Monday, May 27, 2013

All About Girl Time

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to Port Townsend for a girls' night. We got an early start on Saturday to catch the ferry, and were there in time to kick the trip off with brunch. The weather couldn't have been better. It was a great time, and like a run, I've never regretted girl time.

Upon arriving at Safeway, we decided to park the mini in the middle of a Porsche convention. We caught one of the guys checking her out when we came back.


Four of us enjoyed a nice run the next morning, with great views and some not-so-great hills.

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Before the raised beds made it to their permanent location, the girls enjoyed one more day with play houses (pic waayyy down after some unexpected rambling). Oh, if I could just bottle up some of that imagination.

We let our kids watch TV and movies. We try very hard for moderation, and usually succeed. There are days, admittedly, when they get more screen time than we would like for one reason or another. Regardless, we believe in overall moderation.

Although I have myself pretty well convinced that my children are going to be just fine having grown up with TV watching, I often use these many, many, many imaginative play moments -- no, hours -- to remind myself that yes, they are indeed going to be just fine. More than fine.

I joke about how there are few thing I love more than watching and listening to this imaginative play, but being asked to actually participate in it is a bit like slow torture. This would be one of those times when you joke about something, but are actually not kidding. Time in Imaginative Play Land passes in triple the real time for me. Maybe that didn't make sense. Only ten minutes have gone by??? I was patting myself on the back for lasting 30.

I'll play blocks, puzzles, and games, and I'll color or do play dough, but I'd rather soak in the imaginative play from the sidelines. Is that horrible? Somehow it didn't sound as bad in my head...

That aside, did I mention that I LOVE to witness it? As I type this, they are upstairs playing something (I rarely know exactly what the scenario is), and Austen is calling, "Mayna (their made up names crack.me.up), Maaaaynnnnaaa...Sweetheart...what would you like for dinner? Do you want coffee?" There are these intricate, thoughtful situations that they make up and roll with forever.

They play these games with baby dolls, My Little Ponies, Polly Pockets, or whatever else they've deemed worthy of their imaginations. Austen calls anyone's offspring their "sweetheart." "Do you have a sweetheart?" "What would your sweetheart like to drink?" And they almost always have made up names for each other-- using them consistently during their games.

These imagination blocks usually last anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour, then end in a squabble (or knock-down, drag out fight, depending on the offending sister's offense) when they hit their threshold of perfect sibling play. They are at each other's throats for a bit, then off playing again.

There are pros and cons to having kids close together and farther apart. Ours are 17 months apart and there are times/days I've wanted to pull my hair out. We have many challenging moments amongst these dreamy ones because they are going through many of the same stages together. They are also both girls which means emotions can run pretty high in this house. However, I can honestly say that I would not trade this for the world and am quite happy with our decision on spacing.

They are the best of friends, and every day is a play date.



Kaitlyn recently got her third haircut ever, and Austen her second. Hey, we are on top of some things...




The moment I realized just how not-on-top of this thing we've been -- the Before and After comparison:

My elementary school bestie, Meagan, recently bought the coolest house ever with her fiance, Jonas. We headed over there a couple of weekends ago to celebrate their housewarming. The girls (okay, and me) loved meeting their new chicks (I'm sure I'm supposed to call them pullets here).





More to come on that...


Monday, May 20, 2013

Day to Day, 18, and 20

The Northwest has given us some decent weather as of late, which is nice to come home to after being in the perfect climate (IMHO) for two weeks.

I do love the Northwest; I do. It can get to me during those long, gray months (hence the timing of a tropical vacay), but it really is a beautiful place to live. (I'll come back to read this during one of our inevitable never-ending stretches of gray when I'm whining about wanting to move...)

 The Collins Fam has been staying busy -- be it with scheduled activities, spontaneous play dates, or just stepping out into our backyard or neighborhood. Hello, nic(er) weather.




These two. They are connected at the hip. Excuse me while I continue to point that out every other day, but they are and I love it.



Austen the Determined.
 We have a new addition! Out with the Pilot, in with the...mini van!

This has been in the works for a while. In fact, our last car shopping experience - three years ago or so - found me gazing at Odysseys and Siennas, while Jeff wasn't quite ready to take the plunge (he was only 31, after all...). I took pity on him and welcomed the Pilot with open arms. It was a good car, and I'll miss it.

Last month, he decided he was ready. So he did the engineer thing and did a TON of research and calling and meeting and emailing, until he found us a screamin' deal on this beauty (never knew about my freakishly long thumb until these photos):




It's roomy, comfy, convenient, and just makes sense. I love it.

Our hearts broke a little while watching the Pilot drive away this past weekend. This was our first "family car" -- the one we bought because we were going to have two kids and needed more space. But, it was sold to a family who will welcome their second little one any day now, so it felt right at least. Kaitlyn cried when they drove away, but she appears to be over it now. ;)

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K continues to be a very heavy sleeper. After she's asleep, I can go into her room to put away laundry, do some drum practice; whatever I may need.



One-on-one time with this one continues to be a highlight. Even if she insists on these god forsaken car carts.

We hung out in the driveway one evening. Might as well.








"Mom! We found sooooo many worms! Like twenty-four fifty-five!" --K
Kaitlyn has officially learned to pump to keep herself swinging. Oh, and she taught herself how to whistle and snap. Smart kid, this one.


We had a recent play date at Matthew and Katie's house, and the big kids had a blast in this swing. A bit squished, but of course that just made for more laughs:


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I am at 20 miles for my training runs. I'm feeling great, and finally went over that hump of feeling slightly anxious about the upcoming race to "bring it on already." I actually enjoy the long runs (no more "why am I doing this"), and for me personally, there are not many things that top finishing a run like that. But it's like labor -- I don't know exactly what to expect or how it will go, and I'm getting antsy about that. Let's get this show on the road...I'm ready!!

After my first 14 miler, I changed my route from the Centennial Trail to the Burke Gilman. I ran the Burke Gilman religiously in high school and while visiting home from college, so I had been sick of it for a while. I changed it up a bit by starting at Canyon Park and heading toward Redmond. After my first 18, that run was getting too familiar, so I changed again by starting at Sheridan Beach ('ole faithful -- brings back a lot of memories) and heading south. This takes me to the UW, which I've been enjoying. My second 18 was on a beautiful Friday morning and was one of my most enjoyable runs. Seeing the college kids lug their backpacks to early classes brought me back (just replace with Eburg). 



Okay, so there was one setback this past weekend. Around mile 14, I started having pain in my left hip area. It didn't feel like joint pain, but I *think* was more internal. The unsure part was the feeling that it was possibly radiating down my leg a bit. I'm being a bit cryptic and unclear, but I guess the important part is that I didn't stop (but would have if I felt that I was injuring myself) and it went away for the most part for the last few miles. I also haven't felt any pain in that area since, and am not sore. I also did a 4 miler the next day and it was fine. I figure that this is promising.

As convincing as all that was up there, it has still caused me to take a step back in my confidence about where I'm at, but thank goodness I have two more long runs to test it out. Wish me luck next weekend, as I feel like that will be the telling run. I'm obviously hoping that it was a fluke, and that I'll continue feeling strong and good. I've worked so hard and come so far (literally!), and would be quite disappointed for it to end here. I've got two more long runs (20 and either 20 or 22), then tapering for two weekends (10 and 9).

Wish me luck next weekend, and cross fingers that this was a one-time thing.

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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Hawaii Stragglers and Beds

I carefully brought our "big camera" to Hawaii with us, and of course only pulled it out a few times. I'm going to dump them here, along with a few more phone pics that got lost in the mix and some of the family pictures we had taken.

Here goes:


























































This one was missed earlier. They all coordinated by coincidence...loved it.




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You win some, you lose some: The theme of these family pictures, taken by a photographer at The Clan's hotel. They get them done every year. Their pictures are beautiful -- everyone smiling; looking incredibly photogenic. Ours? This one was a big "Ohhhhh well!"

It could have been considered our fault, really. The girls were hot, tired, and maybe a little hungry. Anyone who is reading this and has/has had young children is either nodding or shaking their head and thinking, "Really, guys? You deserved it..."
 






 The only smiles of the entire hours, folks:




Jeff doing his best Kaitlyn impression









I'm sure I'll find more pics/memories buried somewhere and when I do, I'll litter another post. But first, a quick, forgotten story:

For a couple of months, Austen has been really into "role playing," I guess you'd call it. She pretends that she is either Paigey or Makya, and we are Kara, Travis, Cammie, or...Travis (their parents). It's cute and all, but I gotta admit that I'm ready to just be Mama again. ;)

So my dad told us on one of our last days, that he had turned around to grab something and when he turned back, Austen was saying hi to a family next to us. The woman says, "Oh, hi! We just met Paige here." HA!

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In other news, Jeff is building our raised vegetable beds for the backyard. Yippee! This has been a "plan" since we had our small veggie garden in the front yard, three years ago. Didn't take too long, right?



The girls obviously think everything belongs to them: 
I suppose now I actually have to commit to keeping up with growing, harvesting, and eating...