Kids' Triathlon: Take 3

Thanks to the city of South Bend's fabulous Department of Parks & Recreation, DT completed his third Kids' Triathlon on Saturday! It is always very-well attended. This year with 347 participants, coming from across St. Joseph county and neighboring counties, as well as some hard-core competitors trekking in from out-of-state.

I wouldn't consider DT a serious athlete, but he has participated each summer now since he was 6. And while it thoroughly exhausts him, he keeps wanting to do it again each year. Better. With a faster personal time. And he did it again... beating last year's time by 9 seconds. And might I add, he had moved up to the swimmers division (making it even more challenging). This kid just constantly amazes me!

To learn more about the South Bend Parks & Rec Kids' Triathlon, go to: http://sbpark.org/activities/special-events/kids-triathlon/

Ben and DT trying to stay warm before the race. It starts at 8 a.m., but we have to be there by 7:00 to park bikes and line up (so, there's still a chilly nip to the morning air).

SWIM: 25 yards, freestyle (no floatation devices in the swimmers division)

BIKE: 1.3 miles

RUN: 1/2 mile

Crossing the finish line!

Well-deserved victory lunch at Applebee's

My Dream Scrapbooking Space...Coming Soon

When I recently left for a weekend scrapbooking retreat with friends, my husband innocently asked why I don't scrapbook at home. Why? Where would I scrapbook at home?

We don't have a particularly small house, but there's nowhere for me to spread out with my pictures, albums, Cricut, scissors, cardstock, tape runners, paper cutters, punches, ribbons, and embellishments. And once that stuff is out, you can't put it away til you're done. And then... you may as well keep it out for good so that you can work on it during those rare, unexpected moments when nobody else is home and you can work in peace. It's a hassle to put the stuff away and get it all out again. You really need a space that it can all be left out and left alone. And ideally, out of sight!

I didn't want to work in the basement. I wanted to be near my family and close to a TV. My husband drew up a plan on graph paper. He would convert a built-in bookcase to a scrapbooking closet. I didn't want a closet. I wanted to face into the room, not into a closet. So, he continued to design my ideal space. Bifold doors that slide to one side. Overhead shelves for organization of supplies. Electricity for a lamp and my Cricut. And a built-in desktop AND a drop-down desktop, creating an L-shaped horizontal workspace. Wow! I was impressed.

So, last week I primed the interior of my dream scrapbooking space. And this morning I decided to paint. I'd finish off a can of paint we had used in the hallway a few years ago. Color: Wells Beach. That'll be nice! Especially if I paint the shelves bright white! But, fail. The paint was too old. The lid rusted shut. Fortunately, my knight in shining armour was able to pry it open. But fail, again. Even after stirring, it was just too chunky. Partially because of the old paint, but also because of the rust falling in. Yuck! I tried to roll it on anyway, but didn't get very far (see picture above). So, I drove to the store where we had bought it before. And fail, again. They no longer mix paint. Three strikes. I'm out for the day. This dream scrapbooking space will have to wait til tomorrow.

Summer Birthday Party Fail

So, I'm planning DT's 9th birthday party and just pray that we don't get a repeat of what happened last year. I hate to even speak of it. It was THAT bad!

It all started innocently enough. It was our first effort at a "friends" birthday party. For his previous birthdays, we had invided only family and like-family friends for a small celebration at our house. With pinatas and pin-the-tail on the donkey. This wasn't so much because we couldn't come up with better plans or venues, but because DT's just that easy-going, and that's what he wanted. And he still didn't ask for more for his 8th birthday. But as his mother, I wanted to create a "memorable" birthday.

Problem: Summer birthday. DT's birthday is the week before school starts. Who would we invite? We don't know who will be in his new class, and we don't have contact information from anyone in his old class. Do we make it easy on ourselves and plan the party for after school starts, and invite the whole class? Or have him hand-pick friends from last year, and search feverishly for addresses?

We decided to keep it in the summer. Hand-pick friends. Go-karts, mini-golf, 2 large pizzas, 2 pitchers of pop, cake and ice-cream for 10 kids at Strikes & Spares. Reserved. Money down. Invitations sent (12 of them, betting no more than that would be able to come). Now, just wait for the RSVPs to roll in....

Anyone? Three weeks crept by and the final day to RSVP... not a single response? Seriously? What? Finally. A call. Conner's able to come. And that was it! "I'm going to call everybody!" My husband thought I was NUTS. "What else do we do; we can't have a party at Strikes & Spares with one guest." Maybe they just forgot to call. So I called 11 parents and left messages. "I hope you received the invitation..."

A few parents called back yes or no, and I called the remaining stragglers again. In the end, I had heard back from 10 of the original 12. And 6 were coming. Six isn't bad, but we had hoped for closer to 10.

The day of the party, DT was so ready. We arrived early. Our table looked great. We checked out the go-karts. This was going to be the best party EVER! We waited. The staff party girl took our pizza and pop order.

First came Conner. His mom waved an epi-pen at us and gave us a quick tutorial, telling us of his allergies. Then, Ethan. Then, Tim. Time ticked on.

Three kids! Where was everybody else? We had invited 12 kids. Six said they were coming! Three kids! Really?

The staff party girl felt bad for us and reduced our party to a 5-person party, but the pizzas and pop were already ordered. Conner wouldn't be able to have any, and Tim did't want any. So DT and his only other guest took a piece. Two pizzas... lots of leftovers. Oh well. Let's have some fun.

The boys followed the staff party girl to the mini-golf course. Black light! Cool! But before they even started, DT was down. The holes were lined with brick pavers and he had fallen face-first onto the corner of one. Scraped leg. Bruised lump avove his eye. We tried to play it down, but OUCH! He tried not to cry in front of his friends, but we could see the lump growing by the second. This could need medical attention. But, he made it through all the planned festivities.

Ready to just go home, we were glad when 2 of the boys' parents came to pick up their kids (we'd have to drop the third off at his house). We'd played mini-golf and 2 rounds of go-karts. Let's just go home with our pizzas. But one of that dad's opens his wallet and starts the arcade money flowing. Come'on. Didn't we offer enough? Now we look like cheapskates for not having included the arcade in our party. And this hero-dad waltzes in with his shiny quarters for another half hour of non-sense for our sad party of 4.

Well, that's the way it happened. It was a "memorable" day, but I hope we can pull off a better 9th birthday party... in less than a month. Now, who to invite? When? Where?

I think I'll go at it again.

How I've missed writing. Blogging. Putting into print my daily thinkings. I've taken quite a break... my last entry reminds me that I've been absent since 2010. There was no real reason. Just didn't take the time. But I'm needing this outlet again. So, here I go... Summer's inspiration has hit. So much to write from. Where will I start? A mental list is taking form. Mainly a collage of experiences and running-arounds with my 8-year old (almost 9!). Maybe that will be it. The planning of a birthday party and the problems that arise with summer birthdays. If you have a child with a June/July/August birthday, I'm sure you can sympathize. I'll have to tell you about our "big" party last summer. Epic fail. I'll be back with that story soon. In the meantime, I'll be checking into venues for a Ninjago-themed birthday party for my favorite boy.