Bella's 1st Walk

Last Sunday morning the weather was gorgeous the birds were singing, so I decided to take the dogs on a much needed a walk. Madison helped me get them ready and we headed out the door. Because Bella is a mini-dog she can't be walked by her neck she needs a harness.

Of course her harness is pink!

She did very well on her walk, she kept a good pace trying to keep up with Chili-dog. We went on Chili's usual route which is pretty far for a little girl. When she got tired she would stop and jump to be picked up and carried for a bit and was panting.

She is just over 14 weeks old now and weighs about 3 pounds. We can only tell that she has grown because some of her shirts don't fit anymore.

R.I.P Nemo the Betta Fish

You may remember from this post that I had bought my office mate Jared a Betta fish about a year ago. Well long story short (read the other post) he ended up at my house and was warmly welcomed by Madison. As soon as she got him she named him Nemo. About a week later she made me take her to the store to find a bigger habitat for him and even used her own money to pay for it.

Nemo lived his short life on our dining room table so that we could visit with him while dining. He would always get perky when we sat down and wait patiently for his food once we had eaten. This Thanksgiving we moved him from the table to the half bath. He was in front of a mirror and it was a bit cold in that room, both things I think contributed to his illness. We did try to intervene by warming his water, putting him in front of the fire (much to Chili-dog's disapproval). He lasted until this Friday morning. Madison found him after I had gone to work so she called me to tell me, she was very sad. She asked if she should dispose of him and I told her that daddy would take care of it.

Once she and Brent got home from school they did the duty. He offered to let her flush him but she just walked away. When he found her she was making the memorial in the picture above out of the rocks from his bowl. At Futsol yesterday she was telling her team mates that her fish died.

It is funny how attached one can get to a fish, I think it is sweet maybe there is an aquarium in her future. Click on the picture to enlarge to see what Madison wrote, it is quite hilarious.

AYSO All Stars Tournament

This past weekend Madison participated in the AYSO All Stars tournament. Her team was called the Shooting Stars.

This was her last experience with AYSO because her competitive team is going year-round competitive in the fall next year. They played 4 games over the weekend and took home the 1st place title. It was a great ending to her time with AYSO. This was the first tournament she has won and she was super excited. She even told me later that she thinks the Patriots (spring team) can win all the tournaments now.

That night we took Madison to pizza to celebrate and on the way out the door she was putting her medal on and showed it to Chili dog and said "see this Chili Dog, that is the smell of victory".

The Giver

Madison is in the 5th grade but reading at a 7th grade level. She was recently assigned to read the book The Giver.

She said it was the most boring book she has ever read...in fact, when I got home from work I found her on the couch like this.

She did end up liking the book in the end. When I looked it up on the internet I found that it was on some list of banned books because it is pretty controversial. The dilemma with a kid who is an advanced reader is that some of the material she is assigned to read may or may not be appropriate for her age emotionally. She seems no worse for wear but she was disturbed by some of the events in the book.

Soccer @ Squaw Valley

Madison's spring competitive soccer team occasionally scrimmages a soccer academy team in Squaw Valley California. The venue is amazing, there is one large artificial turf field tucked away in the pine trees. There was a squirrel taunting Chili Dog most of the day, there were lots of birds in the trees too.

Olympic (Squaw) Valley was the location of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games so at the turn to the park where the soccer field is located, the Olympic flame still burns.

Madison plays right defense and mid field. Here she is getting ready to take the ball from the other team.




Another of Madison's specialties is the throw in. If you look closely, you can see the ball here in the upper left hand corner of this pic.



After the game some of the parents met up at Starbucks in Truckee for coffee. It ends up being a pretty long day with the drive and the game.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Highlights of the Last Week of Summer

After the
Slow Rollers Poker Run she decided that she wanted a new beach cruiser for her birthday.



She picked the Black Betty which had to be ordered so it finally came on our second day of vacation. She and I had soccer practice that night so while we were at practice Brent went to the bike shop and got the bike and set it up for her to be surprised when she walked into the living room (that is her happy dance).

Because there is no summer camp the last week of summer, it has become a tradition for me to take the week off work and spend it with Madison.

Since she had her new bike we decided to go up to Tahoe and ride the bike path at Camp Richardson. Our friends Kristy and Charlie joined us and we made a big day of it. Kristy also got a new bike for her birthday so she was excited to get out there and ride.

We started the day with lunch at Sprouts, then some shopping at the Pearl Izumi outlet (husbands gave us each a list), a ride on the bike path, and finished with ice cream at the ice cream parlor. We had a bit of trouble loading the bikes so we got a later start than we wanted to but we did it and we were proud of ourselves for that.

We just got a new
movie theater in town and it has been a long time coming! The old theater was so gross that we would drive 20 to 45 miles to see a movie. I took the girls (Madison, Shayna, and Anjeanette) to see the movie
No Reservations
, it was pretty cute but predictable and sad at times.

We also did our back to school shopping and hair cut which was exhausting. I am not a big fan of shopping particularly when I HAVE to do it. So the girls and I headed out for a day of power shopping after Madison's hair appointment. We got an early start and did really well. We found some great deals especially on their DC shoes. We had a nice lunch and then finished up our shopping and headed home so Shayna could go to soccer practice.

Madison and I had so much fun at the Lake with Kristy and Charlie we decided to do it again but just the two of us. We ate lunch at Sprouts again, and I had to stop at the Pearl Izumi outlet again to get a jersey to match the shorts I bought earlier in the week. On our first ride Madison's seat was a bit too high and needed to be cut down so we were unable to finish the bike path. We took the bike to Dan and had it cut and now it is perfect. She was excited to finish the bike path and wanted to do it again.

This section of the bike path was Madison's favorite because it was like a natural tunnel.





We packed our beach towels in my basket so that we could hit the beach on our way back to the car from our bike ride. Because we rode our bikes into the beach, we did not have to pay to park. It was pretty cool to just ride up to the beach, park the bikes, and lay down our towels. Of course Madison made a friend in the first 5 minutes of being there. It was funny because the girls name was also Madison, they had the same cell phone, and they both had a tooth missing in the same place. They built a sand castle and buried the other Madison's little brother in the sand.

It was a great week but I have to say the best day by far was the last day, we can't wait to do it again next year.

Cooking Mama!

Madison used to help me cook dinner almost every night and then she lost interest. That was until she got a game for her Nintendo DS called Cooking Mama. She has been using a real knife since she was about 8 mostly helping me by making the salad.

On the menu that night was three cheese tortellini with marinara sauce, garlic bread, and green salad. Madison also helps me peel and press the garlic. She does not necessarily enjoy this job because it is hard for her small hands to get the leverage needed to press the garlic.








Like me, I think she enjoys the creative part of cooking. She likes it best when I give her a job and just let her do it on her own (shocking huh?).


That night I put her 100% in charge of the salad.

Here is the finished product, almost too pretty to eat.

One of her other favorite games is Cake Mania which I also got addicted to. So now she wants to be a pastry chef when she grows up. Now if I can only find a game that makes being a doctor or lawyer seem interesting to a 10 year old...

High School Musical 2

Just before school started the geniuses at Disney released the sequel to the smash hit High School Musical. I had the bright idea to have a premier party for Madison and her friends. Turns out, I was not the only one with this idea. Her friend Natasha also had this idea along with another of her friends. So she had to turn down 2 other invites!

We got HS Musical plates, cups, and napkins and had pizza and (root)beer. Everyone came to the party in their pj's a couple of the girls even had HS Musical jammies. When Shayna heard what we were doing she decided to stay home from her moms that night and invite her friend Katie over to watch the movie. The Disney channel had a countdown to the premier with the cast so the girls were excited about that. Evidently Zach is "hot" personally, I think he is too pretty for a boy.

How was the movie? It was ok, it picked up where it left off in the first movie I guess it is best compared to our generations Grease but is not nearly as good if you ask me. The numbers beg to differ it broke all sorts of records for a made-for-tv movie and I hear the 3rd installment is going to the big screen...I can hardly wait.

Madison goes to Theater Camp

This past week Madison attended Theater Camp at the Brewery Arts Center. They learned improv, all about sets, and musical theater. This is her and her friend Natasha from soccer they spent the week hanging out and even had a sleepover on Monday night.

On Friday they had a parents presentation to show us what they had been doing all week. The room that it was located in is called the Black Box Theater. The walls, ceiling and floor are all painted black which unfortunately is not very conducive for photography or videos.

The homework assignments for the week were to memorize poems and recite them the following day. Because we had soccer practice the night before, Madison forgot to memorize a poem for Friday so we stopped at my work and found one on the internet at a children's poetry website. It is called "My Mom's a Vegetarian".



The entire class performed the song I just Can't Wait to be King from the movie
The Lion King. They made masks and rehearsed all week. You can't see Madison in the video until about mid way and then she is directly in front of me, again the quality is poor due to the lighting in the room.



I think she had a good time and certainly was not shy while performing. One of the parents approached her after the performance and told her she was a great singer - that made her day.

Madison's Triathlon Part II

This Saturday Madison did the "real" triathlon. In her age group (9/10) there were about 25 kids. She was nervous before the race saying that her stomach hurt. This picture is of her and the other kids getting instructions from Keith the swim center director. You can see her biting her lip...

During the training camp they did a transition practice race and Madison was first so she won this fabulous Tigersharks swim cap seen in this photo.






Here we are exiting the pool, about the mid to last half of the pack. All the swim team punks were the first ones out of course.









Here we are at the "transition area" where we put on shoes and take off on the bike.









The bike was where she caught up and smoked em! When she got off the bike she was the second place girl. You can see the difference in her entire demeanor on race day it is pretty amazing.

The run was where we had a break down. She got a cramp and had to stop running to recover. Brent ran out to her and told her what place she was in and kept her going. In the end, the cramp got the best of her but she still sprinted to the finish.






In the end, she was the 4th place girl she was just seconds away from a 3rd place medal. Every year she just gets better and better. The first year she did not finish, she swam 50 meters, exiting the pool and said I am done. The second year she finished and was not last. The third she finished in the upper mid of the pack. This year she did amazing I am so proud. One of the first things she said to me after she stopped crying and caught her breath was "I think I can win this next year mommie".

Not too bad for a soccer player!

Madison's Triathlon Part I

Madison has been attending triathlon training camp this week through our community center recreation program. This will be the second year they have had the camp to help prepare the kids for the race. This will be the 4Th year she has done the race. She has been having a blast all week practicing transitions, learning about nutrition, and doing craft projects. It is a nice change of pace from her regular summer camp program.

Since I work across the street from the community center, I had the opportunity to come and watch the practice race they did today.

The camp is run by a guy who used to run the entire recreation program but had the opportunity to buy a business so he has resigned. Three of his own kids are in the camp one of which is Madison's age. So when it came to the practice race, it was just she and him in their age bracket. Evidently his dad told the two of them to stick together and just do the race without stopping. At least that was Madison's understanding of the instructions so she thought she was not allowed to beat him.

Madison was the first out of the pool but the other boy caught her at the transition area but kindly waited for her before taking off on his bike. Then they proceeded to ride together until the run where again, if one of them got ahead the other waited for them to catch up. I found this quite amusing but the camp organizers were just shaking their heads. In the end, they tied just as planned but it was Madison who was waiting for him to get to the finish.

The real race is this Saturday and we are super excited!

Tour de Enzyte 2007

This is Smiling Bob, you may recognize him from every other commercial on Versus coverage of the Tour de France. Evidently the geniuses at Versus think that the target audience for the Tour are middle aged men who have trouble getting their man parts to work. I am typically not a prude...for the most part I really am not but when my 9 year old daughter (who we want to encourage to like cycling) is whistling the song to the Enzyte commercial I get a bit annoyed. Thank god she has not yet asked me what "natural male enhancement" is. We have actually started to time the occurrences of this commercial and it is about every 20 minutes. I guess I had a hard enough time getting excited about the tour this year and I am very dissapointed with the coverage that Versus is offering. I miss Lance and I miss OLN!

Now that I have that off my chest, here is a funny story from Madison. We were watching the tour the other night and she (age 9) says to me "Mommie, why aren't there any girls in this race?" So I turn to Brent (who know this subject is near and dear to my girls-can-do-anything-boys-can heart) and said "would you care to explain that to her". His response was basically that there are no women that can do this race but someday maybe there will be. Madison's response to this was "my mommie could do that race". It was so dang adorable! So of course I set her straight and explained that while mommie rides her bike these guys ride 4 times the amount of miles mommie does in a day and do it for 3 weeks straight.

I still think she thinks I could do it and that RULES!

Madison's First Poker Run

This past Sunday we attended the Slow Rollers Bicycle Club's poker run in South Lake Tahoe. It is about an 9.5 mile ride total with 5 stops along the way about every 2 miles or so. You start and finish at the Horizon Casino with stops at Tahoe Hemp Company, Turn 3 Bar, Tudor Pub, and Hot Gossip coffee bar. The money raised is used to buy bikes for less fortunate children.

At the beginning you pay and get a "map" (I use that term loosely) and then at every stop you draw a card. The person with the best hand at the end won a bike. There was also a raffle for a New Belgium Brewing Company bike that we have been drooling over for years.

This is Brent with his own custom designed cruiser with his new iPod speakers. It was pretty cool to have music along the way it added a lot to the already festive atmosphere.

About half way from the start and before the first stop we had to stop for a picture in front of the lake. Madison was so funny since she had no idea what to expect and was anxious asking every time we stopped if this was THE stop.


Our friends the Mosers were there too so it was great to cruise with them and hang out. Our lives have gone in such different directions that we rarely get the chance to do that so it was a special treat. Kristy and Madison had fun too at one point they were cruising along and Madison was looking at Kristy and then looked up and she was headed directly for a pole! Notice the plume of smoke in the background?


That is the Angora fire which started while we were at our first stop of the poker run. We were standing outside (Madison can't go to bars!) the Peanut Bar and it started raining ash on us. Click here for more pictures of the blaze from a local news station.


Madison did real well on the ride and did not get tired until about the third stop, the Tudor Pub. They had a nice grassy area with tables and chairs so we relaxed for a bit. Her skort was too short and so her bare legs were rubbing on her seat. We told her she had monkey butt

.


This is us at the home stretch back to the Horizon for the BBQ. They did the raffle drawing (we did not win) and a slow drag race. Jeff had already loaded he and Kristy's bikes into the truck so he borrowed my Hello Kitty bike and won two flame tires.

It was a great day with beautiful weather (cept the fire) and good friends. We were so proud of Madison for being able to make the entire ride with little complaint and she actually enjoyed herself. We can't wait to do it again!

You can read more at the FBC blog which also has a link to more photos.

Davis World Cup

Those of you wondering what we have been doing with ourselves the past couple of months, soccer!

On Memorial day weekend we traveled to Davis, California the most dog and bike friendly town I have ever seen.

Madison's team the Patriots did great in the tournament especially when you consider that last year we decided at the last minute to pull out of the tournament because the girls were just not up to speed. This year we made it to the quarter finals and played 5 games over 3 days.

We stayed at a KOA in West Sacramento in a camping cabin. On the last day of the tournament before check out we let the "kids" have some fun and rented these recumbent style bikes. Shortly after taking this picture Brent almost lost control and crashed. He used his mad skills and recovered.

The cabins had porch swings so every night after all the soccer and once Madison was safely tucked into her bunk Brent would head up to the campgrounds store and buy us a 4 pack of cheap Sutterhome Chardonnay
(the mini bottles) and we would sit on the swing and unwind.

Chili dog enjoyed the front porch and did a great job of protecting us from bears and stuff. Overall it was a great trip with lots of excitement and not to far from home. Brent and I want to return to Davis just the two of us and take our bikes so we can take advantage of all the bike friendly features that Davis has to offer.

Let Them Eat Cake

It has been a while since I have had the time to make a post so I just wanted to share a happy parenting moment. Not so much to share with the world but more so to document so that I can come back here in those down moments and remember that it is all ok.

Soccer has been literally running us all ragged. We have had back-to-back-to-back tournaments and we are all exhausted and getting cranky. This weekend we had a mini one day tournament in Carson and then on Sunday we had a game in Squaw Valley (where the Olympics were held way back when). After the game yesterday we were famished so we went in search of some food. We ended up in Truckee, Ca. at a brewery called Fifty Fifty that had just opened for business. The beer was great and the food was so-so. Typical brewery fare but sort of bland. Did I mention the beer was good?

Back to my story, while we were eating Madison says to me "mommie, didn't you ever want to just enjoy being a kid?" Anyone who knows me knows what a loaded question that is. So I ask her what was on her mind thinking to myself that something big is about to come out of her mouth like she wants to quit soccer or the like. So she says to me that she is tired of eating granola cereal for breakfast and really thinks she should be able to have Reeses Peanut butter puffs or Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Breakfast Cereal, that is Madison's biggest complaint!

So I ordered chocolate cake for desert....

Madison's 2nd MTB Ride

Sunday Madison and I went on her second mountain bike ride. This time I took her on another of my lunch rides the V&T or railroad grade. This trail has options to either do technical stuff or not so it was good practice for her and she did not have to do the hard stuff if she did not want to.

Here she is going down the first set of little hills. They seem little to us but to her, it was huge. She was pretty tired from the weekend (basketball and soccer games) and a late night the night before (see previous post) so she was not to hip on the climbing this time. She would hessitate for a few minutes at the top and have this scared look on her face but she would do the downhill.

Here she is at the turn around point of the trail. Taking a breather and being all proud of herself. She is still learning all the technical stuff so I warn her in advance of any obsticles and tell her how to menuver or how to avoid that section. There is one point in the trail that is real narrow and goes around a corner and on the one side is a steep hill. Here is a picture of my buddy Todd falling at that very spot. Ok, there was some snow involved, whatever. So I tell Madison about the turn and that if she gets scared she can just walk that section. I go first and stop to turn and watch her and she practically ran me over she was behind me the whole time and said that it was no big deal.

The other fear that she concured was a steep little hill with lots of loose sand on it. We walked up the hill on the way in and now it was time to go down that hill. She hesitated for quite a while on this one and was truly scared. She would not let me take her bike and have her walk she wanted to do the hill. She finally let it rip and almost lost it in the sand but recovered and made it down. Her poor little face had a look of terror on it as she was coming down but she was so happy afterwards.

She said she prefers the other trail we did but this one was ok and she would do it with me again. She also mentioned more than once that she had fun biking with me so I know it was a good experience for her. We also saw lots of butterflies and a rabbit! She loved that part as well.