Archive for September, 2009
5k run, Funderland, Sac 911 Memorial
September 14th, 2009 / posted by Jake
Summer is coming to an end as has been made apparent these past couple of days with the light rain we’ve been receiving. I LOVE the rain especially in the fall. Living in Holland for 2 years where it would rain all the time only reaffirmed this love. So I look forward to spending our evenings outdoors with a light jacket enjoying the weather with the kids, or riding our bikes together, or watching the rain and lightning.
We’ve had a few events come up that I thought I’d share. For the past month or so I have been working on a website for the Sacramento 911 Memorial Climb in honor of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives 8 years ago with the collapse of both World Trade Centers. The Sacramento 911 Memorial Climb is a climb organized by local firefighters in which 343 firefighters would climb 110 stories, carrying the name of one of the fallen 343. Once they got to the top of the building they hung it on a memorial in remembrance of him/her. It was a great feeling being able to be apart of such event – if only it were under difference circumstances. Even though the memorial climb is over, there are a few pictures from the climb posted on the website as well as minor details for next years climb. http://www.sac911climb.com. Lindsey, Tyler, and Kaitlyn came out and as was expected Tyler loved seeing all the firefighters and firetrucks.
If you haven’t seen on Facebook, I took up running a few months back as my main form of cardiovascular exercise. I would always make fun of runners because to me they always looked as though they hated life every time I saw them out running. Now that I’m addicted, I see why runners do it – it feels too good not to. I try to run anywhere from 3-6 miles each day. I recently participated in my first race. It was only a 5k but a good experience for me and I feel I did pretty well averaging 7:48 per mile which can be seen here. If you are interested in tracking my runs, I’ve created a separate page here where I’ll post them.
We enrolled Tyler in pre-school at the beginning of the summer and he’s enjoyed everyday of it! Some weeks he goes 2x a week and others 3x a week for 3.5 hours a day. His class has about 20 other kids his age. His teacher, “teacher pam”, says Tyler does well in participating during the activities and in interacting with the other kids which is good to hear. She shared a particularly funny experience with us recently. She asked if we play eye-games with Tyler to which we said no, not understanding what it was she meant. Apparently Tyler will wink at “teacher pam” or raise his eye-brows at her in a flirty way from across the room and she’ll do it back to him, causing him to giggle and go into shy mode.
Kaitlyn was sad the first few times she’d go with Lindsey to drop Tyler off at school. She wanted to stay and play with the other kids and didn’t understand why she couldn’t. However she got over it quickly when she learned that for the next 3.5 hours it was just her and mom without the older brother teasing her. During this time she usually dresses herself up in everyone’s clothes, plays with her babies, or finds something to keep herself occupied the entire time. Watching her do her own thing on her own is precious to watch!
September 14, 2009 – 3 miles
September 14th, 2009 / posted by Jake
3.04 miles this morning before work.
Stinson Beach
September 6th, 2009 / posted by Jake
A view of Stinson Beach just before you arrive.
Again, sticking to our summer theme, we took a day-trip to Stinson Beach which is just north of San Francisco along Highway 1, close to Muir Woods. The drive itself took about 2 hours and is absolutely beautiful, especially when you finally get to Highway 1 and start winding along the coast and through the wooded parts. Around each corner we would see a completely spectacular view better than the one we had just saw. The weather was warm and the beach was hardly crowded so it was near perfect (if only the water was just as warm as Lake Clementine).
Tyler and Kaitlyn thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the beach. Tyler was really brave, almost TOO brave infact. The water was ice-cold and it didn’t seem to phase Tyler at all. We would both wade out into the water with him only to eventually try and convince it was time to go back in because we could no longer feel our legs. Meanwhile he was running and splashing with the water up to his chest. Maybe he’s just not afraid of getting cold and embraces it full on. This is something I need to learn myself. No further comment 
Even though Kaitlyn enjoyed playing in the sand and dipping her toes in the water, she preferred being wrapped up in her blankies on the sand next to her mom. She would make a good European tourist – she just sat and stared at everyone. Occasionally she would unwrap herself from the blankets and dig in the sand or drink a capri sun.
Thank goodness we once again brought the SPF 70! Unfortunatly for myself I managed to miss a 1 inch wide strip on the right side of me and so the next day I had a red stripe which started at my armpit and extended down to my waist. It was badly burned and hurt terribly. Don’t get me started on the itching. I had also forgotten to put any sunblock on my legs which should have been one of the first places I applied – we were laying on our towels with my legs just as exposed as my chest and back. 4 weeks later and my legs and side are just now peeling and flaking! Thank goodness it wasn’t my entire back, chest, or anywhere else because just the thin stripe on my side was painful enough. I could barely sleep at night because any excessive movement would create unwanted pain.
