Happiness is...

John's kindergarten class recently made a really cute book. Each child in the class created a page for the book by completing the following sentence: "Happiness is ___________ ." and then drawing a picture of the thing or activity that makes them happy. The teacher bound the pages to form a book, which each child was allowed to check out and bring home to share with their families one evening. John told me that the privilege of taking the book home was based on good behavior in class, so I am pretty proud that John was the sixth student (and only the second boy!) to have a turn to bring home the book according to the check out sheet included in the package.

John was proud to share the book with me, so we sat down to read it together and discuss what each of his friends had written. Actually, the teacher completed most of the blanks since 98% of the kids in the class aren't spelling well yet, but that's a minor detail as you could tell the sentiments came directly from the children. Before we reached John's page we read that happiness is:

• swimming



• playing with my dog and my sister



• ice cream



• a hug from my mom

All really cute statements that seem appropriate for a kindergartener. I was filled with warm fuzzy feelings of innocent children finding joy in life's simple pleasures. The drawings were cute too.

And then we got to John's page. And I couldn't help but bust out with a huge laugh before I could catch myself.

John's sentence read "Happiness is staying at hotels".

Huh? Staying at hotels??? Not hugs, or playing with Amelia? Nothing about mom or dad, or even sports? Not even Star Wars? (though I am glad it was not Star Wars!)

After I got the bit of laughter out of my system, I inquired as to why his answer was hotels. John's explanation was simple and sweet: "Because we stay at a hotel when we are on vacation, and hotels are fun because the first thing we usually get to do is go swimming, and I love to go swimming."

I loved the teacher's page too: "Happiness is when all my kindergarteners can tie their own shoes!".

In other schoolwork news, a few weeks ago the elementary school celebrated "Grandfriends Day", where the kids can invite their grandparents to school to see their classrooms and attend a singing performance by each grade level. John brought home the following art work that day:

"I like when my grandfather cleans the windows with me". Ha! This is in perfect reference to Scott's dad who is the ultimate handyman around the house. When the Wilsons come to Texas to visit, John's grandfather stays busy by doing all kids of chores that Scott and I neglect. He's the type of guy that enjoys staying busy, so while the kids are playing in the backyard he cleans windows and watches them at the same time. John loves to clean windows (seriously!), especially when he can be in control of the Windex bottle, and he obviously enjoys doing tasks like this with his grandfather.

Oktoberfest

The local Addison Oktoberfest festival is touted as one of the "10 Best Oktoberfest events" in the nation. I have heard good things about it in the past but have hesitated to make plans to attend due to how steaming hot it is in September in Texas. But it has been a bit cooler this year and I was looking for something fun to do with the kids this past weekend while Scott was out of town, so off we went to celebrate Oktoberfest!


Saturday started early with a 5K fun run! Look at Amelia and John all ready to race with their bibs and timing chips on their shoes!
Fresh off the excitement of the Boosterthon event at their school, I asked the kids if they would like to participate in this run. After they said yes (enthusiastically), I let them choose between the one mile fun run and the 5K, and they chose the 5K. The three of us went to the local running store to pick up our gear on Thursday after school. The proceeds from the race were given to an organization called "Wipe Out Kids' Cancer" and the event was very family-oriented. In general, the kids did great and we all finished together just shy of 45 minutes. I had told them in advance that we would alternate running and walking as needed during the course. I have to admit I was disappointed that they predominantly wanted to walk and that I heard a bit more whining and complaining than I would have liked ("I'm tired", "When is this going to be over?", "But mom, I don't want to run anymore!"). However, living the race through my kids' eyes was also a good lesson for me. As always, I need to work on my patience (I have very little), and it was also good for me to practice demonstrating a good attitude no matter the circumstances. After the race we socialized with a few friends we ran into at the post-race party, drank a lot of water (it was about 82 degrees during the race, humid and warm), and got free coupons and samples from sponsor booths.

The kids each also got a goody bag at the finish line that contained a coupon for free carnival rides at Oktoberfest through 5 p.m. that day. What a bonanza of a prize! So after returning home for Amelia's ballet class and completing some chores around the house, we headed back up to Addison for a fun afternoon.

If that's not a joyful expression on John's face above, I don't know what is! Below the kids are waiting patiently for the bumper cars to start.

The kids are the two on the left in the slide below.

Their favorite carnival attraction was called "Circus circus", which was a large fun house of crazy mazes, swinging steps, funny mirrors, and this large spinning wheel at the end.

Oh wow, did they ever love that wheel! I had a great time standing outside watching them giggle with delight in trying to figure out how to manipulate their bodies to travel all the way around the spinning wheel.

The unlimited carnival ride tickets were such a blessing, as there is no way I would have paid for them to go on as many rides as they did Saturday afternoon. The circus attraction lasted about 5 minutes and they must have gone on it at least six times each. At $3 per ride (the cost if you were buying the tickets), that would have been a whole lot of money! Plus the bumper cars, slides, and other rides they went on...all added up would have been crazy expensive. It was nice to let them pretty much run free for an hour without thinking about a budget or whether each ride was worth the cost.

At 5:00 when the children's unlimited ride tickets were no longer valid, we went over to the festivities tent to check out the entertainment. This is exactly what I came to Oktoberfest hoping to see!We enjoyed listening to the German music and watching the dancers and other performers. I was especially pleased that Amelia and John really seemed to enjoy this part of the day, as they pleaded with me to stay for "just one more song, please!".

We saw great Germn outfits like this on dozens of people inside the tent.And of course we enjoyed refreshments! Fresh draught Oktoberfest beer (Spaten, I think) for me and soft pretzels for the kids. Yummy!All in all we had a great day on Saturday. I hope the weather cooperates in future years so that we can return to Oktoberfest. And I am hopeful that the kids will even agree to participate in the running event again!

Boosterthon

Amelia and John's elementary school held their "Boosterthon" fundraiser last week. Boosterthon was a school-wide event where the kids solicited pledges from friends and family for running laps around a track (e.g., $1 per lap), where the proceeds went to benefit the school's educational programs. Our elementary school has sold products (gift wrap and other tangible items) in the past as a fall fundraiser so the Boosterthon was new this year. As a runner and a mom interested in promoting fitness for youth, I loved the concept behind the Boosterthon!

Amelia and John worked hard to gather pledges over the last two weeks. Thanks to their grandparents, Scott and I, and the Sommers family, they raised over $300 for their elementary school! The capstone for the fundraiser was the run itself, which was held on Thursday of this past week. The Boosterthon personnel (wearing the red shirts below) set up lap tracks (1/16 of a mile) on the main playgrounds of the school. Each grade was invited out for one hour to run as many laps as possible during that time period. The Boosterthon people provided music and games and challenges during the event, and so many parents came out to cheer on their runners that this ended up being a big and fun event for our community!

Below the kindergarteners are warming up before the run.

John is playing with his friend Reid before the event and not paying a bit of attention to the fun guy with the microphone...
Ready for the start!
John running hard on the course!

Later in the morning it was Amelia's turn. Amelia is in the photo below towards the back with the red headband around her face (the headband was a prize awarded to her class for logging the most pledges during a one-night challenge period).

Here you can see the documentation process. Each kid wore a Boosterthon t-shirt that had pre-printed lap markers on the back. As the kids completed a lap, they passed through the checkpoint and the dads used a Sharpie marker to cross off that lap number on the kid's back, thus keeping track of each runner individually.

The P.E. coaches signed each kids' shirt at the end of the running period to congratulate them all on a job well done! Amelia and John each ran the maximum number of laps permitted - 35! (35 laps at 1/16 of a mile each = more than 2 miles!)
Amelia was so proud of her completed shirt!

After all of the running the classes posed for photos. Below is John's class, where John is in the middle row, fourth from the left.

Amelia's class posed for serious photos first, and then progressed to silly photos. Amelia is in the bottom row, farthest to the right.What a fun day for U.P. Elementary! So proud of my kids!

Eccentric John

John loves to push my buttons. And one way he does this frequently is by REFUSING to smile or focus when I want to take photos of him. He can either be really crazy with the facial expresions, as in the shot below where I was trying to capture his attire for his first school spirit day.
Or he can give me the blank stare, where he refuses to act similarly to the moment when I first decided a photo was in order.

The photo above is from tonight when John was rocking out to my running music on the ipod. Amelia was finishing her homework after dinner on the computer in the living room. Because she was out in the common area (the computer stays out here while she is on it), I told John he had to engage in an activity alone and be completely quiet. The only thing that was quiet enough was listening to music with the headphones. I don't know how he figured out how to operate the touch screens, but he kept asking me to scroll to his favorite songs on the playlist. He replaced my earbuds with his large over the ear headphones, and is not wearing a shirt because these are his pajamas and John doesn't believe in wearing a shirt to bed.

And yes, I know that those are some of the ugliest boxers on the planet. Bright red Star Wars Lego boxers, baby, and John is CRAZY about them.

Last photos from Jackson Hole

It's been two weeks since we returned home and I am still reminiscing about our vacation in Jackson Hole. Can you tell that I wish we could have stayed out west longer?

Below are a few photos that I wanted to share that didn't make it into any of the other posts.

First, Amelia and John with the elk arches in the town square. The square has one arch on each corner of the square...four total. That's a lot of elk antlers!

The photo below was taken just before the Jackson Hole rodeo. The kids had been to a rodeo in Forth Worth several years ago but I don't think they knew what to expect from this. We all enjoyed watching the cowboys rope and run the horses and cows. We saw cow roping, horse and bull bucking contests, barrel racing, and sheep bucking (the kids were the cowboys with the sheep bucking!).Our most notable wildlife viewing during this trip was seeing a mother and baby moose. The animals were less than 30 feet from us along the side of the road. Seeing the animals must have made quite an impression because Amelia wrote about them in her writing journal at school this week.We also went on the alpine slide in town.
This year, for the first time, Amelia rode on her own and I shared a slide with John. Thankfully Scott avoided crashing his slide this year so intense medical intervetion was not needed.
And on our last day in Jackson Hole we took the kids mini-golfing with grandma and grandpop. Where else in the world can you engage in miniature golfing underneath active chairlifts (which are taking passengers up the mountain to the alpine slide) on the side of a mountain?It was fitting that we spent our last night at the Snake River Brewery! We drank and ate at Snake River three of the seven nights we were in Wyoming and we never grew tired of it. We love the atmosphere of the restaurant, the fresh beer, and the yummy food.

I am crossing our fingers that we have an excuse to return to Jackson Hole next year! We had originally planned to spend a huge chunk of our vacation money this year taking the kids to Disney (they've never been there!) at Thanksgiving, but late in the game we decided that a week in the mountains sounded like a better fit for our family.

I am SO happy with our decision! Love the awesome week in Jackson Hole and am still cherishing the memories.

A fresh start

Today is September 1st, time for a fresh start as this new month begins. While I could definitely apply the idea of a new beginning to several different areas of my life, specifically I am thinking of its relevance to exercise - and particularly to running.


Ever since I came back from China in June I have been experiencing symptoms of plantar fasciitis in my right foot. Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the tissue that connects the heel bone with the underside of the foot towards the toes. The pain is most acute first thing in the morning after the foot has been in a rest position overnight, but usually the pain gets gradually weaker and then disappears during the day as the foot moves around with normal activity.


Back in June when this first started I ignored the tenderness in my foot for several weeks and I continued running and exercising as usual. I was considering training for a fall marathon, or at least a couple of half marathons, and I wanted to up my mileage. I don't know exactly what I was thinking, but I thought the heel thing would go away easily without intervention. Since the pain disappeared as the day went on, I guess I figured that running was actually helping the problem. It wasn't until one day when I stood up from my desk at work, after three days in a row of running including some challenging speed workouts, and I had trouble walking out of my office without wincing, that I realized that maybe I needed to address this heel pain issue. I had no idea what it was at the time.


After describing my symptoms to a colleague at work who is an amazing athlete and long-time runner, she immediately suggested that this was plantar fasciitis. She had experienced this a few years ago and she shared with me how she had treated it. Scott had actually experienced something similar earlier this year, though I didn't connect that this was the same thing since he is not a runner and his issue seemed more short-lived. I read as much as I could take about plantar fasciitis on the internet and determined that the most important thing I should do would be to take a break from running. I also learned that I could try sleeping in a night splint, stretching my foot and calves, icing the area, and wearing more supportive shoes. I was not excited about any of this, particularly the no running part.

But I stopped running and replaced this with time on the stairmaster and stationary bike. I was diligent about this and climbed stairs like it was my job, but I definitely didn't have the best attitude. I got bored with the these machines and used the rest of my exercise period to spend more time lifting weights. All the time I was telling myself that a little exercise diversification and cross-training was going to be great for my body and that I was doing the right thing. I wore the night splint a few times, but then gave it up because I thought it was uncomfortable, and never got around to stretching or icing. I was frustrated and cranky. I didn't realize how much I relied on running endorphins to feel healthy and satisfied.

So after two weeks of this no running/stair climbing/bike regimen I had to travel to Colorado for work. The temperature was in the 60s in the morning there, PERFECT for running. So I thought since I had given it up for a few weeks it would be safe to try again, plus my foot felt better than before, though it was still sore. I was so excited to get back to a more normal routine!

Well, after two days of running (about 4 miles each day, probably too much in retrospect) my foot felt sore again. Ugh, not what I had expected. But with our vacation to Jackson Hole looming the next week (a time when I knew I would not have much time to run), I decided to try another two week running break. Back to the stairmaster and weights at home, and then in Jackson Hole we went on a few hikes and rode bikes. Still no running. But I was more diligent about wearing the night splint, which I noticed was helping more than I thought, and I started stretching too.

So here we are and this week I decided it's time for a fresh start! It has been more than a month since I have paid attention to the issue. At this point the pain I feel in my heel and foot is minimal, usually a little tenderness in the morning and then I barely notice it, if at all, during the day. I don't wince when I stand up and I can walk normally. For now my plan is to slowly incorporate some running into my weekly exercise regime, while continuing to emphasize cross-training, stretching, and wearing the night splint. I walked/ran the 3 miles round-trip to the gym yesterday morning for the first time in a month, stepped/biked/lifted weights when I got there, and then stretched and iced my foot when I got back home, and today my foot feels normal. Well, almost normal in the sense that I still know the right foot is different from the left, but the right one is not in pain like it was after running a month ago. So I am optimistic that slowly reincorporating running back to my routine is the way to go, plus paying attention to my body and diversifying treatment with stretching, icing, and the night splint.

What have I learned form this? Well, first that having patience is an important part of recovering from an injury, and that patience is something that definitely does not come easily for me. I probably already knew that last part, but this experience has brought that point home in a big way. I have also realized just how much I NEED to run, how much my daily mood depends on it. This is not necessarily a good thing, but in being honest with myself I have to admit this. So since I know that it is super challenging and frustrating for me to eliminate running altogether, I know that I need to be more realistic about what I can and need to do at this point so that I can continue to run. I haven't registered for any of my targeted races yet as I don't want to pressure myself into too much too soon, but I am hopeful that with a smart recovery plan I will be at the start line in a couple of months. Maybe I won't be as fast as before, and maybe it will take much longer to rebuild my endurance, but hopefully I can still feel joyful through running.