Picture Perfect Weekend

The unofficial kick-off to summer was here - Memorial Day Weekend! It was pretty picture perfect, too. Even though there were off and on showers and storms all weekend, I don't really remember them. They didn't seem to put a damper on any of the activities we partook in.

The weekend must have been a good balance of activity and relaxation, because it ended up being really fun but not rushed. Oh yes, I know now. We were guests at friend's houses and Joe's parent's house much of the weekend, which means meals were cooked for us and entertainment was provided. Thank you McLeans and Diane & John!!!

OK, I'm spent from my two days at the office, so I'll give you a photo overview of our picture perfect weekend with limited words and stories.

We spent a lot of time at Joe's parent's house enjoying family-time, good food and the pool (especially Sunday when temps were 90+degrees).

- Maiden voyage of our raft in the pool

- Bathing Beauties Diane & Wren

- Wren testing out the baby float

- Drumsticks!

- The kids LOVE the raft in the pool. Joe's brother Jim managed to turn the pool into white water rapids with the kids in the raft.

Monday morning I brought Max and Otto to a playground we haven't been to before. I knew it was going to be bigger than our typical neighborhood park, but I wasn't prepared for how much bigger. This picture shows about half of the recreation area, uncrowded because it was right when it opened...it looked like Disney World during Spring Break moments after we arrived.

You can't see the 5 story climbing structure and several other play areas. My heart dropped when I saw it, wishing I had Joe's extra set of eyes and legs to help watch the boys and chase after them. But, the boys both did awesome - great job listening, no tantrums, lots of playing, etc. They were handsomely rewarded with a smoothie and bread shop treat on the way home.

- Silly Otto makes me smile

- Max climbing the spiderweb

- My two favorite boys

Troop Schuster

The Thursday before Memorial Day we headed out on our first vacation as a family of five. In a jam-packed 4Runner with all the camping gear needed to keep 2 adults, 3 kids and a dog outfitted for a night. Yes, one night. I usually cap my camping at two consecutive nights, but with three kids I wanted to be extra conservative. And so we set out for our 1-night "test run."

I'll fill you in on many of the details, but long story short, this camping thing might just work out for us. We had a few hiccups along the way, but I think we may have found our groove over the course of our 1-day adventure. Look out Minnesota State Parks, Troop Schuster is making the rounds this summer!

With five people in our Troop, we needed to upgrade to a new, bigger tent this year. The tent Joe and I have been using for the past twelve years (or longer) isn't big enough for all of us. At least not all of us plus a pack n play, which is what we thought Wren would sleep in.

A month ago, in prep for our first camping excursion as a family of five, we'd all gathered around the Mac and watched a video about a tent Joe found on REI.com. As far as camping sales videos go, it was a glossy little number. Max and I were sold, anyway. The video showed us how the tent had pockets to hold thing, was light weight & durable and looked great all set up on the Caribbean beach. Most importantly, it had rooms! One big room for me, Joe and Wren. Plus a second littler room for Max and Otto. Just like at home the boys would get to sleep together in their own little tent room. They couldn't wait!

Upon finding our campsite at Interstate Park in Taylor's Falls, Joe got to work pitching the tent. What used to take under 5 minutes with our old tent turned into 105 minutes with the new tent.

But wait, I have to mention that the new tent is NOT the one we saw in the awesome video. Instead of buying that one, Joe found a deal and decided to buy a different one. One that didn't have an accompanying video to watch. Because if it had, we would have noticed that IT DIDN'T HAVE A FLOOR! Especially good to note given we arrived at our campsite just hours after torrential downpours soaked the place for the previous day and a half.

Anyway, although Max had made quick work of the putting the poles together, Joe was at a loss and could not figure out the rest of the tent. While trying to pitch the tent he still thought there was a floor, so it was throwing him for a loop as he tried and tried and tried to figure out how to stake the floor to the ground and pitch the sides/top of the tent. Eventually he realized what was going on and got it all figured out. Looks pretty good from the outside.

But my looks said it all when I walked inside it for the first time and wondered why the VERY wet grass was the floor to the big room (the boy's little room does in fact have a floor, thankfully).

I've had a few people ask me, "What do you do when you camp? With three kids?" Well, they just love being outside and somehow stay very entertained in nature and in the new surroundings.

Our campsite was right next to a little river which was rushing really fast due to all the rain, so we tossed sticks in and watched how fast they floated down stream. We walked over the little footbridge. We followed the little river to the bigger river basin.

The boys pretended to water ski behind the car with the grate/straps.

They went on nature walks

They pretended to fish in one of the boats at the boat landing on the river.

They pretended to fish at our campsite.

They actually fished (no catches) in the river.

Time for a funny story. A story that's only funny told in hindsight.

Given we had very wet ground under us in the big room of the tent, Joe slept with Max and Otto in the little room. Myself and Wren slept in the big room of the tent without the floor. We started the night with me on an air mattress and Wren in her pack n play. But Wren started to rustle an hour after going to bed and she was cool to the touch (it happened to be a very brisk night). So I decided she'd sleep with me on the air mattress to make sure she stayed warm enough.

I was using a big down comforter as my blanket, folder over like a taco, with the open end opening towards the outside of the tent. Wren and I snuggled in, warmed up and fell asleep. But sometime during the middle of the night I awoke suddenly.

Wren wasn't on the mattress with me. My heart dropped. I felt right next to the side of the mattress, but she wasn't there either. OMFG! The tent doesn't have a floor, and the sides just have a clip every couple feet to attach to the frame. She could have rolled right out of the tent. She did roll right out of the tent. In the darkness I slid my hand under the bottom of the tent wall and sure enough, Wren was right there, 100% outside the tent. Sound asleep. How long had she been like that?!?! I have to tell myself that I must have woken because I felt her roll off the mattress. I can't stand the thought of her sleeping by herself outside the tent for any more than a few seconds, but it's entirely possible. So glad she had her sleep sack on. So effing glad I can laugh about this now. Modifications will be made to our sleep arrangements next time.

After the little "incident" she went on to sleep very well with me under the cozy duvet, which I rearranged so that she could not roll out of the tent.

The day before we left for camping, I was in a brainstorm with my colleague on Hamburger Helper. It was suggested that Helpers is a good camping food. So we decided to put that to the test... Otto LOVED the stuff!

In the morning Joe made pancakes, eggs, coffee and cereal.

Before heading home we went to the Glacial Potholes at Taylor's Falls and hiked around. We saw the river boats and lots of rock climbers. The boys had fun "bouldering" on the rocks and exploring the caves and crannies filled with water.

Wren had the best seat in the house...with a 5 point safety belt to make sure she wasn't going anywhere!

My Non-Marathon

My running has slowed even more than my blogging. Actually, my running came to a definite pause last Sunday during the Green Bay Marathon. I was not adequately prepared. I was certainly not committed.

Although I had run a few 20-milers in prep, along with nearly every other of the long runs I was supposed to, I did not put in enough miles outside of my long weekend runs. And my heart was not in the training I did complete. And running the Green Bay Marathon became my 1st Non-Marathon.

For years distance running was my sanity. One hour or four hours - every minute I spent running was my therapy. Simultaneously my down time and my pump me up time. Whether running solo or with Joe, I returned home more centered. Slowly, since Wren was born, distance running has become less powerful to me. While I still love a good, fast 5 miles, the double digit runs (particularly those beginning with the #2) have become an un-fun burden. I started to spend more time complaining, whining and wishing the miles were over. While pounding the pavement, Joe and I would daydream about lining up a babysitter just so we could sit in lawn chairs, crack open some beers and relax, rather than go run around 5 lakes to the tune of 20-some miles.

I wanted to bail out of the GB marathon before it even started. But Joe is uber committed to everything he starts and insisted we were going to run it! I couldn't get myself trained for the race, and certainly not psyched up about it. But there we were last Saturday. Me, Joe & Wren, dropping the boys off at John & Diane's, and the three of us headed to Green Bay. What I lacked in motivation to run miles, I made up for with the thought of a Kroll's burger and seeing my mom and dad.

- Getting my race number. Somehow Joe missed snapping the photo of me when I was making a really sarcastic face and giving the thumbs up sign. Wren looks entirely bored with this marathon too.

- But she's very excited about Lambeau and the Miller Light Gate.

Back to the race in question. As I mentioned, it was pretty much doomed since I started training not hard enough. And then I went and had burgers at Kroll's the night before, lost my timing chip and I never quite seemed to recover (not that I was trying too hard).

The morning of the race was warm. But we had trained in hotter weather. The temps were estimated to be high 80's by mid-day. I'd PR'd at a marathon with temps over 90 degrees.

We set out and settled into a 9-minute mile pace. And held it solidly until mile 16. At which point I very abruptly decided I just wasn't feeling it anymore and didn't want to run another mile, let alone another 10 miles that morning. Even though my pace had remained consistent, I could tell the heat was beginning to take its toll on me. I was getting lighter-headed, a bit tingly and wanting to guzzle water and Gatorade. I knew I could handle another few miles, but wasn't positive I could make it the ten miles that were left.

At this point in the race course I was only about a mile and a half from my dad's house, so I decided I wanted to walk there instead of finish the race. My dad had kindly picked up some Naked Mango juice for me and an assortment of my other fresh food favorites. Given we had to be back on the road towards Minneapolis within just a few hours, I decided I'd rather hang out with him and Wren than run my remaining time in Green Bay.

Joe the Committed decided to finish what he started - in a very respectable 4 hours and a few minutes. After meeting up with him post-race, he got me up to speed on some of the drama that unfolded just minutes after I quit the race.

The next water stop he made it to after I left the course the volunteers were telling all racers that the race was cancelled (due to high heat and race medics not being able to keep up with the participants passing out). Please stop running because there would be a shuttle to pick everyone up and bring them to the finish line. Since Joe didn't see any shuttles, he just kept running until he'd completed the marathon. The thing is, according to race rules, since the race was called just 2 hours and 25 minutes after it started (almost exactly the time I choose to walk off the course), no one who took longer than that amount of time to run the race will be given an official race time/result.

All I can say is I'm glad I decided to quit before I heard the race was officially cancelled. Had I waited, I know I would have stopped competing in the race once I heard it was called - but I would have been pissed. This way I got to stop on my own account rather than having someone tell me I needed to stop (I would have wondered if I would have continued running the race if they hadn't called it).

And I'm glad Joe finished safely.

And I'm glad he and I can now move on to lining up babysitters so we can relax in lounge chairs with beers in hand rather than lacing up and heading out with Goo and water in hand.

- Burgers, fries and shakes (probably not the best pre-race dinner) at Kroll's. The seats are like huge Barca loungers and Wren's carseat fit perfectly in it.

The real highlight of my non-marathon trip to Green Bay was seeing my mom and dad and them having another chance to hang out with Wren. We all went to Kroll's for burgers and malts, hung out and watched a movie. This little girl puts a smile on both my parent's faces.

One last shout out to Joe, the only one of the two of us who has a really cool football shaped marathon medal. As always he just went and finished what he started, making it look kind of easy. Despite my change of heart on this race, he was always there to tackle the long runs with me, help me find time to do some additional training and motivate me with this goal.

P.S. - The Green Bay Marathon was the best resourced and managed race I've been to. We didn't run more than 3/4 of a mile without some type of official race support at our fingertips. There was water every single mile. In addition to the water, they spaced out Goo stations, timing mats, etc.

Happy 7 Months Wren

Wren turned 7 months on the 17th. Phew! Lot's going on this past month and we’ve definitely had some significant moments.

At the beginning of the month I headed back to work. For the most part everything with that change is going really well. I’m happy to say I am motivated with my work assignment and feel like I fit in well with my new team. I’m back to having a supportive boss and that little {BIG} thing makes such a difference.

Wren seems to enjoy daycare, which always makes the transition back to the office a lot more bearable. We’re lucky to have some of the same teachers that cared for Max & Otto, so they have a soft spot for Wren. She likes all the new friends, teachers and toys to play with. We’re over the hump of the first couple weeks when she refused bottles at school, which means she’s back to getting most of her calories during the day as well as back to waking just once at night to feed. By this age Max was sleeping his 12 hours solid each night, but I’m fine with Wren waking up. She eats and goes right back to bed. And sometimes holding her in the still of the night is the only chance I have to do so.

- playing at school

Another perk of daycare is that they help ensure Wren has a chance to try and eat solids a couple times before we offer her dinner at night. This is huge for me. The other Friday when all three kids were home I felt so triumphant because I actually “had a chance” to feed Wren solids two times during the day. Some days I can’t figure out how to do that…

- when I do, it still looks like this

Exactly one week before Wren turned 7 months she took off crawling. The night before she started crawling daycare had told me that she was sooooo close to doing it. I think they say that when a child has actually done something new at daycare but they want the parents to (think they’ve) seen it for the first time. At any rate, although I was taken off guard one morning when I realized she was crawling towards me and Otto rather than her usual rocking and rolling our way, I really wasn’t surprised by it. She’d been on all 4’s and rocking back and forth for a few weeks looking like she was ready to take off toward her brothers.

I was surprised, however, with what she has learned to do since the day she started crawling. Here I thought crawling was going to be the big milestone I’d get to memorialize in Wren’s baby book and the blog for her 7^th month. But in one week’s time - from her 1^st crawling until her 7^th month birthday - she’s gone from crawling on the ground to climbing up onto things. And then from leaning against things to popping up onto her toes against things. And then from kneeling to pulling herself to a stand.

- one moment

- the next

- 8am.

Kneeling in crib talking with Max

- 3pm.

Pulling herself to a stand in her crib talking with Max.

It was quite fun because I think Max was as amazed, or even more amazed, than I was with Wren's new ability. He just kept squealing every time Wren would fall down and pull herself back up.

As fun and exciting as it is to have her moving so quickly, it’s a whole new ballgame now. Wren crawls right over and tries to swipe toys from Max and Otto. She’ll sit down next to one of them and I’ll catch them “parallel” playing. When we headed outside the other day I realized the new challenge – watching all three mobile kids with just two eyes. Setting Wren on a big blanket on the lawn, she was in the woodchips trying to eat them before I could get Otto set up with the hose and watering can. I usually live in flip flops, but I’m on the hunt for some new summer tenners so I can keep up with my six additional legs all going in different directions!

- Taking toys. Joe reminded me she has some of the best mentors in this area, so I shouldn't be surprised.

- She just seems so old sitting next to Max and "parallel" playing.

Wren is such a sweetheart. All the kids are. Otto just dotes on her. Every morning he wants to cuddle in Wren’s crib with her. He’ll snuggle on the floor with her. He doesn’t love when she tries to take his toys. Max still makes her giggle. And every night both boys insist on hugging and kissing her good-night, and Otto wants to hold her.

I love that Joe and I have the opportunity to parent a girl in addition to our boys. I've always called my boys beautiful, but I'm finding that I gush to Wren about how beautiful she is. There's something that overtakes me every single time I look at her and I can't help myself from blurting out how she's the most beautiful girl in the world. Seriously. The prettiest girl I've ever seen. Prettiest girl in the world, actually. But then none of our kids have been called or casted by the "professionals of pretty" over at the Gap Casting Call, so maybe I've just got a bit of that parent bias in me...