Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown!

and to the rest of you too! I am thankful for my wonderful wife, my 2 awesome kids, my sister, my nephew, my parents, my great inlaws (all million of them, counting parents, brothers, sisters, cousins and aunts and uncles and what not), my friends, having a great house, the wonderful weather in north carolina, living next door to friends, having a job i like going to...pretty much everything in my life. Not to sound like i'm bragging, but its pretty darn great to be me! :) I'm sure all of you feel the same way.

Anything you're thankful for that you'd like to share?

Having a good time in SoFla. got to see my mom at her rehab place. shes doing A TON better than when i saw her last. Thank you so much everyone for all your prayers. Greatly appreciated are they. We took the girls to visit. they couldnt go in her room, but she has a window that leads to an outdoor patio, so Leah and Erin go to see Nana through the window and say hi. My mom loved it.

Went to the metro zoo today with CHristina, Joe, zack and Caitlyn and Joe's parents and my dad. Good times were had by everyone except angelle who got sick while we were there. Yuck. literally sick in the bushes. we walked away and i left a note that said "This is because we didnt get turkey on thanksgiving. Sincerely, the gorillas"

Thursday was normal. ANgelle cooked awesome food and we ate and watched football and watched Charlie brown thanksgiving. Ever since Great pumpkin charlie brown, Leah is excited about the holidays now. :)

Erin is talking up a storm lately!! its SOOOOOOOOOO friggin adorable. she nods her head yes too, and shakes it no. she says mama, dada, nana, papa, eeeuh (leah), du[ck], pi[g], beep beep, pup pup, ca[t] (not sure why she says so many first sounds of words.) she also gives me the CUTEST looks! and shes shrieks "DADA" when i come home. she loves to play peek (around corners) and she loves to snuggle (except at bedtime ironically). i just love that kid. Its so cool to be able to love 2 kids so differently but so much!! i really was worried about that. Just loving Leah so much, wasnt sure how to love another kid too. but it happens! having kids (plural) ROCKS. i love it. and it makes me excited about the possibility of a third! (i know, i'm crazy)

Heading up to orlando tomorrow to celebrate with Nikki! Happy Birthday Nik!!

Not sure i said it publicly, but big congrats to Britt and Jimmy for passing the Bar! Wait, did i blog about that already? hmm. i dunno. All the turkey and yams has made me a bit loopy in the head.

Its been a great year. i'm thankful for it all, and i cant wait to see what the next year brings! lots of babies, thats for sure! and hopefully a Gator National championship, and a Cowboys super bowl!! (Giants are going down this year Konicks!)

It's been awhile...

since i wrote in this blog..blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Hmm lets see...the past 3 weeks. Went to Florida to see my mom who was in the hospital for pneumonia. Shes doing much better now. Just needs some physical therapy after being in the hospital 2 weeks. Not gonna post all the details here, but email me if you want to know more. LOVE YOU MOM!!

Training is still going well. I swam 1000 yards the other night (in about 25 minutes) and last night swam 600 yards, biked 8 miles, and jogged 1 mile. that took just about an hour.

Volleyball is also sill fun. playing usually Tuesday and Friday rec pickup games. I might look into an indoor league next spring.

Girls are awesome. They are playing a lot lately. SO freakin cute. If you have one kid, and are considering not having another, my opinion is that its awesome. Yeah sure its more work, but its SO worth it. not only for me, but definitely for Leah.

I guess thats really it. Exciting huh? 3+ weeks and all its been was visiting mom, work, girls, working out, volleyball, tv....

We did take the girls bike riding on some mountain bike trails last weekend. They were very mellow, but still really fun. Through the woods, with leaves everywhere. Really awesome ride.

Currently watching some weird Barbara Walters specials about a guy who had a baby. I dont think its a guy honestly. He/she is a transgender who was born a woman, felt like a man, got her breasts removed, testosterone injected, and got his/her birth certificate changed from female to male. Then he got married to a woman, and she had a hysterectomy previously so she couldnt have a child. So since the guy still had a uterus and other parts, he carried and had the baby. It was his egg, and they got a donor sperm. So they had issues with their child's birth certificate. Who was the mom, who was the dad?

I totally dont have a problem with them having a kid, or a homosexual couple having a kid (men or women). My only issue is with this person (Tracy to Thomas) becoming a "man". To me, male and female refer to biology. How you think or what your actions are define your personality, so if you are a female but you like to play football and drink beer or are a male and like to wear dresses and do ballet (i'm sure i just offended a million people with my gender stereotypes, but have to make the point somehow) to me thats fine. I just dont understand this person who claims she felt like a man, but wanted to keep her uterus, ovaries and all. If she didnt like all the fru-fru stuff, why wouldnt she just be a girl who likes to do 'manly' stuff. Obviously i dont understand, so thats why i'm writing. curious what other people think. This person seemed to not like the gender stereotypes, but wanted to be one. Just not the one she was. Seems odd to me, thats all.

In any case, he/she had a baby, they seem to love it, and ultimately thats all that matters. A MUCH MUCH MUCH better home than tons of homes out there, so more power to them.

Good workout

Kicked some A tonight. Swam 850 yards, transitioned to bike in about 4 minutes (about a minute faster than last time), biked 6.5 miles (half the tri distance) then jogged 1.5 miles (half the tri distance). So i basically did half the triathlon, but did a longer swim. Woo.

Super happy with it. Now if the markets will only go up, i'll be one happy camper. :) maybe after the election? here's hoping..

home and bored

ANgelle is in Asheville with her mom at the Biltmore. I just put the girls to bed. And i'm bored. Well, I do have college football to watch, so its not all bad. :)

Triathlon Training update

Had a kick azz workout this morning. Totally did not feel like going to the gym, but Angelle was going, so i did. Did my 500 yard swim in my record time of 12:54. Then had a shorter transition. still 5 minutes, but was 6:30 last time. Then biked 9 miles in 30 minutes. Wanted to try and do some jogging after that, but Angelle had to go so she could leave for Asheville.

Definitely am feeling good about the training. Angelle says i'm doing too much too soon, but I cant hold back. She is probably right, and her training is increasing by little bits each time, but I just want to try and do as much as i can each workout, then increase till i can do the triathlon in my sleep. Then just try and decrease my time. Or do longer legs of each, so the triathlon will seem shorter. Eh, just how i roll. She said she'll be pissed if i get injured by pushing it though.

Want to give a shoutout to the other peeps who are planning on doing it also: Mandi, Barry, Laurie, of course Angelle, and possibly Bryan? He whines that he doesnt have time to go to the gym, but we have the exact same schedule, so....yeah. I think hes just whiny and lazy. I have made the time. :) AND i still play volleyball sometimes twice a week. gotta have fun sometimes, not just workout all the time.

Time with the girls

In Angelle's absence I got to have some quality daddy/daughter time today. Played outside a bit, went to the mall so Leah and ERin could run around the playplace (cuz it was kinda overcast and kept threatening rain although it never did), then got some snacks at the foodcourt. I asked Leah if she wanted a cookie, or a pretzel, or fruit, and she said fruit!! i was shocked and pleased. So i got her a fruit cup from chickfila. but then she also wanted ice cream. so i got her a dollar cone from McD's. I figured, she made a good choice with the fruit so she could have a treat.

Then we went to Toys R Us just to walk around and waste time, and maybe look for some ideas for channukah/christmas. Leah of course wanted everything she saw. A train set, games, jewelry making kit, a newer bigger kitchen, a big car that plays music like Halle has (power wheel), a tinkerbell chair...ummm..i'm sure some other stuff i forgot. [You listening grandparents? :) ] Leah was again good and didnt spend her money! she had $5 but nothing really grabbed her i guess (or everything did) so she decided to save it for next time.

Okay. end of long blog post.

Training update

Training is going fairly well for the triathlon. nothing hardcore yet. doing some swims and bikes. Can do 600 yard swim without too much trouble. Tried a transition at the gym the other day. Swam then biked. took about 6 minutes to towel off and get my shoes on, then get to the bike. longer than i thought.

BIked 6 miles today in about 25 minutes. a little slower than i'd like, but it was pretty windy today, and i havent gotten street tires yet. but if i can finish the bike in under an hour, i'll be happy. i'm pretty sure i can do the swim in 15 minutes, so that would leave an hour to bike, and an hour to run. i'd really like to finish the whole thing in under 2 hours, but i'd be happy at least finishing at all without collapsing. :)

Its obviously such a difference riding the stationary bike in the gym, vs a real bike in wind with real hills and friction.

glad we still have like 4 months to train!