Rose River Falls Loop

Ah, Shenandoah, how I love thee.
I was really amazed at just how few people there were on the trail last week considering it was a Friday morning in August. Well, most of our hike was pretty sparse of other people. The trail did pass below Dark Hallow Falls, which is one of the most popular hikes in the park, so there we some folks that had ventured down, but we were very quickly on less well-travelled ground. Actually, we saw a very "non-hiking" family hiking below Dark Hallow Falls. One of the boys was hiking with a guitar in a case and the father was carrying a large jug of lemonade in one hand. Strange.

Anyway, our hike was incredible. Probably one of the more beautiful trails we've hiked in Shenandoah. A good portion of it followed along Rose River and there were peaks here and there of mountain views through the trees. We started out at Fisher's Gap, headed down the multiuse trail to the Rose River Falls trails. The falls were lovely, tumbling down in some little cascades and gathering in deep pools before tumbling farther down.



The trail continued to follow the Rose River before turning and heading up toward the base of Dark Hallow Falls. We passed a few hikers going in the opposite direction, but the trail was fairly pristine and quiet. Well, except, as I mentioned, right around Dark Hallow. There was a bit of congestion there from people who had wandered down from the falls.




After passing by Dark Hallow, we had an easy walk up the fire road to finish out our 3.7 mile hike. Sierra finally could resist the urge to sleep no longer.
Not hiking can really tire a little girl out!
We took in the views
and the wildlife
before picnicing at Big Meadows
and heading home.

GREAT!

I never knew my great-grandparents. They were all gone before I was even born. Even if Sierra ends up not remembering her great grandparents, I'm so happy that they get to know her. We saw GREAT grandma and grandpa Benning (Jason's mom's parents) serveral times while we were in St. Louis and we made the trek up to see another GREAT grandma (my mama's mama) while we were visiting since she lives less than two hours away. It took a little while for Sierra to warm up, but eventually GREAT Grammie got some 14-month-old snuggles. Aaawww! Who doesn't love 14-month-old snuggles?

Bonus GREAT! GREAT Auntie Beth!

Breakfast with Champion

This is my friend, Jen.
She is a champion.

Sierra and I made a point of finding some time to venture down to her area of town for breakfast. Jen picked this great little coffee shop by her house which had some nice outdoor seating. And garden decorations that included a tiny bench. It was just Sierra's size. And the garden had mulch, which is apparently delicious. Sierra will happily share with you!

Poolside

Jason's parents have a pool. Which is nice. Especially in August. Especially in August in Missouri. And since we happen to be parents to a tiny mermaid, we spent a lot of time out there.


The patio area around the pool is also really nice and was the site of some good times during which I was photography failure. The Saturday that we were in town was The Big Family Party. Oh, yes! Aunts, uncles, cousins from both sides of Jason's family. The Big Family Party was good food, good fun and beers all around. So glad we had such a good day for it.

The following day, there was more grilling and beers and eating. First our friend Jimmy came by. He and J have known each other since high school, but became friends in college. We were joined by more college friends, Bob and Jen, who dragged themselves over after an exhausting weekend on the river. So glad they came by! As usual, there were too many people to see and not enough time to see them all, but we were glad to get some face time with some good friends.

Cards vs. Padres

I'm usually a Chicago Cubs fan. I wouldn't call myself a die hard fan by any means, but I will default to cheering for the Cubs over anyone else. They haven't won a world series since 1908 (that's just a little ridiculous, don't you think?!) so they are certainly the underdog, but I love them anyway.

Jason, being born in the St. Louis area, is naturally a St. Louis Cardinals fan. The big rivalry in the midwest is Cubs vs. Cards. It's certainly not like the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees rivalry, but it's on that scales. It's just different because Midwesterners are nicer to their sports enemies than New Englanders. For example, a Red Sox fan would never marry a Yankees fan, they just couldn't have harmony, but Jason and I live happily in our "mixed" marriage.

That might be partly due to the fact that, despite the rivalry, I will happily cheer for the Cards ... as long as they're not playing against the Cubs! (like I said, not a die-hard, but shhhhhh! don't tell any Cubs fans) I had my chance to cheer for the Cards when we were in St. Louis because sure, I want them to beat the Padres, and Jason and headed to the game (sans baby!) with his dad and sister. The Cards came through with a 9-2 ass-kicking, including a homerun by the pitcher.

History and horses

The town where I grew up has its claim to fame as the home of the 18th President of the U.S. I went on many a school field trip to Grant's home when I was a kid. This time around, we visited Grant's Farm, which has nothing to do with Grant and everything to do with looking at animals. The place gets its name because Grant farmed a portion of the property at one time, but it's now owned by Anheuser-Busch (which, much to the chagrin of many fans of the St. Louis brewery, was recently sold to In-Bev, but that's another story entirely). Despite the ownership, it also has very little to do with Anheuser-Busch, other than you get a free beer when you visit the courtyard. As I said, we were here for the

furry, feathered and scaley.

I thought the goats were really awesome. I think they are so cute and funny. I would like to have a goat. Jason says "not a chance." Sierra, however, was not such a fan, so we didn't stay there for very long.

Check out the look of terror on her face: She was a much bigger fan of the camels. Go figure.

We went to a show starring Bud, the elephant (Get it? Bud? Anheuser-Busch? ... Nevermind). Yeah, elephants rock. And, Sierra now makes and elephant noise that is really more like "raspberries", blowing air through pursed lips. It's cute.


There were lots of other animals to check out, and Sierra seemed to really enjoy all the new sites, but of course, at a property owned by Anheuser-Busch, we had to see the Budweiser Clydesdales (and babies!).
Sierra was exhausted by the end of our visit.
She was asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!

Over the river and through the woods ...

... well, you know the rest.

We usually trek to the midwest in December, through the ice and snow, through extreme cold temperatures, through holiday traffic to visit both my and Jason's parents around Christmas time.

This time we made the trek through summer road construction, and a few thunderstorms, but we decided to visit Jason's parents in the summer. They have a pool, so why not? It was sort of our last hurrah before we get back to the grind of school and sports next week.

We left at 4:00am on Wednesday morning. ... Okay, we planned to leave at 4:00am, we actually got on the road about 20 minutes later. The drive is about 12 hours, but when you're travelling with two large dogs and a bobbler, every stop is a bit of an ordeal. Get out, find a place for the dogs to potty, change the baby's diaper, let her run/stretch her legs, give the dogs water, re-wrangle the bobbler, get everyone loaded back up ... Total trip time was about 14 hours. Ugh.

We finally arrived, though, and Sierra enjoyed some swingin' with Grandma and Grandpa (or Na-na and Paw-paw, as she leared to say!).

We were exhausted (how is it that sitting on your bum all day can be so exhausting) so we spent the evening just vegging.

Blogger slacker

This is the first big "blog break" I've taken since I started the blog back in January, so I won't be too hard on myself. But I have been a blogger slacker the last couple weeks, I know. We were in St. Louis August 12-19, and this past week ... well, I have no excuses.

Expect the unexpected

I think Sierra is working through another round of teeth coming in. A lot of fluids have been draining from the various orafices on the front of her face and she has been rather cranky. Two nights ago, we had a really rough night. She didn't go down easily, and she was up too often. Jason had some middle of the night frustration and was nearly ready to put the baby outside (okay, not really, but no one really got much sleep).

Last night, it looked things were going to be much the same. Jason gave Sierra a bath and then I attmpted to put her down. And then she woke up screaming. And then I got her back down. And then she woke up screaming and by the time I got to her, she was really angry jumping up and down in her crib. Sigh. I settled her down again. Just when it looked like she might finally be asleep, the f#$%^ng dog decided to bark. AAAAARRGH! I nearly skinned him. Once again, I settled the baby down. Finally, more than an hour after we began, the baby finally slept.

She stayed down long enough for Jason and I to polish off a bottle of sparkling wine. yes, the whole bottle. You don't want it to go flat, do you. It was nice actually, we sat out on the front porch in the darkness with a view of a deep orange moon. We were there maybe 90 minutes, enjoying each others company, talking about what we're going to be doing in a year, in ten years.

I must admit Sierra's timing was impecable. At least she waited until we were finished and had come back inside. Shortly thereafter, though, crying again. Jason got her that time, settled her back down and she was asleep again about 10:40. I was preparing for another sleepless night. Which I had, but not on account of the baby. I was up about every hour and a half checking on her, but we didn't hear a peep out of the little girl until 10 'til 6. The All Night Diner opened 10 minutes early in celebration of the second night ever of more than 7 hours sleep. Yee haw!

Another casualty of the struggling economy

Sierra's All Night Diner has reduced its hours. The All Night Diner management has decided to shut down between the hours of 11pm and 6am. If Sierra awakens and would like to eat before 11pm, we are happy to serve her. Occasionally, if she requests service and time is nearing 6am, we may be able to open a touch early. However, we are no longer available for middle-of-the-night snacks.

Though met with many loud objections when our hours first changed, Sierra does seem to be adapting. There were some shrieking 3am protests to the All Night Diner being closed, but more recently our client seems willing to wait until 6am.

Busy, busy

I headed out to a la leche league meeting this morning at about 9:30. There was a new mama there with a little 2-week-old -- sooo cute and squishy! Sierra made friends with a 5-year-old who kept feeding her sting cheese. (who wouldn't be friends with someone who followed them around feeding them string cheese?!) We were there 'til about 11:30 and then it was to the grocery store.

Speaking of the grocery store, I've been reading a couple "couponing" blogs ... these women are major coupon shoppers. Major. Like one I read today saved 94% off her grocery bill! How do you even do it? I can't seem to get the hang of it. This blogger has a family of 5 and a $40/week grocery budget. That she's frequently under! It's insane! Truly. I wish I could make it happen, but it just doesn't. It's a dollar here or there for me, but not the lists of free stuff that the "super couponers" are able to snag. I suppose we all have our strengths ...

By the time we got home, it was after 1:00 and Sierra had fallen asleep in her carseat. Jason asked if I wanted to go to Charlottesville so see our friend Sharon who is in town. By 2:30, we were off. Sadly, I failed in the picture taking department. We had 3 hours with Sharon, but it wasn't really long enough. Moving is tough. It's hard to leave behind the friends you've established. Sierra was a trooper with all the time she spent in the car today. But ... the car can be fun, especially when mama sits in the back to entertain you. See?

Rx: More Milkshakes

TMI ALERT

I had my annual "womanly exam" Monday. With apparently the only midwife licensed to deliver babies in charlottesville hospitals. I made the appointment 5-1/2 months ago because (thankfully) I had heard that she's tough to get in to see. However, after the awesome experience I had with Sierra's birth and our midwife in Connecticut, I had already determined that my next care provider would also have to be a midwife. I wanted to establish a relationship with her before we decide to get pregnant again. She rocked. I love her already. Also, she prescribed eating more milkshakes. Really. She said I'm a tad underweight and could stand to gain 3-5 pounds before I get pregnant again. And I can definately handle more milkshakes!

World Breastfeeding Week

As I briefly mentioned earlier, this week is world breastfeeding week. Our local La Leche League celebrated with a family event that included a silent auction, a "princess" face painter, car seat safety check, kid ID officer, and a babywearing demonstration.

I would have liked to explore what the event had to offer a little bit more, but alas, I did not have the chance. I was working. I am involved with both La Leche League AND the babywearing group. I had co-ordinated with Woodberry to borrow a sound system, so I was deemed the announcer. I have no problem with this. I'm good at talking, I admit. So, every 15 minutes, I was announcing door prizes. Additionally, I was asked by the leader of the babywearing group to put on the live demonstration. I happily agreed. We had a lot of traffic at the babywearing table, so I hope some new parents have found the babywearing love.

I recently posted a link on Facebook about supporting breastfeeding. It drew this response from a friend of a friend:
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for exposing breasts, but I liken this to going to the bathroom. It has to be done and there's no shame in it, but most people would find it impolite to do in front of others.

I found his comments contradictory (there's no shame, yet it's impolite?) and needless to say, I whole-heartedly disagree. My response:
If there's no shame in it, then WHY would be people find it impolite? It's ridiculous to think that a nursing mother should have to sequester herself in a bathroom in order to feed her child. Would you want to eat in a bathroom? (I didn't think so). Plus, it's not as if boobs are just being whipped out. When the baby is eating, you can see barely any exposed flesh (note my current profile pic). You see way more at the swimming pool! I hate that you say MOST people would find it impolite for a woman to breastfeed in front of them. Frankly, that is just sad. It's that precise attitude that makes it so difficult for women who just want to do the best for their babies.
But nipples, penises and vaginas are the root of all evil! If you expose them society will crumble!! :-)
You don't always have to go to a restroom to feed your child. I can't believe the only private place you can ever find is in a bathroom. While you're right that I wouldn't want to have a sit down dinner in a bathroom with a fork and a plate, I would have no problem drinking out of a water bottle which is a much better analogy.

I'll stop speaking for MOST people since I don't actually know them and where they stand on this. For myself, I don't have a big problem with it, but I do find it a bit distracting.

Why is it just sad for people to be uncomfortable/think it's impolite for a woman to expose a part of herself that our society says is indecent to expose? Whether or not you agree that it's indecent is another matter entirely.

I don't really think that you can put nipples into the same category as penises and vaginas; that's just a whole other level.

It's true, SOMETIMES there are private places other than bathrooms, but more frequently, if you want complete privacy, that's the only option. And frankly, there is NO WAY I'm going to go sit on a toilet in a bathroom stall to feed my child. I understand that some people are uncomfortable with a woman breastfeeding, and though I think it's ridiculous, I respect that. However, if an individual is going to be offended because I'm sitting off to the side of room discretely feeding my child, that's their problem, not mine. A woman should not have to sequester herself because her baby is hungry.

You're right that it is a societal problem, but incorrect about exposure. The nipple is not exposed when breastfeeding. The baby's head completely covers it, and most of the breast as well. We should encourage breastfeeding and change "society's" opinion.

I had more to say on the subject, but I had to edit as it was. Apparently, there's a length cut off on FB messages of this sort.

Jason's home

And he came bearing a DQ blizzard.

I love this man!

Culpeper Triathlon Race Report

I wanted to wait until the official times were posted before I wrote about Sunday's race. They were posted yesterday, but I am playing single parent until tomorrow night while Jason's at a chemistry conference, so there just wasn't time.

Here's how my time broke down:
swim (750 meters): 15:38.
T1 : 1:37.
cycle (16 miles) : 56:25. (17.03mph)
T2 : 1:11.
run (5K) : 22:58. (7:24min/mile)

TOTAL : 1:37:47.

I was 177th out of 579 total finishers; 34th out of 220 women and 2nd out of 47 in my age group.

The race went rather well, especially considering that I haven't been able to fit in nearly as much training as I would like. Oh well. Such is life with a bobbler. The cycle is definately my weakest leg. I'm thinking of talking to a coach just to see if I can get some tips on how to improve that particular segment of the race. I just have no idea what I'm doing. I go for a bike ride. There is no racing in the bike leg for me.

The weather was actually perfect for a triathlon. It was overcast and drizzly, but the full-on rain held off until I was in the car driving home. Yay! Probably not quite as enjoyable for the spectators, but the rain definately made racing in August in Virginia bearable. ... Enjoyable, even!

I started off in the second wave of the swimming at 8:03am. I feel I did pretty well for me. Some people from the wave behind me passed me, but I also passed a few of the laggers from the wave in front of me. The water was great! Almost 80 degrees, so no wetsuits allowed. Fine with me; I'm not sure how much the wetsuit actually helps me anyway! The bottom of the lake was a bit mucky and there was some seaweed, but for most of the swim leg, it wasn't even noticeable. But ... I cannot swim straight! Seriously, my swim would probably be loads faster if I could just swim in a straight line.

The first transition was fine, quick enough for me, though I did get hung up on trying to put on my cycling gloves. In the future, for sprint races, I will just skip them. I don't really need them and I'd rather not be fumbling around with them in the transition area.

I messed up the beginning of the bike leg because I didn't check my gears before hand and there was a very early hill. I ended up having to get off my bike and jog up the hill because I was in too low (high? -- I"m not sure which is which) of a gear to make it up. Grrrr ... that was frustrating. Anyway, I headed out and the ride was nice; it went along some wooded road and had some rolling hills but nothing that would totally kick your ass. I lost a water bottle because I tried to re-rack it and missed and it fell to the ground on the side of the road. I decided it wasn't worth it to go back and get it. I smiled at the two little girls sitting in their camp chairs cheering on all the athletes as we went by their house. I waved to them and they cheered louder. It was great.

Though getting passed is generally not a good thing in a race, I LOVE when the top racers from the swim wave (or two) behind me pass me on the bike. These are the guys that are competing to win and it seems there are always 4 or 5 of them together. You can hear them coming, their bike tires making a very distinct "shoogk, shoogk, shoogk" noise as they come up on their several-thousand-dollar fancy triathlon bikes. They swoosh by in their aerodynamic helmets and I have no idea how they can be moving that quickly! It's pretty great to be in the midst of that.

The second transition went smoothly, though because of the aforementioned hill just before the transition, I did not attempt the speed dismount that I had practiced the other day. I tried racing without socks for this race, so just slipped out of my bike shoes and into my running shoes and I was off.

The running leg is my strongest (obviously) so I always look forward to it. There is the initial "plunky" feeling that you get as your legs transition from spinning to running, but once I had my running legs back, I felt pretty good. I got a side cramp during the race, but I was able to work through it with deep breaths and didn't have to stop. I'm happy to say that no women passed me during the run leg. There were women that ran faster than me, but they were already ahead of me! :-) I went through the first mile in about 8:00, but my overall pace was 7:24/mile, so I clearly made up for the "plunkiness" during the later part of the run. The downhill finish was nice and I felt like I ran a good race.

I wasn't able to hang around for long after the race because Jason was leaving for the conference, so I had to head home. Apparently, there were prizes to the top finishers in each age group, and I finished second, so I wonder what I missed. Oh well, I do this for the experience, not for the swag.

5:30AM

That's what time it is right now. I've been up for 33 minutes (I never set my alarm clock for a time that ends in "0" or "5"). Triathlon start in 2.5 hours. It's extremely peaceful sitting here with my coffee in the silent darkness.

In other news, Jason is beyond awesome. He got up early yesterday, on his birthday to come to a la leche league event I was part of, hauled tables, and chased after the bobbler (baby/toddler -- got that term from a blog I read -- love it!) while I worked. I'll post more about that later.