Happy Holidays

December 8, 2010

Season’s greetings from Minnesota! It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Christmas letter. Here’s a blow by blow of our 2010, in tacky bulleted format.

• January was cold. That’s all I can say about that.
• February was cold. In an effort to embrace the climate of this place we call home, we took a trip to Lutsen, MN over President’s Day. Activities included skiing, swimming, eating, and enjoying the company of good friends. February was also a month with some sadness, as we lost my Grandma Maurine. I think she was quite ready to move on from this earth and join my grandpa at the great luau in the sky, but we miss her dearly. For more on that topic, you can click here.
• March was cold. In an effort to escape the cold for a bit, we took a trip to Kansas over Jerod’s spring break.
• April was cold. But… in April my parents moved to Lakeville, MN, just about a half hour south of where we live. It’s been nice to have a set of grandparents nearby, something we hadn’t experienced in our years of parenthood. Another April highlight was our first trip to Target Field, the new home of the Twins. We are a family of baseball junkies, and the new stadium is AWESOME. Click here for more on that.
• In May we enjoyed a lovely Mother’s Day trip to Ruttger’s Resort near Brainerd, MN. While there we enjoyed the company of my folks, as well as the Family Schilling. It was lovely and relaxing, even though it SNOWED the first day we were there. May also marked the start of Elise’s soccer career. The girl was really in her element out there on the field, frequently scoring two to three goals per game.
• June was the start of a fantastic summer. Jerod’s activities included soccer and baseball, his true love. Chris and I started the process of training for Twin Cities Marathon. In addition to soccer, Elise participated in many camps, including sailing camp.
• In July we enjoyed the annual Fourth of July excursion (a Holt family tradition), this time heading to Kansas. We also enjoyed a family reunion in Nebraska, where we caught up with my mom's side of the family.
• The August highlight for Chris and I was participating in the Ragnar Relay. 200 some odd miles, 2 vans, 12 runners. It was awesome. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s true. If you'd care to know more, click here.
• September came with a bit of transition, as we decided to make the switch from the International School of Minnesota to our neighborhood elementary school. Despite my unhealthy attitudes toward change, this one went really well. Jerod has transitioned beautifully, and Elise is taking the kindergarten world by storm. She attends afternoon kindergarten, and the only downside as far as she’s concerned is that she doesn’t get to go all day. Back to school pictures can be seen here.
• In October, Chris and I completed Twins Cities Marathon. It was something I’d wanted to do for a long time, and things fell in place for me to do it this year. It was an incredible experience. If you want to know more, you can click here. We also enjoyed our second annual trip to Arizona over the kids’ fall break. It’s one of my favorite places on earth, and we had a great time. For photos of that journey, click here.
• In November, we loaded the whole stinkin’ family up in my parents’ mini-van and trekked to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving at my Grandma and Grandpa Winter’s farm. It was great to see lots of cousins, as well as the aunts and uncles.
• And… now we’re waiting for Christmas. We had some high highs in 2010, as well as some pretty low lows, but we feel blessed to know we have friends and family that can help us weather the storms of life. We sincerely hope you and yours have a truly blessed holiday season and wish you all the best for 2011!

A Letter

November 2, 2010

Hello!

It’s November. Wowzie. Fall has been completely crazy around here. I thought things were going to slow down significantly once we had the marathon behind us, but that was not the case. Chris has traveled a lot lately, we all managed to come down with stomach flu, we went to Arizona for fall break, etc., etc., etc…

The marathon was definitely an incredible experience. I still can’t quite believe I did it! That being said, I’m glad it’s behind us. With my *slight* tendency to over-analyze and worry too much, it consumed a lot of mental time and energy. We did a half marathon this past weekend. It went pretty well, but I’ve dealt with a minor knee issue since the marathon, and it hindered me a bit. I plan to keep running, but long runs will not be happening for awhile. Just as well, I suppose… the weather is definitely starting to turn around here!

Last Saturday night I got to go to my first Gopher football game. I hadn’t been to a football game in ages. The Gophers completely suck this year, but they were playing Ohio State (currently #11 in BCS standings). So… even though the home team lost, it was pretty cool to watch a really good team. The stadium’s pretty cool. The girls I went with are big time Gopher fans. I mentioned to them that Jerod had gone to baseball camp there last summer and that the baseball facility was a complete crap hole. Low and behold, at half time Paul Mollitor and some of the Pohlad (I’m likely butchering the spelling on both those names) family came out to announce a big renovation project. They actually won the Big 10 last year, so maybe there’s some Gopher baseball steam building…

Chris and the kids all dressed up as vendors (as in people at the Twins game that come to your seat and sell you stuff) for Halloween. Elise was hilarious yelling, “KETTLE CORN, LICORICE!!” She may have a future! Chris sold beer and Jerod sold hot dogs. I just ordered some prints, so I will send them when they get here.

The kids are both really enjoying school. I think Jerod is struggling a little bit with boredom; and as a result he occasionally gets in a wee bit of trouble. I’m hopeful that they’ll be able to challenge him a bit more in the second half of the school year. We shall see.

I think that’s all I have that’s newsworthy! We are gearing up for winter… since it’s going to come whether we want it to or not. I keep hearing drab scenarios for weather severity this year… apparently it’s an El Nino year. Blech!

Happy Halloween!

Morning Time Update

Our mornings went far better this week. We solved the problem the way this family always seems to solve problems: we threw some money on it and hoped it would go away.

Seriously, we established a routine. Within that routine, each of the kids gained a little incentive to keep them away from one another.

Our morning now goes like this:

Eat breakfast

Get dressed/Brush teeth

Jerod- practice piano/Elise- play with brand spanking new Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shop toy (this is where the 'throw some money on it' came into play

Once Jerod's done practicing, he gets to watch 'Quick Pitch' (show for baseball geeks) until the bus comes.

So far, this has worked pretty well. The only problem is that Jerod, my eight year old, baseball-obsessed boy, is inexplicably taken with the Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shop. Are ya kiddin' me? They did play nicely together with it on Wednesday morning, but anyone who knows my kids at all knows that this 'cooperative playtime' is not a consistently workable model. By the way, I know that this is because we're bad parents, so please don't feel the need to explain that to me.

Anyhoo... it was a much better week. Here are a few pictures. Jerod had a run in with a cleat...

So... How Are You Spending All Your Free Time?

Now that I am the parent of two school age kids and Elise is an old kindergarten pro (it's been 12 days!), this is the question everyone seems to be asking. Why anyone needs to ask, I'm not sure, because the answer is obvious: I am sitting around eating bon bons, of course.

I hate that question. Despite my newfound absence of preschoolers in the house, my window of kid-free time is three hours a day. Not that I don't appreciate it, because believe you me, I do. But, I will admit that I have, in a sense, used the cumulative 36 hours of solitude to catch my breath after five plus years of stay-at-home mommy-hood.

I'm scheduled to run my first marathon in nine days. On four of these 12 days, I have gone out for training runs. You read that right. I went out, just me, on four beautiful days, and did something that benefited no one but me. I wish I could tell you that I had every last dish done and every piece of laundry neatly folded and put away before indulging myself in the pure, unadulterated selfishness, but that would be a lie.

And, my selfishness doesn't stop at running. Yesterday after sending my happy kindergarten kid on her merry way, I went to lunch with some friends. At the ripe old age of 34, I was the youngest person at the table. We talked like grown-ups. It was new and different and exciting. At this particular moment, I'm blogging. And, as if all that weren't enough, on Monday, October 4, the day after the marathon, I'm going to get REALLY crazy. I'm going to get my hair cut.

I wish I could tell you that I have put away all the summer clothes, cleaned out each and every one of our disastrously disorganized closets, rearranged my spice cabinet, removed all the clothes the kids have outgrown from their drawers, tried seven new, nutritious and fabulous recipes that even the kids loved, aerated the lawn, started a new and fabulous skin care regime that has me looking like I'm 24, and sent out 62 resumes/filled out applications so that I can spend my whopping 15 hours a week making something of myself and bringing home a paycheck. But despite the recent changes in the life of this family, I still am what I am. I am disorganized, I am somewhat lazy, I am selfish, and I am not one of those moms who takes care of everyone else and leaves nothing for herself. On some level, I have been a bit lazy, I will not deny it. I do have a to-do list as long as my legs (which really aren't long, as legs go, but still... it's a long list), and I am going to get to it. But, I am, for the moment catching my breath. I will apologize if you want me to, but don't ask me to make it a sincere apology.

Late Start = Parental Punishment

Jerod, our beloved first born, went to private school for kindergarten and first grade. The back story there could be a post in and of itself, so I'm not going there today. After a lot of thoughtful discussion, we made the decision that we needed to switch to our (free) neighborhood school this year. One student's worth of tuition was manageable for us, two students' worth was not. Yes, I could have gone back to work. But, again, that could be another post in and of itself. We decided that was not the route for us at this time.

So, we are filled to the brim with Countryside pride. If you know me at all, you know I hate change. Overall, however, this has been a very good one. Other than taking a few days for Jerod to earn a spot in the recess football game (oh, playground politics, how I hate you!!), he has transitioned smoothly. I keep asking him how he's feeling about the change. I think it's safe to say he misses ISM and some of his pals there, but he consistently tells me he's glad to be going to C-side because he gets to "sleep in." The necessary background information is that he had to get on the bust at 7:15am last year and did not get home until after 5 (which only helped with our decision to switch schools, but I digress...).

He now gets on the bus at 9:08. We all know I'm no math wizard, but that's dang near two extra hours at home in the morning for the boy. For better or for worse, Jerod's version of 'sleeping in' consists of him sleeping until maybe 7:15. There are some advantages to all this extra time in the morning. He's able to practice piano, which means we no longer have to practice with end of the day tired and grumpy Jerod. As a general rule, he's fresh and rested and the a.m. practice routine goes really well. Additionally, since we've got such a chunk of time in the morning, I usually don't even open his backpack until morning (this will change when we start having homework, but we're not there yet). I have plenty of time to take care of any of the take-home folder parental busy work before the bus comes.

The downside is that this gives my kids ample opportunity to drive each other, and me, and sometimes Chris, completely and totally nuts. I sometimes feel as though I'm going to need to separate them for the next 10 years if they're going to keep from killing one another. The bickering is epic. Yelling, biting, hitting, kicking... it's mayhem I tell you.

I cannot tell a lie. I know who's behavior they're modeling when they yell. I've never made any claims to being mother of the year, and yes, I occasionally yell. But... the biting, hitting and kicking?? I'm immature, but I'm not that immature. At times they just completely and totally lose control of themselves, and it freaks me out.

So... we are currently working to find our morning routine, working to find appropriate consequences for unacceptable physical behavior, and trying desperately not to lose our minds. This house is currently a battle ground from 8am-9am. I am weary of it, and it's only the second week of school. As the locals say... UFF DAH!

Back to School

I'm going to write more about this when I get a chance, but for now, here are a few pictures.

Jerod's 8th Birthday Party

Summer Fun 2010

Click the pic to see more :)

Some more letters

June 5, 2010

Hello!

We are winding down a fun Saturday. Today’s events included a piano recital, a trip downtown to pick up race packets for tomorrow’s half marathon, a stop at home depot for the last component of the garden, lunch with neighbors, a trip to Target, and a Chipotle dinner. It was rainy most of the day, but the sun has now made an appearance and it’s a beautiful evening.

I’m currently a little antsy about tomorrow’s run. We’ve ‘tapered’ this week in order to be rested, and that process always make me a li’l edgy (some of my adoring fans might use the term bitchy). I’m anxious to be done!

The week here has been pretty mellow. I went yesterday to the end of the year first grade party, which consisted of roller skating in the school gym. For me, the highlight of the event was that the music was all performed by The Chipmunks. You really haven’t lived until you watch a group of first grade girls on skates circling up to shake their booties to ‘If ya like it then ya shoulda put a ring on it.’ Painful, I tell you, just painful.

June 12, 2010

Hello-

Big news on Bernard Place is that school’s out for summer J. We are all quite excited. Elise had preschool graduation last Wednesday. They announced all their names when they came to receive their ‘diplomas.’ Elise’s went like this: Our next graduate is Elise Holt. Elise would like to be a superhero when she grows up.” She continues to provide non-stop entertainment.

I was hanging in there pretty well with all of the end of the year hullabaloo and ending of chapters (ISM, preschool, etc.) until yesterday (last day of school for both kids) when I picked up Elise at carpool. E was brought to the car by teacher Beth, who was sobbing… totally tore me up! We were so blessed with the teachers our kids had this year. It was nice to have teachers that really ‘got’ our kids and brought out their best.

Chris and I officially began marathon training this morning, completing our first YMCA group run. It was pretty fun. Of course you never know what you’re going to get when you sign up to do something with a group. We still don’t know, but so far so good. It seems like a decent group.

We were supposed to be camping at Rice Lake this weekend, but called off the trip due to massive amounts of rain. It’s kind of a bummer, but it’s been nice to be home today. Other than the morning’s run, I’ve been a total slug all day.

Elise is quite the rock star soccer player. This is quite the ambivalent topic for me. She’s scored three goals in each of her last two games. While I’m stoked that she’s thriving, I am just not finding any love for soccer. I guess I’d better look a little harder and find some, because there really aren’t any other good girl sport options… and Lord knows she needs to have whatever physical outlets she can find!

Jerod is enduring soccer. As he put it, his team gets “crushed” every week. He did score a goal last week and enjoyed it for at least a moment. Baseball starts next week… hopefully he’ll enjoy that a little more :)

That’s pretty much the news. I’m hopeful that the sun will make an appearance SOON. I need a little summer RIGHT NOW. Hopefully soon…

June 20, 2010

Hello-

Ahhh… while it certainly hasn’t been quite as warm as I would like, summer is here. I think it’s safe to say week one was a success. The kids generally did a pretty good job of getting along and managed to keep themselves out of trouble. The kids and I made our first trek to the pool last Tuesday; and the whole blam damn family went yesterday (which was a little chilly) as well as today (which was awesome… nice and warm).

On Friday we finally had a little birthday party for Jerod. Chris and I took five boys to Target Field for a tour. We got to see nifty things like the press box, the visiting team’s dugout and locker room, and the ‘champions club,’ which is where the people who sit in the $275 cushy seats behind home plate get to hand out and look at the World Series trophies. It was a pretty fun time.

On Tuesday evening we went to watch the Twins play the Rockies. Monday night I told Chris to put the tickets in his backpack so I wouldn’t have to remember them (we met him downtown after work). He went to get them and they were straight up GONE. As in four tickets to seven more games… totally gone. I was sick to my stomach, and I still get a little queasy thinking about it. They are still gone (one of us apparently put them in a very safe place), but thankfully there is a reissue process. I felt like a putz, because we had to go through the actual season ticket account holder (a friend of a friend who we’re not all that familiar with). In the end, it all worked out; and the Twins put on quite a hit fest for us.

The kids are going to vacation Bible school this week with some friends at a different church. They are looking forward to it, and I’m looking forward to them having some structured activity. I’m trying to live in the moment and enjoy summer, but I already feel like it’s flying by. But… it’s all good.

Delinquent, Yet Again

Yes, I'm still writing letters. I just haven't gotten around to posting them. Here's a catch-up post:

May 15, 2010

Hello J

The mailroom is not entirely to blame for slow mail. I always start these on Saturday morning with the intent of getting them in the day’s mail. Unfortunately the family schedule sometimes prevents me from getting it finished before the mail comes. Then because of that whole Sabbath thing, your letter doesn’t hit the mail until Monday.

At this moment, we’re waiting for Elise to wake up. We’re then going to breakfast, then to Menards. We’re ‘building’ a garden today. Someone recently turned me on to Square Foot Gardening (a book that’s all about growing lots in a little space) and we’re going to try it. Hmmm… what to plant? We’re starting small, we’ll see what happens.

Elise’s first soccer game is Monday evening. That could be interesting. At the very least she’ll have the legs for it. The girl can run like crazy. We’ll see how she does with some guidance from the coaching staff, however. I s’pose she’ll be fine. As long as it’s not me telling her what to do, she tends to be somewhat compliant!

Chris and I are ‘running for the ribbon’ (Minnesota AIDS project) tomorrow. I am just now starting to feel like my pre-stress fracture self. Chris and I did a nine mile training run yesterday, and it was the first time in a LONG time that I enjoyed my weekly long run. We left from Chris’ office and ran along the river to Minnehaha falls, and caught a ride from the light rail back downtown.

May 17, 2010 (Happy 8^th to Jerod!)

See… it’s Monday evening now, and this thing’s still not in the mail! We got the raised bed constructed for the garden. Due to ignorance, it took the better part of Saturday to get it done. Now we just need to fill it with soil and get to planting.

Chris completed the four mile run in 33 minutes. Holy cow! I didn’t wear a watch and they haven’t posted official times yet, but I was around the 35 minute mark. We were both quite pleased with ourselves! We also got together with our Ragnar team for the first time yesterday. It’s always kind of funny to watch a group of unfamiliar Minnesotans come together… think the NPR ladies skit on SNL.

We just got back from the above mentioned soccer game. The Camels (I kid you not, her team’s assigned name is the camels) pretty much got their camel booties handed to them. But, Elise the Beast scored a goal!! I wish I could have captured the look on her face. Truly priceless… she was STOKED!

Today was the closest thing that ISM has to field day. All the first graders ran a half mile. A cool thing about going to a school where everyone’s super nerdy is that the J-man can pretty much dominate anything that’s anywhere near being athletically inclined. He smoked the competition… completing a half mile in three minutes and 48 seconds.

I’m going to end this with talk of our new family pets. Have we mentioned this? I can’t remember. But, thanks to first grade science, we now have five guppies (which I have taken to referring to as the Jackson 5) and two snails. We were utterly unprepared when they arrived and they lived in a huge beer mug for a week. Today we moved them into their new aquarium (which will hopefully filter out the fish poo).

May 22, 2010

Hello-

We’ve started the day with bagels. Now the craziness begins. Chris is currently with Jerod at soccer pictures. Once they return Chris and I are going to take off on a nine miler. Following that will be haircuts for the boys, piano for Jerod, soccer pictures for Elise, and then dinner with some neighbors. I am not complaining, simply stating a fact when I say that weekends are nutty these days.

Chris and I saw Colin Hay (formerly of Men at Work) at the Cedar last night. I had no idea what to expect. I’m pretty much completely unfamiliar with his work and only bought tickets because ‘Beautiful World’ is one of my all-time favorite songs. He was so fricken funny. Turns out he’s hilarious… pretty much did two to three minutes of stand-up comedy between songs. We laughed and laughed and laughed J

We also took in Talking Volumes (NPR/Star Trib) book club at the Fitzgerald last Wednesday. It’s something we’d wanted to do for a long time, and Chris bought the tickets a while back. Unfortunately I was not crazy about the book (In the Kitchen by Monica Ali) at all. But, it was still fascinating to hear an author and see what Keri Miller looks like.

May is the month of events for us this year. Next week we’re going to see James Taylor on Tuesday and then we’re catching a show at the Guthrie on Thursday. Our entertainment budget will be shot for awhile!

I really have no other news!

May 29, 2010

Hey there!

My content’s admittedly been a bit lacking lately, so I thought I’d cut and paste the latest entry from my running blog. It’s been a somewhat tough week on the running front. I’m having to get used to the ‘heat’ (or what Minnesotans call heat, anyway!) and we had some late nights. My body has been rebelling!

Elise has found her soccer groove. She scored three goals in last Monday’s game. I think she’s uber happy to have found such a physical outlet. She’s a bit of a ball hog, but no one seems to mind as long as she’s scoring goals J

I haven’t yet caught one of Jerod’s games, but he seems to be having an ok time. Not great, but ok. They misspelled his name on his jersey (Jarod) and I put in a request for a corrected one. I got an email this week saying that Jerold Holt’s jersey is ready for pick up. I haven’t gotten it yet, so I don’t know if it’s an email typo or if they actually screwed it up yet again. Groan.

We got to go to the Twins game last night. They beat the Rangers 2-1 (which means I got to talk a little smack to my Texas relatives..woohoo!). It was a beautiful night… outdoor baseball at its best.

We are seven days away from our half marathon. After the rough training week, I’m a little nervous, but pretty excited.

It’s weird pet people week for me. In addition to the dog story that you’ll read from the blog, this random lady walked up to me on Tuesday night when we were leaving the James Taylor concert at Xcel. She proceeds to go on and on about the number of people there and then tells me that there are far fewer people when she comes for the cat show that takes place during the winter carnival. Ya think?? I wonder why that may be… hmmmm. She went on and on and on, telling me about the difficulties of carrying cats and all their cat booty for such a long walk. She then proceeded to tell me I should really check it out. Imagine, 300 some odd cats in one room. I refrained from telling her that it sounded like my worst friggin’ nightmare! Your brother, my husband, as most would predict, pretty much left me in the lurch and sped up. Jerk!

Anyhoo… here’s some bloggish fun for you:.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Seven Sans Coffee/Keep Your Effing Dog Away From the Water Fountain

I ran a seven miler this morning and the only good thing I can say about it is that I survived. It was supposed to be a tempo run with five miles at 8:54 pace, with one mile of warm up and cool down on each end. I anticipated this would be a tough workout, but I did not anticipate not being able to complete the miles at the prescribed pace. I had kind of been looking forward to it. I like a challenge, we've been having super running weather, and Thursdays are preschool days (so I get some me time). I thought all of that would combine for a splendid running experience. Being that I have delusions of returning to my previous sub-two hour half marathon form (and I thought I was on track), I really thought this was manageable.

WRONG-O!

SPLITS- THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (I'll let you figure out which is which)

Mile 1 9:59--A great start... perfect pace for a warm up mile

Mile 2 8:56--Certainly close enough

Mile 3 8:59-- Again, close enough

Mile 4 9:38-- WHAT THE FUDGE??? (see WATER STOPS below)

Mile 5 9:28--I dunno. There was no water stop involved, so I have no excuse

Mile 6 10:58--Utter despair and complete defeat (again, see WATER STOPS below)

Mile 7 12:35-- Yes, it was a cool down, but COME. ON.

SOME NOTES ON THE ROUTE

We've got a great little trail about a mile from our house that's a two mile loop. It's paved, shaded, and has just enough pedestrian traffic to make one feel plenty safe to run alone in the woods. And, there's a water fountain (big time bonus in my book). The only problem with this little slice o' running heaven is that it's in a bit of a valley (i.e. pretty much a downhill trek to get there *yea* and pretty much a straight uphill trek to get home *BOO*). My plan was to run the mile there as a warm up, run twice around for four of my five tempo miles, head towards home for the final mile of the tempo portion; then putz around for a cool-down mile near the house. Pair these notes with the splits, and it's fairly easy to see where the wheels came off on this particular run. The last tempo mile was straight uphill. Flippin' genius, Anne. Seeeeeeeriously. How do you spell idiot?? That would be A-N-N-E.

WATER STOPS

I don't speak for all runners, but my 'runner's best friend' is hands down a water fountain. It's just a fact that this game dehydrates a person. If you're fortunate enough to run where there's a fountain, you don't have to break out the camel back (which is super handy, but a complete pain in the keester to clean) or a bottle of water. YEA for water fountains! Today, however, the water fountain caused me two problems. Number one was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Number two... judge for yourself.

1. My garmin watch has this handy dandy auto stop feature that stops timing when you stop moving. For some reason, when I made my first water stop during mile four, the clock rolled on. It's annoying, but ultimately provides me with a pretty stinkin' good excuse for failing to run mile four in the goal time of 8:54.

2. Somewhere either in the late part of mile five or the early part of mile six, the despair and defeat of this run were firmly entrenched in my psyche. I was tired, I wasn't meeting my goal times, and I was oh so thirsty. Alas, my beloved water fountain was near. Despite the negative energy now surrounding the run, I was confident that I would take a good, healthy water break and finish strong. Not at goal pace, but strong.

I come around the corner and there's a woman with two dogs. She's taking a drink. No problemo. I can wait my turn, and the extra rest while waiting seems like a gift from above. Then, after she refreshes herself, she picks up the little pooch and proceeds to let him/her take a drink from the water fountain. When I told my husband this story, he responded with "Are you serious?". I responded with, "How could I make that up?".

Being the facebook junkie that I am, I immediately came changed my status to: OK... I know you dog people are goofy about your dogs, and that's cool. I don't get it, but it's cool. Still, I must cry foul if you lift your pooch to the water fountain for a drink while my stinky, sweaty, thirsty self is standing right behind you waiting for a drink.

Honestly, in the immediate moments following, I thought, maybe I'm being too hard on the dog people of the world. Maybe I'm freaking out over nothing. However, the responses have indicated that's not the case.

I wish I could tell you that I just skipped the water and came home for my liquid refreshment. But folks, I was in a bad way, and, have I mentioned, I was thirsty?? Really, really thiiiiiiirrrrrsty! I let the water run for a good 15 seconds and took a hit. Gross gross gross gross gross GROSS!

After this, I gave up. Just completely and totally gave up. In my running life, it rarely happens, but it sure as heck did today. "Don't give up" is something we preach pretty consistently to our kids; and ultimately I'm just glad they weren't around to see me doing just that.

DEBRIEFING

Now that I'm a few hours out from this epic fail experience, I am gaining some perspective. I'm definitely thankful for my dailymile support community on such days. How did I ever live without them??!! I'm also choosing to focus on miles two, three, and four as victories... they were a little off, but once water time is subtracted and you factor in some hills, they were ultimately quality miles.

I'm also giving myself a little wiggle room because this week is just crazy busy. All good things, but I didn't get home until after midnight on Tuesday, and was up past 11 yesterday night. By my standards, that's two pretty short nights. And, the two beers I enjoyed while sitting on the porch last night were likely (definitely) ill-advised. Lesson learned.

And lastly, I'm experimenting with drinking less coffee. I already drink half-caff, but drinking it at all just holds less appeal for me now that the weather has warmed. I skipped it this morning thinking that it would pay a dividend of me not feeling the need to pee the entire time I was out running. In reality, I probably needed the fuel. I am going to continue experimenting with this, so look for more coffee related posts in the future.

I'm spending the rest of today/this evening re-hydrating, re-fueling, and getting ready for tomorrow's 10 miler. It's the last long training run before the Minneapolis half. Woohoo!! Just for the record, I'm not giving up on running it in under two hours. We shall see...

Mother's Day at Ruttger's

May 8, 2010

Hey there-

How goes it? We “enjoyed” some May snow yesterday. We’re spending Mother’s Day weekend in the Brainerd area, and I think there was something like three inches. Craziness! I’m happy to report that as of about 10 a.m., it was completely gone and we’ve enjoyed a beautiful sunny day.

Chris and I indulged ourselves with some Ficus enterprises (Chris’ vending machine empire, in case you don’t know) profits and bought a Garmin for running this week. It’s pretty much the coolest dang thing ever for a couple of running nerds such as ourselves. We had eight miles scheduled for this morning, and it was awesome to just take off and go and have your time and distance measured, requiring no thought or advanced planning whatsoever. We got to run along lovely Bay Lake, and despite yesterday’s snow (BOO!), it turned out to be a splendido day for a run.

Jerod had his first soccer practice of the season this week. He is a member of the mighty Pelicans. At this point in time, I am receiving a failing grade as a soccer mom. The coach sent an email a couple of weeks ago. Being that it’s “summer soccer,” I quickly skimmed it with the intent of reading more carefully and digesting the info later. On May 3 I got around to reading more closely and read “first practice will be Apri 28.” DOH. I then saw that the next practice would be May 5. Cool, I think, I can get us on the ball now. It also mentioned that the first game would be coming up at Pamela Park. So, on Wednesday we got J all suited up and headed to Pamela Park. There was no sign of Pelicans anywhere. The email was older, so neither Chris nor I could pull it up on our phone, so we had to go all the way back home to pull it up. Turns out practice was at Normandale Park. Double DOH! We did make it to the last 15 minutes of practice. Ugh.

Chris and I got to trek back to Target field last Thursday. Sadly the weather was not as nice as it had been on our first visit. It was yucky rainy. We watched a few innings, then decided to head to Kieran’s to watch the end. The Twins stunk it up against the Orioles and lost 2-0, so I’m glad we didn’t stick around. Yesterday’s (Friday) game was cancelled due to crappy weather. First weather related baseball cancellation in 30 years for the Twins. I personally think it’s a good problem… well worth it to have outdoor baseball (though perhaps we should have given that retractable roof a little more consideration!). They dropped another one to the Orioles today… hopefully they’ll get back on track soon.

We found out this week that Elise had been assigned to a.m. kindergarten for the fall. I had really hoped for p.m., because she gets so stinking bored in the afternoons. One of my well connected Countryside neighbors this week managed to get her daughter and Elise switched to p.m. Yahoo!! She’s counting the days and ready to go J

That is pretty much all the news that Bernard Place has to offer this week.

This is not all that interesting

May 1, 2010

Wowza—it’s May!

We are chugging along, still generally enjoying this early spring. Big news of the week for Chris and me is that we are now on a Ragnar team… a.k.a 12 people crazy enough to sign on for a 198 mile relay running race from Winona to Mpls. We’ve talked about doing it for years, and this week it finally came together. Four of the people we know, the other eight are total and complete strangers found via a ‘find a team’ function on the ragnar website. We’ll each run three legs—that can vary in distance from three to eight miles. And, here’s the kicker, the race goes through the night. Hmmm…

My parents arrived on Wednesday as planned. We went out yesterday evening and had dinner with them. Their place is really nice. I wish it were just a wee bit closer, but overall it’s great. I think they’re going to come tomorrow evening (Sunday) and we’re going to eat with Donna.

Today and this evening will be a first for this Kansas rooted family. We’re going to a neighbor’s Bar Mitzvah. I’m pretty excited to experience something different. The ceremony is this morning, then tonight’s the par-tay. I can already tell you that I would compare the amount of planning work that Valette (the mom) has put in is on par with that of a wedding. It’s pretty insane… I cannot even begin to imagine what the final price tag will be. All for a 13 year old boy!

Chris and I are looking forward to our next Twins game on Thursday. Those damn Tigers won the series last week. Can’t win them all I guess J Seemed like last night they were back on track against Cleveland.

The kids are good. Hard to believe we’re just 16 days away from having an eight year old. J’s decided that he wants to take two kids to a Twins game and then have a sleep over. While I’m not thrilled about the sleep over part, I’m totally stoked that we’re not looking at a party with throngs of seven and eight year olds!

Elise is… umm… just Elise. She’s spent pretty much the whole week in a foul mood. Not exactly sure what her deal is, but I think she’s officially sick of me and ready to go to school.

That is kinda sorta all I know.

Prom boots and a weekly letter

Editorial Note: This letter contains language that any respectable adult would have edited before posting on a blog, but I don't feel like it. It does contain some adult language. You've been warned.

4/24/10

Hola!

No beautiful Saturday today. It is nasty and rainy. Chris and I are grateful to not be running today. We ran eight miles yesterday in the Bush Lake/Hyland area. Things spotted on the run included, but were not limited to: a flock of wild turkeys (one right in our path… I now know what it feels like to be scared of a turkey), a condom on the road, and a baby turtle (that I’m fairly certain was dead). Such is running in the Twin Cities, I guess!

The Twins have continued to steam roll everyone in their path… beat the Royals something like 8-3 last night. Pretty crazy stuff. We are counting the days until we can get to another game. The seats were great… closer than I’ve ever been to any sporting event. The line to the women’s restroom was, sadly, still excessively long! Chris was stoked because you can get a kids meal with a hot dog, chips, and a drink for $5. Always the bargain shopper, he is. I have to say, however, the hot dog was pretty much a ‘you get what you pay for’ experience. Jerod was not really a fan. I couldn’t help but think of the Dan Aykroyd description in ‘The Great Outdoors’ … lips and assholes! I’ve been posting these letters to the blog since they tend to tell everything that we’ve had going on. I think this one may require some heavy editing. Somehow lips and assholes and condom on the road don’t seem real appropriate.

The kids had a very ordinary week. We’re all ready for summer and soccer and baseball. Right now, however, activities are pretty much at a standstill.

A few weeks ago, Chris had a scheduling snafu and ended up with a couple extra hours to kill in uptown. So, off to the Walker he went. We ended up with a membership, and the guy is now smitten with modern art. It kind of cracks me up, because in my mind, he’s always been pretty skeptical about such art! At any rate, the kids really enjoyed the sculpture garden.

Tomorrow’s my dad’s last Sunday at his two little churches, and I believe the movers come on Wednesday. I see some heavy lifting in our near future!

Oh… I was just sitting here trying to think what excitement the past week held, and I nearly forgot the “best” part! On Thursday (while Chris was whooping it up at Happy Hour), Jerod was tossing a ball around on the patio, and the inevitable finally happened. He left a baseball sized hole in the glass on our storm door. I happened to be sitting at the dining room table and was able to see his reaction. Pretty priceless, really. I don’t know how much a kid’s expression can really say, but to me, his clearly said, “Holy Hannah, they were right when they told me not to hit the glass, and I just did it, and my mom’s gonna go postal.” Needless to say, he was pretty remorseful. He and Chris took it to Jerry’s last night, so the repair is in process.

Here’s some more useless info. for ya: my neice Joelle (who went to New England with us), went to prom last weekend. Just straight up craziness, if you ask me, that she can be old enough for such nonsense. In typical Jo fashion, she wore boots with her prom dress (I just inserted a picture up top). If my baby niece really must be a teenager, I’m grateful she’s one that’s true to her own self and a truly unique individual!

Sculpture Garden Pics

After nearly 10 years, we finally made it to the sculpture garden.

Outdoor Baseball!

Thome on the jumbotron

Mauer on the jumbotron

My new best buddy, Scott Podsednik

The view from our seats

Where the heck are our seats??!!

Elise's fashion creation

Here's the letter for the week. It was a good one (the week, I mean... not the letter)!

April 17, 2010

Hello-

It’s another beautiful Saturday here in Pleasantville. Chris and I are getting ready to head out for a seven mile run. We’ll then be coming home to shower and get ready for our first trek to Target field. We’re looking forward to a game that will require sunscreen as opposed to a vitamin D supplement! They’re playing the Royals, who they beat something like 10-0 last night. Hopefully they’ve got a few hits left in them for today.

This week brought a first in parenting for me, as Elise had to get a filling. It sucked! She did fine, but I was a wreck. After her run-in with Swine ’09 last fall, I HATE the Elise/anesthesia combination. Her quintessential Elise moment of the week was on Wednesday, when she came out of her room dressed in a shirt and pants that could never dream of looking ok together. When I told her they didn’t match, she replied with, “Mom… THIS (pointing at her shirt) is my favorite shirt. THIS (pointing at her pants), is my favorite pair of pants. They match.” I’d imagine you can just hear her snotty little ‘my mom’s an idiot’ voice. FYI… two favorites, apparently, comprise a match (despite color).

Jerod is on page 396 of 749 (he just gave me the exact numbers) of the final Harry Potter. I went to his parent teacher conference on Thursday. He’s doing well,(tearing up reading, science and math; doing less than stellar in handwriting) other than some squirrely behavior lately. I think he’s definitely ready for summer.

April 18, 2010

OK… so we left for that run at 8, and I didn’t get finished before we left. After that, the day was a complete whirlwind. Everyone is raving about the new Target field. I’m sure it’s lovely, but all I really know was that I got to spend 2+ hours in the sun watching America’s favorite pastime, and it was awesome. The good guys won 6-5… it was pretty unbelievable. After the game you could watch post-game interviews on the jumbotron (no idea how to spell that). It was really cool to see Coomer up there interviewing Mauer and then Thome (our new DH). We did learn a lot about outdoor baseball. Things like, we really need four hats (instead of one) when we walk out the door, and a hat won’t protect a seven-year old’s neckline from sunburn. We’ll do better next time!

That is all I know for now. I see on the Twins schedule that they play the Tigers on the 27^th, 28^th, and 29^th; so you can look forward to that on your radio :-) I’m going to wind this up so we can get ready for church. Jerod will be serving as a greeter today. Should be interesting!

Letters

picture from last Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt

Circumstances of life are such right now that I'm in a place that requires letter writing. It's a lost art, but one that I'm trying to find. My skills are beyond rusty. But, I'm writing a weekly letter to a relative who doesn't have access to the 'world wide interweb' and they contain pretty much all the minutiae of our lives. Since I'm doing the writing anyway, I've decided I may as well post the text (or most of it anyway) on here. Since you care. :) Here's this week's report on the Holts of Bernard Place:

Hope this finds you doing well. We’ve had a busy but good week with more beautiful spring weather. I feel an awful lot like my grandma when I write these letters… all about the weather and the minutiae of daily life!

In our house, the best news of the week is that the Twins are off to a blazing start. They dropped their first game to the Angels, but have since won four straight. We haven’t seen much of the action, as that west coast game play is too damn late for our old souls. We did stay up last night to watch them beat the White Sox in overtime, though. J.J. Hardy got the winning RBI. He’s definitely in the running for the title of “Anne’s favorite Twin.” I’m sure he’ll be flattered… ha!

Jerod got a very obnoxious, very Edina hoody yesterday with a big ol’ hornet on the front and his name on the back. We have come completely to the dark side of WASP-y suburbia!! He finished the sixth Harry Potter yesterday and was disappointed because he only got 18 out of 20 on the comprehension test. He’s such a little nerd!

Elise is still nuts. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already or not, but she learned to ride her bike without training wheels last week. It was a very Elise moment. On a random Tuesday she says to me, “I’m going to learn to ride my bike without training wheels today.” I’m like, yeah… whatever. She proceeded to hound me until I took her outside, removed the training wheels and took her to the street. Within five minutes she was totally cruising. She still has trouble getting started on her own. Once she’s going, though, there’s no stopping her.

My folks closed on their townhouse last Tuesday. We went out to see it. They’re moving on the 28th. Once the moving ball got rolling, it went quickly! Tuesday was also my dad’s b-day. He chose Friday’s, of all places, because they have some foo foo cocktail he wanted to order. Seeeeriously!

Chris and I are currently training for the Minneapolis half marathon on June 6, and then will begin full marathon training after that. It’s definitely a daunting challenge, but I’m looking forward to lots of time on the trails. It’s not always fun, but it’s always quiet… which is a treat for me. Tonight we’re heading to Nye’s to watch our normally vegetarian neighbors eat some polska kielbasa (sp??) in honor of her birthday (she’s of Polish descent). Should be interesting!

So... there ya go. I don't promise it will always be interesting. Most weeks it won't!