Newfangled Dad

This time next week, a small army of grandmas will be storming into town. Ok, so maybe it's just two of them. And maybe it's more like they'll be quietly arriving by car and bus. But that's a lot of grandma firepower to bring to the weekend. You see, we're going out of town. Kelly and me. No kids. It started as a week in London, but gradually transformed from wine country to New Orleans to the Oregon coast and settled on rural northern Wisconsin. It's fall. There are wineries. And sheep farms. And kayaking. And lighthouses. It's going to be very, very nice to get away. The grandmas, on the other hand, were unsure about single-person grandparenting both kids. That seemed like a lot. And we don't blame them...good luck with Leda, lately! So they're staying and taking Cole to school and fixing their snacks and probably spoiling them rotten. And that means it now becomes a monumental task for us to prepare them for their task. Not just visiting. But...

What happened to my lazy summer? All of the sudden it's filled with saying goodbye to old friends starting new jobs in far off places, birthday parties at the planetarium, and impromptu road trips to my native state. Ohio is a strange place. We all decide to wear red and worship in the same 100,000 seat stadium several Saturdays in the fall. It's a great time to go to the mall because everyone else will be at home watching the Buckeyes on tv. For some reason, we're the most important state in every Presidential election. We have more astronauts and Presidents from our state than almost any other. But we can't seem to learn about traffic light timing. Really, Dublin? Every red light? Come on! We left bright  dark and early Tuesday morning so we could arrive in Columbus in time for Kelly to work a half day. Cole is always mesmerized by the night. He's never out in it so before sunrise actually prompts him to be awake and ask questions about it rather than settle...

Cole has been on a "pretend" kick lately, which is hilarious to see. Mostly because it's not a behavior he did much before but has really jumped into. And so far this morning, we've learned how helicopters work, watched wheat get harvested online, and yesterday watched the better part of last year's Indianapolis 500 after a request for "race cars." His favorite is "fishing." Where he ties an old shoelace to an old egg carton and throws it over the baby gate. Kelly has even worked on catch-caught verb tense with him and he brings the two of us his haul to "eat." I'm working on asking what he's catching...tuna, salmon, trout? Which I find amazing for a nearly-3-year-old. It's like at some point overnight we lost a toddler and gained a little boy who is curious about absolutely everything. I'm sure "why" is next but "what's that" is his current favorite. He also loves to "cook." This ...

Miss me? So much ground to cover since it's been over a week since I've blogged. I originally (before leaving on our trip) had intended to say a little something about the new Ironman Swim Start that ruffled so many feathers at the end of last week. I'm over it. Everybody seems to have had their say for and against. Plus, the two races I would consider doing (Wisconsin/Louisville) haven't had any changes...yet...and I have more immediate matters to handle with a triathlon to tackle next month. On that note, it was a weird week for training. I went five full days with no workouts. But then I went out with the cycle club again on Tuesday night and managed to keep up with the fast group for 22 miles...I was so proud until I fell over while trying to clip back in at a red light. Humbling. Then yesterday it was gorgeous weather some more and I took the kids out in the bike trailer for a slow, casual "recovery" ride. I'm taking today off entirely. Lots of stre...

As I hinted at in an earlier post, Kelly and I, we're ready for a vacation. I don't want to say I have cabin fever, but I've been trying to pretend the refrigerator light is helping me get a tan when my toddler stands with the door open looking for food. And, for the record, when did I turn into THAT guy telling him to choose something or shut the door? We've never really been on a vacation together. Not without the kids at least. We've managed one blessed night in Minnesota last year when Kelly's saint of a mother kept Cole and Leda while we got a night away at a local hotel she'd won a stay at. Before the kids, we'd planned a sort of couple-ish camping trip either downstate or to Wisconsin, but it got bogged down in who accepted dogs, finding equipment, and finally ended with us enjoying some local Chicago sights. Amazing fun. But the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette is hardly a romantic location. No offense to th...

Well, if I wanted an exciting welcome to the world of triathlon, this was it. And let me preface today's adventures at Ironman Wisconsin by saying that Kelly had to come home early from work on Friday because I'd called her to tell her that Cole had split his lip open in the living room and was bleeding all over the place. It stopped and I didn't have to call the doctor, but she came home anyway out of concern.  Thankfully, our Saturday was busy-but-routine. Because we were up at 3:30am and had the kids in the car by 4am for the 3 hour drive to Madison from Chicago. It was dark and chilly and Cole was excited to figure out what was going on so he stayed awake staring out the dark window almost the entire way. By the time we arrived at the Start, the sun was up and the athletes were already in the water...well around the first turn.  We walked from the capital, past what would become the Finish, to Monona Terrace--a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building that sits on ...

Oh my gosh, where do I start? We arrived home Monday from our long weekend away at Grandma's house in Ohio. The purpose had been to attend a family wedding on my aunt and uncle's farm, but really it was a bigger adventure. The kids were still going strong and settled right back into home life...me, I needed about 12 hours of sleep and it's taken me a couple days to recover. The kids did pretty well in the car. It's about 7 hours and Cole was the hardest since he just wants to get out and run around. It didn't help that we turned around and took a fairly long car ride to get where we wanted to visit Friday morning. But Grandma had plenty of "new" toys (really just my old ones) to play with and the journeys out of the house always had something to discover. Friday we drove to eastern Ohio and ate lunch in a historic village before taking a horse-pulled canal boat ride at Roscoe Village. We never quite made to any of the shops or other history before th...

My brain never really came home from Minnesota. We're still trying to recover from the collective family colds, but mostly I've spent the last week in vacation mode. Sort of a Margaritaville state of mind. I think it's a combination of things...summer is here. We had a pretty amazing time all things considered. It's got me already looking forward to more journeys. To the point where I've got the next 3 trips already started in my head. I consider the last couple days the unofficial start to summer in the side yard. The kids have been outside with Leda rolling around on a blanket happily. Cole playing with rocks and sticks. Yesterday, we sat at the patio table and got covered in watermelon juice from the first one of the season. I probably should start paying more attention to London...and I actually have a list of what we want to see, hotels, and am starting to make an itinerary. But, really, my mind has been drifting more towards travel with the kids. I'v...

I thought about making this a multi-part series, but there are other fish in the sea to blog about. So hang in there, this may get long... Drive out the tollway from Chicago past Rockford and it's a whole different landscape. Go through the Land of Cheese...past Madison, the Dells, strange places called LaCrosse or Eau Claire...and you will eventually come to the Land of Nice. To tell people from Chicago about this place makes it sound like Oz. Really it exists. (The roads are free!) It's a crazy place where when you pay for gas--with cash, no prepay necessary--the station attendant skeptically eyes your vehicle trying to decide if $40 will fit in it. "Come back for your change if it won't take it all." Umm, sure thing. It's a crazy place where drivers do something called a " zipper merge " politely taking turns letting each other into traffic via a "use all the space then be nice" philosophy. In Chicago, it's every driver for him...

Apologies, but I'm probably going to fall off the map until next week. Kelly wants to go to the  Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival  for Mother's Day. Yeah, I know. But it's what she specifically asked for. And the upside is that she'll get to see her own mother for the holiday. I have no interest in knitting. Or yarn. Or learning to spin fiber. At least there will be sheep though. Some rabbits. Some working dogs. Not a horrible way to spend a Saturday. It's better than having a wife who wants me to watch her try on clothes at the mall. So the result is that it will be a short week this week to prepare. Packing and errands and things that need to happen to get a dog, 2 kids, and 2 parents inside a Subaru for a 7 hour car trip to Minnesota. I actually love Twin Cities and it will be nice to visit without illness or a marathon hanging over our heads. Well, really my head. Don't get me wrong, there are some questions. Like where our toddler will s...

Pooping, some Cheerios, and Sesame Street seems to have Cole right back on routine after travel. This post may have to be divided into a couple parts given the variety of topics so let's just get started. But first, a few housekeeping notes... *** There's a new layout to the blog that you may have noticed. Rather than all the "extras" running down the right side in one long section, I've split them up with the main body in the center. To the right are more profile-ish pieces of info while on the left are the more practical blog-related tools. You'll notice along with a more streamlined archives is a label tool that will allow readers to more easily find related topics. I had originally intended to create 3 separate areas for parenting, coffee, and running but, alas, Blogger doesn't appear to support this concept. So if you want to read all my posts on marathons or brewing techniques just click whatever's over there.  Now, back to the show....