UROC 100k

Saturday I finished my longest race ever, the UROC (Ultra Race of Champions) 100 kilometer run. Despite major craziness, I managed to finish inside 17 hours, earning myself a shiny belt buckle along with my finisher's medal.

My training this summer was good, I have enjoyed the benefit of running 5-6 days/week with the cross country team this fall, and I felt confident entering the race. I was lucky enough to have a marketing teachers' conference in Breckenridge the two days before the event, allowing me to get in a bit of early adjustment to the altitude. This also allowed me to spend 2 hours Thursday night packing and organizing drop bags and a race plan. Friday Meggan and the girls drove up, and we went to Vail in a mix of rain/snow/sleet to pick up my race packet. Then we went back to Breckenridge, where Angela was kind enough to let us cook a chicken/pasta dinner at her house before we went to the hotel.

Saturday morning Meggan was up at 5:00 to feed Ava, and the rest of us were up by 5:30. This was the first of many times during the day that Meggan would be an amazing wife. We headed down to the start, outside Vertical Runner on Main Street. As we tried to keep warm in the below-freezing temps, we wondered where all the other athletes were, until we realized everyone else was crammed into the store! We spent our time celebrity-gawking, and making sure everything was ready and thought out for the day.

Just before the start, the beautiful alpenglow I know so well started making its way down Peaks 8 and 9. I was quite emotional about starting my first 100km in the town where I "grew up," discovered playing outdoors is a major part of my life, and trained for my first real difficult trail race, the Pikes Peak Marathon.

We took off just after 7am, and made our way on the road to Four O'Clock trail, which would take us up the first 2500' climb up Breckenridge Ski Resort. I felt calm, and happy to begin my day of playing in the beautiful mountains. My original pace "guesstimates" were for a finishing time of 11:30-14:00, depending on how things went. As we climbed trails I used to run almost daily from the BOEC, there was a funny moment when the old Madonna song, "This used to be my playground" popped into my head! I chatted with other runners, and kept my pace comfortable. Sadly, I did not win the cash premium for being the first to the top -- ha! I descended comfortably as well, chatting with Nick Smith of Dillon. We passed through the first aid station, and Meggan was able to hand me my running pack while holding Ava and a very upset and crying Rachel -- poor Mommy!

I continued to feel good as we traversed the Peaks trail to Frisco. Running down Main Street after approximately 14 miles (the course was definitely longer than the advertised 100km), I passed my friend Claire cheering for me! Then as I neared the aid station at 9100' in Frisco, I saw Spider-Man shooting pictures and waving. He asked me, "how are you doing?", pointed out where he had my stuff set up, and began helping me get organized. Thanks Eric, for your support all day, and for wearing your usual fun pacing/crewing costume. It was great to move through aid stations so efficiently -- I've never run a race long enough to have an official crew. Meggan has always had to balance those duties with the kids, so this was an amazing treat. After leaving the aid station I saw the girls in the car just up the road and swung by for a quick hug.

The climb up Miner's Creek road was much steeper than I thought it would be, and I was thankful to reach the end of the road and begin the trail ascent. As we climbed above treeline, there was lots of snow, probably 12-18" inches in places, but thankfully packed down by the preceding runners.

Ascending from Miner's Creek

As we neared the summit of the pass (12,400'), I began to get chilly due to the wind, which grew fiercer as we crested and began to descend toward Copper. I wished for another layer, but focused instead on descending smoothly toward treeline, where I knew the winds would abate. Just below treeline, I stopped to drop layers, noticing my knee wasn't too happy with me. I was pleased with my progress, even though it was slower than I hoped.

We crossed the highway and entered Copper, running another mile or so before reaching the plaza where the aid station was set up. I was pleased to see my crew in the warmer weather, and learned that even the elites had been an hour longer than expected to this point, approximately 28 miles. In my brain, this aid stop took forever, but I needed a mental recharge after the cold of the pass and before the upcoming half-marathon on the paved recreation path (ugh). But first, we had a short, super-steep climb up Copper Mountain. The grade of the recreation path was covered most efficiently at a power-hike; I was pleasantly surprised to be able to maintain a smooth pace all the way up. Meggan greeted me at the Vail Pass tourist info center, and we walked through the parking lot since both girls were asleep. Then she drove down the road to the aid station next to Black Lake, where I commented on my knee pain and she gave me a great taping. This held up for the rest of the race -- physical therapists are amazing, especially my wife! My stomach wasn't very excited with more gels, so I tried some soup and had a brief rest at the aid station. It was great to see my crew again; even though I was trying not to spend lots of time in aid stations, it was still good to see them, because I knew it would be hours before I would again.

Descending the recpath started off well, but about a mile from the aid station my stomach rejected the soup, and everything else. In hindsight, I should have given it a while to recover and then started to refuel. Instead, I felt so good running that I went all the way to the end of the recpath before even thinking of refueling. My running pace was good, and I felt better with an empty stomach. I even tried to get some 18-wheelers to honk at us while we were running next to the interstate -- no luck, though.

I reached the aid station at approximately mile 41, feeling reasonably comfortable about my race so far, but quite nervous about what would happen if I couldn't fuel well. I continued to baby my stomach, a stupid idea. As I climbed the super-steep (2100' in 2.5 miles) canyon on the Two Elk trail, I got very cold. The canyon was shaded, damp (next to a creek), snowy in places, and steep. After the sunshine of the recpath, and coupled with my lack of eating, this was a disaster. It took me forever to reach the top of the ridge, and begin a more gradual climb to the Two Elk Lodge in the fading sunlight. The ridge had sun, but also the wind that often precedes sunset in the mountains as the warmth fades away.

At some point I called Meggan, to let her know I was up there, and would be much later than expected into Minturn. My left ankle was getting quite stiff, and it was difficult to run smoothly. I stayed quite chilled, although I did manage to finish a mini-size clif bar before reaching the aid station -- it took me 11 bites. At the aid station, the two volunteers were busy with other runners and cooking things, so I struggled to change my clothes and shoes and get warm, but I didn't really want anything to eat. I finally took two pieces of plain bread and tiny 1/4 of a pb&j sandwich with me. I took off across the ridge, into a headwind, though thankfully not as severe as the earlier one. It was just enough to keep me from warming up very much, and I called Meggan again after a while to let her know I could maintain 12-13 mins/mile on flat and longer on uphills. She implored me to continue moving forward, and I could hear the emotion in her voice as she encouraged me to finish, and not worry about her and the girls.

I began calculating in my head how much quickly I needed to move to have a chance of earning the belt buckle. The course time limit was 19 hours and 30 minutes, with those finishing in under 17 hours earning a belt buckle in addition to their finisher's medal. I had been out for over 11 hours when I left the Two Elk aid station, and I knew I needed to get to Minturn before 14 hours to have a reasonable chance of finishing inside 17 hours. This part was very interesting, then and in hindsight. I was struggling physically, with a stiff ankle, bad stomach, and chilled body. But in this race I was never in doubt that I would finish. I am proud of my own effort for so many hours, as I traversed the course much slower and later than planned, but always moving forward as best I could. I learned a lot about myself as an ultrarunner during the 15-mile section from the end of the recpath to Minturn. The sunset was pretty, as well.

Eventually I reached the Grand Traverse and began a slow descent across the back bowls of Vail, with a tiny flashlight lighting the way through random tree patches. This light was in my drop bag with the assumption I would use it for no more than 30 minutes, but it was my only source of light for nearly 2 hours. I was thankful for my regular Wednesday night run and the experience I have running with low/no light. Gradually the descent became steeper and more technical, which was hard on my ankle, but I maintained confidence in my ability to traverse rocky terrain, and dropped toward Minturn. I passed several crew members who were hiking up the trail to try to find runners whose lights had died or were moving very slowly. I knew I was going to reach Minturn eventually, but the descent still seemed to take forever. I saw no other runners for nearly 90 minutes, not even lights!

I dropped into Minturn, and called Eric to let him know I was coming (I didn't know if Meggan was there or back at the hotel). In the darkness, I nearly ran past him as he cheered, "nice job, only 1/2 mile to the aid station," thinking I was a random runner. I said, "hey," as we realized our mistake, and shuffled into town. I told him I was still having trouble with food -- again, in hindsight, I could have taken in more by this point -- and asked for 4 slices of bread to take with me. Kate was there, waiting to pace (SO excited to see her!), and my girls were, too! Rachel was clearly tired but gave me a hug, and Meggan was super encouraging. I feel like this aid station took forever; it seemed hard to focus on what I needed, with clothes, food, etc. piled everywhere since no one knew I would be doing.

We left the aid station with 10 miles to go, and my watch reading 13:57 elapsed time. I planned to maintain a strong hiking pace up the ascent, and then give it everything I had on the descent of Vail, which I knew was on the main maintenance road (and therefore not technical at all). I hoped I would have enough time left after the climb. Kate was awesome at randomly telling me stories, reminding me to eat, and trying to get me to jog slightly flatter sections (which I was terrible at). She also offered me a jellybean, which turned out to be great because I was able to eat a bunch of them, 1 or 2 at a time, for the rest of the race with my bread. One guy blew by us on the ascent, but I reminded myself to keep my pace strong and I'd be okay. The climb was quite steep toward the end, and my mile pace dropped from ~20 minutes to ~26. I felt the time slipping away, and needed to get to the aid station and know how much was really left. Finally we reached the crest, heard the aid station, and jogged down to it. 4.7 miles left, nearly all downhill, and about 1:20 to get it done. I knew I could maintain a 12/13 minute mile, but wasn't sure how close it would be at the bottom. We barely slowed at the aid station, merely giving a pat on the back to "Hawaiian shirt Ray" as we passed. He passed us back in a few minutes and flew down the descent.

Kate kept reminding me to try to run, even slowly, every time I stopped for a walk break. My gait was pretty crazy as I tried to get my left ankle to loosen up, my stomach to take some food, and focus on the finish. Eventually we managed to run quite a bit, mostly because I realized I was losing time. I thought once we dropped to town we still had to run a bit through town, and was getting concerned that we'd run out of time. Through Kate's prodding, we slowly picked up the pace, and made our way down the endless switchbacks. My ankle loosened quite a bit as we increased the pace, and I was running with a fairly good stride. We were just about to call Meggan to come out from the hotel, and that it would be really close (I thought we had nearly a mile to go), when we made a turn and realized we were down, and the finish line was there. Cheers arose, and we crossed the line for a finishing time of 16:51:17. Eric was there for a photo, too!

We went inside, but I was cold and felt a bit sick with all the lights and movement. We only stayed for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel, where Meggan got me a warm bath to warm up before bed.

My GPS from the race: http://www.strava.com/activities/85911035.
Race results show me as the 65th finisher of 78. 142 starters means a 55% finish rate for the race. (www.ultraroc.com)

Project Car

While on our road trip this summer, we joked about the 5 people that needed taking care of: Jason, Meggan, Rachel, Ava, and the car.  It seemed common that we'd just have solved diapers, snacks and potty breaks, have a sleeping child... and then we'd need gas.  We also vowed to get home from the trip and get the interior completely detailed because it's so dirty inside our car.

Well now we are home, and one thing is happening around here for sure: spending.  We seem to be spending money against our will, and this is not a good thing when off work and living off one salary in our household.  Missing Canadian maternity leave?  YES!  We spent a lot of money on our back yard this year, since new houses come with only mud pits in the back yard.  We had no idea landscaping cost so much money.  We love the basic patio, retaining wall, and ground cover we had done over a fancy pipe irrigation and water drainage system.  It seemed to have proven its worth with the recent flooding, because we watched the water all being diverted away from our house/foundation.  Now we need to spend another $1500 to finish the back fence.  We also now need to spend $1000 to have the high amounts of radon in our house mitigated.

So we are doing our best to avoid spending money.  We haven't bought ski passes this year, and don't plan to ski much, which is going to be very sad.  We just made $100 at our garage sale last weekend, sold some other things on craigslist for $85, and sold a new tv we were given as part of our solar installation promotion for $350.  Jason is picking up sub work when he can, and I am trying not to do too many expensive things with the girls.

So apparently it cost $120 around here to get the interior of your car detailed.  Seems like a luxury that we can't do right now.  So this morning we dropped Rachel off at preschool and Jason off with a work colleague to go to a conference, and Ava and I started project car.

First we took the car to get its oil changed.  First time we've gotten work done on the car that was not at the dealer, since our warranty is done.  By the time we got a 'fast lube', replaced the oil, cabin and engine filters, we owed them $116.  While the car was in the shop, I ran a slow 4 miles and Ava napped in the Chariot.  Then we went to the 'self serve auto spa' down the street, and after taking care of Ava for a while, project car continued.  I fed the machine $1 bill at a time, then worked frantically to vaccum everything and shampoo seats while crawling all around Ava in her car seat.  She likes the vacuum sounds.  The parking lot around the car had Rachel's car seat, the chariot, and all the other things that normally live in the car strewn about.

We came home and continued.  In between packing for our next trip and feeding/changing Ava, I wiped down all the interior surfaces and scrubbed out dirt here and there.  I filled the car back up with emergency clothes, food water, fire extinguisher, first aid kit, maps, hair ties, chap stick, cutlery, paperwork, tissues, wipes, diapers... etc.  The car now looks good, has everything we need in it, and nothing extra.  Unfortunately, the seats are all still very stained and the shampoo work really didn't seem to do much.  But I feel good that I spent $4 and have a clean car and didn't spend the $120 right now.  Maybe in the Spring we'll try the detail option and see if the seats can come clean.  Or maybe we'll just put a towel under Rachel's car seat.

Our next road trip begins tomorrow.  Jason is already in Breckenridge for a school conference Thurs and Fri.  I'll drive the girls up Friday... in the snow.  Yup, it's supposed to be rain and snow showers in the high country tomorrow.  The mountains had their first snowfall last weekend.  It's still been as high as 80 degrees here during the day, but starting to get much cooler at night now.  It's actually wonderful weather down here on the front range.

Saturday Jason will run 100km from Breckenridge to Vail through the mountains.  We're very excited.  We stay at his conference hotel in Breck Friday night.  He starts at 7am Sat morning and will likely finish in the dark Sat night, possibly around 9pm.  We have a hotel room very close to the finish but will probably not see him finish in Vail.  Sunday he will catch a ride back with his pacer, and I will continue with the girls to Moab.  We will spend 3 nights in Moab and see our friend get married, and then drive home Wed.

What else is new?

Ava is starting to roll from back to side and from tummy to back.  She has discovered her hands and likes to grab things and try to shove them in her mouth or eyes or nose.  She can sit in the bumbo chair for a few minutes at a time, but it's still pretty hard work.

Rachel is doing as well as always, and keeping us smiling.  Funny things she has said lately:
"This medicine is for her tummy ache.  This medicine is for being sick.  This medicine is for when she farts.  This medicine is for her spots."

And, in the car, while Ava is crying "Ava, it's ok.  The light is red which means that Mommy has to stop.  When the light turns green for go for us then we can go and then you can be happy and not mad because we will be moving."

Jason has had some long days at work recently, with work meetings and cross country practices/meets.  He is also having allergy shots twice per week so that he can eventually become tolerant of grasses/pollens/dust/plants and not have such horrible allergies.  Unfortunately, it's quite difficult to schedule all these things with just one car for our family.

My own world is all about the girls, trying to catch up on things around the house, and trying to exercise.  We have a new hardcore swim coach, and I can't believe that our 'warm up' is 1400 yds.  The other day I swam 2400 yds total and I love it but I am wiped.  It seems every length I am being told another thing to change on my form, so my head hurts by the end of practice.  Running has been a real challenge... Ava was born 12 weeks ago and finally today I made it 4 miles... but very slowly!  I will keep on trucking but it's been a slower process than I expected.  On the other hand, I did go out for a lovely road ride on Sunday.  Because Ava still won't take a bottle, Jason drove the girls out to meet me half way.  All of Boulder was out on the same part of the city that remains open, while many other roads and almost all trails are closed from the floods.  I ended up riding 37 miles and loved it, but was exhausted.  I didn't realize what my friends had in mind when I suggested we ride together!  The longest ride I'd ever done before was 25 miles at my Olympic Tri last August.

Sorry no pictures right now but more will be posted after Moab.

Think of Jason running Saturday and send him some happy mountain energy vibes.

35 months, 10 weeks, 15", 100km, and 2600yds

I've changed my mind temporarily and decided to write this blog post, despite saying I would stop.  I miss writing in it, and writing a group email somehow doesn't feel quite the same, so we will see.

Rachel is 35 months old.
She is enjoying her routine at home, at preschool full days Tuesdays and Thursdays, and going to outdoor soccer Monday mornings.  She is on the 25th percentile for height and weight and still fits 2T pants but wears 3T and sometimes 4T shirts.  Her feet and length seem to have jumped up lately and she seems leaner and longer than she did in the Spring.  She is now wearing a size 7.5 shoe.  She loves reading books, especially Franklin and Mr. Happy books but loves reading day and night and we go to the library almost every week to exchange books and play.  She loved her first soccer class, and we have bought shin pad socks and a size 3 ball for practice at home.  She needs to learn to stand patiently in line for her turn and then soccer will be much easier on her mom, too!  She loves to go to the pool but this has become an activity she does with Daddy while Mommy stays home with Ava.

She loves playing at home with her toys and will often choose to stay home rather than go outside to the park.  Her creative play is amazing - dolls get dressed up and put on a show, go camping, have a picnic, become characters from books or movies.  She loves the characters from Cars, Madagascar, Ice Age, and Finding Nemo.  She tries to play lego and loves to put wheels on pieces and make interesting vehicles.  She is a chatterbox.  She is pretty good about saying please and thank you.  She is quite respectful of Ava's needs.  She is doing really well at staying dry day and night although we still wear a pull up at night because we are not sure.

"Mommy... I am concerned that it's raining and we don't have a jacket." - Rachel, last week.

We have five current 'projects' with Rachel.
1) Bedtime.  Bedtime has become the most difficult time of day at our house without a doubt.  The last few months, Rachel does not seem tired at night and will delay and delay going to sleep.  There is talk of reducing or stopping afternoon naps, despite the thinking that she gets tired at lunch time and often sleeps for 2 hours still.  There is difficulty with the fact that she almost always decides she needs to poop at 8:30pm, right after we finally get her in bed.  Now we have a sticker chart and are rewarding her with movie time (her favorite thing) after 3 stickers.  Earn a sticker by going to bed on the first try.  It seems to be helpful, but bedtime still takes forever.
2) Thumb sucking.  We are starting to gently try strategies to decrease this habit, but it's very hard.  It's really hard to know what to do or not to do about this one.
3) Nunu.  For a while she was needing her Nunu blanket a little less during the day, but since traveling again Nunu and Rachel have become totally inseparable.  Preschool should help, since Nunu stays in her cubby unless it's nap time.
4) Blowing her nose.  Somehow, Rachel is terrible at blowing her nose.  She puts the tissue to her nose and blows out through her mouth, and barely wipes a little bit away on her nose, then inhales and sucks all the mucus back in.  We keep trying to practice blowing out through the nose, but she doesn't get it and gets frustrated with us nagging.
5) Her hair.  As her Grandpops says, she looks like a sheepdog with her hair down.  She hates having her hair touched, brushed, clipped, put in a ponytail, washed, or rinsed.  I was trying to grow out her bangs, then gave up and trimmed some, and now those bits are in her face anyway.  Now she is resisting the haircut, and is too old to be strapped into her high chair for a forced cut like last year.  I think she looks quite cute if she lets a pony tail or clip system stay in... but doing it is a huge battle and time waster.  So, for now, while we pick our battles, she will continue to look like a sheep dog some days.

Ava is 10 weeks old.
Ava is a calm and wonderfully tolerant baby.  She is smiling and rolling on to her side and discovering her hands.  She is eating less often and sleeping more.  She is huge.  At her 2 month appointment, her percentiles were 89th head, 92nd weight, and 100 (off the chart) for height.  She is so long she is wearing 6 or even 9 month sleepers.  Her torso is very long so many diaper shirts that snap at the crotch are too short.  Her feet are also very long for many sleepers or built in feet.  She is starting to hold her head up better and lift her head a little more when she's on her tummy.  She's a pretty good spitter-upper and needs to be held upright for a little while after eating.

Our current 3 projects with Ava are:
1) Schedule.  People ask me how often she eats, sleeps, etc and I have a hard time answering because we haven't really had a routine.  She eats and sleeps when it's convenient for everyone or when she demands it.  So the last week or so I'm trying to pay attention to her schedule and turn napping into a dedicated morning and afternoon activity.  We're putting her to bed awake in her crib to teach her to go to sleep by herself with moderate success.  Sometimes she'll go 4 hours without eating but sometimes it's only 40 minutes.  She often only nurses for 15 minutes and is satisfied (opposite from what her insatiable sister was).  She is sleeping from about 8:30pm or until 4:30am without waking up (not always, but mostly) which is amazing and we hope it can continue.  If she does wake, it's a 10:30pm feed so I still get a very descent chunk.
2) Bottle.  Ava is not taking a bottle.  She did once at about 10 days old or so, and then we didn't try until this weekend.  Apparently a mistake because she doesn't want it.  I went out to a wedding Sat night and left Jason with the two girls and plenty of hard-earned milk.  I left at about 5pm and by 8:20pm Jason had had enough of trying and I left the wedding and came back.  But if she won't take a bottle, it means I am very limited in how long I can leave her.  I have plans to exercise and be social and leave her with people so this needs to change.  So we will work at it.
3) Head/neck. Although it's improving, I have diagnosed Ava with mild torticollis.  It means that her head wants to turn to the left and tilt to the right, so we have to work at getting her neck muscles to go the other way.  It is improving but I am doing daily stretches and always positioning her certain ways.

Boulder County is flooded
We had 15" of rain from Monday night until Friday last week, causing water levels to rise and creeks to turn to raging rivers.  The normal annual rainfall for the area is 21".  Dams broke apart.  Flash flooding warnings were given out and many were evacuated.  The news can show you devastating pictures or roads and bridges gone, housing destroyed, people stranded, college students tubing down the street.  We are totally fine and live on slightly higher land without any creeks nearby.  Roads have been closed around us, it's been very wet and raining hard.  Businesses, preschool, and school have been closed.  Jason has not had to work since last Wednesday, so we've had some unexpected time together at the house.
It's sunny now and we expect Jason to be able to enter school tomorrow with students returning Wednesday and things to dry out all week.  We feel lucky compared to all the horrible things that have happened to some people and know the county will be recovering and repairing for months and months to come.

100km
Jason is running a 100km race from Breckenridge to Vail in 2 weeks.  He has put in a great summer of training, and over the last month has run almost daily with his high school cross country team (he is the assistant coach) and longer runs on weekends.  Despite a few mild injury concerns in August, he is doing an awesome job and we are both very excited for this race.  It's called UROC - the ultra race of champions and will be his longest race to date.  If anyone is able to come out and cheer him on Sept 28th, we would love it.  He's currently tapering after 20 miles (trail and at altitude) 8 days ago and then a good mountain running weekend this weekend as well.

2600yds
Is how far I swam this morning.  I have been to 3 masters swimming practices, missing one last week.  I love it.  I have run 3 miles many times in the last couple of weeks and it doesn't feel like it's getting much easier yet.  This week officially will start my half marathon training program, so my mileage will significantly increase over the next month.  My half marathon will be Dec 7th.  I will for sure run 3 times per week and swim 2 mornings per week, and then any biking/hiking or extra weights/running/yoga/swimming will be bonus.  I know many people training for a half ironman would do more, but if I can get 5 definite workouts in per week with 2 small kids, I will be satisfied until Christmas.

Ava's first camping trip

For pictures in facebook, click HERE

Friday Jason worked the morning and then we packed up the car and drove to Lakewood, co to pick up our friend kent.  The girls were crying loudly when he got in the car, but we settled quickly and did a decent job of enjoying the traffic on I-70 as we drove to Breckenridge.

Friday night we stayed at Angela and Kent's house in Breck, and planned to leave very early Sat morning to get to Durgango in time for a wedding.  While we were visiting Friday night, Kent was outside on his gravel drive way and a truck drove up:
"Hey.  We are pavers and had a job to do nearby, but it didn't happen because of a broken water pipe.  So we have all the materials and equipment ready to do.  Do you want your drive way paved for a good deal."
Random.  But it happened.  So we spent Friday night watching a crew of 30 guys pave the driveway!

Sat we drove from Breck to Durango, through some of the state we'd never seen before.  We even stopped to buy elk and buffalo jerkey (yummmmmm!!).

We had a fun time at the wedding, which was at a campground.  We took our giant tent and were thankful it did not rain.  We stayed long enough to do some brief dancing before putting ourselves to bed.  Everyone had a decent night's sleep and Ava did an awesome job on her first camping night.

Sunday morning we each went for a short run before packing up and saying goodbye.  We didn't get on the road until after 10am, and decided to drive home along the million dollar highway from Durgano to Ouray via Silverton (home of the HardRock 100).  We stopped in Buena Vista for dinner, and then had to endure a very unhappy Ava for the evening drive home.

I have to share that we have become somewhat addicted to an app called 'Gas Buddy'.  We started it on our road trip to look for the cheapest gas nearby.  Now we have become reporters, so every time we pass a gas station we report the prices.  There are levels and categories of reporting, so it's pretty fun to try and get to the next level.  For every handful of reports, you get an entry into a weekly lottery for $250 gas.  Jason is determined to win!

Looking forward to more camping and exploring in the future.

Travel to BC with 2 little girls

I recently took Rachel (almost age 3) and Ava (7 weeks old) to visit family and friends in BC for 2 weeks.  Jason stayed behind to get off to a good start teaching, coaching cross country, and training for his upcoming 100km race.

Traveling with a baby and a preschooler by yourself is no easy feat.  I went as minimally as possible.  Since it cost $975 for the three of us to fly in and out of Victoria, I wasn't interested in spending much more money on renting cars, staying in hotel rooms, or catching the ferry with a car.  I also didn't want to juggle any gear I didn't have to.  So I went without any car seats, strollers, travel cribs, and relied on family and friends to help me with transportation and baby gear.  The only piece of gear I took was my baby bjorn carrier.

Flying there went well.  We left early in the morning and Jason was able to help us check in at the airport before going to school.  Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten to notify the airline that a lap child was coming with me, and babies actually need a ticket when flying internationally.  We haven't flown internationally with Rachel because we have flown in/out of Seattle or Spokane previously to save money.  Thankfully, I was able to purchase a lap child ticket and paid less than $20 in taxes for her return ticket and we were good to go.  $25 for my one bag, and no car seat or stroller to fuss over.

The flight from Denver to Vancouver was great.  Ava slept and Rachel was calm and happy with books, quiet songs, and ipad games.  I even took a stranger up on her offer to hold Ava while I went to the bathroom with Rachel.  I left my phone in the seat pocket.  Stupidly, as my hands were full with Ava, I asked Rachel to look in the pockets and on the floor for any of our stuff.  She looked, but didn't see anything.  I spent 2 weeks without my phone and Jason spent the next 3 days tracking it down and retrieving it in Denver.

We landed in Vancouver late morning and had plenty of time to go through customs, walk to the other end of the airport, and catch our flight to Victoria.  Unfortunately, Rachel was getting tired.  When we arrived at the customs line up, I was very thankful when we were waved over to a shorter line up as Rachel was ready to nap and having a hard time standing in line patiently.  No trouble at customs as I presented my Canadian passport, Rachel's Canadian passport, and Ava's American passport and had the requested letter of permission from Jason to travel with his kids (which Jason remembered the night before we flew!).  In the Vancouver airport, Rachel was tired and having a hard time listening while we waited for the flight to Victoria.  As Ava filled her diaper and then threw up everywhere, Rachel was lying on the carpeted floor flailing her legs around and hitting other people quietly waiting for their flight.  Rachel took up 8 seats worth of waiting with stuff everywhere and her own tired body rolling around on the floor, hoping to nap.  We finally boarded the Victoria flight, and all 3 of us fell asleep (it's a 15 min flight).  When we landed, I had to rouse a sleepy Rachel and carry her on my hip / on top of Ava in the carrier and walk out to the arrivals gate.  To our pleasant surprise, a whole bunch of people were there to help and welcome us: Uncle Jeff and Auntie Janelle, Nana, and cousins Teagan, Cooper and Griffin.

We spent 2 nights at Uncle Tony's, 2 nights in Duncan, 1 night at the Fosters' cabin at the lake, 2 nights at Uncle Jeff's, 3 nights at Barney's in Vancouver, and then 4 more nights at Jeff's.

A personal highlight for me was spending time at the lake.  My sister in law Janelle's family (the Fosters) have a cottage on Kemp Lake in Sooke, BC.  It's calm and peaceful and wonderful.  Our family went out there to celebrate Tony's birthday and enjoyed a family day in the sun.  Ava had plenty of people to watch over her, and I was given the guest cottage for the night with the girls, which included a crib and baby monitor!  Teagan swam with me across the lake while Jeff and Nana rowed the boat across to accompany us.  It was about 350m there and we took a short break on Janelle's sisters wharf before swimming back.  It felt marvelous.  I haven't been swimming much this year, and it boosted my confidence to start more swimming soon.  The following week I did it again by myself while Pops rowed the boat beside me, and did it faster and with a very short break.  It was good practice for one of my bucket list items of swimming >500m point to point.

The ferry trip over and back to Vancouver was another logistical challenge.  Thankfully Jeff drove us to the ferry terminal on Tuesday and picked us up on Friday.  I had Ava in the front carrier, a big back pack on my back, and Rachel's hand in mine.  We caught the 9am ferry Tuesday, and Rachel was thrilled that the ferry has a tv that played Treehouse TV the whole time.  I was thankful that the girls were happy and that the ferry has wifi.  We walked off the ferry and went with public transit to get to Barney's house, since I hadn't wanted to carry car seats on and off the ferry because I didn't have that many hands.  We arrived in Tsawwassen and waited in line for the public bus.  We were near the back because the walk was long and took Rachel a while.  Just as the line started to move, Rachel bolted the other way and laughed as I chased her.  I was not looking forward to having to stand on the bus if everyone else took all the seats, so I caught her and had tears in my eyes as I said "Please don't run away!  It's not funny and I need your help to get on this bus."  Rachel looked guilty and said "don't be mad, Mommy."  We ended up with a seat and made it to the sky train station.  Rachel was very tired and wanted to be held at the station, but I made her walk on to the train.  Too bad the train was VERY crowded and we did have to stand on the train.  I had Rachel sit on the floor but she still got knocked around with every start and stop and was upset when she fell over at one stop.  For the last stop, we moved into a seat where Rachel could see more and then she thought riding the train was fun.  After the sky train, we had one more easy bus ride, and then about 4 blocks to walk to get to Barney's.  The 4 blocks took a long time, but the weather was lovely, and we made it.  I was thrilled to see my awesome friend.

I saw many close friends in Vancouver, and, although Rachel made bed time difficult during our stay, it made me miss BC very much.  Rachel was thrown off and struggled a bit during this section with a whole summer of changing routines and rules.

I repeated the bus, sky train, bus, ferry scenario on the way home again - this time in the pouring rain but stopped half way for a visit with friends.  I had more help from people on the bus with Rachel this time, and was hoping Rachel would nap on the ferry but she didn't.  I carried her and Ava off the ferry and was happy to hand Rachel over to Uncle Jeff at the pick up point.

As we prepared for our flight home, I noted that I would not fit everything in one bag for the return trip.  I had forgotten to pack an extra bag in my first bag, so I ended up buying an ice hockey tote for $10 at Canadian Tire to fly home with - sweet deal.

Tuesday we didn't fly until 1pm, which was exactly when Rachel would nap, and this concerned me.  We didn't have a lot of extra time in Vancouver for any tantrums or slow walking.  I wish I had a stroller because the walk at YVR from the Victoria arrival to USA customs is LONG.  I asked in Victoria if we could be driven and they said no.  I requested a wheelchair assist instead.

So we made it on and off the Victoria flight and found a very large wheelchair for Rachel to ride in.  Rachel thought riding in the wheelchair was fun, but she was tired and cranky.  At one point we passed a gift shop with stuffed animals, and Rachel tried to jump out of the chair without warning to go look at them, so I ran her over with the chair.  She howled and made quite a scene and then wanted to buy the stuffies... but I got her back in the chair quickly and upped my pace.  I was sweating.  Ava was asleep in the front carrier.  We got to the end of the long walk and had to go through security, so we ditched the wheelchair.  No lineup.  Went through, collected stuff, rounded the corner toward the customs line.  A huge room with very few people appeared, and lines and lines of roped off alley ways presented itself.  We could walk right up to the customs officer... but then Rachel sprinted away.

She ran through the room, under all the ropes, so she could go far but I was stuck with Ava on my front and a backpack on my back, running around the ropes.  Left... right... left... right... sprint... "stop! ... freeze!"... "Rachel!!!"  When I caught her, I was holding back tears and begging her to stay still.  I picked her up on my hip and apologized to all the security folks and made my way to the customs officer.

I presented the same documentation: Ava's American passport, my Canadian passport, and Rachel's Canadian passport.
Officer: "How are you doing today?"
Me: "A little frazzled, honestly. But thanks for asking."
Officer: "Where do you live?"
Me: "In Colorado."
Officer: "Do you have a green card?"
Me: "Oh yes.  Here you go."
Officer: "And does Rachel have a green card?"

Oh crap.  Rachel does have a USA passport, as well as her Canadian passport.  And we have been recommended to bring both and use the one for the country we are entering.  But I don't want to travel with both.  I've never had any issues before - but we've always had NEXUS and gone through the NEXUS lines without questions.  Ava does not have NEXUS, so I couldn't do that this trip.  So I didn't have Rachel's USA passport.  Only a Canadian passport.  And she was born in Canada.  Nothing with me at all to show that Rachel is legally living in the USA.

Me: "Oh no.  Rachel does have a USA passport, but I forgot it on this trip and only have her Canadian passport."
Officer: "Ok ma'am.  Well, if you could just go through that door right there, then another agent will assist you."

The time was about 2:08pm, and our flight left at 2:39pm.  I explained my situation to the first agent inside the scary customs door and was told to sit and wait.  Rachel wasn't really interested in sitting still.  A second agent asked us to tell us our situation again as he tried to look up everything he could about us.  Eventually, he found Rachel's USA passport information and stamped us through, telling me that I have to travel with her USA passport to properly re-enter the USA.  Right.  Got it.

I scooped Rachel up on my hip and started trying to run.  Running with Ava, Rachel and the backpack was difficult.  I saw a wheelchair and was excited to get it, but it was locked up.  I got to the gate area, and was disappointed to learn that E78 was the furthest gate away.  Rachel was back on her feet and we had a race down the hall.  I was nervous and sweating, and had hoped to eat and go to the bathroom before we boarded.  But we arrived at our gate just in time for regular boarding.  So we got on, and all was well.

The plane wasn't very full, so there were plenty of extra seats.  We were sitting next to a kind lady with 5 of her own grandchildren.  She was on the aisle and we were window and middle seat.
Before take-off, after discussing the fact that we were very tired and Rachel needed to nap...

Me: "Oh good.  It looks like there are lots of extra seats so we might be able to stretch out more.  I won't be offended if you move to another seat."
Lady: ""Oh no.  I love kids.  I am happy to help you in any way that I can."
(Hmmmm... she didn't get the hint.)

By the time we reached cruising altitude, she did move and Rachel laid down across 2 seats and fell asleep.  Thank goodness.  All was well again.

Back home now, and time to get back into routine.  We've been spoiled all summer with other help.  I haven't cooked my own dinner more than a couple of times since Ava was born.  I haven't had much time alone with the two girls.  Rachel needs structure.  I need some friends to be social with in Colorado.  I need to get fit and strong.

I have decided to stop writing this as a blog.  I have some concerns about being so public with our family affairs.  I would still like to continue writing, however, because it's fun for me and I hope to be able to share this stuff with the kids if they are interested one day.  So I plan to write this as an email instead, and send it only to an email list, for anyone who is interested.  Please email me to confirm that you would like to receive these and I will add you to the email list.

Thanks for adventuring with us.