Hot Spaghetti!

I was looking through the blog the other day when I realized about 75% of our pictures posted are at the dinner table.  I think that's because we are all together and Caroline becomes a captive audience for Mark and my silly antics.

Famous!

Caroline has far surpassed me in greatness!  Ex:  This morning I come home and checked the messages on our answering machine.  "Hi, Caroline, um, I mean Caroline's Mom, yes, Caroline's Mom, um, I mean Nicole.  Nicole we were wondering if you could teach an aqua class this week?" 

I'm sure that Caroline's name can not be found anywhere on the sub list!  The workers at the front desk just know me as "Caroline's Mom" even though I worked there long before she was born!  I'm sure it's only going to get worse the older she gets!

Sweet Home Alabama!

We traveled to Birmingham, AL yesterday for a little visit.  The youth group from Axe Memorial UMC (where we met) is visiting Birmingham on a mission trip and Mark and I wanted to catch up with them.  The youth that were in 8th grade when we left are now graduated seniors!  We are really looking forward to seeing them tonight. 

In the meantime we have had quite a time visiting Birmingham.

Caroline was not a fan of the hotel room last night.  There was a lot of this...

which finally ended in her sprawled horizonally across the bed which left Mark and I with a few inches on either side of her.  She gave us an early wake up call but thankfully she made it through the night!

This morning Mark had to take the car to work in the area which left the sweet pea and I to wander around Birmingham.

We stayed next to the Mountain Brook "Village."  When you think "village" think really beautiful, old restored homes next to some upscale shops and cute cafes.  I was a little worried that we would be stuck in the hotel room for the day but after meandering through the village I was very pleased.  Not only was this village right next door to the hotel but 1/2 mile down the street was the Birmingham Zoo and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  I promised Mark that Caroline would not have her first trip to the zoo without him so it was off to the FREE Botanical Gardens!  AMAZING!!

The Garden  67.5 acres of sprawling, green goodness with flowers, plants, rocks, sculptors.  Their website says it is filled "with more than 20 thematic gardens, each one classified into one of three types: Gardens of Collections, Gardens of Nature and Gardens of Culture."  WOW!  We spent 1.5 hours inside and easily could have spent several more!  I wish Caroline could walk because she would have worn herself out. 

She did stay content and cool the whole time since I ran us through a few sprinklers.

I thought of Mom as I passed the "Southern Living" garden. 

I think one of my favorite sections was the Japanese garden.  This little pond was filled with gigantic koi fish and tons and tons of turtles.  There was a grandmother and little girl feeding the fish and turtles.  Before she could get an up close glimpse of Caroline, she offered to share some bread for her to throw in.  I think next time Caroline will be old enough for that!  I can't wait!

As if I haven't said enough about the Garden...it was FREE!  My friends in St. Louis say that the zoo there is free, the botanical gardens in Birmingham are free.  What free fun is there in Atlanta?  Someone share the love!

After our trip to the gardens, we came back to the hotel and cooled off a bit.  We then had lunch at Moe's.  I'm a little disappointed in myself for not trying one of the cute, local cafes but Moe's is literally a couple hundred feet away and it was too hot to go on another long stroll.  We then did some swimming in the hotel pool and Caroline finally collapsed in the pack and play for a two hour nap this afternoon!  YIPEE!!  Here's hoping to sleeping child free tonight!

I'm sure we will have some more pictures tomorrow!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great day today!  This afternoon we had a few friends over for lunch.  We played a couple of games chatted about fun things like nudie camps.  :-)  Then tonight we went over to our neighbors for dinner.  I love going over there to visit because their home is so full of life.  Their is always joy and laughter and lots of talking.  I love it!  We had a great dinner together.  Mark and I then traipsed back home and put the buger in bed.  We worked on a little sewing project that I hope to show off soon and before long it was time for fireworks!  Back outside we went to join all the neighbors in the cul-de-sac. 

We enjoyed a little ice cream and cupcakes with red, white and blue sprinkles...

 

while our neighbor Mike prepared the show.

 

Sarah braved bringing little Reagan out for the fireworks show. Reagan, who is even more laid back than Caroline, was not fazed by the fireworks. 

 We, on the other hand, brought the monitor outside and left Caroline inside.  Thankfully, she slept through all of the festivities.

The sparklers brought back lots of childhood memories!

Hello

Caroline is obsessed with our phones. She has sent Mark a text message from my phone and even called Grandma last night. :-) However, she has recently learned how to play with her toy phone. It's precious to see her put it up to her ear. It's crazy how all of the little things, like learning to "talk" on the phone bring me such joy.


In other good news, I answered the door after coming home from church today and this was in my neighbors hands!!

French toast with pecans, strawberries and cream cheese topping! It tasted as good as it looks! I'm pretty sure that I have the best neighbors ever!

Competition

I don't know where it comes from specifically but I am one competitive girl. As a young child I played a lot of different sports. My parents instilled in me that I always had to do my best. They didn't care if I won, they just wanted me to try my hardest. I've often thought that being an adult kind of stinks for one simple reason.... you don't have the same opportunites to compete - no Saturday morning soccer games in the fall or Tuesday night swim meets in the summer.

I have had a few opportunities here and there to compete as an adult...annual softball tournaments, the occassinal game of ultimate frisbee or the always serious putt-putt. :-) In Dallas, I did one triathlon and even played two seasons of indoor soccer. However, as an adult my competitive nature always sneaks up on me because there is just not as much opportunity for it.

Since I did the swimming portion of the last Ironman the competitive feelings have come back in full force. I am now training for an Olympic distance triathlon that will be held on Labor Day weekend. I have been running on the treadmill and have been to a couple of spin classes.

This morning I hopped back in the pool for the first time since the race a few weeks ago. It was great! I felt like I was flying through the water (probably just flying compared to the old lady who was stretching in the lane next to me)! Then it happened...a young man came in and he had the serious swimmer look. :-) There were no other lanes available so I offered to share the lane with him. He would take the right side of the lane and I would take the left. I swam a couple more laps and then he started and all of a sudden he was by my side. We were swimming next to each other. I was pulling and kicking and he was matching me stroke for stroke. I kept wondering when he was going to pass me. For several laps, I kept thinking that surely he was going to take off and leave me in the dust but I guess we were evenly matched. The competitive feeling then washed over me. I didn't really have a desire to "beat" him to the wall. Instead I would kick a bit harder and inch forward. I would then turn it down a bit and fall back a foot or two, only to get back even again. It was a mental game for me. We swam like that for 20 minutes which is almsot unheard of in the pool. Normally someone will pull away. He eventually got tired, he was probably just tired of swimming next to me, and stopped at the wall. I continued swimming and then he started again after a short break. Now he was 3/4 of a lap in front of me and the boost of competitive drive kicked back in. I was going to catch up to him. I eyed him in the distance and kicked and pulled and kicked harder. Since we were so evenly matched, it took a me several laps but I eventually caught up to him! SUCCESS!!

I sometimes wonder if I have taken on more than I can do with training for this triathlon. I have never in my life run run more than 3 miles and I have to run 6 for this triathlon. My training seems to be working at this point though. I ran 3 and 3 quarter miles on Saturday so I'm making progress. I even feel really good while I'm working out and afterwards. I can tell a difference in how my body is responding. It just feels so good to workout! I say that I'm competitive and certainly in the pool today I felt that way but most of the adrenaline comes from pushing myself farther than I think I'm able to go. I have to push through the mental blocks and the "pain" in order to make my goals. The ability to work hard and push myself both mentally and physically in order to reach a goal is the best feeling! I hope that I will stay healthy so that I can continue to enjoy this process. My goal is certainly not to be the fastest but just to finish!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to a daddy who loves to make his little girl giggle!

You can't hear him say it, but after finding out that it's being recorded Mark says, "You punk!" I think he liked it!