Kangatopia

I was late picking my sister and son up at the airport the day they came home from Ohio.  I went on a rally in a little Texas town that morning, but it rained and fearing for my safety from the lightening - I didn’t ride very far.  When I got back to my neck of the woods, I went on a quick ride with a friend.  I followed him too closely on the home stretch, and splashed on the pavement after my front tire clipped his back tire.  After the fall, I rolled into the street into the path of an oncoming SUV.  I guess you could say that a badly skinned knee is fortunate.  My kids, when telling the story to each other, referred to my friend as the guy who knocked Mommy off her bike.  A couple of days later he had his own crash, and I swear I didn’t gloat for even one tiny instant.

I’ve decided to not ride any more rallies this summer.  I may try again in the fall when it’s not so horribly hot outside.  The morning rides are going well (when we can manage them), and the gym work-outs are keeping me on track inbetween.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Just Mommy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Finding time to update can be a wee bit tricky. Between the kids, work, cycling (which, granted, I haven’t been doing too much of lately), working out and Shep and his cats (aha! a real name soon to be replaced with a moniker once he comes up with one), Kangatopia gets pushed further and further down the priority list. So, then, I think about how the kids are going to read all of this later, and wonder why I never wrote about the events they remember best - ie, Monkey’s recital, Bear’s trip to see King Tut, Winston’s chronic scratching - and I feel compelled to open up the ol’ browser and disregard all of my other responsibilities until I have tapped out a few lines.

So, awhile back, my sister, the San Francisco treat, came into town and provided hours of entertainment for a few days to my kids until one day, Bear and I joined her on a not so big, but effective, plane that dropped us off in sunny Chicago. We checked into a hotel with a motel flair for a night while we went to the Art Institute to see famous and/or wonderful paintings and other works of art, and to the Field Museum where we immersed ourselves in lots of Egyptian artifacts, primarily the King Tut exhibit. My brother, who is now living in Ohio and has even - just to prove his comittment to the buckeye state (is Ohio the buckeye state?) - bought a house there, joined us on this adventure. Then, we jumped in my brother’s car and drove through Indiana - just stopping long enough to browse the many fine works for sale at the Indianapolis Fry’s. By the time midnight rolled around, we were pulling up in my brother’s Ohioen driveway.

After a few days of reliving our childhoods and related antics and playing with my deeply adorable nephew and bonding with both siblings and my brother’s wife, I hopped on a plane bound for home. Bear and my sister held on for a few more days. My sister then brought Bear home, and hopped her own plane for home the next day - but not before she fed us all up on Pancho’s, a place at which my children and I are probably now banned what with all the mess, the noise, and our jokes about Pancho’s tasty, if not lard encrusted, enchiladas.

That’s the nutshell version.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Bear Stories, Just Mommy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

In that time when you are rendered speechless by the pure and well-meant thoughtfulness of another person who, evidently, was paying attention.

I have met my match.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 21st, 2006 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Just Mommy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The last 3 weeks have been really busy.  I’ve been really busy.  On one hand this was good because I kind of like being really busy.  On the other it was bad because I haven’t had any time to do the things that are normally a vital part of my routine, such as working out and cycling.  The last time I rode was the ride on May 20, and the last time I worked out was sometime during the week following.

Last night at the urging of a friend, I picked the girls up from their Dad’s house (Bear is in Ohio - more on that in another post), took them home and gave them a bath, and then we went to the gym.  I was frustrated that my body wasn’t responding to my normal exercise routine the way it did before that long break, and I was annoyed because the machines have shifted locations.  I couldn’t find the elipticals I normally like to use.  By the time I finished a half-hearted, 40 minute, 400 calorie work-out, I was tired and a little pissed - and I felt badly for being in such a rotten mood.  So, the girls and I went home, and then this morning I started a new routine - or, at least, I hope it will be a routine.  That’s the thing.  It’s so easy to bail on time consuming exercise, regardless of how important it is towards meeting one’s goals.

I have a friend who lives out by this lake that’s great for cycling.  The paths are well used, well marked and safe.  So, this morning, I went to his house super early and we went on an hour long ride - and now, really, I just feel kind of funny.  Good, but funny.  I’m riding in another rally in the morning, and I’m hopeful that this ride will prevent the one tomorrow from being a shock.  You can’t really take a 3 week break without consequences.

The plan is that we’ll do these rides several times a week, if not everyday, until Monkey and Bear start school in August.  My friend is a great motivator, so I’m feeling fairly optimistic about all of this.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 16th, 2006 at 10:01 am and is filed under Health, 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Monkey’s recital went very well. Following a week of intensive rehearsals (intensive for a 4 year old - there were 2 studio rehearsals, and one dress. I missed the dress because of the camp-out with Bear), she and her classmates did a great job. She was so beautiful and cute. My family and I were sitting on the front row, and she couldn’t help but wave at her auntie while she was on stage.

After the campout, Bear and I hightailed it from Oklahoma to the airport. We managed to pick my sister up only 20 or so minutes late, but she didn’t seem to be too ticked off. After the airport, we went to my place to wait for Monkey to be dropped off by her father, and then we bathed and dressed her for the recital. Parents were asked to put “heavy” makeup on their kids, and unfortunately for Monkey - her mommy and auntie aren’t exactly rich with lots of makeup. I think it all turned out well. Even though she was headed for the stage, we didn’t have the heart to make her into a clown.

I have yet to order the video of her performance ($40!) but I will soon.

This post is kind of lame.  Monkey actually did really well.  I am a little stressed about the cost of putting her back in dance class in the new season, but I am trying to make room in my budget.  I think if she doesn’t go back, she will be missing the fun and support she gets from being with those kids.  I think, also, that she really does enjoy the dancing.  Last night when I picked her up at the daycare center at the gym, she hugged and kissed the little girls with whom she’d been playing.  I wasn’t so sure if the kissing was okay, but I was really happy to see her show affection to her playmates instead of the alternative.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 16th, 2006 at 9:34 am and is filed under Monkey Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.