Zoo Day with Daddy

 We had a perfect morning at the zoo last week.  The polar bear was being especially playful and had Persy was squealing with delight.

The infamous elephant statue still scares my normally daring little girl. :)

Fall is My Favorite

 Spotting Witches

 Pumpkins, hay rides, and fall fun at Cornbelly's

 Playing with Daddy-G

 Hikes with Friends

Exploring caves with my little Adventure Buddy.  (She was a champion hiker on this steep hike.)

Aloha!!

The highlight of our summer was a two week trip with all of my extended family to the gorgeous beaches of Hawaii!  The grandparents generously covered airfare and hosted us in a lovely home right on the beach in Oahu's rural Laie.  We swam to our heart's content, hiked, snorkeled, enjoyed time with siblings and cousins and feasted like kings.  It was a lovely trip!

Lots of tasty shave ice

 Visiting an archaeological site where there was human sacrifice.  These are just a few of the cousins.

 My cute folks

 Persy tries to do poi balls at the Polynesian Cultural Center without whacking herself in the head!

Gabe is all geared up after scuba diving.  We also did a lot of snorkeling.

Laie Lookout

A jungle hike and swimming underneath a waterfall

We had a fancy dinner on the beach with my siblings.

Stopping by roadside fruit stands for fresh banana, pineapple, guava and mango

The

The Axis of Awesome

We did it!! We completed our first Tough Mudder in Colorado this June and it was nothing short of epic, challenging, and incredible. We enjoyed the challenge and camaraderie so much that we put together team "Axis of Awesome" for the Utah Tough Mudder this October.

Some serious bruising from the military walls.

Our amazing team

I'm looking surprisingly cheerful after 11 miles of obstacles!

Tough Mudder Taper

We are less than two weeks away from the infamous Tough Mudder race in Colorado. Last week, I was on a 10 mile run in Northern Utah when it began to rain. I had an hour of splashing through puddles and feeling frigid. I couldn't have asked for better training conditions for the upcoming race, but I can't say that it was entirely pleasant. Ready or not, here we go . . . (The above picture was taken at a family 5K that we did earlier in the month. Lots of fun!)

Start Being Awesome

"Whenever I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."

We had a discouraging meeting with our caseworker this morning.  I'm just feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of adoptive parents out there versus the quantity of birth mothers placing their babies for adoption.   I feel like we are freakin' amazing, but our profile with the agency is hardly getting viewed.  Time to reevaluate, make a few adjustments and hope for a miracle.  I had a good little cry and then decided to turn things over to the Lord.

Where Babies Come From

Here's the conversation I just had with Persy:

Persy:  I'm married too.
Me: Oh, really?  Who did you marry?
Persy:  Daddy
Me:  Uh-oh.  What about me?
Persy:  You raised your hand, and he didn't pick you.

Or how about this little dialogue we had last week:

P: Ding-Dong.  Oh, my!  It's the postman.   (Walks to the door and mimes bringing back a box.) Oh, look!  He brought us a package.
Me: What is it?
P: (Mimes opening a box.)  Oh, my!  It's the baby we've been waiting for, it's finally arrived!

A Week in Pictures

 My Pigtailed Cutie before her Preschool Picnic

 Goofing off with "Daddy-G"

 Attending a Fairy Garden Birthday Party

 Spending Every free minute in the park and enjoying the sunshine.

 Glow sticks in the bath = Magical Fun

Hiking Season Begins with Persy and Friends

A Tropical Celebration

Gabe and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year and were lucky enough to take a trip to the Florida Keys to commemorate the occasion. We spent a lot of time reflecting all of the adventures, challenges, and sweet moments of the last decade.  We hotel hopped and scouted out kitschy diners on our way from Key Largo to Key West.

The trip highlight was scuba diving and snorkeling some of the shallow reefs.  Gabe is an avid diver. We went with a dive group out about 5 miles from shore and while Gabe went down with the divers I was snorkeling by myself and came face to face with a giant nurse shark!  We've done cage dives with sharks before, but nothing compares to the adrenaline rush of seeing one while you are floating in the middle of the ocean alone.  I also saw a sting ray and countless parrot fish.

Gorgeous tropical blossoms

Downtown Key West

Sunset tight rope walker in Key West

Laid-back Duck Key

Hemmingway is a favorite author, so we made a trip to his home in Key West.  We then drove back to Miami for our final two nights.  We went Latin dancing and ate divine food in fashionable South Beach.  I just love when we can have memorable moments like this together.  Here's to the next 10 years!

Searching for Neverland

Wishing I could freeze time and keep her little for much longer. Absolute Perfection.

Mischief

We tried making traps to catch the leprechauns this weekend. We hoped that they would show us their gold, but instead they got mad and made all kinds of green mischief around the house. It was rather hard to get Persephone to sleep with the excitement of leprechauns coming to our home. At Christmas, she scoffed at the idea of a person going down the chimney, but little people that come to your home and make a mess? Well, that made perfect sense to her 3 year old sensibilities.

What a Week!

This week I participated in a flash mob, our car was totaled and Gabe's brother got married! I need a nap. Here are some pictures from the wedding. It was a fabulous affair with flowers galore. My favorite part was dancing cha-cha, waltz, and swing with Gabers after the dinner party. Still pretty stoked about that guy!

Time to Get Tough

In less than 3 months, Gabe and I are headed to Colorado for the toughest physical challenge of my life. We will run through fire, swim through ice, dodge live electrical wire, and test our outer limits of endurance. Time to get serious with the training!

"Let's Shoot Daddy!"

We bought a family set of Nerf guns for Christmas and Persy and I love to hide out and ambush Gabe. There have been many battles waged in our home the last couple of months and this is one of Persy's favorite family activities. I just wish she wouldn't keep saying, "Let's shoot daddy," outside of the home. People are going to wonder what we're up to!

The Blue Monday Brigade

Supposedly, this last Monday was calculated to be the most depressing day of the year for 2012. "Blue Monday" falls around the 3rd or 4th week of January every year and is based on calculations of weather, holidays, failed resolutions etc. I decided to spread a little cheer on this dismal day and form a "Blue Monday Brigade" with Persephone. We spent the day doing random acts of kindness together. Persy's favorite service was leaving bags of quarters on all the machines in our local laundromat with a little note that said, "Take a 'load' off and have a joyful day!" She also thought it was hilarious when I camped out in the grocery store parking lot and waited until I saw a weary parent with children and then left a bag of chocolates on their car and drove away. We had so much fun doing various kindly deeds that I might make this a new family tradition.

Tchaikovsky and Children

Gabe and I enjoyed a romantic date to the symphony last night to hear Tchaikovsky's piano concerto no. 1. This is one of my favorite pieces and I love to play it in the car. Persephone calls it the "Thunder and Lightening Song" because of the dramatic opening. I found myself listening to the piece in rapture as the superb soloist effortlessly played, and I began to get excited about taking Persy with us to the symphony some day. (The pianist performing was only 17 and had played his first recital at age 4. I can't even imagine Persy sitting still for that long, let alone practicing the piano right now. Apparently we are really slacking as parents! ;) When the 2nd movement began, I started to feel a strong emotional pull toward the next little baby that we hope to have come to our home. I have no idea how long this adoption will take, but I feel like I am being prepared to open my heart for another child. It amazes me that what I struggle to express in writing, Tchaikovsky seemed to express magically in his music.

New and Improved?

What do you have planned for the new year? I love to get inspired by the goals of others. I actually set my goals during September. I associate that time of year with a new school year and it is also my birthday month. I found that when I made January goals, they were often motivated by the guilt of December overindulgence instead of sincere desire. I reevaluate the goals frequently during the year, and some of my September goals have already been accomplished, while others have been axed.

I was recently asked to share how I make my resolutions a reality, so I thought I'd share a few ideas that have helped me and I hope you'll share yours as well.

1. Only make goals that can be easily measured
2. Reevaluate goals often
3. Break larger goals down into smaller tasks

I use a moleskin note book to help me with the 3rd item on that list. At the front of the notebook are my top 3 target goals. I make tabs in my notebook for the yearly goals, then a place for the monthly tasks and then a third tab for weekly tasks. I also put tabs on my notebook for lists like Christmas gift ideas, movie recommendations etc. Setting goals on a monthly and weekly basis has really helped me with my long distance races and other larger goals.

Here are a few of the goals I have set for this year:
1. Buy a house
2. Complete a sprint distance triathlon (Check :)
3. Get approval for another adoption (Check :)
4. Get 72 hour kits ready for all family members
5. Make an adoption story book for Persy
6. Get CPR and First Aid certified
7. Complete at least 6 more knit projects and learn at least 6 more knitting skills (This one should be pretty easy for me, but I didn't want to turn my joy of knitting into a burden.)
8. Take Persy camping
9. Take an anti-gravity yoga class
10. Complete a mud run or other adventure style race (I am signed up for the extreme Tough Mudder in Colorado with Gabe this summer and we are actively training together.)
11. Get a new half marathon personal record (Check :)
12. Complete at least 4 long distance races of 10K or more

I hope you have a wonderful new year! We ushered in 2012 a little early at our house since the entire family was feeling under the weather. We played games with Persy and ate pizza. When the 8:00pm "new year" came we turned on African drumming music and pulled down my collection of international percussion instruments. We jammed and danced together and then opened the doors to let in the good luck. It was a simple celebration, but it felt just perfect.