Thought I'd get in a quick blog post in the middle of the chaos. It's been a busy few days of babywearing, birthday, and we're now in Race Week. So I'm guessing the next thing you see will be a marathon race report when I arrive home after travel.
Last Thursday was our outing for Chicago Dads Group for International Babywearing Week where we met up on Michigan Ave in downtown Chicago and walked from the Tribune building to the Water Tower with our kids strapped to us. Definitely got some surprised comments from the people out during lunch. Lots of "Superdads" and "awwww." Once we got to our destination we took the elevator up to the new Chicago Sports Museum...which is part memorabilia and part interactive gaming. It's all very sleekly done and attached to a Harry Caray's on the 7th floor of Water Tower Place. Game-worn jerseys, championship rings, practice with hockey, baseball, football skills, etc.. The kids loved the museum even if it was really a bit too old for them. We had to leave before the guys all sat down for a meal, but I did manage to get my daughter her first Garrett popcorn as we left. I also let her quickly go into American Girl just to see it...she was thankfully unimpressed. She fell asleep, exhausted, on the L ride home. It was a fun daddy-daughter activity.
Friday was her 3rd birthday and I thought I'd be spending Thursday evening putting together her new easel. Luckily, it all came out of the box in pretty much one piece so no assembly required! But I'd wanted to have it ready to go so she could be excited and play with it right away. (There's nothing worse, as a kid, than unwrapping a box and not getting to play with it while an adult fumbles to put your gift together.) For two days it was pretty much the only toy she touched...good call on our part. It came with magnetic letters, a chalkboard, and dry erase board. It has clips for holding paper while you draw or paint, too, but she hasn't gotten that far yet. She did try to curl up in the tray underneath it. And we're working on keeping all the chalk and foam letters in the trays.
I did a short bike ride of about 12 miles in the morning--with front brakes needing attention--before we went to pick up her cake. We'd offered to take her to a museum or pretty much anywhere she wanted...she picked the playground. So we spent later on Friday playing chase...Cole made a friend or two who wanted to play "tag" with us...though he doesn't really understand the concept that sometimes he will be required to be It. It was much like I was a tiger attacking them. We figured the grandmother of the one little boy would be thankful we got rid of so much of his energy. But really her only comment was about how my kids were shoe-less and coat-less in the chilly weather. If that's what you want to judge me as a bad parent for, so be it. Tip of the iceberg, lady!
By the way, I did manage to fix my front brakes myself...while roasting coffee and doing laundry in the basement later in the weekend. To my surprise, it was not an adjustment that was needed and simply the screw holding the brakes to the frame had come loose. Probably when I changed the tire awhile back this summer--I haven't ridden much since then. I learned a lot in the process though about some bike maintenance things.
Then a long run of 10 miles on Saturday...my last run before the marathon probably. Technically, my training schedule has a 4 mile easy run on Wed but I'm not sure with our busy schedule and travel that I'm going to get it in. Plus, I've already washed my running clothes and packed my gear bag.
Today we did another event with the dad group. They opened a brand new kids playroom for the park district and were giving away free teddy bears and had crafts and toys and scooterboards and such. It was supposed to be $3 to get in per child, but their credit card machine wasn't there so there was no admission. Still this week it is beekeeping class, The Mama has book club, and then we hit the road.
The race is Sunday morning but it's also doubling as a grandparent visit and seeing some old friends. So we've opted to drive to Ohio after school on Thursday and arrive after dark. Saves us worrying about getting there in time on Friday to pick up packet. I like to be pretty lowkey the day before a race with as little to do as possible. So I'll probably hit the expo on Friday afternoon and then a group of (mostly) alums I went to high school with is gathering for a carb dinner Friday evening. The weather is looking fairly decent for Sunday morning. Chance of rain maybe.
But after watching the Chicago Marathon yesterday I'm ready to go. Excited to be in my hometown and feeling good to hopefully run a PR. I have some friends to run with and look forward to racing at a much smaller marathon though.
Last Thursday was our outing for Chicago Dads Group for International Babywearing Week where we met up on Michigan Ave in downtown Chicago and walked from the Tribune building to the Water Tower with our kids strapped to us. Definitely got some surprised comments from the people out during lunch. Lots of "Superdads" and "awwww." Once we got to our destination we took the elevator up to the new Chicago Sports Museum...which is part memorabilia and part interactive gaming. It's all very sleekly done and attached to a Harry Caray's on the 7th floor of Water Tower Place. Game-worn jerseys, championship rings, practice with hockey, baseball, football skills, etc.. The kids loved the museum even if it was really a bit too old for them. We had to leave before the guys all sat down for a meal, but I did manage to get my daughter her first Garrett popcorn as we left. I also let her quickly go into American Girl just to see it...she was thankfully unimpressed. She fell asleep, exhausted, on the L ride home. It was a fun daddy-daughter activity.
Friday was her 3rd birthday and I thought I'd be spending Thursday evening putting together her new easel. Luckily, it all came out of the box in pretty much one piece so no assembly required! But I'd wanted to have it ready to go so she could be excited and play with it right away. (There's nothing worse, as a kid, than unwrapping a box and not getting to play with it while an adult fumbles to put your gift together.) For two days it was pretty much the only toy she touched...good call on our part. It came with magnetic letters, a chalkboard, and dry erase board. It has clips for holding paper while you draw or paint, too, but she hasn't gotten that far yet. She did try to curl up in the tray underneath it. And we're working on keeping all the chalk and foam letters in the trays.
I did a short bike ride of about 12 miles in the morning--with front brakes needing attention--before we went to pick up her cake. We'd offered to take her to a museum or pretty much anywhere she wanted...she picked the playground. So we spent later on Friday playing chase...Cole made a friend or two who wanted to play "tag" with us...though he doesn't really understand the concept that sometimes he will be required to be It. It was much like I was a tiger attacking them. We figured the grandmother of the one little boy would be thankful we got rid of so much of his energy. But really her only comment was about how my kids were shoe-less and coat-less in the chilly weather. If that's what you want to judge me as a bad parent for, so be it. Tip of the iceberg, lady!
By the way, I did manage to fix my front brakes myself...while roasting coffee and doing laundry in the basement later in the weekend. To my surprise, it was not an adjustment that was needed and simply the screw holding the brakes to the frame had come loose. Probably when I changed the tire awhile back this summer--I haven't ridden much since then. I learned a lot in the process though about some bike maintenance things.
Then a long run of 10 miles on Saturday...my last run before the marathon probably. Technically, my training schedule has a 4 mile easy run on Wed but I'm not sure with our busy schedule and travel that I'm going to get it in. Plus, I've already washed my running clothes and packed my gear bag.
Today we did another event with the dad group. They opened a brand new kids playroom for the park district and were giving away free teddy bears and had crafts and toys and scooterboards and such. It was supposed to be $3 to get in per child, but their credit card machine wasn't there so there was no admission. Still this week it is beekeeping class, The Mama has book club, and then we hit the road.
The race is Sunday morning but it's also doubling as a grandparent visit and seeing some old friends. So we've opted to drive to Ohio after school on Thursday and arrive after dark. Saves us worrying about getting there in time on Friday to pick up packet. I like to be pretty lowkey the day before a race with as little to do as possible. So I'll probably hit the expo on Friday afternoon and then a group of (mostly) alums I went to high school with is gathering for a carb dinner Friday evening. The weather is looking fairly decent for Sunday morning. Chance of rain maybe.
But after watching the Chicago Marathon yesterday I'm ready to go. Excited to be in my hometown and feeling good to hopefully run a PR. I have some friends to run with and look forward to racing at a much smaller marathon though.