Video

I did it!  I posted a video, but I have to confess I did it as a ghost writer on CBT's blog.  It seemed only fair since he is the star of it and, well, just in case it was some kind of disaster.  

Check it out if you have 32 seconds.

James Wins!

Yesterday's race was a particularly special one because it was canceled due to the overall economic environment.  A bunch of cyclists including our kids went to the City Council to plead their case.  There couldn't have been a better civics lesson for them.  Fortunately, the City of Roswell decided it was in their best economic interests to host the event even without its main corporate sponsor so yesterday was another great day of racing....the 2009 Historic Roswell Criterium happened indeed. 

You may or may not know that the day before (at the Athens Crit) James had a bit of stomach distress.  On this fine morning, he woke up with similar distress.  We weren't sure if it was nerves or a bug.  He didn't care - he was going to race.

And race he did.  When I talked to him right after church.  He said he felt like he did ok.  I started trying to get a sense of how exactly he did.  He finally said, "I think I could have done better, but I think I came in first for the 10-12-year-olds.  It is hard to tell in a crit because sometimes you get lapped and you're not sure who's really ahead of you or behind you.  There was definitely no one on his tail when he crossed the finish line.

As it turns out, he did finish first.  No high emotion like the previous day with CBT.

Just a quiet, priceless grin.  

Shout Out to CBT!!

Yesterday was the Athens Twilight Criterium.  It is a really big deal every year in Athens.  There are bouncy things, food, running races, bike races....all kinds of things.  They also had an "underage" race.  I am sure there's an official name for these races, but I call them underage because they're for kids who aren't old enough to hold a bike license.  (You can get a bike license on January 1st of the year you turn 10.)

Last year CBT signed up for one in Roswell, but it turns out that it really wasn't a race.  They just opened the course and let kids ride on it.  After waiting for hours and going through some pre-skills "testing" that was quite a disappointment.  (Especially for certain grandparents who had come from days and days away - not really, just a few hours.  They had come to see CBT and James, but James broke his arm the weekend before.  Sorry, I'm digressing again.)

We decided to risk it with the Athens race because CBT really wanted to do a race.  Thank goodness it turned out to be a real race.  They divided the kids by girls and boys by age and then by whether they had training wheels or not.

Let me just say for the record that the girls definitely race with more style.  This little girl who ended up winning the 5-year-old with training wheels race, rode with her baby doll riding with her.  Priceless.

The boys - 5-year-old with training wheels - well, they were boys.  There were adults at the turn on the course telling them to slow down.  It was just like the pros...the guy in the front took the turn too sharp and fast and took out this entire field.  But just like the pros, they jumped right up.  Or course, the pros don't have to deal with sharp turns on training wheels.  I would love to see how they would do with training wheels.

Then came the 8-year-olds with no training wheels.  (Well, not right then.  We had go through all the 6- and 7-year olds.)  While the emcee was burning time, he walked up to a kid and asked him his name.  I was way down the course and all of a sudden I heard "Christopher."  Oh, boy, I thought.  "Christopher, are you going to win this race?"  I heard a very loud yes over the very loud sound system that covered all downtown Athens.  He goes over to the child next to him and asked him if Christopher were going to win, the boy confidently said, "No."  The emcee, of course, loved that and went on and on about how the gauntlet had been thrown down by Christopher and this child had answered the call.  "Now," he said, "it is time to find out if Christopher can deliver."

It was quite an exciting race (on the pro course).  It was two laps that went down a hill, turned and then came back up a hill.  The other boy had a heavier bike and got ahead of CBT on the downhills.  Both times, Christopher caught him on the uphill and would have a decent lead.  The uphill was a long, tough one, but CBT had an amazing race and left it all on the course.  He won.  The emcee was quick to declare that Christopher threw down the gauntlet and then delivered.  It was so exciting (and, honking hot....and probably dangerous given the loose murderer, but who cares?  CBT won his first real race).  He was very happy and very tired.

By the time James raced, it was ridiculously hot.  When I went to check on him just before the start, he told me he had thrown up.  Did he want to sit out?  What kind of question is that?!  Of course not.

He racing kids 10-14.  As of yesterday he is 11 so it was a tough race.  We don't know the results, but I am really proud of him.  The big kids didn't lap him and he stayed up with them until about middle of the race.  He is getting so strong.  He did another a race this morning, but you'll just have to be teased until I get the pictures.  

Where Have I Been?!

We've been in total overdrive the last two weeks.  I have so much to share with you, but I am going to have to do it in dribs and drabs.

I think I'll start with the diet.  It's going well even if it is ever so slightly.  After the great jumpstart and losing three pounds, we went right into a Good Friday trip and then Easter.  What was I thinking to start right before Easter?  Obviously not thinking at all.

With my very cool iTouch that I'm really beginning to enjoy now that we have WiFi in my building, I am able to track everything I eat (and the related calories).  (And, yes, I am entering everything - just ask BAW who just went on a trip with me.)  I can also offset any overeating with exercise.  LoseIt! is a great little app that is really making me conscious of my food choices.  I'm down about 3-4 pounds.  My goal is to lose 1 pound a week - so I'm not too terribly far from that new camera.

I was waiting on sharing the name of the diet/book until I saw if it really works.  The Flat Belly Diet (from Prevention Magazine) seems to be pretty good.  The basic premise is to stay away from bad fat, but make sure you have enough fat.  When you have enough monounsaturated fats, ie, nuts, avocados and my favorite, chocolate, the fat that is all gooped up around your organs start melting off, ie, the belly fat.  

You must eat four times a day so you are never more than four hours from a meal.  Your "meals" average 400 calories.  According to my little calorie counter, I need to take my calories down to about 1,300 to lose my pound a week so I'm shaving off a few calories and doing a little exercise.

The amazing thing is that I can definitely see a difference in my middle section.  I'll keep you posted, but any diet that seems to work that lets you have organic flax waffles with cherries and semi-sweet chocolate chips can't be all bad.

Stay tuned for many more updates.  Pictures of Wild Adventures theme park, CBT's new pets and an update on James's riding.  Rest up.  The latter will exhaust you just reading about it.

Easter Egg Hunt Like No Other

Today was a glorious day.  We had a great service.  Kind of interesting - about what was going on in heaven at the of Christ's death and resurrection.  It's podcasted under Perimeter Church.

The weather was great.  We had a huge lunch.  BAW came to eat with us and hide Easter eggs.  He is such a good hider.

It started out as they always have.  Both boys rushing around (and not seeing eggs right in front of their faces).  Then, they both saw the same egg at the same time and disaster struck.

The fight for the egg and the associated retaliation.

At least one was laughing when it was over.  Thank goodness (or God in this case) that there is forgiveness for sins :)

Happy Easter!

Christ the Lord is risen, He is risen indeed.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

CBT Gets to Pitch!

This past week CBT got to pitch.  He's been wanting to, but has had to wait his turn.

Pitching is so nerve-wracking to parents, especially in pee-wee.  Those strike zones are so tiny. For anyone who has never had a kid playing pee wee or doesn't remember, the goal at this age is just to get it over the plate even if the batters get hits.  Then, the defense is supposed to hold them.  To me, it just seems like so much pressure.  

He stepped right up.  I didn't know how he would do because he really hasn't practiced that much.  I guess he was throwing strikes because they got two hits off him, which resulted in runs.  That frustrated him a little.  

Another guy hit it right to him.  Not a good idea - he fielded it and threw it to first for an out.  He then struck out another two batters.  Whew ! I was so glad that was over.  It can be a long inning when your child walks in the 5 run limit.  Not that that has ever happened to me.  Ok.  Maybe once.  

The look at on his face when he got that last strike was priceless.  Maybe it was just me that felt the pressure.

Tour de Tuscaloosa

Last weekend James and I went to Tuscaloosa for a crit and a road race.  He had done the road race last year, but we hadn't done the crit.  We were in for such a pleasant surprise.

It was a great course - hilly, lots of turns (but no bad ones) and right through downtown T-town.  You'd never know that morning it had been storming cats and dogs.

The weather was fabulous.  James is the single rider a bit in the middle here coming up a long uphill.  I say the weather was fabulous, but it was very windy.  Windy is not so good for riders, especially ones that don't weigh so much.  Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and not being cold for a change.

He had a good race - he is sprinting against the national tri champion here.  Matt's 12 and he and James seem to battle it out a lot.  In this race he came in 4th, but was the fastest 11-year-old (well, race age 11 - I know he's really 10 still).  A very solid outing for him.

The next day was a different story.  That front that started with the rain ended with cold weather.  The race started at Lake Lurleen so the guys warmed up on the pier - no wind chill there.  I immediately started whining about the cold - I just can't help it when it is very close to 40 degrees.

James lost track of where the lead pack was and thought he had caught up with it.  Unfortunately, he hadn't.  Nevertheless, he still came in 5th and still was the fastest 11-year-old.  Ian McShane won the race - this kid may be the best 12-year-old in the country.

It was a great trip and fun races.  Next year we're going to try harder to get our friends to come watch the Crit...we think they'll like it.

Diet Upate

Started the diet today.  And no, I am not going to do a daily update.  Well, I might twitter updates, but I am not going to blog updates.  The first day, though,  seems worthy of a few comments.  The first four days are a jumpstart of sorts.  Not really of weight loss, but of calming down your system and anti-bloating.  (I do find it a little strange that the assumption is that everyone is bloated and needs four days of anti-bloating, but whatever.)  Just for the record, there is nothing about chocolate or avocados in the first four days.  Supposedly, I will feel smaller after the first four days.  We'll see.  Maybe that's true if I fall in the bloated category.  

General observations.  Breakfast included applesauce.  I hate applesauce.  I don't like any kind of mushy fruit. Period.  Obviously, applesauce is just super mushy fruit.  I gagged it down because I am determined to do this.  Breakfast also included corn flakes.  I am not a big fan of corn flakes or cereal generally so you can imagine what I was thinking about halfway through breakfast.  And, then there's the Sassy Water.  Oh, my.

2 liters of water, a sliced cucumber, a sliced lemon, 12 mints leaves and a teaspoon of ginger root.  It's supposed to be refreshing.  Refreshing was not really the first word that came to mind.  I'm supposed to drink that 2 liters every day - 1 glass at every meal and the other 2 whenever.  I am blogging rather than making my 2 liters for tomorrow to give you some idea of what I might have been thinking.  I got it all down today - 3 more days.  I can do anything for 3 days, right?

Lunch was decent.  Turkey, low fat mozarella cheese.  A pint of grape tomatoes.  Yes.  I said a pint of tomatoes.  Now,  I don't know about you, but I don't usually associate a pint of tomatoes with a calm stomach.  

I rounded out the day with a blueberry smoothie and tilapia for dinner.  This would have probably all been perfectly adequate except for those extra calories I burn when CBT dragged me out for a bike ride for 40 minutes.  (Traci, thought of you.)

I keep telling myself that I am going to love that camera.