Things to do in Washington When You're 1 1/2

(by Jean)
Getting to Washington was about what I expected - On the plane Adam didn't want to sleep, didn't want to sit (either on the seat or in my lap), wasn't going to be distracted by toys or books, and was happiest running up and down the aisle disturbing everyone's drinks, food (used loosely to describe peanuts or pretzels), and computers. I finally banished him to the back of the plane, where he opened and closed all the toggles holding the equipment and food in place in the cabinets, and played peek-a-boo with the flight attendants. Once we got off the plane and into the car he finally fell asleep - only 3 1/2 hours later than normal. It was stressful at the time, but actually contributed to his time change acclimation, since he slept in until 7:00am the next morning (pacific time!).

Washington weather in June was much better than I expected. Lots of sunny days, filled with visits with friends and family, yummy food ( Mom and Dad, Bill and Deanna, Katy and Scott, and Emily and John, thanks for feeding us!), and lots of playing.

Things to do in Washington when you're 1 1/2:
1. Play in the dirt
2. Play in the water
3. Play in the sand
4. Play at the park
5. Play with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in all of the above mentioned locations

Getting home from Washington was much better than the outbound trip. It was naptime when we got in the air, and Adam was tired enough that he only rampaged up and down the aisle a couple times. The area at the back of the plane is very handy for standing and rocking small over-tired children while singing to them... it is loud enough that noone except the small child can hear the off-key singing, which is a plus. Small child napping for 1 1/2 hours on the plane is about as good as it gets!

"I Think I Just Blinded Tim DeBoom"

That's what I wrote in a text to Jean Sunday morning. Here's why:
Poor guy. He was just trying to make a living.

Last Sunday was Ironman Kansas 70.3. The full Ironman distance is 140.6 miles (2.4 mi. swim, 112 mi. bike, 26.2 mi. run), so 70.3 is what used to be called a half-Iron. Last year's top two men's finishers each went on to win a world championship (one at the 70.3 distance, the other at the full IM distance - that's the race in Kona, HI). And this year's field included Tim DeBoom (the temporarily blind man above), who won Kona in 2001 and 2002, and Chrissy Wellington, the 2-time defending IM world champ, who has never lost a triathlon. So, there were some of the best endurance athletes in the world there.

For obvious reasons, I decided to head over to Lawrence and watch the race. For not-so-obvious reasons, I volunteered to help clean up after the race was over. I guess I'm just a sucker for a free t-shirt.

I missed the start of the swim, but I was able to get some pictures of the pros coming out of the transition from swim to bike. You've already seen what I did to poor Tim DeBoom. Here's the eventual men's winner, Luke Bell:
And Wellington (foreground), who would get a flat tire out on course: After the bike, they run a half marathon. Bell led a tight four-man group out on the run:

With DeBoom, evidently recovered from my flash photography, hitting the run a few minutes later:

This is Timothy O'Donnell, who set an unbelievable run pace, leading with just a few miles to go:

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of the end of the men's race because they came in just too dang fast. With 3 miles to go, O'Donnell had a lead of almost a minute, but Bell kept coming and O'Donnell faded as the sun came out and he paid for his blazing pace. Bell ended up winning by a little more than a minute. DeBoom developed a leg injury, but he managed to finish 12th overall.

On the women's side, Wellington recovered from her flat tire to lead at the start of the run.

Her main competition came from Pip Taylor, an Australian who is using Lawrence, KS as her training base this year.

But Wellington was simply awesome. Even with the flat tire, she won by almost 5 minutes. Here she is entering the finishing chute:

And, yes, that's some poor soul on the right dressed as the Cowardly Lion. There were other Wizard of Oz characters too. Now, I volunteered to help clean up after the event, which I happily did with no expectation of compensation (aside from my stylin' tee), but if you want me to dress up in that outfit on a day like that, it's gotta be a paying gig.

Anyway, the pros were not the only ones racing Sunday. In fact there were about 2,000 people participating. There were people of virtually all shapes and sizes, like this guy in the hat, who, if you look closely, has a prosthetic left lower leg:

Pretty cool, dude.

And here is a neighbor of ours, Tony, who was just incredible. He finished 73rd among the age-groupers (non-pros).

One more thing: Wellington's an interesting person. There's the fact that she's never been beaten in a triathlon by a woman, which is pretty impressive on its own. But what gets her so much support from tri fans is that, when she's finished kicking everyone's butts, she hangs around until everyone finishes, greeting people as they finish, giving them the finisher's medals they've earned, signing autographs and posing for pictures with virtually anyone who asks. And smiling the whole time.

For a full Ironman, the race doesn't end until midnight, and she's there to the end. Fortunately for her last weekend, a 70.3 doesn't take that long. And in Tony's case, she didn't have to wait long at all. It may be hard to see, but here's Tony getting his medal from the best woman triathlete in the world:

Warm day; cool people...

And I really am sorry about that flash in the eye, Tim.

DIRT! DIRT! DIRT!

Jean decided she wanted to raise the garden a bit. This involved borrowing our friend Casey's truck and getting a couple loads of dirt. The dirt, as you can see, was greatly appreciated by Adam. (Me? Not so much. I pulled a muscle in my calf hauling that darn dirt to the garden. Grrr...)

While I tried to get the wheelbarrows full of dirt to the garden before a thunderstorm reached us, Adam learned a new word.

And here, I cut off the video 5 seconds too early. Just after I stopped filming, Adam shouted "Dirt! Dirt! Dirt!" Oh, well.

And a couple of weeks ago, Jean competed in the corporate challenge triathlon. While she was doing that, Adam and I cheered her on. When the tri was over, Adam found a nice patch of dirt to occupy his hands.

Cheesy Excuse For Corny Title

Or is that the other way around?

Jumbo Shrimp

Adam had his 15 month checkup a couple of weeks ago. Everything is a-okay. No problems; no worries. We'll have more up soon about other recent developments. In the meantime, here are the stats:

Height: 32.25 inches (80th percentile)
Weight: 27.2 pounds (85th)
Head: 19.25 inches (90th)

You Say "Tomato." I say "Gross. I'd Prefer A Snickers Bar."

Adam has been trying to speak for a while now, but he hasn't seemed totally committed to it. He's been more successful in learning how to beat the hell out of Sliver and crush all objects in his path.

That's my boy!!

But he seems to be taking more of an interest in the talking thing lately. Unfortunately, he's not exactly speaking the Queen's English yet. He's improving, but he tends to drop syllables here and there and change some words a bit - stairs are "airs," hair is "air," ear is "air," lamps are "aaaiiihhh," milk is "aaaiiihhh," water is "aaaiiihhh." Uh oh is "uh oh."

On the down side, he can be a little tough to understand. But on the bright side, he'll be appearing as a Cockney chimney sweep in a local production of "Mary Poppins." The show runs through May.

The Easter Bunny II: The Eggening

On Easter Sunday, we offered Adam a chance to find his Easter basket (filled with plastic eggs and some refrigerator magnets) by leading him to it with other plastic eggs. Here are the results:

Woo-hoo! I don't know what we're doing, but it looks fun!

Eggs, schmeggs. I like the plant.

Maybe if mom points Adam in the direction of the eggs and the basket...

Nope. Not so much.

Well, if we give him a magnet, he's not going to turn it down.

The Easter Bunny

by Jean

Adam has no fear of the Easter Bunny - in fact, the poor guy will probably run when he sees Adam coming next year. Adam spent several minutes pounding on the bunny's leg (his usual forceful "pat, pat, pat" he uses with animals) and I think he left bruises.

There were so many good things to pick up - grass, leaves, dirt, flowers - why bother with silly plastic eggs someone threw out?

It was all highly entertaining.

Looking Up

Adam grows clingy. Goofy pictures ensue.

I Remember You

Christmas night, 2007.

That was the last time Jean and I saw a movie in a theater. Until now. Last weekend, our friend Casey volunteered to keep an eye on Adam while we went to see "Watchmen." It was inconsistent, but not bad. I had forgotten how loud theater movies are, but when my ears stopped bleading, the experience was quite pleasant. We may have to do it again sometime in the next 15 months...

In other news, we've been having a pretty mild winter, especially in February through mid-March. Then last weekend, winter decided to remind us that it hadn't completely forgotten about us. A nice little ice storm came through followed by about 3 inches of snow. It was almost all gone in about 24 hours, but it was inconvenient while it lasted. On the other hand, it gave some nice pictures.