bartobreezy

We've Moved!

2011-12-30T09:14:00.000-05:00

Check us out at

bartobreezy.koompa.net

Christmas Pics

2011-12-28T16:03:00.000-05:00

New images in the "Christmas 2011" set and the photostream.

Happy Winter!

2011-12-21T09:15:00.003-05:00

Its Dec 21 and that means..... its the shortest day of the year! Up here in the north country that means that we have 9 hours, 2 minutes and 8 seconds of sunlight! Its the same for tomorrow too, but then we are on the upswing. Come January 1 we will have gained over 4 minutes with 9 hours, 6 minutes and 10 seconds! I won't mention that our sun is not rising until 8:10am now. That is quite a few runs in the dark under the stars. Also, it is our lowest solar noon, with sun only at 23.9 degrees above the horizon. We turn the corner Dec 26 when we hit 24.0 once again. Woot! Ah, the days of summer when we are at 70+ degrees above the horizon! But today its getting up to 40F. I know that January is looking to start off very cold (according to the extended forecast) so i will take these mild winter days with a smile.

Recital

2011-12-18T07:35:00.000-05:00

Here's a video of Bee and Frankie's first recital on Saturday at the MSU Community Music School. Lots of family were there and the girls did great! Thanks to Kawai Chan for her excellent job with the girls.

Also, feel free to add these MP3 versions to your playlists:

Jingle Bells (Frankie)
Happy Song (Frankie and Kawai Chan)
Waltz (Barbara)
Good King Wenceslas (Barbara)
Duet (Barbara and Frankie)

Made to Spokane and beyond!

2011-12-04T12:42:00.006-05:00

We made it to Spokane!! 2011 miles for the year 2011!!!!!! I hope you have enjoyed running across the country with us! We need to think up another fun running route for next year!

We hit spokane in the middle of the month and kept on running! We're thinking that Seattle might be possible (2285 miles) but the coast is probably just a bit out of reach (Ocean Shores, what looks to be the closest coastal town is 2387 miles). We've actually gone 2134 miles since January 1, which puts us in Quincy, Washington! This is super exciting because believe it or not, Quincy Washington was name after.... Quincy Illinois (where my sister lives)!!!! Why? I do not know. I cannot seem to figure that one out!

1923 and counting!

2011-11-03T16:56:00.002-04:00

We ran another 132 miles in October, which in real life included a lil' 26.2 jaunt around Chicago on a warm sunny day... But the more important news is that we are 5 miles past the Montana - Idaho border! Woot! We have been running in Montana since JULY! Running 6 miles on October 31 did the trick though. Nothing against Montana, but we needed to get out!

We've made it nearly to Wallace, Idaho. We were hoping to find some of those Idaho potatoes on time for Thanksgiving. Instead what we found is the "Silver capital of the world!" And, would you believe it, according to the city's web page the entire town is on the national historic register!

Ok, so we have 1923 miles down and only 88 miles to go!!! I'm thinking we could conceivably be in Spokane by Thanksgiving! We are sure that Cho Cho has already made it to the west coast, as some days she runs with both of us.

Canine Cruise [Updated]

2011-10-31T07:03:00.000-04:00

Update: video here.

Angie & Chocho ran the Canine Cruise 5k yesterday on campus, and while it was a little chilly, the girls and I cheered them on. It was a fun event because the people and dogs dressed in their holloween costumes. Here's Angie as the Wicked Witch of the West and Chocho as her Winged Monkey.

Posing just before the start of the race. Note Chocho's black monkey tail!

You have to use your imagination for the wings, but Choch's costume comes complete with black monkey tail, and though you can't see it in the photo, angie has green face makeup on. They not only came in second place overall for person+dog, They also won the award for best costume. Yay!

On the trail at Woldumar.

Later in the day, we went for a walk at Woldumar Nature Center. The photo above was just too cute not to share.

Update: Angie and Choch made the State News! See the video here, or click on the image below.

sideways rain

2011-10-19T19:30:00.003-04:00

We had sideways rain all day. So I guess I shouldnt have been surprised when got home and saw this. Poor lil tree. Cho had some fun sniffing all around it, but lost a good squirrel viewing spot from the sideroom. Accuweather was calling the storm "Freshwater Fury". Almost as good as a birthday blizzard I guess!

Cho's got a bee on her butt!

2011-10-16T10:25:00.003-04:00

Good thing it was a cool michigan morning... the Bee was moving pretty slow!

Walk to school day

2011-10-10T06:33:00.001-04:00

The girls walk or ride their bikes to school just about everyday. But, last week was a special "walk to school" day where the students and teachers congregated at the Hannah community center and walked the mile or so to school together. Sparty was hanging out with Bee's class during the warm up exercises!

Almost to Missoula!

2011-10-02T08:33:00.007-04:00

Montana is a loooooooooong state! We've been here since sometime in July! And given that we have about 120 more miles of MT we probably will still be here come Nov 1!

September was a fun running month! We kicked it off running 26.2 in Marquette! We logged 191.5 miles for the month putting us at 1791 for the year. Only 220 miles to go to Spokane! Seems within each, but after the Chicago marathon next weekend we both plan a week off of running, then easing back in an easy routine to round out of the year. So, its going to be close! But it actually seems do-able now.

I think the exciting part of this stretch is that we passed over the continental divide! We are in Lolo National Forest, where the bears are plentiful. Maybe that will help us to run faster in Chicago!

Girl

2011-09-25T15:39:00.001-04:00

Frankie and her friend Kate made this "girl" out of an old 2x4

2011-09-23T12:24:00.003-04:00

Bee and Frankie made their own home made pinatas. It was nothing fancy. They just decorated paper bags then filled it with some candy and dog treats. You can see that Cho Cho appreciated the dog treats! Oh can also see that after many missed attempts, Bee pulled the scarf around her eyes off!

Really?

2011-09-22T09:19:00.003-04:00

Unbelievable! This is what i read in the New York Times this morning:

BERLIN — Now added to the list of banned performance-enhancing substances for female distance runners: men. The world governing body for track and field [IAAF] decided in late August that records in women’s road racing will count only if they are set in women’s-only events

Beech St Bulldogs

2011-09-19T08:51:00.002-04:00

The Beech Street Bulldogs fight to the finish. Bee and Frankie easily handed Cho her first loss this weekend in a tough fought victory. Poor Cho. Too many squirrels around to stay focused on the game.

3 Great Lakes, 1 weekend

2011-09-06T16:22:00.000-04:00

Over labor day, we had the chance to stick our toes in three Great Lakes in one weekend. Here's the proof...

Lake Superior (Presqe Isle Park, Marquette)

Lake Michigan (Near Manistique)

Lake Huron (Michilimackinac Park, Mackinaw City)

Its Sept 1!

2011-09-01T07:25:00.005-04:00

It is Sept 1 and that means alot of things!

*School starts! We will have a big 3rd and 1st grader this year!
*MSU students are back - so watch out for those crazy college kids!
*Football season starts (Go Irish!)!
*The Marquette marathon is here (yah!) and we will also get to dip our feet into Lake Superior, the only Great Lake that we haven't been to as a family!
*And we can post our monthly progress towards our run to Spokane!

August was a fun running month, giving us another 198 miles. This is probably our last high mileage month of the year with the Marquette and Chicago marathons around the corner. We are also at 1599 miles on the year!! 412 to go! We are just 4 miles shy of Bozeman Montana! August just saw lots of miles around east lansing/lansing. The flooding took out the river trail for a while, but beautiful running on the northern tier trail and through the hay fields made up for that! Being morning runners we certainly notice the differences in morning sunrise and temps. We started the month with the sun creeping over the horizon at 6am (sunrise at 6:30), and now it does not creep over till much closer to 7 (with sunrise officially at 7:03). That means some change up in running routes. However the trade off is OK as morning temps are around 52, which is perfect running weather. Got to love September!

Our route took us from Hysham to Bozeman. We passed through Billings, MT along the way. We had to laugh when we saw that the marathon this weekend should give us the mileage to get to through Bozeman and onto Manhattan, MT of all places. Not the Manhattan we are used to, but not a bad place to hang out for a week as we find our legs again. Had to laugh at the town's home page, as they feature "their skyline". We've actually never been in Montana in real life and would like to trek through one day - maybe next summer.

Wedding Dance

2011-08-27T23:12:00.004-04:00

Frankie made a very cute cut-out drawing of our wedding,

and this inspired me to make a very silly movie

Lets go fly a kite!

2011-08-23T05:50:00.004-04:00

Lets go fly a kite
Up to the highest height
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

The girls love to sing this song. haha. Here we are at the park this weekend. It was not too windy, so you had to keep running to keep the kites up, but we sure had fun! The one of Frankie is in the backyard. She got up early yesterday and immediately ran outside in her nightgown to the backyard to fly her kite again! Sorry its blurry - she was moving too fast!

The Eyeball Plant

2011-08-22T07:19:00.003-04:00

We were at the children's garden on Saturday and the Eyeball Plants (Acmella oleracea) were in fantastic bloom! They are also known as the "toothache" plant because if you eat the flower, it is a natural analgesic. It also causes the production of excess saliva. Scott thought that they looked delicious, so he ate one. He had a fun time spitting all of that saliva! The flower is supposed to also have some antifungal and antibacterial qualities. Scott said it kind of tingled.

Sack races!

2011-08-18T20:13:00.002-04:00

We had such a fun time yesterday having sack races at hannah center field. Im not sure what inspired it, but we grabbed a bunch of pillow cases and headed over on a cool michigan summer evening. No one was at the field, so we had it all to ourselves. We laughed so hard trying to get up after falling. Im only posting pictures of Bee and Frankie!!

lost a tooth!

2011-08-15T08:22:00.004-04:00

Frankie lost her first baby tooth! The excitement kept building all week as it got wigglier and wigglier. We tried tying a string to it to attach it to a door knob. Frankie wanted to go through with it, but Bee stopped her as she thought it would hurt too much. Frankie must have eaten 10 applies to get that thing to come out. Funny thing is that it fell out this morning while eating cream of wheat.

Here are a few pictures from this morning and also from earlier in the week when frankie was eating apples trying to get the tooth to come out, and, of course, Bee offering advice on just how to wiggle the tooth!

Fun swimming

2011-08-08T05:35:00.002-04:00

We went to the outdoor aquatic center in east lansing. they have a diving pool in the deep end and Bee and Frankie had a ton of fun doing silly jumps off of it!

Play ball!

2011-08-06T11:05:00.001-04:00

We went to the Lugnuts baseball game last night. They are the minor league team here in lansing. Bee brought her mitt to try to catch a foul ball. Doesn't she look cute?

FSBO

2011-08-06T09:48:00.001-04:00

For sale by owner. East Lansing Schools, that is. Seriously. OK maybe its just a few buildings and not the whole district. But when a district like East Lansing can't make ends meet, you know there is something serious going on with education funding. The cuts to funding might be more stomach-able if they were fair. But, with the debt-ceiling deal struck over the weekend that cuts spending without raising revenues, one has to question how fair it really is.

I read in the New York Times on Thursday that “If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?” This was a quote in an article about sales of luxury goods that further stated: "Even with the economy in a funk and many Americans pulling back on spending, the rich are again buying designer clothing, luxury cars and about anything that catches their fancy. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price..."

Seriously, who notices? How many pairs of designer shoes does it take to support a child in public school? If the expenditure per pupil in East Lansing schools is $5,749, then 6.7 pairs of shoes.

Pony rides

2011-08-05T05:40:00.003-04:00

We went for Pony rides at the zoo last friday! We also saw three American Bald Eagles at the zoo. These were the first we had ever seen in real life. They are at the zoo because they cannot fly due to wing injuries.

Dairy Day!

2011-08-03T10:06:00.003-04:00

One of the great things about working at a land grant institution are the animals! We love to go feed the horses and to visit the cows! And, of course, there is nothing like Dairy Day! On Dairy Day you get the chance to milk the cows, pet the calfs, ride the big tractors, and stick your hand inside a cow's stomach. The poor cow - it actually did not seem to mind. It kept on eating its hay. But still i felt kind of bad. Frankie said it "felt grosser than it looked"!

Hysham, MT

2011-08-02T20:22:00.004-04:00

So we have been pathetic in keeping up here and will try better this month! In any case, we will kick off the month by reporting our progress on route to Spokane. We got in another 227 miles in July (1392 miles on the year), allowing us to cross over from North Dakota into Montana! Our current stop is Hysham, MT.

July running was pretty fun, and we even got some hills in. While not as big as the hills in Montana, we ran all around Norwood Michigan during our vacation, giving new meaning to gently rolling hills. But any run followed by a dip in the cool waters of Lake Michigan is worth it (at least says Cho Cho would took several dips in the lake en route!).

Hysham, MT is a pretty small town - only 91 families according to the town's website, so i think we will keep running! Actually it would be nice to visit one day. Here are some pictures of Hysham:

This is us, July 3, 2011

2011-07-05T11:18:00.000-04:00

Crossroads of the North American Continent!

2011-07-01T19:57:00.004-04:00

I used to think that the crossroads of America was Indiana, but our running for June has landed us in Belfield, ND. According to their Chamber of Commerce, Belfield, North Dakota is “the crossroads of the North American continent.” I guess there is a difference between the crossroads of America and the crossroads of the American continent! Belfield is situated on the banks of the Heart River, and it is halfway between New York City and Seattle, Washington. It is also on US 85, "the only intercontinental highway that extends from Alaska to Mexico City, Mexico." As they say, "You are truly at the crossroads of America. The Gateway City to the West."

We are still about 45 miles shy of the Montana border! Montana will be a looooooong state! North Dakota has been pretty long - about 352 miles or so. Montana looks to be about 650 miles. Hope to get there in mid October!

Happy Summer!

2011-06-21T08:36:00.002-04:00

How you are celebrating the first day of summer? Cho Cho wants to know!

Ready, Set.....

2011-06-14T20:17:00.002-04:00

Ready, set, flap your wings! We were for sure these birdies were going to fledge today! Instead they just kept teasing us by practicing flapping their wings and pecking at insects on the deck awning!

any day now!

2011-06-13T11:58:00.005-04:00

We were watching the blue jays this morning and two of the babies were stretching their wings, flapping them at the edge of the nest. Their wings were blue and white. The other three babies are still more gray and fuzzy so they look to be a few days behind. Here they are awake with Mama. The one of the right is gray and fuzzy, but the tall one in the back is one of the two that look ready to fledge (in my complete nonexpert opinion)! And, also here Ms. Cho standing guard (the nest is on top of the light near the wind chimes). Also, a few more views of the brood!

Feed me!

2011-06-10T11:05:00.005-04:00

The baby blue jays are growing up fast, and their parents are becoming super protective. Speedracer is going to go out in full armor (bike helmet, lab safety goggles, etc.) to get some better footage. If you come even within 5 feet mama or papa will buzz you! We read that blue jay babies fledge at about 21 days but that time period can be longer if the brood is large (we have 5) and if weather/feeding conditions are not good. The babies on our deck hatched on May 30th, so they are about 12 days old now. We have been putting some whole peanuts with shells out on the deck that the mama and papa seem to like. Cho Cho really does keep watch. Click on the arrows in the right hand corner to get a full screen view (it is a little blurry - sorry!).

The Three S's

2011-06-07T04:48:00.004-04:00

Spit
Suck
Strut

This is what Genna & Bee taught us yesterday on our nature walk, here in Winchester. We found a honey suckle vine, and decided to taste the drops of honey. Bee & Genna really liked this, and must have picked about a hundred of them, and perfected the technique. First you bite off and spit out the little green part. Then you suck the drop of honey. Then you strut your goodness. The technique was enjoyed by all!

We've got birdies

2011-06-01T18:31:00.009-04:00

All five eggs hatched over the weekend, and we've got the evidence here. First is a movie shot when four of the five eggs had hatched.

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The next day we tried again and the last egg had hatched.

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Papa bird didn't get too far away from me while I was shooting movies...

Jamestown, ND

2011-06-01T05:48:00.001-04:00

We made it to Jamestown, North Dakota, or actually a few miles west of it. So glad to be done with Minnesota! May saw 155 miles of running through lots of rain and warmer temps. For Speedracer it meant running in Canada while for me i got a few miles down in the desert. That gives us 987 miles on the year. Just 18.5 away to the halfway mark! Of course the highlight of those 155 miles were the 26.2 we ran in Traverse City this past weekend. We highly recommend the Bayshore marathon to anyone interested. It is incredibly scenic, small, and very well organized. Water and gatorade station about every 1.5 miles, kind volunteers, and all around goodness. Today (June 1) is also National Running Day! So get those shoes on and get out there, even if just for a short bit. It's kind of exciting to have the first post marathon run be on national running day. It will be a short 4 miler for sure as we'e both still a bit sore, but nice nonetheless.

New neighbors

2011-05-14T11:52:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we discovered that a bluejay family had moved in under the eaves on our back deck. Makes for some fun pictures, like these:

We probably won't get as involved as this page, but it should be fun to watch.

First communion

2011-05-08T15:36:00.001-04:00

Bee made her first communion yesterday! The weather was lovely and so was Bee!

It's May! 30 miles to go...

2011-05-01T06:16:00.000-04:00

30 more miles to Fargo, ND, that is! Geesh this state of Minnesota is wide! We should hit Fargo by Friday or Saturday. We had a banner month in the thick of marathon training. A couple of 10-20 mile pairs made up over 25% of that mileage. That makes a new monthly high of 229 miles, and a total of 832.5 miles on the year. It was a crazy running month, with snow, ice and rain runs, as well as running in shorts (make that a 20 mile run in 85 degrees for speedracer), running in many states, and slowly but surely running after sunrise (today the sun was up before 6!).

can someone build us an ark?

2011-04-27T08:58:00.004-04:00

Nice soggy run this morning... but hey we are getting closer and closer to Spokane. Ok seriously, this is the rainiest/snowiest spring on record. We should not complain though because as Frankie and Bee keep saying, April showers bring May flowers! and, we haven't had the severe storms seen elsewhere. But weather is fun to talk about.

It is April 27th. Guess how many days during the month of april it has precipitated (rain or snow)?

a. <10
b. 11-15
c. 16-20
d. 21-25
e. 26-27

April 18th...

2011-04-18T08:09:00.001-04:00

From the National Weather Service:

... Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until noon EDT
today...

* Visibility below one quarter mile at times.

* Rapidly changing conditions.

Hazardous weather...

* at 750 am snow covered much of the advisory area. Heavier snow
was moving through Lansing Kalamazoo and South Haven. Reduced
speeds have been noted on many of the highways. The snow will
taper off from west to east by 10 am.

* Snowfall rates around an inch per hour are possible between
8 am and 10 am.

* Total accumulations 3 to 5 inches by noon.

Blast from the Past: Bee Sings

2011-04-17T21:19:00.002-04:00

Found this one buried on the ol' disk drive...

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Minneapolis, MN

2011-04-06T19:06:00.006-04:00

Well, April has been a busy month so we forgot to post on our progress last week. So, we will update you for April 6th! We have run 654 miles on the year, which means we are just past Minneapolis, MN!! Got hit with a few spring snow/ice storms, but nothing too bad. Still on the lookout for spring flower! We're hoping to reach Fargo by May! Only 1357 miles to go!

Frankie's Fools

2011-04-02T14:09:00.006-04:00

Bee the cartoonist

2011-04-02T12:28:00.004-04:00

Click the image for a larger version.

2011-03-19T15:41:00.001-04:00

March weather

2011-03-06T11:32:00.002-05:00

With the new snow fall yesterday we were wondering if we might have another record breaking month of snow. After looking up the weather history for lansing, we sure hope we do not come close! (and while the belated birthday and groundhogs day blizzards of february were fun... we are not hoping for a st. patty's day blizzard as they had in 1973. I guess it could be fun). We threw in a few extra tidbits of info, mainly to remind ourselves that March in mid-michigan can also be warm and sunny!

Lansing weather history (complements of www.crh.noaa.gov)

3/1/1882
March comes in like a lamb with high temperatures in the 60s. Lansing hits 64 degrees, and goes on to reach 66 degrees the next day. This continued the warmth from the previous month, which was the warmest February on record at Lansing.

3/3/1943
Arctic air dominates the first ten days of the month. Record cold temperatures this morning include the 10 below zero in Lansing.

3/4/1912
Subzero cold continues during one of the coldest months of March on record across Lower Michigan. Muskegon sets a record low of 2 below zero on this morning, during a spell of five straight days below zero.

3/5/1976
Thunderstorms move over cold air near the ground to produce one of the worst ice storms in history across Wisconsin and Lower Michigan. From 2 to 5 inches of ice builds up on trees and power lines, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people without power, some for as long as ten days.

3/7/1999
Arctic air and several inches of fresh snow on the ground combine to drop temperatures to a record low of 13 below zero at Lansing.

3/17/1973
A record snowstorm dumps over a foot of snow across southern Lower Michigan. Lansing has a record 16.5 inches.

3/19/1885
Lansing falls to 11 below zero during a string of eight straight days with low temperatures below zero. It is the coldest March on record there.

3/22/1938
Temperatures soar into the 80s during one of the warmest March days in Lower Michigan. Lansing sets a record for the date of 81 degrees.

3/26/1934
A record snowstorm began across southeast Lower Michigan with around a foot of snow falling in Lansing.

3/31/1923
March goes out like a cold lion with record lows in the single numbers and lake effect snow showers.

Joke o' the day

2011-03-05T07:31:00.004-05:00

What do you call twin brothers?

A son set.

HA!

the tulips are blooming!

2011-03-04T08:26:00.001-05:00

Indoors!

Middle of Wisconsin

2011-03-02T05:21:00.004-05:00

So, we ran another 193 miles in February, allowing us to pass through Chicago, Rockford, IL over the border into Wisconsin and a just a bit north of Madison. This gives us a total of 379 for the year (only 1632 more miles to go!). It's been a cold and snowy jaunt, and we're looking forward to some spring time running!

snowiest february

2011-02-26T07:10:00.004-05:00

It's official. It is the snowiest February in Lansing in the history of time, or at least since they started keeping records. And its not even over! And the previous snowiest february was a leap year. Some one please call old man winter and tell him to start moving on.

Im taking predictions on when we will see the first crocuses (in bloom). As a matter of historical record for our yard:
2010: March 15
2009: March 23
2008: no records kept

Its the 100th day of school!

2011-02-23T05:50:00.004-05:00

Here are all of the faces that made it into Bee's project. She made 100 magnets from the pictures. Bee was really creative, deciding early on that animal and pumpkin faces counted, too! Thanks to those of you shared pictures!!

100 silly faces

2011-02-21T19:05:00.004-05:00

OK, i need to set up a slide show of the 100 faces Bee chose for her school project. But, for now, here is a snapshot of some of the faces. She printed them out (about 20/page), cut them up individually and glued them to magnets. So, now she has 100 silly face magnets!

Who's the real winner?

2011-02-18T11:31:00.003-05:00

Below are two pictures of Brittanies. One of these dogs won Best in Breed at this year's Westminster Dog Show. One of them is Cho Cho. Can you tell which is which?

Happy Birthday Scott!!!

2011-02-17T10:16:00.003-05:00

We love you!!!!

100 silly faces

2011-02-05T07:04:00.008-05:00

So, the 100th day of school is coming up and both girls have to bring in 100 things... Whoever thought of this idea, and why has it become so popular? After some consternation, Bee came up a great idea. She wants to bring in 100 pictures of silly faces from her extended family. Well, we have about 20 so far (thanks Mom!) ... if you want to be part of the montage of silly faces, send them to us. We would LOVE to have them.

broke the 10 hour mark!

2011-02-04T10:41:00.003-05:00

In sunlight that is! We are up to 10hrs and 5 minutes of sunlight and gaining sun fast - close to 2.5 minutes a day! And, what is more, we are now closer (by a day or so) to the spring equinox. The “cross quarter day” was yesterday, Feb 4, which is based on the time at which the Earth reaches that point in its orbit which is exactly midway between its positions at the solstice and the subsequent equinox. I guess that is probably why Ground Hogs day is Feb 2. You all probably thought of that before. Me? it only took 42 years to figure that one out. I blame it on having a frozen brain each year at this time of the year.

Running to ....

2011-02-03T05:10:00.001-05:00

We decided we wanted to try to run about 2011 miles in 2011. That is the A goal, and actually more like the pie-in-the-sky goal. Let's say that the B goal is 1600 miles (about what we ran last year) and the C goal is just to run for health and have fun. Well really the C goal is the A goal, too, as it is the most important. In any case, we wanted to make this kind of fun, so we mapped out where in the world 2011 miles would get us! Google maps suggests that we could run to: just past Las Vegas, NV, Spokane, WA, Alberta, Canada or Tampico, MX. Now, Las Vegas or Mexico seems nice and warm... but Spokane just seems like fun. Actually it is exactly 2010 miles from our home to Downriver Park in Spokane, so we will have to run a loop of the park if and when we make it. I think I'm going to add that we can add walking miles too, but for now, just running.

We will post our progress each month, and maybe celebrate some destinations along the way. Maybe we will make it. And maybe we won't. But its going to be fun trying! If you want to track your mileage, if you are running, walking, biking, swimming or any combination thereof, a free on-line site that we really like is: Running Ahead. We keep our mileage there, and it provides monthly and weekly summaries, plus you can input daily information, like pace, distance, maps, and other notes. If you want to join us for some of the journey, we'd love to have you! Just track your mileage!

So, how far did we get in January? To East Dunes Highway in Portage, IN (185 miles). Nice place to be in a blizzard. haha.

puzzle of the day

2011-02-02T15:47:00.006-05:00

Where does Cho Cho end and the snow begin? The ground hogs blizzard was a blast! No school and a good 12-15" of the white stuff. Not quite the "snowmagedon" forecasted, but fun nonetheless!

And a few bonus pictures. Frankie the snow girl, Bee sharing our groundhogs day blizzard heart shaped pancakes, our nature center covered in snow, and fun sliding off the deck in the backyard!

Cake balls, continued

2011-02-01T08:32:00.004-05:00

Now that nearly a third of the nation is ensnared by the groundhogs storm (whether it be rain, ice, snow or a mix), its time to spice it up. Do you want to make cake balls? They are really hit of the east lansing elementary students! Bee learned how to make them in second grade and she brought the recipe home to us. So here goes.

First, you pick your favorite cake recipe and make a cake. We like a variation of the very simple Hershey's especially dark cake recipe I posted below. For whatever it is worth, I only add 2/3 cup boiling hot water instead of 1 cup (sometimes a speck less, depends on consistency). It makes the cake a bit denser, which i like. I also sometimes replace 1/2 c. butter for the oil (I know, how wicked), and when i do, i cream the sugar and butter first, then add eggs and vanilla. Then alternate adding 1/2 c. of the mixed up dry ingredients with adding 1/4 c. milk until both are all added. (Oh usually i add a little more than 3/4 c. chocolate and reduce the flour appropriately). Then slowly add the hot water.

Then, once your cake is baked and cooled, you plop it into a bowl or big plate, and mush it up (with your hands - that is the fun part!) with your favorite frosting (see one recipe below). Once it is all good and mushed, you roll it into balls, and for fun you can roll them in sprinkles or powdered sugar for decoration!

ESPECIALLY DARK" CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

ESPECIALLY DARK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter, Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting. And our variation: If you want to be really sinful, add a cup of chocolate chips to the melted butter along with the cocoa and mix till melted.

How are you getting ready for your ground hogs day blizzard?

2011-01-30T17:04:00.004-05:00

So the "ground hogs day blizzard" is supposed to produce over a foot of snow tuesday in mid-michigan (which according to scott's calculation really means 3"-6" or so of the white stuff). Still, a ground hogs day blizzard just sounds exciting. I mean, there is no possible way the ground hog can see her shadow is there??? By my calculations that means less than 6 weeks left of winter!

It's taken till just about february to get a real blizzard (or at least an official weather service blizzard watch). Enough of this 2" of snow a day! Personally, I'd rather have all of the snow in one big dump rather than spread out.

Anyhow, we read that the blizzard is widespread and is going to impact much of the bartobreezy readership area (yes, all 5 of you!). So, how are you preparing? We followed Bee and Frankie's suggestions and made cake balls today. That should help us to weather the storm. The blizzard isn't here yet, and maybe we won't even get it, but we have our cake balls!

surgery

2011-01-30T09:53:00.002-05:00

Poor Molly had to undergo emergency surgery. I bet you can guess why!

21:25

2011-01-14T12:41:00.003-05:00

21:25 is the amount of sunlight we have gained since the winter solstice. A decent 5k time. Would it surprise you if i told you our 5 day extended forecast called for 24F and 40% change of snow each and every day, except tomorrow, which is set at 70% chance. In other news i think the Davises are winning the pushup challenge. I shall now drop to my office floor and do 10.

I would report on the new & cool dishes we're having for supper but we are eating the same old bean soup, pasta, and heuvos rancheros with a little sushi & pizza thrown in for fun.

Cho Cho goes to school!

2011-01-12T05:45:00.002-05:00

For sharing this week, Bee decided that she would like to share Cho Cho with her class, and demonstrate some of the tricks that Cho Cho can do. We thought this was a great idea because Bee loves to play with Cho Cho and she can get her sit, stay, down, jump, shake, and more! So, here is Cho Cho at school!

11111

2011-01-11T08:41:00.001-05:00

Bee wanted me to remind everyone that today is 1-11-11 and that the windchill here is 11. Have a great 11111 day!

Week 1 = weak one?

2011-01-10T05:33:00.003-05:00

OK, just kidding on the title but seriously this push up challenge is hard! We've decided to do 2 things: 1.) repeat week 1 until we can get a solid complete days worth of push ups done with decent form; and b.) revise the plan so that there are more than 90 seconds between sets. Something like a few hours will do. Ha Ha. Pathetic? Maybe. But much more reasonable. We will still get there, it just may take till Christmas! Slow and steady wins the race....

Snowbow

2011-01-08T11:25:00.005-05:00

This morning we had a snowbow. None of us have ever seen one before so this was extra special. The weather was super cold this morning. At 6am it was 5F and snowing, then by 8am it was 1F and the snow squall gave way to a beautiful sun rise. The snowbow was in the east and more like a line going straight up in the sky. It was beautiful and amazing. It made the crisp winter morning worth it! We didn't have a camera with us, so i found a picture on the internet that captures what it looked liked almost exactly. (Why does not it surprise me that the picture i found was taken in michigan!)

I looked up snowbows and did not find too much information. What i found out is that the snow has to be a particular crystalline shape to allow for the refraction and it has to be very sunny. Its suppose to be pretty rare. Cool.

Latkes

2011-01-07T11:18:00.007-05:00

Frankie learned about latkes (potato pancakes) in her kindergarten class (as part of holiday traditions around the world). Bee thought that they sounded really good. She found a cook book for kids on recipes around the world on the internet, so she printed it out and asked if we could make latkes. We ended up having to use a mix of sweet and white potatoes because that was all we had around the house. I pretty much only supervised the activities (and did the cooking on the stove). Otherwise, the girls did everything by themselves. They were so very proud! Bee decided that the latkes tastes really good with catsup! Frankie and Scott liked them plain. As for me i thought they needed a ton of hot sauce.

From Zefronk's kids around the world cook book...

2 cups shredded potatoes
1/4 onion, grated
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 oil for frying

Directions
In a medium bowl stir the potatoes, onion, eggs, flour and salt together.
In a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick patties. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Let drain on paper towels. Serve hot!

Believe it or not

2011-01-06T19:34:00.003-05:00

Bee was bouncing and apropos to nothing she started saying "Believe or not! Believe it or not!" and this is where my brain went automatically.... Enjoy.

Picking up steam

2011-01-05T09:54:00.003-05:00

We are picking up steam, having gained an entire minute of sun today!! And it only gets better from here. By this time next week we will be gaining 1:30 a day! But, by this time next week we will be entering the coldness abyss, which translates to the 2 coldest weeks in winter for the mid michigan area, according to historical records. I think i stare at that seasonal average temperature chart for minutes on end at this time of the year. So, i guess that explains what i do with my extra minutes of sunlight.

more this and that

2011-01-03T18:46:00.003-05:00

For the foreseeable future, the weather is: high 20-25, 40% change of snow. We must live in mid michigan. Next week it is supposed to get colder, so lets not think about that for now. 155 days left to spring. And what else? today is day 2 of the push up challenge? Y'all with us? This is good entertainment for the winter months up here at the north pole. Seriously, watching us (or youselves) do the family push up challenge is kind of funny. We've decided that form and style doesn't matter until we can get a good solid set of week 1 push ups. Then we can pay more attention to form and style. Any wagers on when that will be? probably next week for scott. Bee and i are aiming for Jan 25, the first day the sun rises before 8am this year. We will slowly add in the artistic score, too.

winter is back + pushups

2011-01-02T11:18:00.006-05:00

So much for the reprieve from winter. It was 12F and a windchill of -3F and snowing when we got up this morning. 8 more weeks, right? Get us to march 1. It might not be warm then but spring will be around the corner. Let the countdown begin. And, we have gotten an additional 48 seconds of sunlight today. Bee is telling me slow and steady wins the race. I guess so.

So, we have decided to the 100 pushup challenge. The goal is to be able to do 100 pushups in a row. You start with a test to see how many you can do, and then you do sets of pushups 3 or 4 days a week based on your fitness level, repeating the weeks that are hard for you. I have a hunch this will take more than 7 weeks for me. Anyhow, Bee and I are starting at level 2. Scott is starting at level 3. Let's just say that Frankie is doing the modified, silly girl, push up challenge. We are going to do pushups as a family! Bring it on! Lets see if we actually make it. Someone please remind me that we said we would do this. Each new year I resolve to do push ups all year long, and I make it about 2 months before I forget I resolved to do that. Gotta remember this year! It's great for the core and the arms. What we should do is take a pic of our arm muscles now and then again this summer when we are doing 100 push ups with ease. haha.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T11:53:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! No better way to ring in the new year than playing with sidewalk chalk in sunny 45 degree weather. Of course it felt like 70 to us. We resisted the temptation to put on shorts! We're not thinking ahead to the cold front rolling in this afternoon. We'll just take the morning for what it is worth. And, we have gained 5 minutes of sunlight since the soltice, although I am looking forward to January 25 when the sun will rise before 8am (7:59 to be exact).

Owen Wilson is...

2010-12-23T19:45:00.007-05:00

Uncle Kevin in Little Fockers:

a few tidbits

2010-12-22T09:36:00.005-05:00

....tomorrow is going to have 5 seconds more sunlight than today, and today already has 2 more seconds, so we are really looking at +7! I'm planning to use those extra seconds to play a short game of fetch with Cho and work on my presumed vitamin D deficiency.
....i was informed by a wise woman in Ohio that i should not fret about missing the lunar eclipse on the winter solstice as there should be another one in 2094. Yes!
....it is pajama day today, the last day of winter camp, which made the morning routine super easy!
....sew your own hello kitty purses for ages 5-8 year olds can be a productive challenge at any age. I'm just saying, at least for the craft-challenged folks out there like myself
....Cho Cho says she would like to use her extra 7 seconds to eat a bone, or two or three as we know how quickly she can eat them bones.

Have a great day!

Winter Solstice is here!

2010-12-21T11:49:00.002-05:00

And that means that tomorrow....
SunRise: 8:05 AM EST
SunSet: 5:07 PM EST
Length of day: 9h 02m 09s

... and that folks is 2 seconds longer than today! Wooohooo!! Let the upwards trend begin!

And while we are at it, we have the lowest solar noon at: 23.9 degrees altitude. But, come boxing day, we will be up to 24.0 degrees! That is a long way off from 70.7 degrees altitude in the summer, but every tenth counts.

Lunar Eclipse!

2010-12-20T18:07:00.002-05:00

Tonight is the first time the first time we have had a full lunar eclipse on the winter solstice since 1638! And the ask from the global volcanic activity is supposed to make the eclipse even more brilliant. According to NASA, the eclipse begins at 1:33 AM EST with totality beginning at 2:41 AM and lasting for 72 minutes. The actual peak is 3:17 AM. Coming home from school today i saw the full moon rise, with a pink and orange rainbow around it. That is bad news. It means the clouds are rolling in. We are supposed to get a few inches of snow overnight, so i guess we will miss our lunar eclipse! If you see it, post a picture for us!

Running in the snow

2010-12-19T07:25:00.002-05:00

Cho Cho and I went running yesterday and she was going crazy sniffing the deer tracks! Here she is running like a crazy dog down the trail! Oh and here she is after the run. haha.

Horse Barn

2010-12-09T05:36:00.003-05:00

We went to feed carrots to the horses yesterday! It was quite chilly, about 12F. They seemed to be doing OK with those cold temps! We took along Cho Cho who ran around the farm like a crazy dog.

Oh, and now wonder Cho Cho has been going crazy lately. She has had a visitor on our door step. We didnt get to see the visitor, just the remains of its meal.

Getting crafty

2010-12-01T05:34:00.002-05:00

Here are Bee and Frankie sewing clothes for their dolls. Bee is sewing a pair of underwear and Frankie is sewing a skirt. Considering I am the one teaching them how to sew, the outfits will be very, very simple! Still, they did a really great job with a needle and thread!! Once the outfits are complete we shall have another fashion show and post pics!!

Team Europe!

2010-11-30T05:28:00.003-05:00

Here is Bee presenting with her group, Team Europe. In the group report she said that Scotland was formed from volcanic activity and that she helped to draw the forests and made the map key. The group was very proud of their poster! Pretty good for second grade!

And then the other night Frankie asked me if I was ready for the fashion show. So I said sure! And i waited to see what she was going to dress up in. I was wrong. She brought me into the kitchen and showed me a bunch of pictures she drew of girls (and one boy) with different outfits. I thought that was cute.

Whats for supper?

2010-11-28T17:37:00.003-05:00

What's for supper? Why is that such a hard question every day? Well, we seem to do variations on pasta, fish and beans every single night. Tonight we having bean soup ("pastavazoo" - or pasta y fagioli), a staple in our family in the colder weather. It was one of my faves as a kid. Its basically, cannellini beans, onions, garlic, tomato, water, and rosemary if you have it fresh. We don't, so no rosemary tonight. However, we love to have the soup with bread and we just so happen to have fresh baked loaf from Scott's sister, Colleen. (thanks!). And of course we will have it with popped broccoli! What else is new! haha. I hope you stop by for supper!

ChoChoVision - WSQRL

2010-11-08T05:40:00.001-05:00

This is how Cho Cho sits at the playground when we play. We call it "chochovision"!

Something spooky

2010-10-24T18:54:00.003-04:00

Bee had to write a story about something spooky for school and so she wrote a story about a ghost. here is the picture she drew to illustrate her story. I had to laugh as it is the sweetest, cutest ghost i have seen in a while!

A nature day

2010-10-24T18:46:00.002-04:00

We had fun with nature today. We found a spider in her web eating a fly!! I hope you can see it in this picture! Then we found an old hornets nest that Frankie is holding in her hand. And then there was the playground and the hike around the fields with Ms. Cho!

today at the park

2010-10-03T18:58:00.000-04:00

nice fall michigan day!

random pics

2010-09-26T20:47:00.002-04:00

Here are a few fun pics. Bee at the ND football game. Frankie and her friend in our backyard by our super huge puffball mushrooms! (they are edible, and people cook them up in olive oil with garlic. not me though!). And Bee with a picture she drew while waiting her turn at the doctors office! And the Cho Cho after going running! And Scott and the girls when we were at Mackinac Island.

1st day of school!

2010-09-07T08:28:00.002-04:00

Frankie has been waiting for this day for over a year! She is a big kindergartner and marble muscrat just like her big sis! Needless to say she woke up at 5:45 and was so excited she could not get back to sleep!! Bring on the school year!

driving up the coast

2010-08-05T20:17:00.016-04:00

After visiting Gyeongju (the old capital of the Shilla Dynasty, 57 BC - 935 AD) on Wednesday we rode up the eastern coast to Mt. Soerak (Seoraksan National Park), which is at the northern tip of South Korea and borders North Korea.

We started off the day at a local bakery to buy some Gyeongju Bang, which are little barley pancakes filled with bean. Delicious.

The drive took us along the East Sea, where we stopped at a beach and put our feet in. The waves splashed a little higher than we thought so we got a bit wet! And, we also stopped a rest area and the girls got an ice cream!

Then we stopped at a local seaside restaurant for some traditional korean soup. We sat on the floor at the little tables. The girls ate the noodles from a noodle soup. While the woman gave the girls a fork to use, they made it through the meal with just the chopsticks. Korean chopsticks are metal and rounded at the bottom, so they took a little getting used to. Im used to the wooden chopsticks that are more square at the bottom. They seem heavier and slipperier. The woman who owns the restaurant went out to her garden and picked fresh tomatoes for us to eat. She also said the girls were "beautiful" and "well behaved". Of course all of this was said in Korean but that is what our friend Miyoun told us she said.

For the most part we took the Asian Highway north, and periodically we would see the signs for Russia & China. Partway through the drive Scott took over as driver, so he is now quite proficient at reading road directions in Korean. haha. Actually we have learned the korean script for a few very important words (men/women - for the bathrooms!). haha.

Gyeongju roadtrip

2010-08-04T23:06:00.001-04:00

What a great day today. We rented bikes at the train station and rode around Gyeonju, checking out the historical relics of the Shilla dynasty, which ruled Korea from here from 57 BC to 935 AD. This was the first major dynasty in Korea, we already checked out the third and last, and we'll get to the second when we get back to Seoul.

Bee rode with Angie on a mini tandem and loved it. Frankie rode on a child seat behind me. Next vacation, we do all-tandem.

The Shilla buried their royalty in pyrimid-like mounds, which are now all over Gyeonju. I figure you've really made it in the "Dead King" category if people are still mowing the lawn on your mound 1000 years after you die.

The best part of the old stuff was the Cheomseongdae astronomical observatory (below). It consists of 366 stones, one for each day of the year, 12 stones at the base, one for each month, and 30 levels, one for each day of the month. Not sure what observations could be done here, but...

Then it was the Children's museum, where B&F (with some help) did some archaeology, by putting together the urn puzzle below. It was especially hard because kids kept trying to touch Frankie's blonde hair the whole time we were doing the puzzle.

For dinner we tried to go to the Terrace, which was just next door to the place we went to the night before. Unfortunately, the Terrace had new owners, and only served dishes containing abalone (!) but the owner directed us to the "Spoon and Chopsticks", a Korean restaurant that definitely did not cater to tourists- no English in sight, but lots of great food.

Bee and Frankie didn't eat as much as we did, so we treated them to Isaac Toast, where they made the grilled cheeses right on the street in front of us...

Waiting for the bus

2010-08-03T06:08:00.009-04:00

We will have lots of other pictures from our adventures today but we thought we would put a few of our bus trip into Gyeongju (where we ended up renting bikes to get all around town). One of the bus stops had a lake with lotus flowers in bloom. It's the big summer lotus flower festival here since this is their peak season.

The bus stop near the train depot was surrounded by lots of sidewalk vendors. We were really impressed with the artistry of the food presentation! There was all kinds of fruits, vegetables, fish and lots of other things!

Gyeongbokgung Palace

2010-08-02T04:24:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was our busiest day yet. We started out by ordering our own breakfast at Tae Geuk Dang bakery down the hill from the hotel. We were completely clueless as to what to order, but Angie is always good about asking. She looked up the word for "breakfast" (achim) and "what do you recommend" (mwo chucheonhae jusillaeyo) in our handy dandy lonely planet guide, and asked a very nice lady who suggested a big-sized roll that they could cut into quarters. It looked like it was custard-filled but otherwise was the size of a half-loaf of bread. When they served it, it turned out to be filled by a cross between egg salad and cole slaw, with a Korean twist of course. Surprise! Angie and I ate the whole thing, and frankie even ate a couple of bite. But, both girls really had ice cream sandwiches instead.

We took the subway down to Gyeongbokgung Palace, seat of power in Korea during the Josean dynasty from the 1500's to 1910. The palace included a history museum, a changing of the guard reenactment, and lots of old stuff in general.

This is the stupa from the high-monk Jigwang-guska, a masterpiece of ancient Korean stone stupas, believed to have been built around 1085, making it the oldest thing we saw today. It was built during the Goryea dynasty, the one that came before the Joseans. The Goryea palace is about a kilometer away and we'll visit it later this week.

Somehow, Bee and Frankie's Korean outfit wound up in a museum. Who knew?

This guard was clearly intimidated by Bee and Frankie.

After the palace we met Angie's friend Miyun and went to a very nice noodle restaurant. We finished the day in a place that was very familiar to us...

Cheonggyecheon

2010-07-31T16:08:00.009-04:00

Yesterday we walked down to the Dongdaemun Market area, which is marked by the Seoul Heunginjimun gate. Heunginjimun, which means "Gate of Rising Benevolence" was the major eastern gate in the wall that surrounded Seoul during the Joseon Dynasty. It was first built in the 14th century by King Taejo.

Running through the market area is the Cheonggyecheon ( 청계천). the stream runs from downtown Seoul into the eastern neighborhoods, and until recent urban renewal work in 2005 was covered with roadway. Along the stone wall that runs along the river are five artists’ works dealing with the subject of nature and environment. Lots of local children play in the stream. there is stone bridge across that we walked along, and also we we let the girls take their shoes off and dip their feet in the water to cool down.

First day in Seoul

2010-07-30T19:16:00.001-04:00

Angie has her last talk today, so the girls and I spent some time at the Seoul Science Park (map)

This was the leaning room. Reminded me of some places my family visited when I was a kid.

They had an awesome playground with climbing ropes and water displays. Above, Frankie is pushing the water screw that pumps water.

Here are the girls about an hour before they fell asleep in the taxi to the new hotel, and stayed asleep until 9 pm, when Angie arrived back from her talk. We were both exhausted, but the girls were wide awake, and stayed that way until the morning!

The road to Korea

2010-07-29T18:15:00.000-04:00

Angie's already there, and Bee, Frankie and I started our journey to Seoul today.
First there was the bus

Then we got bagels at the airport. The cinnamon bagel poppers were a big hit!

Here we are on the plane, I told the girls they were angels the whole way...

Not too much Korea just yet, but FYI, Swallows beat the Tigers today in ipad baseball FYI. Yeah, it was a 8-1 walk in the park for the Swallows, whose team captain, Barbara, really needs to find some better competition.

In celebration, barbara wrote the Swallows theme song. Here it is:

Swallows are going to win
They tickle everyone
They eat mosquitoes
Swallows win! Swallows win!

Some actual Korea pictures tomorrow...

2010-07-21T09:33:00.003-04:00

Looks like Frankie won the vote! Run Frankie Run!

OK, here are a few pics from our garden. Its sort of pathetic looking this year. Its a combo of Cho Cho digging up alot of the greens, and me experimenting with new things to see what will grow and what wont. The Swiss Chard did really well this year, but we ate it all. The kale. Not so good. Not sure why. We love kale, too. Oh well. the tomatoes looks good and the cucumber looks good too. The broccoli grew but the heads so small and then they turn to flower. Any idea on how to make those things grow a bit bigger? The eggplant wilted a bit. the onions, lettuce, basil and pumpkin were either eaten by visitors or dug up by cho cho. We are enjoying the cucumbers now. I think you can grow those in your sleep so i wont take any credit for that!

Pics coming

2010-07-15T09:47:00.001-04:00

Can you guess which picture goes with which vote?

Athlete of the week - you vote!

2010-07-15T09:37:00.003-04:00

Pictures to follow!

swimming

2010-06-29T11:19:00.002-04:00

Bee and Frankie are wrapping up Level 1 swimming this week. They both can swim now! Its more like an underwater doggy paddle, but they can go a few meters, and have much more confidence in the water. Actually you have to keep your eye on Frankie because she will just paddle out to the deep end before she realizes what she has done! Their swimming teacher gave the kids a choice of going down the slide into the deep end without life jackets and both girls ran straight up to the slide. Here they are sliding down. Bee swims back to the side by herself with her teacher next to her. Frankie gets a little help. Its on to level 2!