1/12

Paws, my school mascot, visits the gym.  What a good looking wildcat!  

With a couple hours remaining in January 2016, I am taking a moment to unload a few pictures from my phone onto the blog.  I am happy with the beginning of 2016.  We are now officially members of our YMCA branch, and will begin visiting and exercising this week.  I am particularly excited about the swimming pool and sauna!  I am sure that weights are also in my future, as I continue to read about the importance of lifting as I get older to decrease mass and density loss.  

We arrive at Medieval Times!  

This weekend was a very busy one, as I found myself out and about every day.  On Friday, Kim and I traveled into the city while grandma watched the girls.  We saw a band called Tributeasaurous.  They played all the hits of Queen and it was a good time.  We met-up with friends and had dinner beforehand, then enjoyed the concert.  The drive home was quiet and we listened to the actual greatest hits CD of Queen on the way home.  What a band.  Music is powerful.

Violet before her photo shoot!  How royal she is!

Then on Saturday, after a lazy morning, we all drove to the northern suburbs and took-in an afternoon at Medieval Times.  There the girls enjoyed all that was offered in terms of jousting, eating, dressing in medieval attire, and swordplay.  Audrey was even given the sash for Beauty of the Tournament by the Red Knight, and Violet was given a carnation during the processions.  Fun was had by all, and I came away with an over-priced mug and many happy memories of my family smiling, cheering, and enjoying being together.  Hazzah!

A king and his princess.

Finally, today.  It has been grey and dreary all day.  The rain started drizzling around 10am.  The girls and I left Kim to venture out back into Chicago to spend some time with Uncle Stuart!  We met downtown and ended-up traveling to the Field Museum for a few hours.  There we enjoyed seeing our favorites including Bushman the gorilla and Sue the tyrannosaurus rex.  Of course the highlight was really getting to see Uncle Stuart.  He is always so positive and supportive and loves our family so much.  We love him, too.

The Royal Orelove photo shoot!

And so here I sit, getting ready for bed and an early rise tomorrow morning to begin another busy week.  January as been good, though.  Quiet, busy, positive.  I have heard myself say, "Progress not perfection" a lot these days.  I like it because it allows for mistakes and accepts that things will never be perfect.  However, life must progress, and we celebrate when it does.  No child is perfect.  No family is perfect.  No life is perfect.  No one is perfect.  I am far from perfect...but I am making progress.  And for me, that is enough.

The Fairy Godmother...I mean grandmother!  

The girls at Knighttime.

Horsing around at Medieval Times before the tournament!

My little warriors are small yet mighty!

So fierce!

To Violet, it is all a Game of Thrones!

A King and his Queen and overpriced souvenir beverage containers.  Still worth it!  

We are seated in the front row!  Feet away from the action!

Ready for the festivities to begin!

Our host for the evening helps to narrate the events and keep the story line moving along.  

We cheer for the Red Knight!  Hazzah!

Go Red, Go!

On this day, the gift shop was the ultimate victor!

Two very satisfied customers!  

After Medieval times, we met up to see some friends for dinner.  Here they are with the company mascot!  

Silly faces!

Sunday at the Field Museum with Uncle Stuart!

Stu and Sue!

A picture with Bushman, as always.  We love you, Zayde!  This one's for you!

A penny for your thoughts?  the girls go on the underground adventure to learn about life in the soil!

The girls become mites!  I knew they were pests!  

Way cool new hyena diorama!  Check it out if you're in the area!

At the end of the day.  Tired, but we all love Uncle Stuart!  

Da Bears!  The girls pose in front of Soldier Field.  

A Day to Recover

Violet waking up from a nap.  She is buried in blankets and surrounded by pillows.

Today I stayed home with my sick Violet.  She woke this morning around 4am with a bad cough and congestion.  She wasn't any better a couple hours later when my alarm sounded, and I made the decision to work from home and help my little warrior recover.

Even though she was smiling after pancakes, this sick kid went right back to the couch.  Very NOT Violet if you have ever met her.

After dropping Audrey off at school, Violet and I drove to the store to get some medicine and fresh fruit.  Then we headed home and spend the remainder of the day doing laundry and resting.  Sometimes we need days like that, just letting our bodies recover.  While I didn't need the rest, it was still nice to have the quiet in the middle of the week.

Even Phoebe took advantage of the warm fire and lazy day.

It is now almost 7pm, and the day is nearly over.  Showers and stories are in the immediate future for the girls.  Some reading and an early departure for work are the next two items on my personal agenda.  A packed weekend lies ahead for our little family, filled with friends, family, birthday parties, and even a visit from grandma!  But tonight we rest, letting our minds and bodies breathe and recover and become whole again.

Here is Violet this past weekend, beginning her new running program and attempting to beat her previous time for the mile!  She is a rock star!

36

It is a quiet Sunday, and my 36th birthday.  It is quite the thing, a birthday.  I have been more and more taking the time to look back at the year that I have lived, and also peeking into the future...but not too far.  I don't claim to know the meaning to life, and I never will.  I do hold fast to the idea that I now need to live the best life possible and try to be a good person on all levels.  The age 36 means nothing to me, really.  It is more of a mile marker of sorts, reminding me that time is still passing even though my attention is often focused elsewhere.

My morning began with my two daughters playing and wishing me a happy birthday.  Now, two cups of coffee into the day, we are preparing to go to a movie and then watch some football while I fold laundry and enjoy some pizza.  The simple things are now a luxury to me.  A party is not necessary, nor even birthday recognition.  It used to be that my birthday was a day to have massive celebrations or looking forward to presents.  Now I am starting to realize that I really want to just celebrate with some time to consider all of the gifts I have been given in life, and the people who are most dear to me.

I can honestly say that if my life ended this very moment, I would be satisfied and feel a complete lifetime has been lived.  While I have no intention of leaving this life anytime soon, I find comfort in having reached a point of contentment and accomplishment.  There is still so much to live for, and so many more adventures to be had.  These feelings of completeness combined with all of the blessings in my life, make any future endeavors simply icing on the proverbial cake!  Birthdays come and birthdays go, it is what we do with the days and hours and minutes and seconds in between them that really show how much we have grown and lived.  And now it is time to take my daughters to the movies.  Isn't life grand?

-a

Infinity Reflection

Cold.

That has been the theme today:  Cold.  Bitter...

As I emerged from my warm cocoon, I saw the bright, cold light from the windows reaching through to me.  I could feel the frost on the window before I saw it.  The cold tile underneath bit at my soles.  I have spend the majority of the day layering myself with clothes and blankets, sipping hot coffee, and keeping close to the fire.

I saw a movie by myself for the first time in a long time.  Walking in an sitting in a dark theater by myself was something that reminded me of when I was a young adult in my hometown of Juneau.  Going to the movies was always a favorite of mine, and it still is.  There is something about the lights going down, and the projector releasing a story upon the screen.  The movie itself was set in the middle of a blizzard, so escaping the cold was not in the cards for even a couple hours in my imagination!

No, even as I sit here typing this entry, the wind is howling outside, prying its icy fingers around the frame of my window.  I sit confident, however, with layers of blankets and a snoozing dog by my side.  The cold will remain outside in the dark, and I will savor the last few minutes of consciousness in the glow of my bedside lamp while my thoughts grow fuzzy and slow.

A particular concept has been gnawing at me for the last year, and I find myself returning to the thought often:  my daughters are both old enough where I can remember actually being their age!  From this point on, I have actual memories and thoughts at their particular age stations in life.  I can remember being four years old...not much...but I do have some actual memories and details logged way back in my head.  I can remember being seven and what first grade was like and what I was doing at the time.  I have memories of learning to ride my bike and getting pizza with my dad and dancing to music....all the things I am now doing with my own kids.

At the same time, I am also finding myself doing some of the things I remember my own parents doing.  I drink coffee with cream and sugar.  I lay on the couch in comfortable jeans and nap.  I catch myself saying things my mom says, or thinking like my step-father.  These are all good things, just funny that I am doing them now as a parent.  Do we fall back onto these things?  Did my grandparents do these, too?  Are these behaviors passed-down or are they just making a single generational jump?

It is like the infinity reflection when you look into a mirror at your reflection in another mirror and see the same thing repeated forever.  Your motions are the motions are the motions.  My memories are the memories or my childhood and are those of my children and my parents.  While my life is not an exact reflection of my own childhood and that of my father or mother, it is similar in many respects.  Where I differ, small details become the new reflection to be discovered later by my own children when the time is right.  And so I go on reflecting, looking both forward, backward, and in the now...hoping to catch glimpses of what is right and pass that along while still holding onto it for myself.

What a beautiful idea:  We are what we reflect.  What we reflect is what we are.

Resting

The girls enjoy some play time in the reading tent!

This weekend has been one of quiet, absolute rest.  After a long winter break, the past week was very challenging and seemed to be stretched-out, like taffy from a parade.  Violet asked every night before I turned-out the lights whether or not tomorrow was a "stay at home day?"  So when we finally all gathered for Friday night dinner, we basically just collapsed in the living room and savored the soft glow of a movie and allowed the warmth of the fireplace to envelope us until sleep.

Saturday was a day of cleaning and naps and playing.  We got outside for a little while after a warm wave melted all of the snow.  We managed to make a trip around the block on the girls' new scooters.  Phoebe enjoyed a trek around the neighborhood, although the ice rain began falling as we neared our house.  The weather quickly dropped into freezing temperatures, and snow quickly followed.  We spend the rest of the day indoors, watching the flakes fall outside, lounging around the house, getting a few miles in on the treadmill, and enjoying more shows and some reading of a few of the many books I purchased over winter break.

Today, Sunday, has been sunny and bright, and bitterly cold.  Phoebe ran outside, took one hit of wind, and high-tailed it back into the house.  Winter is a beautiful time of year...depending which side of the window you are on!  More cleaning, laundry, other chores....some football on TV, and cooking throughout the day has filled the hours.  Now we find ourselves warm by the fire, the responsibilities of Monday starting to call in the back of my mind.  There are a few more hours, however, and this Sunday evening will be spent with my family.

Taking the time to rest ensures that we are ready to meet the demands of the world around us.  Yes, weekends are also a time to have adventures and travel and experience things with those most important to you.  This weekend, though, was about just being and breathing and resting.

January Beginnings

While not too much has "happened" for our family in the first few days of 2016, it is time to unload some pictures from my phone.  Here are some slices of light that have been captured, which we are using to remember some of the life we have lived...

Violet meets her newest cousin, Spencer!  Welcome to the world, Kid!

Bag Girls:  We love our sleeping bags, and utilized them a lot over the winter break.

Violet loved the dark side before the movie made it cool again this year!

Violet and Daddy on the couch on New Year's Eve.

Audrey and Daddy!  Notice the missing tooth!

Chilling with Violet while she demolishes a clementine.  I love this girl!

Look at that missing tooth!  The tooth fairy needs a second job to keep up with this girl!

Violet displays the newest gold panning "trophy" from Uncle Michael.   It has been added proudly to our "Gold Room"!

Violet also displays the newest flag from Uncle Michael, New Mexico!

Violet is running on the treadmill.  She made a goal of running a total of one mile in order to get a medal!  She reached her goal over the course of two days!  She was very determined on the second day!

Violet shows off her medals on her custom medal rack!  She is so proud!  The other medal was from the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving!  She is currently signed up for two kids runs this year.  I am sure there will be more!  

Running into 2016

Since my Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon in November, I have been mapping out some new running goals and signing-up for several races.  There is something about running that makes me feel both alone and part of a larger community.  Running allows me to clear my head, or let all of my thoughts wash over me for a while.

My running goals for this year are simple:  

1)  Run to have fun and be healthy.

2)  Improve strength and speed.

3)  Participate in more events to maintain motivation and training consistency.

4)  Use running as a way to have new experiences.

5)  Get race medals to add to the rack!

So with these goals in mind, I have signed-up for six half marathons in 2016, and left the possibility of the New York Marathon on the table if I get selected in the lottery.  I tried to space the races out and allow for a little recovery and continued training so my level of fitness would not be lost.  Hopefully the continued training and motivation moving towards each half will propel me to faster times and higher levels of performance.  I am excited to try three completely new races, and return to three familiar and satisfying ones.  Below I have listed them and a little about my thinking around each race.

The Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon--April 2nd

Springfield, IL

http://runabe.srrc.net/

I was looking for an earlier race to keep me motivated throughout the winter, and this seemed to do the trick  It is a smaller race, but lots of support and I like the Lincoln theme plus a giant penny finisher medal!  Should have some good humor and a few history lessons!

The Wisconsin Half Marathon--May 7th

Kenosha, WI

http://www.wisconsinmarathon.com/

This is the marathon that I didn't finish last year.  I plan on returning to the scene and completing the half as a sort of redemption.  While it is not the full, crossing the finish will be fitting a piece of the puzzle into place for me.  Also, during the marathon last year, I remember vividly thinking, "Wow, this would be an awesome half marathon."  The half takes everyone through the delightful downtown area, along the lakeshore, and then to the finish.  The full breaks off just before the half finishes, and take the runners out into a lonely, lonely stretch of gravel road out and back.  I told myself I should have stuck to the half.  This year, that is what I will do.

The Volition America Chicago Half Marathon--June 4th

Chicago, IL

http://www.volitionamerica.com/events/IL/Chicago/9

I was looking for a June half, and this fit the bill.  The cause of the race is to raise money and awareness about families who have lost loved ones who have served in the military.  Tuition will be provided to children of some of those families.  Also, it is June in Chicago, and a nice run along the lakefront is just fine by me.  It is a different kind of race agenda, so I am looking forward to experiencing something a little different.

Summerfest Rock 'n Sole Half Marathon--June 11th

Milwaukee, IL

http://rocknsolerun.com/

I saw this, and registered, not realizing it was the week after the Volition!  I look at this now as a challenge to run and recover and prepare for another run shortly after!  Also, it is relatively close, and the girls get to run in the fun run and get another medal for their own displays!  I have not been to Milwaukee, so I am looking forward to a run and an afternoon as a tourist before heading home!  Plus, all reviews indicate that it is a nice experience with some support and nice views!

The Chicago Half Marathon--September 25th

http://www.chicagohalfmarathon.com/

I am happy to be returning to run this half for the second time in three years!  I had fun when Kim ran the 5k and I ran the half.  This run is fun because there are a lot of people and it feels special being called THE Chicago half marathon.  I hope the weather doesn't heat up as fast as it did last time, but again I will find myself along the lake shore and that will hopefully keep the temperatures down!  Last year they had a HUGE finisher's medal....so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a repeat!

The Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon--November 5th

http://www.monumentalmarathon.com/

I have run in this the past two years, and enjoy the flat course through downtown Indianapolis.  It is a little chillier in November, and that keeps the pace up and the coolness is a refreshing thing.  I try to see friends or family when in town for this run, too...so that is always a bonus.  This past year, my friend (Amy) ran her first half, and it was a lot of fun to see her reach that goal.  This year, she told me she signed up for the full marathon!  I am so excited to cheer her on when I finish the half again!  I always enjoy my time in Indianapolis, and this race is really a treat!  

So what?

So there it is...my points of motivation and plan for this next year.  Running and training is something that helps me do better at my job and be more present as a dad and husband.  These races are not really about what place I finish, but a celebration of the work put in just to get there.  

I wanted to share this not to brag or boast, but to remind myself through writing this that it is a passion and a reminder to treat my health as a gift and to use it and cherish it and encourage it to strengthen and grow.  While I cannot (and would not) push my love of running on others, I hope that anyone reading this takes a moment to think about what passions they have in life, and whether or not you are actively pursuing them currently?  The thing about life is, that it is meant for us to find and follow the things we find most captivating and endearing to us.  These attractions are a large part of what makes us unique and how we define ourselves.  I look forward to my next run, and further defining who I am.

-a