It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

You know that commercial? That Christmas song, but it's the mom in Staples shopping for school supplies? That's me this year--singing the praises of public school, options for "long day" nursery school, and after school sports and playgroups! Hallelujah! We have all of the children in four different schools this year - read: lots of calendars and organizing schedules and rides and games and activities. Let the fun begin! I'm ready! Because this year, I get 3 days, 2 of which are "full" where I have 5 hours to myself! What? Yes, that's right. To myself. First time in 16+ years! Wow! Don't even ask what I'll do with that time, because I have a feeling I can fill it up pretty quickly.

This summer was a doozy for us all around - the move into the disaster of the house, the renovation part of it, the stress it brought all of us in different levels... I had more bathing suits this year that I have ever in my entire life! We spent nearly every day at the beach, whether it be in CT or RI, and even a week at the Jersey Shore, then we'd come "home" and clean up, rest, pack up again, and go back for dinner! I can honestly say, I am still not beached out-I don't think I could ever be, but it was a summer of doing not much in terms of activities. If we weren't a beachy family, I can see how the children would have gotten bored.

(this is of course, The Ocean House, not my house... my dream house however...)

The house is coming along....we have progress. My kitchen has just been installed-delicious butter yellow cabinets and a beautiful farm sink, though the appliances are on order and won't be in for another week or so, so our dinners are still the grilled and nuked kind.
We are now in 2 bedrooms, with beds and dressers set up, soon to be all the bedrooms completely done, so this is good news. Our waiting, not so patiently I have to admit, is paying off as things are coming together.

(Rolo, Amy & I in Louisville the night before the race)

I was lucky enough to fly to KY for the weekend at the end of August with Rolo and watch 3 of our friends compete in the Louisville Ironman! It was one of the craziest, most emotional things I have ever witnessed, and I suggest all triathletes witness the finish chute to a full Ironman at least once in their life! It was a very long day, 3:30 in the morning until well past 12:30 am the next day of walking, cheering, crying, eating and walking some more. Amy, John and Janel swam, rode and ran their hearts out and all ran across that finish line and lived to tell about it. I'm in the process of doing a slide show because I went with camera, and Rolo wrote a beautiful narrative that I will post here for all to read. She captured the essence of that day wonderfully and I can't wait to share it.

Some of the highlights were thespectators t-shirts! There were so many fun slogans and catch phrases; we photographed them all! This gentleman's shirt said it all! What a hoot!

Betsey had another checkup with Yale recently and her a1c was down, yet again! She's unbelievable! She just went on a white water rafting trip with school that had me all a dither -- it was 2 hours away, no nurse along for the ride, and I trusted a teacher with her to know what to do in the event of an emergency.

Of course everything went fine, no issues, and it was just another step towards independence with type 1. These little steps are thrown at me lately by the handful and I'm just kind of going with them, allowing them to play out -- and we're doing OK. Betsey is playing field hockey this year, a switch over from her usual Fall soccer. Sports and away games, ones that I can not get to, stress me out a little bit, but her coaches seem willing to work with me and her with what needs to be done. A good thing.

My "training" is at a standstill - I had a hip/glute injury for some time and haven't done much running. I raced the Niantic tri with my brother, and this coming weekend we have the N'ski 2nd Annual Tri-B-Que which will be an outstanding venue! Our group of friends all get together before breakfast at the Nski House where we sometimes train for our swim. We pick teams out of a hat, and then divide the swim/bike/run between our 3 teammates. Totally random, totally fun, totally a cheat fest - I think it has ultimately come down to who can cheat he best to win.

I am betting my team wins this year, based on our plan thus far! ;)

There is a 5K road race in October; it was my first road race ever years ago and it's for a very good cause; children who have lost their parents. I hope to run that and then of course the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving day. That about sums up my calendar for this year.

Next year brings new challenges and hopefully more racing. I enjoyed the off season but look forward to some good events next year and some group training.

Looking forward to the next phase with the kiddies in school........