Tone's Triathlon

Three weekends ago, Tone' and his good buddy Alan, competed in a Triathlon in Boise, Idaho. Tone' drove over from Issaquah with his other good buddy Joe and they all three had a fun weekend together. About two years ago Alan and Joe lived here in Portland and the three guys got together weekly to hang out, then adult responsiblities took over and they had to move away to go earn a living. Sad. So this was a fun time of catching up and having fun times together again.

Pre Race Picture: All Smiles:)

This was an Olympic Triathlon, which is shorter than the Ironman everyone knows about, but tough all the same.

The Swim: 1.5 miles

The Bike: 24.8 miles

This is Alan, why is he smiling?
The Run: 6.2 miles
FYI: Tone' is lapping this girl

Alan; really, why are you smiling still?!

The Finish:
And he is still smiling....


Post Race Picture.
They don't look too much worse for wear,
nice job guys!

Sayyyyy, what's that Alan is dipping his hand into....?

Well, there goes all those calories you just burned!

Date Night!

For Tone' and my birthdays my sister, Kellie, bought us tickets to see the Sounders soccer team playing at Quest Field in Seattle. The best part of this birthday present was that she would also watch our boys while we went giving us an official "date night".

Quest Field

Tone' and I are not big fans of watching sports, but we both played soccer and love to watch it as well so this was actually alot of fun for both of us. We had great seats, ate ridiculously expensive, unhealthy, but deliciouse stadium food, cheered, booed, and had a wonderful time being together. I felt like I was 21 and going out on a date for the first time!
(I think it's been way too long since we have been alone together)

Sadly, the Sounders did not win, The score was 1-0. It was exciting anyway, and we discovered that Sounders fans are obsessed! Practically everyone was wearing a blue or a green jersey or scarf. No one sat down the entire time either. I've never understood that kind of devotion to a team, but I'm glad their are those who do as that is how the players get payed.

Me and my goofy husband, Tone'

You wouldn't expect him to actually be serious would you?

Wild Waves

No, we didn't go on a cruise, though by the look of this photo it would seem that we did.
Actually, we met my family at Wild Waves in Washington near Kellie's home a week ago. The weather ended up being a cool 70 degrees, overcast with wind for most of the day, so the water rides weren't as fun as they should have been. I, actually, didn't even go on a single one as I am a cold weather wimp. I only made it into the wave pool for approximately 5 minutes, then I was out of there. Brrrrr! You would think that with the ticket prices being $37/person they could maybe heat the water just a tad, or at least the kiddie park.

The Graham Family Cousins

(L to R) Abby, Morgan, Alexandra, Lukas, Zachary and Nikolas

After finally adding to the group we now have an equal split of boys versus girls. Unfortunately for Zach, there is a 10 year gap between him and Nikolas. This summer may have given Zach a glimpse of the fun to come, however, as Nikolas has begun to be able to play with the "big boys" a little better. He can now load his own Nerf gun, ride a bike, climb trees and is beginning to learn to ride a skateboard.

My once daring, adventurous life has come down to this: kiddie rides.
Lukas loved it though, so it was fun for me too.

Wild Waves has quite a number of great rides for the preschool crowd, even ones that 18 month olds can ride on. Nik and Luke had a great time "driving" their very own car around a track, though I guess they get to drive their jeep at home for real without a track so maybe this wasn't that exciting. I was just glad Lukas didn't crawl out as it was going like he did on the boat ride. He really has no concept of danger.
I did get to have a couple adventurous moments, like going on the Ring of Fire with my niece, Morgan. We screamed our heads off as it whipped us in circles. I now have a new scary rides partner in Morgan, yay! I also went on a couple roller coasters which were super fun, though after not being able to convince my Dad, Sue or Tone' to go on the looping one with me I have now discovered that it really isn't as much fun to go on a ride by yourself. It is much more fun to have someone else to scream with.

Being macho is easily overruled when one is freezing.

Uncle John holding one very tired 3 year old at the end of a long day of fun.

(Thanks to my sister for most of these photos, the rest were with my cell phone.)

What Do You Get When.....

you combine ice cream, a baby and 90 degrees?

A smiling, gooey, sticky baby sitting in a puddle of chocolate messiness!!!
That's what.

This may have not been one of my brighter mama moments. I thought it would be a nice end to our long day in the heat if we swung through the drive thru at TCBY and enjoyed some .99 cent waffle cones. I knew there would be a mess, but I didn't want Nik and I to eat in front of the poor little guy. I have my soft mama moments, so I tried to ignore the nagging thought that this was a really bad idea. About 1 mile down the rode I looked in the rear view mirror and saw chocolate goodness in place of Luke's face. Eeeeewwwww.
It did remind me of when I was young and my family would go out for ice cream on Sunday nights after church. I would either get chocolate or licorice and it would be all over my face by the end. I was made fun of. I'm okay with it now.

It's Late, I Know, But.....

when else am I going have any time to myself?

It's no surprise that I am a night owl. Most of my posts are done between midnight and 3AM, though if it is after 2AM I usually change the posting time so you all don't think I am crazy for being up so late. Sneaky of me, I know.
I imagine their are questions running through your head right now such as:
"Why are you not asleep?"
"How do you function on so little sleep?"
"Why don't you just blog during the day?"

Ah yes, all good questions and ones I often ask myself. Then I remember:
I'm not asleep because my boys ARE asleep. Which goes right along with why I don't blog during the day, because they are AWAKE. Once in a blue moon I get them to take a nap at the same time, and once in an even bluer moon they take a long nap at the same time. Typically, however, I have one child awake at all times from 7am until 9pm, and then a few times during the middle of the night. (Nik woke up at 1:30am this morning because he had to go to the bathroom). Me sitting at the computer just doesn't work well with my boys. Lukas insists on sitting on my lap if I am sitting down, and if he doesn't get to then he just stands next to me crying and pulling on my elbow. I simply can't think, let alone point the cursor correctly, with him next to me. Nik isn't too distracting for a little while, but soon tires of cartoons and wants to actually interact with me. Plus, being inside when it is nice outside doesn't sit well with me.

How I function on so little sleep is still a mystery to me. Though I must say that after I stopped drinking caffeine regularly 4 years ago and started drinking water, I have so much more energy than I have since college. There just may be a correlation there.

Simply put, this is the only time I have to focus 100% of my attention on something other than my boys, who receive nearly 100% of my attention when they are awake. Blogging, catching up on emails, putting my coupon scenarios together and reading are just a few of the things I need time by myself to do and with Tone' gone for the last 5 1/2 months there have been very little opportunities to do any of these other than late at night.

So here I am, it is 4AM now and soon I will see the dark of night beginning to fade, as I have seen many times before, and I will head to bed for an hour or two until Lukas wakes up and starts screaming for me. Then I will try to get him to go back to sleep for a couple hours and it may or may not work. Sigh.
Tomorrow night I will sleep.
At least, that is what I tell myself most nights.
Tomorrow, I will go to bed early tomorrow.

I know I am not always alone, though, I know of two of you who stay up as late or nearly as late.
My sister, Kellie, and I will often email the other and then receive an email back even when it is 1:30 in the morning.
Then there is my friend, Sam, who is working nonstop these days and is often up until the wee hours of the morning as well.

I think I probably beat you both tonight, though.

Hmmm, so now I should go to bed, but now I'm hungry.......

Waclella Falls

Portland had some cooler weather this past week so the boys and I joined our friends, Emily and Elly, and went hiking in the Columbia River Gorge. We went to Waclella Falls which is the best hike for small children as it is only a mile in and has only a very slight elevation gain while overlooking a small river as well.
Though Nik is perfectly capable of walking for two miles he was tired and grumpy, and hungry as well, and so I ended up carrying them both for quite a while. Just call me Rebecca, the pack mule. Though the two of them combined is still less than my climbing pack.

Luke doesn't look too comfortable with Nik's bottom in his face.
That may have been why he was protesting the whole time......

Emily and her super cute daughter Elly, who Lukas kept kissing every chance he could get.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

Free Soloing at 3,
I couldn't stop him, really.

Rock throwing is a must when near a river.

Waclella Falls

I Ride Horse, ALL BY MYSELF!

The boys and I went to my brother and sister-in-law's home on Friday to hang out a little and while we were there Nikolas saw their horses and said he wanted to ride one, "all by myself."
So Karen threw the bareback pad on one of their horses and Nik put his brand new Thomas the Train helmet on that Karen and the girls found for him at a garage sale!!! (Thanks girls!) Then he was ready to ride.


Abby led Cysco around and around and around while Nikolas held on tight. He did a great job staying in one spot and keeping his legs and feet wrapped around the horse. He wasn't worried in the least bit about being up there, really I don't think this child is afraid of anything.
Except Diesel 10.....the scary train with the big clamping claw, it strikes fear into him and we regularly have to go on a Diesel 10 hunt to chase him out of Nik's room. But falling off a large horse who could crush his head?.... no worries!

Abby, I hope you know that you have started something. Each time we come over now he is going to say, "Abby, I ride horse all by my self now?" " Abby?" "Abby?"
Just thought I would warn you:)

Look Mama, TRAINS!!!

Nikolas is currently into all things trains and is also pretty awe struck by all types of large machinery, so when I heard about the "Great Oregon Steam-Up" going on in Brooks, Oregon the first weekend in August I knew we had to go. Tone' would be coming down to join us but I also thought it would be fun to go with Grandpa and Grandma Graham as my dad has an interest in these same things. How funny that they are nearly 70 years apart and yet can share a common interest!
Nik had a great time checking out all the old trains and especially the ones he was allowed to climb inside and pull handles and knobs. These old train tractors were actually running and this old timer kept putting logs into the trains belly to keep it running. Nik especially liked pulling the cord and making it whistle! Who needs Disneyland?! (Well, okay, me....., but that's besides the point.)



Lukas wasn't so sure about all the noise, but he definitely liked climbing around the trains and tractors and pulling all the handles as well.



Both of the boys were trying their hardest to figure out how to make these things MOVE!


Then we bought tickets to ride a real live trolley train. It took us on a 20 minute ride around the park grounds which was the perfect length of time. Nikolas was pretty excited to have ridden a real "train".

Before we boarded the train we walked by a booth selling conductor hats. Nikolas has been without a hat this summer so I figured this would be a perfect time to buy him one and he agreed. Not surprisingly, Grandma intervened and treated him to his very first conductor's hat. Later on during the day he started putting it on sideways and calling it his Junior hat. I was a little confused until I remembered that on one of his Thomas the Train videos the Conductor has a nephew whose name is Junior and he wears his hat sideways.

Oh my, suddenly I realized how easily a child is influenced. That was an eye opener!

See you later! Toot Toot!!

Grease Monkey in Training

Nikolas put on his "mechanic's gloves" on Sunday night to help Daddy try to fix the serpentine belt which had come off "suddenly". Apparently, the loud squealing noise that I have been hearing for the past 2 months was a sign that something was wrong. Huh, funny, I had no idea.

Nikolas was actually quite helpful, as we are finding him to be more and more these days, and held the flashlight usually right where Daddy needed it. He felt very important with his job and his gloves. I love these times where father and son work together and I look forward to seeing them working together on various projects. These are perfect opportunities for Tone' to teach his boys about work ethic and being self sufficient, and it gives Nikolas a chance to spend some quality time with his daddy and to feel important and useful. Just like Thomas the Tank Engine:)

Unfortunately, the men of the household did not have the right tools to complete the job so Mama had to take over. As in, I called Triple A! They have bailed me out quite a bit lately making my membership fee more than pay for itself. If you have ever thought of getting AAA I would highly recommend it and if you do then get the AAA Plus package. Check their prices out here.
The boys were mesmerized by the TOW TRUCK that came and took our van away. They stood in that one spot not moving the entire time the guy was there. Think of all the things I could get done if we had a tow truck parked next door!

My van was gone for two full days leaving me stranded at home. Luckily I had been able to make a grocery shopping trip for the week while Tone' was here so we were set for food. Then with the weather being so exorbitantly hot it was just fine with me to stay in our air conditioned house the whole time. I actually felt so much more freedom to relax as I knew I couldn't go anywhere. By the time I got our van back though, I was ready to get out and do something.

I seriously don't know how people can survive in a one car family!

Slide 'n' Slip

Recipe for a Slide 'n' Slip:
Combine (1) Little Tikes Slide + (1) large sheet of black plastic.
Add water and a touch of baby shampoo.
Makes: about an hour of grinning, giggling happy children:)

For best results remove clothing, because, "Shorts are slow, Daddy."