The Catalina Crew

Yes… It is I… This is my first entry on our blog. Yay, for me.

I can’t believe I am actually writing a blog post. It’s soooo crazy. I have the free time now, since I stopped working, but not quite the energy I would like to have. The simplest things take it out of me. But it is very nice to finish a few things before I have the baby and the real exhaustion starts.

I am surrounding myself with good energy and love these days, and focusing on a healthy and loving birth. My emotions have been up and down, feeling full of love one minute and then crying and upset the next. It’s a good time for me to focus on being thankful for everything. I am thankful for my husband who is a constant support to me and always shows me love. I don’t know how he does it. I am thankful for my son Jacob who makes me laugh every 5 minutes and asks me to read him stories every night. I am very thankful for the emotional support I have been getting from loved ones these last few weeks, it has been crucial to my well being. Thank you.

This post is about being thankful and paying it forward. There has been a “Pay it Forward” blog-chain going around the blogging world lately. In December, I made a promise to my cousin Val on her blog that I too would pay it forward. Well, I am finally making good on that commitment.

So this is my promise:

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, which is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

Since we hardly update our blog these days, it may take months to get 3 takers, but I will wait happily. I send lots of love your way. And…Thank you!

This photo taken by Jacob!

It has been a LOOOOOOONNNNG time since I put up a post on the site.  And I am sure that everyone who checks in here from time to time has just about had enough of seeing my ugly mug on the triathlon post. Well, I will see what I can do about that!

We have been without internet at our house for a little over a month now. And I haven’t had time at work to sneak away and throw up a post or photos. As a matter of fact, this post is also photoless. (Sorry) However, the internet at our new place will be hooked up on Monday or Tuesday, so with any luck the updates on our little family will resume very soon.

In the meantime, among other fun things that have been happening and those that I can’t think of right away, here are the big ones that I remember off the top of my head:

We found out it’s going to be a boy , we got a sailboat, Christmas came and went, we went to bed early for New Year’s, we briefly visited Salt Lake (Sue & Jacob got to play, Jared didn’t… more on that later), we moved into a new apartment (Or rather Jared moved all of our stuff into the new apartment (see previous item)), Sue turned 26 (hmmmmm really?), and it’s another beautiful day on Catalina Island!

OK, so most of you by now who are registered have noticed that our blog got hijacked by a spam robot. Fortunately, our anti-spam engine caught the posts before they actually went live onto the site and deleted them. However, the notification script we were using sent out a bunch of emails letting you know that the spam comments were posted before they got deleted.

Thanks to Karen’s sharp eye, we were alerted and I have disabled that part of the script. Unfortunately, this means that you will not be able to get a notification when someone posts a comment to the blog, only when we post a new blog entry. When I get a second, I will see if I can fix that. In the meantime, I have changed the blog settings to require users to either be registered or enter a valid email address in order to post comments. (You should register anyway so that you will be notified when we post!)

Anyhow, aside from that, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Sue and I both took an extra day off to have some much needed family time. We spent Wed evening and Thurs morning together getting Thanksgiving dinner together. Jacob helped out from time to time and while the Turkey cooked, we walked up to the “Net” at the golf course to hit balls around.

“The Net” is one of Jacob’s new favorite places to go. Whenever mini-golf is closed, his first response is “Let go to the net!” After about 30 minutes of watching Jacob hit his balls and playing games like “Dad-you-go-stand-over- -there-and-try-to-get-the-ball-and-I-will-hit-it-away-from-you-ha-ha-ha!,” we came back home to see how the turkey was doing.

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm! Smells delicious!

Our Thanksgiving feast was nearly ready and once the Potatoes were mashed and yams broiled, we sat down to dinner. Yummy yummy turkey stuffed with the best home-made stuffing ever, freshly made cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes with gravy, yams with pralined pecans, and melt-in-your-mouth rolls, followed by home-made pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. Loosen up the belt!

On the way home from work on Wed, Sue had picked up several dvd’s at the library, so while we digested, we watched movies until Jacob fell asleep on the coffee table where he had piled couch pillows into a rather lumpy “bed.”

Friday we slept in for a change and took the morning easy before hiking out along the seawall at Casino Point to do some fishing. I think the fish were taking Thanksgiving weekend off as well. No nibbles, but it was fun just hanging out and being together.

We finished off the weekend by going kayaking up the coast past Hamilton Cove. Saw a lot of pelicans at close range and a couple of sea lions. (In case you didn’t know… Sea Lions have external ears, Seals do not have visible ears. That is the easiest way to tell them apart!) Jacob was a real trooper and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure despite getting soaking wet. The highlight for him however was when we stopped off at the Hamilton Cove beach for a snack and a side trip to the beach side playground there.

It was a super fun holiday and none of us wanted to get back to the daily routine. There isn’t much that we would rather do than hang out and spend time with each other! …And what a great place to do it in!

OK, I have never been one to pass on emails or the things contained in them. But I got this one in my inbox today and it kind of hit home so I thought I would throw it up here for you all.
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Well, it is official! I am now a Triathlete!

The Catalina Triathlon was today, and I was lucky enough to be counted among the finishers! It was a great experience and totally different from any other race event I have been in. Very cool.

My store, Del Sol, was one of the local sponsors for the event and I had been toying around with the idea of competing for a few weeks but never really committed to it. (Sue had started talking about wanting to do a Triathlon after we did the Carlsbad Marathon and got the initial spark planted in my mind.) Anyway, about 9:00 last night, we were coming home from the supermarket and Sue said “Hey, what if you ran the triathlon tomorrow?” I waffled a little bit and decided that “What the heck, I will give it a try.” So, without any training or preparation, and less than 12 hours later, I found myself at the starting line for the Catalina Triathlon! To make a long story short, the swim was tough, the bike ride went smoothly, and the run started hard but ended great. I didn’t push myself super hard because I didn’t want to bonk and my main goal was just to finish and have fun doing it. My time ended up being 1:53 and change, but my ego and permagrin are beyond compare! I can’t wait to do another one!

Before the triathlon began, I took a quick warm-up swim in the bay. When I got out of the water, Jacob came running up to me shouting “Daddy, Daddy! Did you win the race?”

Sue and Jacob were there for the whole race from start to finish. They watched the swim portion from the green pier and then hit the streets for the cycling leg and waited near the finish for the run. Whenever he saw me, Jacob would greet me with a loud shout of “Hi Daddy!” The icing on the cake for the day was when Jacob met me about 50 yards before the end and ran with me across the finish line!

-Pics coming soon!