Oh Southwest

Sometimes you can have the best plan in your head...and come game time it just does not work that way.  On Saturday, the kids and I flew to NH.  We normally don't fly for these trips but we were coming for a short five days and losing a day on either side with driving did not make it worthwhile.

I have never been a huge fan of Southwest.  We fly them a limited amount and the few times that I have flown with them, I have ALWAYS encountered problems.  My friend Tara, loves them and raves about the service....me not so much.

I had allocated about 1.5 hours in the Philly airport for check in, security and lunch.  Enough time to get a little run in for Jackson and plenty of if this does not go right time....or so I thought.

At check in...I presented my three boarding passes...Jackson is a lap child so he flies on my ticket.  Well, the check in agent started asking questions.  How old is he?  Am I sure he is not two?  Do I have ID for him?  I have never been asked for ID for any of our kids  to fly domestically....never.

So in conferring with her manager..they determine that Jackson is indeed not one...he must be two...he is just too big for a one year old.  They are not going to let me fly with him as a lap child.  Back and forth we went...bottom line was they wanted proof of age or no dice.  Finally in desperation...as the clock was ticking...I asked to just buy a ticket...I need to get on the flight...I will deal with the proof of age when I get to NH..

So get this...nope we are not going to sell a ticket as it is too close to boarding.  Really????  I can't fly with him as a lap child and I can't by a ticket. This went on until about 10 minutes before the flight was going to depart back and forth we went about ID for a one year old.
So in desperation, I asked to check him as luggage...ha ha right....Finally they relented and allowed him as a lap child but assured me that TSA would not allow me to fly with him without ID.. WHAT?  I had 10 minutes to get through security and to get to the gate, three kids without lunch, and two that needed to use the bathroom....FANTASTIC!

Low and behold TSA had no problems with us flying with no ID.  Southwest noted our return flight, so Ryan needs to FED EX  Jackson's passport so he can fly home with us.  We ran to the gate and then of course they were calling final boarding.  When we got on the plane there were no seats together...so I sat a screaming five year old who wanted her mommy in a row and promptly the row cleared out. 

Hopefully the rest of our trip goes better...

Throwing in the towel.......

I am fairly certain my child bearing days are OVER.  I don't know if I can handle another Jackson.  No joke...this kid is just no joke.  In the picture above he is happily sitting on top of the table at the Crayola Factory....where you are supposed to be sitting nicely and coloring.   Not so much..in fact I think he was lauching the crayons across the table trying to get them from one bin into another.

I think throwing crayons might have resulted in the immediate dismissal from that room.  While we moved on....he ate the model magic clay - good thinkg crayola makes everything non toxic.  He might have also ripped several art masterpieces created by the older sisters.  This resulted in tears from my drama queen and attempts at a serious beating from the middle child.

In fact, I think it was yesterday and today that just might have pushed me across the WE ARE DONE line for the final time.  Last night while spreading topsoil in our yard,  Jackson came to help.  The girls were raking nicely and I gave him a rake as well.  He took the rake and threw it and proceeded to sit down and roll in the dirt.  In the ears, in the mouth and all over...black from head to toe...and smiling throughout it all.

This morning I was downstairs and Jackson was standing on the upstairs balcony.  Quite recently, he has thought that it might be fun to throw things over the balcony.  Diapers, towels, random things that he finds just come flying over....no warning and no concern for what is below.

I was pleasantly greeted this morning with a running shoe to the head as I came out from getting laundry.  If you come visit please have your own insurance.....

Ironman Lake Placid - Spectator views

First and foremost...to avoid the bizillion inquiries..I did NOT sign up.  It was not in the plan...I might have had wavered just a little after the midnight finishers and the excitement but I did not sign up for next year.  It most definitely is in the plan..but we need to nail a couple things down before I make that huge commitment.

Okay the good stuff.  I headed up on Sat to stay with Kelly and Shaun.  I was a sherpa in training...just learning the ropes.  Kelly races for QT2 and they are a top notch organization!  I was so impressed with all of her training information and the people that I met were so friendly and helpful.  Sat night Shaun and I headed to the Lake Placid Brewery to meet up with other non racers.  We had some dinner and some beer and headed home rather early so that Kelly could sleep.  We might have missed our 9:30 curfew but nonetheless we sprinted the last half mile to the hotel to make it before 10.

Up early at 3:30 am...we headed to transition so that Shaun and I could get our volunteer stuff and Kelly could get everything set up.

I headed to the swim start...I do not think that I would like this.  It looked like one big washing machine.

Then I headed back to transition to help the athletes change from swim to bike.  Everyone was so nice and the athletes were so appreciative.   I gave some women my socks because she forgot hers and she was so upset that she was going to have to bike without socks. We got them all off on the bikes and then Shaun and I headed out the bike course to cheer and watch.  I knew several people racing so it was fun to see them all out on the bike and the run.

We got dinner and Kelly finished soon after.  She had an awesome race an PR.  We headed back to the hotel and then we went back to the race to see the final finishers.  That was just AWESOME.  There had to be 2000 people cheering in the last finishers.  The crowd and atmosphere was electric...

A great time!  Thanks Kelly and Shaun!









Training in the heat....

Here is the weather for the next two days...

Today
97 °F Partly CloudyTonight

74 °F Partly CloudyTomorrow

Tomorrow
99 °F Chance of T-storms


I am fairly certain after these two days we will never be moving to a tropical climate (cough HONG KONG).  Even Ryan said last night...this is just plain ridiculous.

On the schedule for this morning from the coach was a 3 hour ride and a half hour run.  I left the house at 5:30, planning to loop so that I could replace fluid and make sure the babysitter arrived so that Ryan could go to work.  I think it was 82 when I left...it was not too bad since the sun was not out.

Arrived back at home after 1.5 hours and pulled in right behind the babysitter - she was a superstar for coming at 7:15 am.  Replaced my fluids and was off again.  This loop was hotter and the roads were busy with morning traffic.  A mile from home I got a flat tire...big surprise...I decided it was not worth the 20 minute delay in changing it....the heat was here to stay.  I filled it will CO2 and rode it home.  It was flat again when I arrived but at least I was home.

The bike overall was not too bad, riding by all the farms reminded me of Iowa.  Those animals STINK in this weather..well really all the time.  The run was not soo fun my legs were pretty done from the bike.  Soon it was over, I got home and the kids were ready to go go go.  It is too hot to play outside so we found a bunch of "new" indoor toys that I had hidden from birthdays and Christmas.  

Tonight we are headed to an outdoor play as long as it is a little cooler.  If not we may head to the pool ;)

and this is what summer is about....

It is HOT HOT HOT! 

So we are keeping cool!  Jackson former swimmer turned lifeguard

Our last of our summer visitors left this morning.  We had a great time with a college friend and her soon to be step daughter at the zoo.

Well some of us enjoyed the zoo...others used it for a little nap

and at the end of the day...there is nothing like ice cream in the buff

Hanging out!

Ryan came home this week and annouced that CIGNA was getting relocated back to CT...I jumped for joy..and then he told me that we are not moving back.  BOOO!  Not moving is better than moving to Hong Kong at this point. 

Life is good...really good!  We are settling in to being back home after our six week road trip.  We have had family this week and friends arriving on Monday.  But it is sure nice to be home.

I am excited that we are staying fairly local until school starts....we have one trip to NH planned and then our family vacation.  We have lots of day trips planned for our vacation and maybe and overnight at the beach again.

Notice Jack's cone...he bit off the end first.  I used to do this ALL the  time growing up.  We went for his one year appointment today and they want to evaluate his speech, or lack thereof.  I am fine with it and I am sure in his own time he will talk.  Right now he has two talking older sisters talking for him so why bother.

On the training front..I took a leap of faith in June and hired a new coach.  Change is good and it was time for a change for me.   I was unsure as to my plans after Mooseman but I am READY to go again.  I did a little sprint in June and that was fun.  I am gearing up for Steelman olympic distance in August and then........another HIM..yep I am going to go long again in September. 

Then potentially the Philadelphia Marathon....ohh this excites me.  I have not run an open marathon since 2004 and I am really itching to see what I can do.  Granted this depends on a few things..like...the looming fourth child decision....I might give this a go..

But for now we are just going to hang out

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Such a nurturing little one...or not

We have had our hands full this week.  7 kids 4 adults...the adults are out numbered for sure.  Tonight we added 4 more adults and 4 more kids and had a nice big pizza party!  It was pure chaos at moments and so much fun.  We spent the morning at the Please Touch museum ..so much fun!

My training is ramping up again..more on that in another post!

Atlantic City

We played in the waves

Acted like swimsuit models

Got a little dirty...ate some sand

The Miller Boys..

Small town Iowa

You can bring a girl to the midwest but you can never take the East Coast out of her!

We spent the 4th of July in Ely with Ryan's brother and their clan of 4...we got to experience small town Iowa 4th of July.

The parade was fun for the kids..anything in town that had 4 wheels drove through

They loved picking up candy and Jackson loved the tractors..but the peanut butter sandwich was more interesting.

Cars with antlers made an appearance...

A great time!

We Are Back

We are back in town..and we leave tommorrow.  All of us

Yep, 7 kids en route to Atlantic City for a couple of days!  Life is rough I know.  While we were back for 2 days we picked from the garden...and we got.

One monster zucchini...my friend Tanya gave me a plant last minute and this is what it grew!

So in an attempt to use what we had before we left again we made these for snack

Baked Zucchini fries...Jack loved them..the girls thought they were okay.  With 11 mouths to feed this week - they disappeared.  So did these

Zucchini brownies...umm not my favorite.  The kids liked them with ice cream for dessert and I knew it would probably be a stretch but I needed many recipes to use our stash.    I am sure they might be gone before we leave in the am.

Until then....Jack is still busy doing this..

He's gonna be a swimmer

Jackson is currently perfecting the running dive...we are prepared to start swim team stat!



Check him out in the middle...he was launching himself into the pool!

Cooling down after a hard day swimming

Fun, Fun, Fun