  Wow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Transition

 

 

Although they had a spring program in which they sang about bumblebees and flowers and then walked over to hug their teachers and get a certificate the week before, Sam's official last day of school was a week later.  After five days of bringing home school supplies in his backpack and going on field trips and celebrating in various other ways, Sam's kindergarten class ended their year with a big family picnic.  Since Sam will be moving on to a different school next year, the afternoon was a little bittersweet.  Families spread out picnics on the shady hill behind St. Mary's and Sam ran around trying to find all his friends for pictures.  We got phone numbers from the moms so we could stay in touch and set up playdates and stay connected, and even when he hugged Miss Kay goodbye he promised to stop in to see her when Eva is there next year.  St.Mary's has given Sam such a amazing start and he's made a lot of great friends, but we couldn't help but feel a little sad about it all coming to an end.

 

In order to make the transition a little easier, Sam and I walked over to his new school where he'll be in first grade so he could meet the new school nurse and go over the details of how peanut allergies are handled in the public school system.  And Sam was very excited to see all the big kids he'll have at his next school.

 

And of course, a little Culver's ice cream is always a good way to celebrate such a big transition.  Sam is more than ready for first grade.  Wow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fast Spring

 

 

We arrived in a rush after gulping McDonald's chicken nuggets and surviving the hot rush hour crawling traffic across the bridge, and we all had to take several deep breaths as we turned on to Hauser Street and discovered a line of cars and a precarious parking situation just ten minutes before game time.  I parallel parked on the road and threw on the backpack and the folding chair and grabbed the Packer blanket and handed each of the kids their water bottles and said "Let's move."  We followed a line of rushing parents, Eva complaining about her flip flops as we walked along the rockbed roadside and Sam constantly distracted and slowing to look at all the kids in different team shirts. 

 

"Come on.  Move," I barked as the hot sun was already pushing down on us and I started dreading what the next 3 hours were going to be like 

 

Once we made it to the grass I exhaled slightly and then Eva said she had to go potty and we ran to the port-a-potties and then stood and waited and waited and waited while she needed a great deal of time.  With 4 minutes to spare, she came out of the potty and we washed her hands and I sent Sam running through the crowds in the direction of field 9J.

 

Along the west side of the field we found our people, Sam's friends and their parents, and all the other Euro kids dressed in red and white and kicking a ball around with their coach.

 

For the next 3 and a half hours, the boys (and the amazing Abby) ran and ran and really played their hearts out, each one of them at some point getting a fire in the belly and driving for the goal.  They passed and defended and shared the ball and played aggressively and laughed and cheered and made each and every parent proud.

 

By the time the third game started late at a little after 8pm many of the parents were tired, but the sun was lower in the sky and gloaming light and cool air made for perfect fall-like conditions for watching a ball game.  Eva and Eomji played tag and soccer with Abby's big sister, and the kids got a little punch drunk on the field, but I got a tear in my eye when Sammy posed with his team and then again with his club and his Brazilian coach.  I wasn't prepared to so suddenly be caught up in the emotions of another ending on the same day that Sam had his last day of kindergarten.  All my friends with older children tell me that it goes so very fast, and some days when the sun is hot and the kids are dragging their feet and whining for uppy or complaining that they are hungry or tired or have to go potty for the tenth time, it's hard to imagine that it could go fast.  But then you find yourself standing in front of a bench full of 12 soccer players who grew and matured and learned so much during the spring season and you realize if you had blinked you would have missed so much.

 

Wow.  Thanks for another great spring, Winona Euro!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madison Reunion

Reunion on Memorial Union Terrace the night before the half

I am sitting in the sunshine in the outdoor garden seating at The Great Dane in Madison, and my skin is covered with the fine powdered feeling of dried up sweat.  My best friend and college roommate sits across from me, her finisher's medal hung around her neck and a pink sweatband saying "Decide. Commit. Succeed." holding back her thick dark hair.  As the waiter sets a giant plate of waffles with berries and whipped cream on the table in front of her son, I am struck once again by how much he looks like his father.

"This is so surreal," I say to both of them.  "It seems like just yesterday it was the three of us... you and Brian and me.  And now it almost doesn't feel much different."

I cannot believe that it's been over 25 years since we spent our weekends in Madison together, and I am so amazed by what kind, thoughtful, generous, adult kids this best friend of mine has raised.  Two grown men who are focused and commited and succeeding at UW-Madison themselves.

Standing at the finish line with Zack a few hours earlier, he and I talked about the running and his recent battle with some virus that kept him from participating.  He was positive and excited and interested in signing up for another race soon.  And when the three of us sat at an Irish pub on the square and he toasted his mother and said how proud of her he was, I got tears in my eyes.

My less-than-24-hour weekend away from my children made me think of mothers and children and balance and history and example and achievement and friendship and how truly blessed I am.

 

 

 

 

I Just Thank You God for Making Me Me

 

 

TT didn't want me to tell Sam she was coming just in case she couldn't make it at the last minute, but when she pulled in to our driveway just after dinner Thursday night, it was a pretty safe bet that she'd be at Sam's final spring program at St. Mary's the following day.  And after the usual wrong turn and redirection in Winona, TT walked in and took her place next to me in the middle of the church.  We both anxiously looked for Sam as the children filed in, and when he spotted us he beamed and waved and posed for pictures.  Cameras and phones and ipods clicked and zoomed and beeped as the kids sang about butterflies and bumblebees and I Just Thank You God for Making Me Me.  Sam never really looked comfortable on stage even when they put on sunglasses for the hula number, but he had been practicing the songs in the car all week and he was so excited to share what he had learned with Mom and Grandma.  I teared up a few times as they sang about God giving them roots to grow, but mostly I beamed and couldn't take my eyes off of this boy who I am so blessed to have in my life.

 

When Sam went up to get his certificate and give Miss Kay a hug, Ms. Cicolz told the crowd that when Sam grew up he wanted to be an engineer.  And he later told us that's because he likes to create and build things and being an engineer is kind of like Minecraft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soccer Tournament

 

Did I mention that we moved?  That we spent an entire month getting everything in to boxes and getting those boxes along with all our furniture into a u-store box or shuffled to storage in the new garage during one of several daily trips from Wisconsin to Minnesota over the course of 3-4 weeks?  That we closed on the sale of our Wisconsin home on Friday morning and closed on the purchase of our new home on Friday afternoon?  If you know all of these details then you know that it was about 15 hours between the time the kids set foot in our new home and the time we had to be in the car headed to La Crosse for Sam's first soccer tournament.  There are just 3 tournaments for his age group so it didn't seem right to miss one just because we were moving.  And I actually kind of liked having an excuse not to get everything unloaded and unpacked on Friday evening.  Plenty of time to get to all those boxes.  There is soccer to be played.

So even though we were all more than a little tired from a late and restless first night in the new house, Eva and Sam were up and (mostly) ready to go when Kate and her kids showed up for our rideshare to the tournament.  And despite the cold wind (which we tried to keep mostly at our backs) and my lack of preparation for it, the boys enjoyed their first soccer tournament and the girls (and let's face it the boys) enjoyed singing along to the Frozen soundtrack all the way there and all the way back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Happened

 

 

Look what arrived in early April and was packed full of furniture

and tools and garbage bags of clothes by late April. 

 

 

 

 Two nights before we had to be out, all that was left was the kitchen.  And a lot of cleaning.

 

 The kids have a slumber party their last night in the house. In the morning when I asked them if they wanted to say goodbye to the house, Sam said "Why would I want to do that?  It will just make me sad."  And from that moment on Eva has called the old house on the prairie our "sad house."

 

 

 The new place