Your mom told me that when you got home today you looked up at her and said, “Momma?” then “Dad”. She said you went looking around the house for me but I was at the store getting lighter fluid so I could grill some salmon for dinner. You weren’t very impressed by it when I put some on your tray but did suck off the baja sauce that I made for the baja salmon tacos. Your mom took the hint and gave you a bowl of plain yogurt. I swear, you’ll eat any flavor of yogurt, even plain. You also had corn, some salmon, and sauce. Your mom put you in the bath afterwards because you also had dirt on your tummy after playing in the sand box before dinner and that had mixed with everything you were eating for dinner.

I put Oskar to bed because he was having a hard time so you went to bed with Mom. After I had finally gotten him to go to sleep (he was complaining about his ear, he might have his first ear infection) I went to go clean up the kitchen and fold laundry. After a while Rose called me in because she was reading her book and you wouldn’t go to sleep with her so I had to come help.

See, you won’t fall asleep with Rose, only me. You curl up next to me and lay your head on my arm or shoulder and after fussing and fidgeting you fall asleep. You’ve also been known to head butt, pinch, kick, hit and poke while you’re supposed to be going to sleep.

I love you little bear.

I know. I live in the Pacific Northwest, I should be used to this weather. I am. However, the reason why I especially hate the weather right now, in June to be specific, is that I was really looking forward to this season for cycling. Last year I was just getting my legs, getting into rides and figuring out how it all worked. This time around I kept up some spin during the winter so I kept my leg strength from completely atrophying (kept my arm tan too, somehow) and I tried to hit the ground running, as they say. I took advantage of the sporadic nice days during winter and early spring and did a 62 mile ride a whole two months earlier in the season than last year.

And yet.

Here we are with snow in Snoqualmie Pass, branches on the ground, rain falling constantly and temperatures in the 50s. Enough.

This is my last week of school and Thursday and Friday are half days. I am moving to 6th grade next year so I may be using student labor to move my classroom tomorrow but there are about 6 of us moving and we are all depending on the other to move at the same time, otherwise it won’t work.

Milo seems to be getting more teeth to fill in the gaps between his molars and canines. He likes to fall asleep on my arm, snuggled up next to me. He knows me as “the guy who gets him to fall asleep”. He won’t do the same thing with Rose but as soon as I come to bed he lays down and goes to sleep.

Right now things are good with Oskar but lately he has been getting stuck several times a day. What I mean is that he will not be able to move forward until a precise series of events transpire, sometimes in a seemingly arbitrary way. If you move forward using a different series of events he will have to reverse them and go back to the beginning and then in the direction he feels is the “right” way.

Rose has a final tonight in one of her Childbirth Education classes and then she takes a break for the summer. Her last day for watching the kids is next Tuesday.

Other events coming up include a BBQ for Jeremy’s 35th and the Flying Wheels Century. STP is a month away and then the Summit to Surf is two weeks after that. I really hope the weather improves. I feel like a slob when I can’t ride for a week or two because of the rain and cold.

As we left the grocery store today we passed by the movies and Oskar said this about the new “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie:

“Dad, did you see the man and the rats movie? The rats jump all over and they are trying to look for the man. I love that movie!”

I really didn’t want to correct him.

I finally realized what my problem was with this whole internetting blogging thing, I live too much in my head. I create posts while I’m driving to work, in the shower, whatever but that’s as far as they go. I wrote a couple things with my students this week and had no problem, class was quiet and I wrote alongside them. Oh yeah, I also have two kids and a wife and a job and a house and the last thing I have time for is sitting at the computer unless kids are asleep and the wife isn’t using it.

Milo is growing up so much. Rose sent me a picture she took of him sitting at a kid table eating breakfast with a spoon on Friday, this is our little boy? Oskar is becoming such a great big brother too. He is asking more and more to do things with Milo, they’re sleeping in Milo’s room together right now. When Oskar was sleeping Thursday night Milo went and banged on his door and said something that sounded like “my brother”. He missed him and wanted to play with him.

Couple of weeks ago I road 60 miles in the Daffodil Classic, about half of which was with Jeremy and his friend who are training for an Ironman this summer. They asked if they could go on ahead and I said yes please. I was just happy I hung with them for 33 miles. Tomorrow I might be riding out to the cabin with Gerry.

Rose rode 30 miles today! I’m so proud of her! We packed up the kids and the bikes and went down to the Foothills trail and rode out to South Prarie and back. The boys did pretty well considering they were crammed into a bike trailer for a good 4 hours or so. We stopped in South Prarie for a smoothie and a rest. About 3 miles from our car Milo started crying pretty hard so I kicked it up a notch or two and sped off so I could get the boys out and settled down. Rose showed up a couple minutes later and then we all headed home. She is sore but she did it, that’s quite a feat especially since she hasn’t ridden her bike in years. I think.

We are all looking forward to summer. I weeded a bit of our patio today in the sunshine and I’ve been preemptive with our lawn this year. At least the back yard. I gave up the front yard to moss years ago and now the battle will be waged for the side yard by the driveway, I’m not ready to concede on that front yet.

Oskar’s school work has improved dramatically. He wanted to show me his work where he colored the “beautiful flowers” as he said. His teachers told Rose to “keep telling him what ever we were telling him”. She didn’t tell them that we’ve changed nothing, he just likes school a lot right now and is doing very well. His reading and counting are great, he has a 100 board (that I haven’t put up yet) but he can practice counting to 100. He is rhyming words (has been for a while) and working on spelling simple CVC 3 letter words like DAD and DOG. He tried to spell POND and I had to help him with the last sound but I was pleased he could figure out the blend.

I know I’m missing some obvious things here but that’s what happens when you don’t post very frequently.

This last weekend I enjoyed another successful Awesome Movie Nite with the guys up at Jeremy’s house. I rode up there Saturday afternoon and was quite pleased with my speed. Once I got on the Interurban trail I was pushing about 20.5 mph until I got to Renton and then had to manuever the roads and stay out of the major streets. I wasn’t looking forward to climbing the hill up to Kennydale but it wasn’t as bad as when I rode there last year for a BBQ. When I got there Jeremy went to pick up the delicious BBQ that had been pre-ordered. Absolutely scrum-tastic. He definitely kicked it up several notches which, unfortunately, we all must now raise ourselves up to unless we want to live in shame.

Movies watched were “Ghost Dog” and the new(est) version of “Appleseed”. Zach did the usual drink-argue-go sleep somewhere. Raving Rabbids was enjoyed by all (except Zach) and our heroes even found themselves on the Xbox interwebs getting p0wned like n00bs.

Sunday I enjoyed some quiet time at Jeremy’s as he had gone out for a bike ride. After a few calls from Rose I headed out. This time there was a big wind coming out of the south so all the way home my speed was way down from Saturday because of the nasty head wind. I also wasn’t looking forward to climbing South Hill but I knew it was inevitable so I decided on going up Meridian on the sidewalk so I could go slow and be out of harm’s way. I got home right as it began to rain, good timing. I didn’t set out to put in 70 miles but since I need to get ready for the Daffodil Classic this Sunday it doesn’t hurt.

For the first time in I don’t know how long, I am under 190 lbs. Just barely though, maybe 189.5 but considering I weighed myself a week or so who know what I’m at now. Rose has been losing weight too and we joke about it because we haven’t been doing anything to facilitate said weight loss. My training has been negligible since we moved the boys swimming to Tuesday and Thursday. That used to be my spin days and it’s been hard to find time to go. I have my bike in my classroom now with a Tour de Milton route lined up hoping that I can hop on my bike and do 12 miles or so plus hills after school but with this crazy weather I haven’t had an opportunity.

However, there’s a huge problem for me with losing this weight: My ring is perilously close to falling off on its own. It’s already happened twice and I was showing Rose this morning by shaking my hand as if I was trying to get something off of it and off it slipped. I guess I have to work on building up my finger muscles.

With the promise of Spring actually making an appearance I will be getting out more and training harder and better and faster and stronger. I’m still really excited about cycling this season but I feel like I’ve had a couple false starts due to the weather and my family’s busy schedule. I’ve also got some new geegaws and cycling atire that I haven’t been able to try out yet so I’m looking forward to next week if it clears up like it’s supposed to and the temperature to come back up.

I saw Cloverfield last Sunday night with Jeremy and Marc. We had a man date after catching the end of the Packers/Giants game (before they went into OT). Afterwards we went to a bar to discuss and drink.

Going into the movie I didn’t know anything other than figuring it was a monster movie somewhat like Godzilla except actually good. I liked that the commercials kept everything mysterious and such so I really didn’t know what to expect. This kept up at the beginning of the movie as you knew something was going to happen but nothing was. Until, well, something did.

So, the monster. I’m going to try to talk generally about this. In my opinion, this really isn’t a “monster movie”. I heard someone complaining as they left the theater that it should have gone “straight to video”. I think they missed the point. Don’t go in expecting Aliens or Godzilla, it’s unlike any other movie out there.
Anyway, the monster isn’t so much a character in the movie as it is more of a force of nature. Meaning, it’s not like This-Main-Big-Bad-Guy vs. Our Favorite Protagonist(s). I found this refreshing as I think it’s demeaning to the monster to have it ONLY out to get our good guys.
You don’t really get a good look at the monster until the very end, only glimpses and teases before then. The mind can make things much scarier than any fancy 3D computer dealy.

As there was an air of mystery throughout the movie (the monster is never explained or its origins, some of the effects of the monster, etc.) that I was looking for clues throughout and I can’t wait for this to come out on DVD so we can go frame-by-frame through some scenes.
Especially at the end, as that could hold a major clue.

I really tried to stay away from the hype around this movie thinking that although I rarely go out to the theaters anymore (married with children and all that) I would really like to see it someday. Luckily, an opportunity arose and I went. See this in the theaters if at all possible. There’s also a little clue at the very very end of the credits.
Check www.io9.com for more + spoilers.

Milo went for his first swim lesson this afternoon with me. Whenever we’ve gone to drop Oskar off for his lesson and he watches the kids in the pools he reaches his arms out toward the water and begins to chirp.

Well, it was his turn today and he didn’t quite know what to think. We got our swim shorts on and headed out to the pool and then rinsed off in the shower out there. We looked at the toddler pool to find our group since the big pool was empty, then saw some parents with kids move from there to the big pool so we followed.

As soon as he got in the water he stopped wriggling around as much and grabbed on to me tightly. He never let go of me the entire 30 minutes we were in there. His eyes got big and he quietly looked around while we sang songs at the beginning of class. There wasn’t really any transition to the moving from one of the pool to the other and as we swam back and forth he just kept looking at me with his big eyes while trying to hold on to me. He didn’t look scared, just a little … concerned (if I may quote The Princess Bride). If I held him out to swim his little eyes would just get bigger as he tried to paddle back to me.

He was also getting cold. He was shivering while we were in the pool toward the end and his little lips were turning a shade of blue. We got back to the dressing room and took a warmer shower and then got dressed to go home. It’s funny, he’s always been really excited about water but this time he thought he might need some time to get used to it.

He did finally smile once, while we were singing, “The horns on the bus go beep, beep, beep” and splashed each time we beeped the horns.

We just got back from our first ride of the season, well pre-season perhaps, down at the Foothills Trail. This was the first time we got Oskar and Milo together in the bike trailer so I thought a quick jaunt down to the trail to get the feel for things would be in order. I packed up books, toys and bike snax for both of them.
Rose met her friend Courtney down there which worked out well since we couldn’t fit both boys with carseats, my bike and the bike trailer into one vehicle. We need a bike rack especially if we want to get Rose’s bike from her parents so she can join us on two wheels.
So once we got the big ordeal going and the boys situated and happy I took off. I didn’t really know how far I would be going since Rose and Courtney were walking and I didn’t know how long the boys would last in the back. It’s a good thing we didn’t go too long, wow, what a work out.
I mean, I know I’m just getting back in shape but it was still tough. Low speeds are kind of herky-jerky if Oskar is moving around; I can really feel him bounce the bike around. It’s kind of like in spin class when you turn up the resistance except there is never any turning down of said resistance; there’s no recovery.
I could only sustain speeds of about 14 maybe 14.5 mph. I could sprint up to 16.5 but stay that fast for maybe a few seconds. In contrast, last year before STP while I was on that trail I could stay around 18.5-20 mph for most of the 30 miles. Today I went 11 miles.
Like I said, I know it’s early in the season but man that was hard. I think this will be great strength training for me. I feel like the guy in “The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen” who had the huge ball and chain tied to him. When he needed to go super speed he just took it off and raced away. That will be me in five months of this.
I’m really excited about going out with the boys more. I’m glad they had a good time. I was also pleased to see so many people out and about on the trail in mid-January. It makes me happy to think their are more people out there like us who want to take advantage of the balmy 45 degree sunshine.

A sampling of things going on right now:

This was a friend in elementary and middle school. I doubt you heard about it but apparently in our state of affairs these days it merits little mention.

Oskar’s swim classes have begun again but he has yet to go. He’s been sleepy and/or cranky.

I started spin again. Gone twice so far. Started a group of cyclists in the district. Will do STP and other rides again.

Milo walks here and there but prefers the crawling; he can go faster and he knows it.

Teaching is going well but lots of big projects going on at once now and perhaps other possible things for next year.

I will be presenting at a local eductional technology conference for the second time in as many years.

Holidays were fun. Every morning Oskar asked who we were visiting that day.

Boys got a bike trailer for Christmas. Oskar broke it in with me in the rain (good way to get the dust and cobwebs off your bike).

Looking forward to new Death Cab album in May …