Northwest Road Trip (Fourth of July 2012)

Staying true to tradition, we traveled to Richland, WA for Independence Day.  We were off a full week and drove Park City, UT --> Richland, WA (10+ hours overnight).  We stayed in Richland for a couple days, enjoying the warm weather and time with Eric's parents.  Then, Eric and I (and Lodi) drove to Seattle for a quick 4th of July visit with friends and my parents. We drove back to Richland for another day or two, then we all said goodbye and headed back to Utah.  On the way home, we divided the trip into 2 days, stopping at Eric's aunt and uncles house in Boise for a night.  A whirland trip, but so fun and even all the driving wasn't so bad!

Isaac and Grandma & Grandpa Merhar

See ya later, Kiddo! We have some friends to see in Seattle.

An awesome stop-over in Boise: great company, food and some morning wakeboarding before getting in the car again!

Feels Like Summer

$0.25 per ride.  I spent $1.50.

Morning swim

Mid-Mountain Trail Overlooking Park City

All Smiles for Dad

Happy Father's Day, Eric!

Three photos of the boys:

Enjoying a leisurely Father's Day morning....

Fun at the Park Silly Sunday Market (Bouncy House!)

  

Happy (and tired) dog after an 8 mile trail run.

Dirty Dash: Round II

It was time to get dirty this weekend!

To recap, the Dirty Dash is a fun mud-run.  5.5 miles.  A dozen or so boot-camp-style obstacles. No timers.  Lots of mud.  Totally fun. Totally ridiculous.  This was the second time I participated in the Dirty Dash (see last fall's blog post here).

Our team "run-a-muck" consisted of me, Angela, Michelle & Emily.  We rocked it and had a blast!

Sounders Shorts All Clean?

Since Isaac Otto turned two, I've been meaning to write a snapshot of what he was up to at this age.  Here we go.... Isaac at 2 years (26 months):

Sleep:  11 hours at night (8:30pm to 7:30am) and one 2-hour nap (12:30 - 2:30).  Or so...

Eat:  All in all, he's a very adventurous eater.  He loves broccoli, cheese, cereal, edamame and chicken. He's eating about as many calories as Mommy & Daddy these days...  He dislikes leafy greens (although he loved baked kale chips).

Talk:  Oh boy is this boy talking.  Each day it's a new phrase or song.  He's repeating everything and is starting to ask "Why?"  He's funny and clever.  He's picking up the expressions ("Oh my Gosh!" "Get on it, Mommy").

Play:  As you've seen by the recent videos he loves to jump and try dare-devil moves.  But only after thinking about it for a minute. He's still a little cautious.  Which is a good thing.  

And of course, he's soccer crazed.  If it was up to him, he'd wear his green soccer shirt and shorts all the time. The first thing he asks when he wakes up is "Sounders shorts all cleeeeeeeeean?"  This is actually kind of hilarious, because according to my Mom, the only thing I wanted to wear at his age was this blue leotard and red tights.  Apple doesn't fall far from the tree?

In addition to soccer, he loves puzzles, trains and reading.  Oh, and how can I forget "Puff the magic dragon"?  He loves the book and can sing the whole song.

Potty:  We've put the diapers away!  Isaac has been in big boy underpants for a week.  The first couple of days he had one accident a day.  But he's getting the hang of it now.  He hasn't had an accident all weekend!  We mentioned we were thinking about starting potty training with his teacher, Ms. Terri.  She observed he was ready and encouraged us to go for it, even though this is very early for a boy.  Our strategy is to take him to the potty every 30 minutes.  He gets a sticker or M&M when he sits, no matter if he goes or not.  He still wears a diaper when he sleeps, but it is a chore getting him into the diaper.  He loves being in "big boy underpants".  But if you had underpants like these, would you ever take them off?

Friends:  Isaac has made some good friends at Ms. Terri's.  His best friends are Haven & Alex (they are also about 2 years old).  Now that he's talking more, it's so fun to hear about his day at Ms. Terri's and to hear him sing new songs that he's learned there.

Temper:  He's a pretty even-tempered 2 year old.  But he's still a 2 year old and his emotions are right at the surface.  This is fun when it's laughter and joy at the surface.  And not so fun when it's frustration or sadness. No public tantrums (yet).  And nothing we can't handle.  We're learning the value of consistency and he does well with structure.  And the occasional time out on the naughty stool works wonders for all of us.

Size:  3T clothes.  Size 9 shoes.  32-33lbs.  3 feet tall (ie: I have no idea his exact height).

Personality:  charming, sweet, smart, persistent, clever, curious, rambunctious & mildly sinister.  What's interesting, is that we've seen many of these same traits since he was an infant.  

The rest of our weekend

Despite our Lodi scare, we had great weekend including a trip to the zoo in Salt Lake City, exploring the Jordanelle State Park and relaxing around the house.

Fun at Utah's Hogle Zoo:

Isaac wanted to ride the Carousel, but stuck to the peacock chair.  He's still warming up to the idea of riding on  the animals that go up and down.  He loved the train and the elephants-- there was a mother and baby elephant and that was a big hit. 

Fun at Jordanelle State Park (10 minutes outside of Park City):

And what's a weekend without skateboarding with Daddy?

Lodi's Saturday Misadventure

I've taken up mountain biking again, having recently tackled Moab and many local trails around Park City after a long hiatus from my Bellingham days.  I decided it was a good idea to include Mr. Lodi this fine Saturday afternoon on Spiro trail right outside our backyard.  The ascent was great - he did really well staying out of the way of my tires, other riders and disregarding other dogs as we passed them.  Here is a pic about 1/3 of the way up Spiro trail:

Happy dog - great view

The trail is about 9.5 miles with 1175 ft of elevation gain - no walk in the park.  Once we got to the top, the decent is pretty quick, so I was stopping about every 200 yards or so to make sure Lodi was keeping up.  Once we got down to our last 3 miles or so, I stopped and looked for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.  I got off my bike and started to call out his name while hiking back up the hill with no luck.  I came across two guys biking the same direction, and they said he was going back up the way we had came.  They tried to get him to follow them, but he ignored them continued going the wrong way.

After about 3/4 mile of hiking back up the hill and calling out for him, Lodi was nowhere to be seen.  I decided it was best to finish up the trail and see if he made it back to the trailhead (it ends where it starts).  No Lodi.  There was a foot race going on at PCMR near the trailhead, so I biked there and asked around, but no Dobermans were loose on the grounds.  Finally I decided to ride home to see if he was there, just a few blocks away.  No Lodi.  Now I'm starting to freak out a little.  What am I going to tell Christina, 'sorry honey, went out for a bike ride with the dog and now he's lost in the woods.  Oops?'.

It was time to break the news, and I knew Christina was not going to be happy.  I dropped off my bike and told her what had happened - needless to say she was kinda freaking out.  So Isaac, Christina and I jumped in the car and drove back to the trailhead so I could start hiking back up Spiro the way I came down.  She drove around with Isaac and asked whoever she saw if they had seen a Doberman wondering around - needless to say, she got some concerned responses (although probably for different reasons than ours).

I trucked up the hill as fast as I could, legs on fire from the morning's ride.  About a mile and a half in, I came across a runner.  Before I could even ask, he had noticed the leash in my hand and asked me if that was my Doberman sitting near the trail about 1/2 mile up.  I said 'Yes!' The runner had seen Lodi sitting in the same spot as he ran up the mountain, and again on his way back down.  Apparently Lodi hadn't moved from that spot for quite some time.  I was relieved to hear this news, but needed to see him with my eyes before I could truly feel better.  I continued up the hill and sure enough, there he was, just off to the left of the trail in the shade, sitting bolt upright as if to say 'What took you so long?'  The part that got me was that he was sitting exactly where I had originally gotten off my bike to look for him.

I called Christina to let her know I found Lodi, and we were all very relieved.  We started back down the trial, and I could tell that he was completely out of gas.  He was limping on all four paws, and could barely keep up with my pace down the hill.  Once we got home, he did this:

One tired dog

All four of his paws were chewed up by the rocks on the trail.  I felt pretty bad about taking him on such a tough trail, but thought that he should be fine considering that he runs on asphalt daily.  I've read about doggy boots, but never thought that they would be something that Lodi would need.  After seeing how bad his paws got beat up on the trail, looks like I'm going to have to pony up for these:

Yes, these are really hiking boots for dogs

We all were super relieved to have our dog back, and hope that he recovers soon.  I took him out earlier today to use the doggy facilities, and had to carry him part way back because he was limping so bad and wouldn't move.  Poor guy.  He seems to be in good spirits, and I'm sure that overall he had a blast.  My 9.5 mile ride turned into an almost 16 mile ride + hike - a bit more than I had planned on doing.  Too bad it turned into a bit of a family emergency on an otherwise beautiful Saturday morning!

Mother's Day 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

We celebrated a few times this week... On Thursday I went to a Mother's Day lunch at Isaac's daycare.  The teachers (Ms. Terri and Ms. Susan) hosted lunch for all of the Moms.  The kids sang 3 mothers day songs and presented us with cards and gifts.  It was so fun to see Isaac in his element, and to connect with the other Moms.

Isaac with his classmates-- aren't they cute, all lined up?

Saturday, Eric took Isaac to a park so I could take Lodi for a longer run (well... long for me these days... almost 8 miles).  Then, Eric had arranged a babysitter and took me out to a surprise dinner at The Bayou in Salt Lake City.  They are known for their Cajun food and extensive selection of beer (not a common trait here in Utah).  Let's just say I was glad I ran all of those miles earlier.  It was the perfect day!

Sunday was very laid back.  Calls to our Moms - check.  Homebrewing - check.  A bus ride to main street - check.  A trip to the park - check.

Isaac said over and over "I love you Mommy" and sang "happy birthday to Mother's Day" (close enough).  That was all I needed to make it the perfect Mom's Day!

Ice Cream on Main Street

Isaac and "Loosey the Moose"

Hello, Bear

Isaac on the Town Lift

Cinco de Mayo

nothing says Mexican freedom like a pinata

Soccer Moves 101

Isaac knows 10 different Sounders FC chants, sleeps with a soccer ball and, if he had his way, would wear soccer outfits exclusively.  So it's no surprise that he's picked up a few soccer moves.