Face Painting

My kids adore getting their face painted.  If I am being honest, so do I.  I am that person at a  St. Paul parade who is actually searching for the vulcan's so that they can paint their big black "V" on my face.  It is fun and I just love it. 

Last year on her birthday, Avery got her face painted like an angel princess.  This year on the twins' birthday, they too had their face painted.  Bria got Ariel on her cheek and Bennett donned the full face Spiderman.  I will have to say that these artists are pretty amazing at what they do.

This year for Avery's birthday we had planned on getting her hair and face done again at the Zoo.  My mom usually pays for this and it is her special gift to the kids.  With the threat of rain on the horizon, I feared that the Zoo party would have to be cancelled and moved to our house.  Imagine telling fifteen 5 year olds that they have to play confined in a house when they had originally planned on Zoo animals and rides!  So, Avery suggested that we do crazy hair and face painting, which I thought was a fabulous idea.

Michael's was sold out of everything except for this $25.00 book that you couldn't use a cupon on(I am the biggest bargain shopper)but since we were short on time, I had to splurge on it.  Then, Party City had all of the funky hair spray that you could ever want.  Avery picked pink and purple(of course)and we were set in case of rain.

Needless to say, it did not rain on Sunday and we had a wonderful time at Como Zoo for the birthday party.  We did not, however, have Avery's face painted because Grandma left earlier and Avery wanted to get wet with her friends in the splash pad. 

Yesterday, Avery mentioned really wanting to paint her face.  We returned the book to Michaels and were delighted to find the less expensive paint in stock.  We came home and I attempted to full face paint each one of the kids according to their specifications.  I think that they turned out pretty well.  I am definitely not an artist, but I can follow simple directions(and pictures sure help).  I think that we have found one of the kids' new favorite past time activities.  Oh boy!

Course Preview Workshop

Yesterday was the course preview workshop for my Triathlon.  It was held at Lake Nokomis from 6-8 with the promise of a preview of all three courses (swim, bike, run), questions answered and an in depth review of our transition area.  Well, about 1/3 rd of the information we were supposed to go over actually got covered.  Kind of a bummer when we paid $ to attend this workshop.  All was not lost however, when our race director Paul informed us that he will be doing the full 15 mile bike course at least, "a few more times" before the race and we are all welcome to ride with him.  I just hope that I am able to attend at least one of those "free rides." 

I feel like we learned a few very good things about race day, course snafu's and tricks of the trade that will all benefit us in the long run.  I did intend to bike the 18 miles though (run & bike course) so one of my teammates and I did the bike course after we realized that they were going to go over the run course instead and in our opinions, the run course is pretty self explanatory.  Plus, won't we just be watching the people in front of us? ha ha ha!  I promise, I will NOT be the leader of this pack.

In order to participate, we had to have a helmet.  Wearing a helmet while biking is crucial to this race. While you may look/feel like an idiot with sweat running down your face because the majority of your body heat is unable to escape through the big plastic dome on your head, you will get DQ'd without it or not be able to participate.  Since this is my first tri, I went ahead and bought myself an el'cheapo from Target.  It has a fancy print on it though, so I figured at least I can look like a fool in style :)

This was my first ride ever with  a helmet.  I learned very quickly that a) it is HOT b) the straps will collect your sweat and c) my neck ached more than normal because of this added weight/wind resistor.  I know, I know, for all of you bike afficionado's out there this annoying little thing may very well save my life...I am just not on board with it yet...give me some time! 

My bike, is my mother's from the 1990's.  I remember when my dad got it for her it was considered a very nice mountain bike.  I was excited to be able to use if for this triathlon.  I am going to have to go and get it tuned up since it has started making this very annoying squealing noise when I am in certain gears(which ones you ask??? I have no idea!)and the gears seem to switch by themselves which is a major pain in my butt (literally) as it seems to happen when I am in a high gear, pumping hard and fast and BOOM!  I get switched to a super low gear that has me looking like the road runner on a bike! 

This is the only picture I have of the bike.  It is like 100% humidity outside and the camera just doesn't like it one bit.  I am thinking that I should give this bike a name, however I am not quite sure what to call it.  Any suggestions?  I did have a teenager scream at me yesterday that, "I love your bike, it is so bright and beautiful!"  It pretty much cracked me up and I gave him what I thought was the rock on symbol, only to then realize I did I love you in sign language instead!  Hopefully he got the picture.

My college roomate Melissa is one of my teammates.  Her and I were the two that decided to go for our ride last night.  I cannot stress enough how important it is for me to have adult time with my friends.  This triathlon has really allowed me to spend some great, uninterrupted girl time with some of my favorite women and I have cherished every second of it. 

15 miles talking with Melissa was absolutely amazing.  I remember exactly why we are still friends to this day, why we were such great roomates and even though we are not exactly alike we still have a lot in common all of these years later.  One time in college, she gave me a gift for my birthday.  It was a journal that she had sporadically decorated so that I could write in the pages in between.  One of the things she wrote said that even though we do not see each other all that often, when we do, we simply pick up where we left off as if there had never been an absence of one another to begin with.  I am not sure if any of you have friends like this out there, but it sure is nice to have someone who knows you and holds you dear even if you don't get to see them but once a month or even once a year.

All things considered, I am glad that I attended the course preview.  Was it worht paying for? Probably not, but we will see if my opinion on that changes come race time!

Happy 5th Birthday Avery!

Today is your fifth birthday my darling Avery!  You are my little bundle of joy, light, and energy.  You have made my life complete and not a day goes by that I don't marvel at the wonder of you.  You are smart, persistent, motivated, strong willed, challenging, hilarious, beautiful and a wonderful little girl to be around.  I hope that you always know how much you mean to me, how much you are loved, and just how absolutely special you are.

Your 1st birthday party.  It was "Little Einstein" and you had an adorable caterpillar cake.  You looked adorable in your blue dress and you wowed everyone in your new pink tot car.  You got a lot of wonderful gifts and you had a fabulous time smashing your cake into your face.

On your second birthday, we had another party at our house.  The theme was "Dora the Explorer."  All of your friends came and we had fun in the sun and the water.  Aunt Sara got you a slip and slide which everyone enjoyed.  We had a water balloon toss and a wonderful picnic lunch.  You were speaking in full sentences and always had a lot to say.  We laughed at the little "amberisms" you would imitate.

On your Third birthday, we went to the Como Zoo and you chose a "Disney Princess" theme.  We had some of your friends and our family out for a picnic.  We got to go on rides, see the Sparky the sea lion show and all of the neat animals at the zoo. 

On your fourth birthday, we again went to the Como Zoo.  The theme was "Tinkerbell" and it was a beautiful day.  Your grandma Fish got your face painted and your hair done which was perhaps your favorite gift of all time.  You talk about it and love looking at these pictures.  You got to go on rides and visit with the animals.  We had a separate friends party for you this year...remind me to tell you about the story of the tablecloth :) 

Today, you are 5.  I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I held my little Eskimo in my arms for the first time and marveled at your tiny features.  It was the most amazing thing to peek at your face and even though you were a stranger, you were mine and I loved you infinitely.  Thank you Avery for being such a wonderful child.  For making me laugh every day.  For dancing and singing to us.  Most of all Avery, thank you for choosing me to be your mom!

Happy Birthday to you!

Love,

Your mommy