The teacher learns a lesson in teaching

Having gone about two months since giving the house a good clean, I decided to for go the gym and let house work be the workout. Since I am "night nausea" , I must get anything that needs to be done for the day accomplished before noon. As I lay in bed before getting up and going over my game plan, the words of my good friend Jennifer Clifton ring in my head as she was telling me of Noah's vacuuming the house. So mentally, I divided up the days chores among two of the three kids and left myself the mopping lest the whole bucket of water be dripped out on the floor. The kids have tried mopping before and they are just not strong enough to wring out the mop. So at breakfast, I excitedly shared the plan to a very enthusiastic bunch of willing and strong bodied workers. After cleaning up breakfast and getting dressed, we were ready by 9:30. (I'll share a side story to the getting ready part at the end.) The kids picked up their rooms while I washed the sinks. We did learn Jillian can take toys out of a box as fast as two people can put them in. Then I got Jackson his paper towels, glass cleaner, toilet bowl brush, and a container of Clorox wipes. After he has started on the bathrooms, I set Bethanee up with the vacuum. Due to the power of the Dyson, I could not let her use the hose part of the vacuum, only the upright on the carpets. I would hate to see one of the girls heads sucked up to the end of the hose. While she is vacuuming I go downstairs and work on picking up. She vacuums in about 8 minutes and comes downstairs announcing she has finished - her room, Jackson's room, Jillian's and mine. HHMMM! I go up to complete the bathroom floors with the hose and find debris still on the carpets. That's when I realize I've never actually taught Bethanee how to vacuum. I just figured it to be common sense. I'm sure my mom could attest to the fact that one must be taught the proper way for the job to be done right. So I went back over the upstairs and then brought the vacuum down. This time, I stood beside Bethanee holding the cord, while she learned to properly vacuum. Her finally comment was "This is hard." She did a great job, though and I am more than eager to hand off the task. Jackson, who has already learned the way a cleaned toilet should look, did an excellent job at his task as well. He was doing well on the mirrors, until he slipped in the sink and hit his back. Yes, it has happened before and he new the risk associated with getting to use the bottle of Windex. Final note, house is clean - whole thing in one day. Cute side story....Jackson told me he'd pick out his clothes and mine. I said that was fine, not thinking to much about it. I told him to pick me out something comfortable to work in. When I went upstairs to get ready for the day, there was a fleece sweater and a skirt laying out on my closet floor. At first I was baffled, then I realized he had laid my clothes out for me. I didn't wear that outfit and he didn't seem to notice, but it was so typical of my sweet, thoughtful, Jackson.

4th of July 2009

The 4th holiday fell on a Saturday this year which kind of takes the fun out of a day off, I mean Saturdays are normally a day off aways. So the office took Friday off to make up for it. On Friday I got together early with the Triathlon Team for practice then headed to the office to get a few hours of work in before I started the holiday. On Friday evening it was off to the Fauth's House for dinner and yard games (Bocce Ball on an impressive grade). Saturday was Tracee's day to workout. Before noon I took Jackson and Jake to Home Depot for their kid's workshop projects. Then it was off to the Davis House for their annual party. More food, More yard games. We left Lake Wilderness just in time to make it to my partner backyard to see the Fredericksburg Fireworks. Made it home by 10:30 while 3 tired kids. It was a great 4th. Tracee picked up some 1/2 price fireworks a few days after the 4th. We had our own fireworks show on the driveway.

Gibbs Racing Replaces Lagano

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (AP) In a surprise move by Joe Gibbs Racing spokesperson Peter Malinia announced that Joey Lagano will not be driving the #20 Home Depot car for the rest of the 2009 season. Replacing Lagano is a relatively unknown driver from Yucca Valley, California Jeffrey Pelt. Pelt has spent the last several years in the United States Marine Corps flying fighter jets. When asked about the transition to the NASCAR circuit Pelt said, "200 miles per hour is just getting started for me." Gibbs Racing has been searching for the next young star to fill Tony Stewart's old seat in the #20 car since 2008. "Lagano just didn't work out for us. We suggest that he join the Marine Corps and come back to NASCAR in a few years" said Malinia. General Tanner, Pelt's Commanding Officer, expressed support in the young pilot's career change. "If he wants to just turn left for the rest of his life, then it is a great move" said Tanner. Pelt will get to prove his abilities next week when NASCAR visits Chicago for the Lifelock 400.

Another Wild Finish

The Daytona 4th of July NASCAR race was again exciting right down to the last lap. In move similar to Talladaga last spring, Kyle Busch atttempted a block of Tony Stewart with less than 200 yards to go to the finish line proving that the worst place to be on the racetrack on the final lap is in the lead with a strong car behind you. As Busch tried a block he got into Stewart and the 18 car lost the backend grip. After hitting the wall the Number 9 Kaine car took another shot at Busch pushing him over the finish line. Kyle Busch finshed the race number 14 when he was leading 2 seconds before the end of the race. Watch the last 10 laps here. On a side note that is Stewart's 2nd win of the season, another prize for me.

Team Trinity Racing

Jason, Bryan, Josh, Kevin

Too Much Swimming

I have decided that my ultimate goal is to one day (I stress one day) complete an Ironman Triathlon. With that in mind I wanted to increase my distance swimming just to see where I was at with my endurance. Last Tuesday I went to the Quantico Base pool for some lap swimming. The pool is 50m long and I wanted to complete 1500m. I really enjoy swim and after 1500m I was done. When I started the swim I was the only one in the pool but as I finished there was a swim team getting ready to start practise. I was done and didn't want to take up a valuable lane so I quickly got out of the pool. As I stood up I started to feel a bit weird and then as I took my first step I realized that something was seriously wrong. I fell down right in front of the entire swim team. The swim coach quickly came over to assist me and recommended that I not get out of the pool so quickly after a long swim. It turns out that after a long period of time in the horizontal position a quick move to the vertical can cause you to loss your balance. Thankfully the only thing that was busied is the ego.

Home Depot Projects

This goes out to Grandpa Shelton who told us about the Kids Workshop at Home Depot on the first Saturday of every month. Jackson invited his friend Jake to join us for some "guy time" at a home improvement store. We walked back to the kids workshop area and was greeted by Tom who got us going with today project. We were ready to make a picnic caddy just in time for the Fourth of July. Both kids did great and next time I'm going to bring Bethanee and her friend Delaney.

Summer Nights at Aquia Landing

Every year we rediscover Aquia Landing, our personal beach that is right down the road. On a cool summer's night it is just perfect for an after dinner adventure. The kids love to get in the water while Tracee and I enjoy sitting on the beach looking over at the Maryland shore. This evening we had the pleasure of hosting Andy and Nicole for dinner then a landing adventure. Andy is a local attorney that practices in the same courtrooms. After dinner we played Blokus and Cranium Party Tournament (great game).

Swim Bike Run

Only a little over a week left before I start my first ever triathlon and I must say I'm very excited. The process has been interesting at times (like swimming in the Potomac one morning) but I'm enjoying the variety in the workouts. I enjoy running but in the end I run to live. If I didn't run I would be over 300 pounds and growing. Running is the only way I have found to ensure that I keep it around 200 (203 currently) However, running can get a bit boring - especially at the 9 plus mile marker. Triathlon gives me drive to change up my workout and still make gains on my distance running. Swimming for 30 minutes or pedaling for an hour then running a short 5k is an incredible workout. Plus with the variety it never gets boring. Team Trinity is also great. They say misery loves company - and if that is true Team Trinity is all about misery. The team is fun in that you always have a workout partner no matter what time you can head out. So watch out sprint triathlon - I've got your number.

Another Itty Bitty City

For the fourth year in a row the family headed down to Fredericksburg to look for the obscure parts of the city that were photographed by the Free-Lance Star. This year I did very little of the hunting because Jackson and Bethanee were finding them left and right. It is always a good time and we knocked out 11 of the twenty in about 1 hour of hunting.