More After

Sign the my teacher friends made for me!

Three teachers from our school surprised us by coming to cheer us on!

Swim, bike, run, then walk your bike over a mile back to your car.

Uphill....

I'm done!!!

A picture of my medal.

My medal and my unofficial time. My official time was 1:34.09

T completed the race.

T & I after the race. We did it!

12 mile bike

Leaving T1. I had to wait for the pro that was coming in from the bike.

T leaving on the bike.

Coming in from the bike. My chain popped off on a hill, but I flipped my bike, repaired it, and hit the road again.

Headed into T2.

Tomorrow

The movers come tomorrow, bright and early at 7:30.

We have NOTHING packed.

We are not ready at all.

I am not panicking yet, as it is only 7:20 p.m. Why worry yet?

I'm madly trying to print articles for my article reviews this semester.

I do not think we will be sleeping tonight.

We borrowed the outlaws pressure washer to do the lawnmower and the grill. The swingset needs to be taken down and thrown away.

I still have bags that need to go to certain people. Ugh.

I hope they don't charge too much for being over our weight limit.

Run 3.1 miles

Coming into the finish.

Getting ready to cross the finish line. That's not my time!

I did it!

With my medal. :)

Swim 800 meters

I used to be a swimmer, so I wasn't worried about the swim at all. I was just nervous about the whole darn thing!

Trying to convince myself that I was good to go.

There we go, can you find me?

Hint--I caught up with the 3rd or 4th wave in front of me.

Still preparing

Gunner and I after I warmed up in the lake. Isn't he cute?

Swim start. There were 1,976 participants.

Me, being super nervous. Big surprise!

T & I once I finally found her! Her tire blew overnight.

The morning of...

Arriving at the race site. The transition area opened at 5ish, so I wanted to make sure that I got there nice and early.

Body marking.

All marked up and almost ready to go. I wore a two piece tri suit, and let me tell you, these things are not forgiving! Maybe we shouldn't have eaten at PF Chang's for dinner!

The sun finally came up, it was beautiful!

The Day Before

After listening to the briefing, I think we were even more nervous.

Gunner and Junior getting my bike ready to be dropped off.

Junior making sure everything is "good to go".

The only time I would be relaxing at the swim finish.

I did it!

More details to come, but my friend T and I completed our first triathlon!!! It was an unbelievable experience, and there are tons of pictures on my facebook, but more to come here. My official time was 1:34.09!!! I set out to do it under two hours, and I did even better than that! Wait till my next one, lol!

Graduate school starts back up today, packers on Wednesday, movers on Thursday, and a million things in between.

Happy Birthday

My favorite game in the entire world....well besides Dr. Mario.

I heart regular nintendo.

Yes, it's 5 am on the first day of summer vacation and I am at school.

I survived!

I have just completed my first year of teaching 2nd grade.

I can't believe I did it! I still have to go in and work half a day tomorrow, but I am going in early, will say my goodbyes, cry, and then hit the road. Bike drop off is tomorrow for my tri, and then the triathlon is on Sunday.

I've trained. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I can't wait!

But for now, I can sit back and relax and know that I did a lot over the past year and a half to make it to the part of saying I am a teacher. I still have to take my two summer courses in order to get my certification, but I am confident that I will make A's. Instead of Gunner being gone this summer while I am in class, I will have a PCS to keep me occupied, camp for Em, a trip for Abs, and more potty training for Junior.

Never a dull moment! Pictures from the ball to come soon....

Conversations

Gunner put Junior in the tub, where he climbed up on the sides while Gunner filled the tub with water. He grabbed his parts, and proceeded to pee and laugh hysterically. Great.

After the bath:
Me: Sweetie why did you pee in the tub?
Jr: Ummmm.....it's fun.
Me: It's gross!
Jr: No, I'm not gross.
Me: Why did you poop in the tub (which is what followed after the peeing incident)
Jr: It was small poop.
Me: Where are you supposed to go to the bathroom?
Jr: In the toilet.
Me: Don't you want to wear underwear?
Jr: No, I don't like wunder-wear. It's terrible.
Me: Why is it terrible?
Jr: It's just BOR-ING!

He says boring just like his sisters. Lucky us!

Fast forward to today...

I get a text today from Gunner. It said "Jr getting booted from daycare for lesions again. Can u get him?"

I had just dropped off my students, so I said I would and ran over to grab him. I went in.

Me: (seeing his form that HAS to be signed by a doctor) It's the same thing he got sent home for two weeks ago. (said to no one in particular)
Kim: (Jr's main provider) YOU haven't even SEEN him. Just WAIT! (said with major attitude)
Me: (Junior runs up) Hey sweetie!

I put Junior on top of a low bookcase and lift his shirt

Kim: See the lesions?
Me: Ummmm.....no. I see where he fell in the sand, he wasn't cleaned up, and the sand irritated his skin. He has very sensitive skin.
Acting director: Right here, these are lesions.
Me: You're kidding right? It's eczema. Are you trained to determine what a lesion is?
AD: I have been through a training.
Me: It wasn't a very good one.
Me: I'll rush him to the er and tell them he is covered in lesions, they will get a good laugh.

So we took him to the er, where sure enough we sat for hours for them to laugh and laugh when they saw him. They said it was eczema and there wasn't a lesion on that boy. They said continue current treatment, signed our paperwork and sent us on our way.

I'm disgusted. What a waste of my time.

We cooked dinner, put the kids to bed, and I went for a swim.

1.5 days till school is out, and then I have to work that half day on Saturday. I can't wait. They have already hired my replacement, I guess I better get working harder on a job in Colorado!

I did figure out how to make TO DO lists and email them to Gunner from my iPhone.

I am sure he will be THRILLED that I have learned how to do this. He always says I make lists of lists, and now I can share each and every one of them with him.

Another round of homecomings here at Hood. It's so nice to see my friends back with their Soldiers!!!

Highway Robbery

I tried to make a reservation for a hotel and it was more expensive to use a military discount than it was a AAA. Does that make sense? I guess they do the same thing for most airline tickets too, so I shouldn't be too surprised.

Then Gunner went to give notice at the housing office and he asked about getting our house cleaned. When we moved from our old house to the new house, we decided we didn't want to pay the big bucks to get our house cleaned. It would have cost us $320 and in the end after we scrubbed that house from top to bottom, they charged us a $290 cleaning fee. We argued it and the manager said he would have charged us more!

So any money that we get for leaving the house in the middle of the month will go to pay......are you ready for this.......the $390 cleaning fee for this house. After 4 1/2 years here in this house, I won't even attempt to try and please these people. I'm telling you, it's a conspiracy in order to suck you dry. We cleared Germany and Fort Lewis with no problems, so we know it is possible. Very few of our friends have had luck with Hood though. Just seems like a huge ripoff.

I'm on hold with maintenance right now waiting for them to pickup so I can have them out to fix everything wrong with this place. I guess when you think about my lack of repair bills, even when the baby gate pushed into the wall and made holes.....three times.

....We forgot about going to the summer camp orientation for SAS and made it just in time. One more thing to check off the list.

I got a scholarship for summer school. Guess having a 4.0 finally paid off for something!

I am almost all the way packed up at school. It looks so bare in there. Looking back, the year went so fast, even if at times I was pulling out my hair!

I bet the next 6 weeks just fly by.

Coordination

I'm starting to panic a little bit. I cannot leave Texas until I am done with summer school.

So I need a place to stay until mid-July.

Abs is leaving mid-June to go on her dinosaur expedition with my mom to Utah.

Em will be here with me, but is going to camp for a week right before I am done with school.

Gunner has to sign in early because he has school in KY for 6 weeks from July-August. He might take Junior with him since "supposedly" the daycare information was uploaded to Carson. Let's hope there is room for him or he might be in formation with him.

The inlaws have offered us a place to stay, but seriously, they have 5 HUGE dogs and they (dogs) rule the place, and no one cleans.

We are hoping that there is room in the guest house on post and it is cheap. Local stay by the week places are pricey.

A friend offered her place. Another friend offered her house, but I just hate to impose with a whole crew of people. We will house sit probably our last week here for one of the friends, when I am down to just one child.

We have way too much stuff, and my list of things to take keeps growing and growing.

I am a worrier. Gunner takes it all in stride and doesn't worry, he says because I do enough for the both of us. It drives me nuts that he doesn't worry!

Do I take my school stuff and hope I have a job? I am in the process of filling out the application to teach there, and I have GREAT references from my principal and others, so I am hoping that I can find something. I haven't even brought home everything that I have at school yet. How did I fit so much in my classroom? This week my students are going to help me toss everything I think.

We decided we would give the girls a rubbermaid tote and they could take whatever they could fit in there. Abs came out in tears because she could only fit one of her three feet long dinosaurs in there and she would need to chop of the head. I assured her that her dinosaurs could still go, but that she needed to fit her toys and everything else in there.

Abs came out with her handmade dream catcher and decided it needed to go in a box for breakable things. It's made out of pipecleaners, but I assured her that we would find a way to get it there in one piece. Then Abs found a stash of shoes boxes and started filling them with stuffed animals.

Em got wind of this and decided it wasn't fair that she had half a dozen shoe boxes, so she needed some too.

Then the girls presented us with a plan to make room for their toys. They want to sell all their clothing, use the money to buy material, and Em will sew them all new clothes once they get to Colorado. They are both so excited about this plan, that I told them maybe we could get rid of some and we could use some material I have to make a few things. Em is already designing them. Here's her latest projects from Project Runway II.

So, I am drinking a monster, making lists, checking them twice, and have decided that it will all workout. Worst case scenario, we are over our weight limit and have to pay. I just left a message with my sister to see if she wanted my piano, Gunner took another load to the inlaws and I have boxes and a HUGE pile to go to my mom. She is going to be less than thrilled, especially since she is due back from her worldwind vacation to China, Thailand, and Korea.

Maybe she will be too tired to notice the pile in her living room that I left....

Weekend

I survived swimming on Friday.

We did our 50 mile bike ride on Saturday. My time was 3 hours 12 minutes. I was hoping for under 3 hours, but I timed the stops and had to pee twice!

This morning we did a 10K obstacle course. Gunner and I were signed up as a team for this event. We climbed up ropes, over tall hurdles (not in a single bound), tires, army low crawl (Gunner kicked ass, and me not so much), low hurdles and a tunnel, then finally the rope wall! It was a lot of fun and we did it in 1 hour 17 minutes which isn't bad considering you have to wait sometimes for the obstacles!

They do need to work on the water situation, since there were only two stops and one of them was out of water by the time Gunner got there. Poor guy! In this Texas heat, that's not safe at all. We didn't even think about taking our own water since every other race has provided plenty of support.

Guess they spent all the money on the beer at the end? I'm glad we did it though, and now I feel like I can take on this triathlon and do it!

Pictures to be uploaded soon, we've got some cute ones of the kids and their antics. Em refuses to pose anymore.

Em and I did have the great fingernail debate last week when we went to the nail place and she wanted her nails painted black. We settled on a purplish pink color. No black nails.....ever.....

We were in the car the other day and Abs was telling me all about how Daddy would not buy her the crossword and logic problem book that she wanted. I nodded, and then we continued on driving. About 10 seconds later she told us "I guess if I don't have logic problems to do, I will spend my time catching small animals in Colorado." I guess in her eyes that is a logical replacement? I was thinking more along the lines of reading a book. For being a second grade teacher, I don't understand this second grader much!

The movers come tomorrow morning for our pre-inspection so we are doing a mass cleaning and toss today. I can't believe how fast things are moving, but glad that so far the children are pretty agreeable and haven't voiced too many concerns.

Em is more interested in whether or not she will have her own bathroom. Abs is probably secretly making classification labels for the small animals that she plans to catch, and Junior has totally decided that potty training is not for him.

I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow holds...maybe...

Seriously?

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday. I have no idea where the time went, but it is flying by...way too fast.

We have a date for the movers, and it is in....two weeks from yesterday. Ummmm....we have a lot to do before then!!! There's children to raise, bags to pack, have to find a place to live till July 8th when I am done with school, and then there's all the other usual PCS stuff. Add in the bike ride and 10K this weekend, three kids, the end of school, a triathlon, a PCS, clearing, and the start of my summer graduate classes......whew. I thrive on being busy I guess.

I had training twice this week. My first one of the week was at the track where we did fartleks. I dreaded it. Thirty minutes of running, with sprints when she blew the whistle. I got started, and it wasn't so bad. By the time I was done with my thirty minutes, I was in love with it! I felt great and got a really good workout. This whole triathlon training has done great things for me! Tonight I had to do bricks with the trainer, and it felt great. I think that is the transition that I worry most about, but I feel better that I can do it and maintain my speed.

My question of the day is...why is my school out of sanitizer and soap for the third day??? I get grossed out thinking about it. I stand outside the bathrooms with a bottle of sanitizer.

I just realized that I never posted this....more about what's happening in a few!

We did it....

After dropping off a carload of stuff at my mom's (don't worry mom there is more coming!), we headed over to REI to look at socks. It seems like every pair gives me a blister unless they are tight in the middle. Of course I can't remember where I bought those socks, and I need them every day, so I wanted a few more pairs. Socks are expensive!

While perusing the aisles, Junior exploded, so we had to go get him a new pair of shorts since of course we had nothing to change him into. Poor little guy. He loves his new shorts, and I just gritted my teeth when I looked at the price tag. I might need to make him wear them every day till he outgrows them and then make sure Tucker wears them every day too!

We had lunch at this hamburger joint--something fine and mighty or along those lines. It was good, and reminded us of the airplane place at California Adventure.

I worked. We came home and I decided we needed to tackle the garage. It was out of control. Gunner's parents took a truckload to store for us, and we have a truckload headed to Goodwill as well. It was crazy the stuff we had in there. I thought I had gotten rid of all the baby stuff, but it was all there. I saved a stroller for my mom and the peek-a-boo blocks for my baby nephew, and the rest is gone. I feel like a HUGE load has been lifted off my shoulders.

Gunner was appreciative too, since he had been putting off facing that mess alone. Of course once we started, it dragged out every kid in the neighborhood looking for handouts. I assured them that their parents would not want them dragging stuff home, so they just sat there and played with all the toys that were in the keep pile. They conveniently disappeared when it was time to clean up, and the kids weren't too happy.

A quick pickup job, a dinner of gizzards, baths, and they are hopefully fast asleep.

Tomorrow Gunner is going to camp out, outside of the transportation office, so that the civilian that works six hours a day can hopefully get us an appointment. I need hours like that! He's the only one too, and apparently works pretty slow, so the line starts forming early.

In other news, I am not buying anything new, anytime soon. The amount of stuff that we have given away, amazes me. I love a good deal, but I think I often buy it just because it is a good deal and not something I really need, want, or love. I wonder where I get that from?

The purge

still continues here at Fort Hood. I've got piles of stuff to deliver to people. I've got the trash can filled and tons more to go out. One glance and it's gone. Nothing is safe anymore. The kids have run around gathering up their toys and harboring them in their room for safety. Their rooms are next.

I've told each child that they get two rubbermaid buckets to take with them of their "treasures". They looked at me like I had lost it? How could they possibly fit everything in two buckets? I rest my case--you.have.too.much.stuff.

Of course I have to practice what I preach, so all my clothes that don't fit or don't get worn are in a pile to drop off with my mom. She can drop them off with her church or the thrift store or whoever, as long as they are gone.

I'm cleaning out the pantry for the food bank.

If it came from McDonald's, Sonic, Burger King or Subway, it's gone.

If I don't love it, it's gone. There's still a long way to go, and I haven't touched the garage again. but my thinking is....it's all gone. There's only 9 weeks of school left, and I need to get all that stuff packed up and brought home as well. Hopefully we will have a transportation date on Tuesday. We are behind the power curve, so I am sure it won't be anytime soon, but I can hope! Gunner actually mentioned doing a DITY move. I told him to bite his tongue until we hear something from transportation!

Publish Post

No training today, since I needed a day off. We have a 50 mile bike ride on Saturday and the 10K obstacle course on Sunday. Tomorrow if it doesn't rain, we are loading up the kids and going for a bike ride. I think we all have a little cabin fever. Em called me last night at 10 to let me know that they were sleeping at the leader's house because everything was soaked. A good call since it rained almost all day today and they would have been miserable. A miserable pre-teen=a miserable family.

Shepard's pie for dinner, with extra veggies for me!

We are still deciding what to do to honor Memorial Day. There is an event in Austin, we have talked about visiting the memorial for 4th ID, and several other ways to make sure our kids know and understand that Memorial Day has a meaning.

Triathlon here we come!

I met my running/walking group from school this morning for another 5K. It's really neat to see all the people that said there was no way they were going to run a 5K or workout or anything, getting out there and moving! There is one girl, who never works out, who just completed her second race. Her husband has the biggest smile on his face, full of pride, as he runs in with her each time, it just melts my heart!

I did okay on the 5K, nothing too outrageous as my friend and I were going to do our practice tri. We headed over to the lake, and the water was freezing! After arranging with a fisher-family to keep an eye on us, we headed out. Ummmm.....I am a strong swimmer, but I did not like my face in the water. My friend was paddling away, and I was doing the sidestroke. She would turn to breathe and I would ask her if it was time to turn around. Then she started laughing because I was floating along and staying ahead of her and coming back around. I finally put my head in the water and it wasn't too bad. I probably would have felt better about it if there were more people out there with us. Plus there was a no swimming sign, and I'm kind of a rules girl. On the way back I did fine, and I was over my fear...sort of...but stayed with my friend cause I wasn't about to be separated and have something happen, even if we had our fisher-family watching us.

We ran in from the swim, transitioned to the bike and took off. I was not doing well with my clips for some reason. I make it up the huge hill, into the ride a few miles, and I look down because I stop moving. My chain had popped off, and I panicked. I was trying to figure out what to do, I couldn't unclip, and over I went......right into the gravel. My friend's husband was following us, and he hopped out and came over. I just put my hands over my face and told myself not to cry! He got me to move my foot to make sure it was okay and then he unclipped me and got the bike off me. He helped me up and fixed my bike for me, I wiped off the blood with a towel and hopped back on. The rest of the almost 12 mile bike ride was uneventful, thank goodness! I did switch back to my tennis shoes and I am having Gunner drop my bike at the shop to get my old pedals put back on! I don't want to do that again for a little while. Funny thing is that I haven't fallen like that in a long time and this was my first time with the clips, but it scared me enough that I am good for a while. Oh well.

We finished up the ride, dropped the bikes and ran or at that point shuffled for a mile. We were proud, happy, and tired. Our first tri is in 15 days, and I feel good about it....and hopefully their lake is a little bit more inviting to me than the one here!

So now I know I can do the entire thing, and I am sure my adrenaline will kick in and keep me going as well.

This week: training x2, swimming, gym, running x4, 50 mile bike ride on Saturday, 10K obstacle course on Sunday. Oh yeah, and a ball on Wednesday night! My friend told me to wear my road rash with honor--my dress has spaghetti straps, so I am sure I will make a lovely impression.

The girls and I are going to have to go get pedicures this week, so maybe Monday? And if it ever stops raining, I want to load up the kids and take them for a bike ride. Pretty soon it will be so hot here we won't want to do anything outside!

Junior was running around yesterday with a blue fairy wand, a green vest and a pink glove on courtesy of his sister--"I'm a witch!". His birthday is coming up, I see army trucks in his future...

P.S. It's storming and Em is camping. Poor baby!

Where did the day go?

I took off today so that I could take Ab's to her doctor appointment that we have been waiting for, forever. I got up and the phone rang.....her doctor canceled, again. I was furious! I tried not to shoot the messenger, and I managed to get across how much we needed to see the doctor. She understood my urgency thankfully. Of course the doctor didn't get that, so I ended up calling back this afternoon, and she put me on hold so she could call the doctor at home. The doctor finally called me back, and we got things straightened out with Abs. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for my baby girl now.

We did manage to return the RV to Gunner's parents and try out the new mexican restaurant in the mall. It was okay. I LOVE mexican food. My plate was hot but my food was not. My taco was stale, and rice and beans didn't come with the meal. I would at least try it again before I would veto it altogether.

I got my bike shoes adjusted, and almost fell over in the car wash parking lot while the guy came out to watch me try them out. Smooth move. I forgot I was clipped in and put on the brakes.

Oh, and my big news??? After lunch we ran down to Victoria's Secret so I could get fitted for a new bra. The girls finally shrunk! About time!!! I also had to buy new jeans so I would have some that weren't falling off of me.....Take my original size and divide by 2 and you have my new size! Hard to believe!!! I still eat, but I make much better choices, and my fudge this morning to top off my breakfast didn't hurt. (One of my parents made homemade fudge for me and homemade peanut butter cups....yum!) Tonight it is a jaunt on the trainer to make sure my shoes are okay, and tomorrow a 5K. After the 5K my training partner and I are going to run a triathlon by ourselves just to try it out. The swim is still up in the air, depending on the temp of the water. We are also hoping that it doesn't rain!

No wonder I fall into bed exhausted each night!

Still training...

I did my first tempo run on Monday with my trainer. It felt food, and I feel like I am getting faster. I still need to fit more runs in, especially since I can't run on the treadmill anymore. I don't know if I am just not feeling it or what, but I am starting to prefer the outdoors, just in time for a Texas summer!

Tonight I had training again, this time in the pool. I was worried because I told her that I was strongest in swimming, and I started to think that maybe I wasn't as strong as I thought I was. I warmed up, and she said that the only thing I really needed to work on was taking less strokes, covering the same distance in the same time. We worked on sighting, which was a pain. She did tell me that I needed to start my wave at the front and choose between the inside or the outside. It made me feel good that she thought I was an extremely strong swimmer. Maybe that will make up time in other legs!

Even though school is winding up, I am taking tomorrow off. I need a break after the last three weeks of non-stop teaching, paperwork, parenting, working out, training, and knowing what is to come, I need a day to regroup. Abs has a doctor's appointment in Temple, so I'll take her to that and then try to get in a run with Gunner and Junior.

Tonight, Junior was in his pajamas and came to me and asked me to dance with him. I looked up and he had pulled a purple tutu complete with flower petals in the
middle, up to his chest. He twirled around and then we played ring-around-the-rosey. Poor Junior. I think Gunner is about to lock up anything pink or purple. I guess I need to find some boy dress up clothes for the kiddo!

Pink Boots & Camo

The price of having sisters is that you fall in love with their pink boots. I found these bass rainboots on clearance for $5 and Abs, who hates pink, had to have them. Unfortuantely Junior now fights to wear them too. Maybe when he sees pictures in 20 years he will appreciate that he was wearing camo underwear?

Dresses, Moving, & Life

My friend Abbey and I went shopping on Saturday night and we found the perfect dress! My husband's only request was that it not be black, and for once, it isn't. Abbey was great company, always makes me laugh, and we had the best meal at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown on the way home. I'm always worried when I take someone to one of my favorite restaurants, but she either truly liked it or is a good faker. :)

Today Gunner tried to go to transportation. They have moved so many people all over Hood that I've found I often have to go from the original location to the new location, to the newest location. He'll try again tomorrow.

Of course it was complicated with a baby boy with extreme diarrhea who is now kicked out of daycare until we can get him into the doctor. Thank goodness my MIL was available today and tomorrow since half of my grade level is out because of family emergencies. He'll be in good hands, and Gunner can take him to the doctor to get checked out. It's been going on for a while, so hopefully it is not something that he is allergic to that we don't know about yet. Poor baby boy. He acts fine though, and at this point I am thankful he is still in diapers!

My triathlon training partner and I are going to do a mini-triathlon this weekend. We are doing a 5k in the morning, then we will do an open water swim, bike 12 miles, and do a 1.5 mile run. We've recruited our open water swim supervisors, planned our route, and are ready to practice our transitions. It's all in fun, and I know we will have a good time figuring it all out.

In just over a month, Junior will be three. Where did the time go?
I could just squish those cheeks
Throwing rocks instead of fishing...
Camping with his cowlick...