BIKE RACE

What a day. Brayden experienced his first bike race-CAT IV, or should I say AGE IV. It was the Tulsa Tough bike races all weekend long and today there was a race for the little kids. Okay, it was two blocks long but still big stuff for him. The day actually started with a huge thunder and hail storm-making us wonder about the race and what we were going to tell him if the weather didn't clear. Brayden has been talking non stop about the race. He had to wash his bike and get it all ready with his helmet. When we were at the spot where the races were occuring he saw a bunch of guys warming up/staying loose by riding there bikes in stationary stands. He was determined he needed to do the same before the race. Kind of hard to explain that he was just too little and bike to small to put on the trainer. He was most intrigued by a roller trainer ( as was I). The time finally came for the race-as usual the sun was out and it was terribly hot but Brayden was ready and took off with the bunch, 6 years and under. He was not first and was not last and had a blast doing so-although he was very serious and rode with a very determined look on his face. He was awarded a ribbon-not a metal but he was okay with that. Becca was terribly sad that she didn't have her bike along, turned out Ron could have helped her ride, I think we will wait till next year when she is a little more stable on her cute barbie bike. By then maybe Brayden will smoke the pack with a Redline BMX bike. Okay, maybe not, but it sure was fun being among some great athletes! We have a new respect for all the races our cousin is doing-congratulation to all the training and great races he's put in!

We ended the day at a local pool, unfortunately we only were able to enjoy for a short while as they closed the pool due to an accident in the kiddie pool. A good lesson for both Brayden and Becca as to why we don't have accidents in the pool-I think they both got the picture!

Flowers

Many of my perennials are not blooming yet but I have been enjoying my Clematis Vine everyday-there seems to be more and more blooms every morning I wake up!

Race Day

The running with children saga continues. Today I was planning on running the kidney classic race at 8:30pm. Most of the time I enjoy running in the evenings, as this is when I usually run, except today. Brayden and Becca were full of it today and by the time 5pm rolled around I was done in. I don't think Becca had stopped talking for most of the day and every other word out of Brayden's mouth was what/what/where???? Talking continued as we loaded in the car to head to the start line-down town. Brayden continued his tirade on races and metals-he thinks he is doing a bike race tomorrow and has talked non stop about his racing bike. Becca had regressed to whining...I had forgotten her special cup and then it was all down hill from there, ending in her usual sentence "I tired mommy, I need my bed" over and over and over in a high pitch whine that I am absolutely positive could drive anyone crazy. The mental race preparation all the magazines talk about was not going so well. So I yelled, SILENCE!!! Brayden promptly starts waving his hands like an umpire and says silence, Becca of course follows suit...then silence. After a whopping two seconds I hear a little voice from the back say "I don't like silence" one guess, it was Becca-I had to laugh.

We made it to the race in plenty time, the kids kept busy before the race by playing some catch football and running up and down some little hills. I was kept busy running Becca to the disgusting porta potty-training boys was much easier, but she is doing great. About 5 min to start Ron took the kids down the road to cheer and I was left to try to collect my thoughts and focus on the race.

Well, I can say it is hard to run/train with kids but I sure was thankful to have them cheering for me at the end, as the race was unbearable. Only a 5km but with 85 degree heat and humidity that was smothering I felt I was about to give in half way. Knowing that they were waiting at the end was what got the last 2km done.

http://www.okrunner.com/race-results

After the race it was dark and what fun, the lightening bugs were out. So, instead of hanging around the finish with all the racers we were the family out in the trees catching bugs. Consequently we missed the metal ceremony-surprisingly I was supposed to get one-first in my age group, WHAT A SHOCKER!! I missed my goal of 25min, to finish in 25min 30sec. You would think you could run 30 sec. faster. Oh, well-I do really enjoy the moments with my family, it just all gets put into perspective at certain times and tonight was one of those moments. After some snow cones, a little soccer and a little relaxing on the lawn listening to a local band we packed it in and called it a night. Becca again spent the car ride telling me she had to go potty and then on to the sleepy thing...she just never quits, good thing she is so sweet and my best snuggler! Oh yes, I should say Andrea was the perfect little baby and just hung out, took a little nap and then was full of smiles-such a sweetie. All in all a great evening.

FROGS

The excitement of the day was something very small but very entertaining. We found a frog in our garage. Brayden had a lot of fun catching it and then playing with it in the grass. Becca, amazingly enough was not afraid of it-although she did not want to hold it (but neither would I!) What a funny thing to see-the frog jumping around Becca screaming every time it jumps and Brayden down in his haunches yelling HEY, WHOA, every time he missed catching it. Ron came home and did some research with the kids on the computer and they discovered that it was a Grey Tree Frog. They had fun listening to the noises it makes and seeing the different markings it had. Brayden had to check up on it all during the evening, including during dinner and before bed, in his pj's-making sure it was still around. Ron thought it might be fun to keep, his thoughts not quite in line with mine. The frog is free to roam!

HOME

Today Andrea and I made it back to Tulsa OK. Andrea was a great little flyer, thankfully the trip home was much smoother than our trip out, I think we spent a total of 6 hours in airports on our way to see Sharon. Andrea loved crawling around and under the chairs in the waiting areas and usually after about an hour of talking and trying to interact with people on the plane would give in to some much needed sleep. Brayden and Becca met us at the airport with flowers in hand-full of hugs and lots of stories to tell. Becca's vocabulary seemed to have grown, her sentences were about right up there with Brayden's. We enjoyed our typical evening walk around the neighborhood before calling it an evening. Becca showed off her biking skills-yes she is slowly able to peddle her bike forward (a very slow and tedious process!)

Andrea is adjusting towards not being the center of attention and a time change-which means some/a lot of crying is going on this evening! She is missing Auntie Sharon, Grandma and fuzzywinks. Sharon's cat was her entertainment while in CA although fuzzywinks was not too sure of Andrea-they were very cute. The cat would sit up on a chair and reach down to an unaware Andrea and tap her on the head. Andrea just couldn't quite catch that tail! Funny that we arrived to warm weather in Tulsa and in CA we actually had a day of rain and temperatures barely in the 70's. It made for a nice relaxing weekend-for the CA bunch at least. I think the Tulsa crew was kept running for most of the weekend-from baseball games, fireworks, fishing, bike-riding, golfing; Ron and Grandpa take the prize for staying busy!

Summer Fun

With highs in the mid 90's it is Summer here in Tulsa. So we decide to open up Brayden birthday present. The Slip in Slide. After blowing up the shark and stakeing it down the kids had a blast. Attached is the Video.

California

So while the rest of my family is enjoying some time together in Tulsa. Andrea and I are enjoying some time with my sister and mom in Visalia. Andrea has been totally spoiled and I don't know if we will ever recover. It has been fun seeing her develop, or should I say actually being able to have the time to sit and notice the things she can do. Yesterday we went to see my sister's class room. It was her last day of teaching third grade as she is having her first baby in a couple months. Sharon was standing in front of her class with Andrea and asking the kids some questions. For them to answer they were all raising their hands. Funny thing was after Andrea staring them all down from my sister's arms, she promptly raised her own arm. It was so silly to see.

We enjoyed a nice lunch together and then after a little afternoon rest/run we all went a did some shopping. How fun-I forget how nice it is to leisurely shop and not always be on a mission with all the kids in tow. For dinner we went to a steak house that served basically every dish endlessly. I have never seen so much food! Andrea has started to eat and feed herself-not always very successfully but she manages. Tonight I don't know if she got bored but she discovered something else fun she could do at the table. Andrea discovered that by whacking the table with her hands she could not only make a loud noise but smash all her food. What a mess!

We finished the evening by watch a wonderful movie-Dan In Real Life. It was a great movie and one I would actually recommend seeing. The only down side to CA is the time change and unfortunately Andrea has been waking up quite early, but normal for her Tulsa internal clock. Sharon is growing and looks wonderfully pregnant. Her cat fuzzywinks is putting up with all the commotion and is trying to figure out how to play with Andrea and vise-versa. Andrea is now on to the MMMM's and say's Ma Ma all the time-regardless if it is me or not, although Sharon is convinced she knows where her toes are. Sharon would say, I am going to get your toes Andrea and she would promptly lift them up for her to get with a big grin on her face! We are having a wonderful time, amazingly we actually have cool weather and a few rain drops yesterday.

Fishing

Summer is back; here the forecast for the weekend is Hot and Humid (90’s and chance of Thunderstorms). Beth slowly left Tulsa to CA, the tornados in CO delayed her flight into Denver. So with Grandpa Mulder here for the weekend we are ready to have fun. Last night was fishing night at the aquarium. No it is not fishing in the exhibit tanks, but the well stocked pond with blue gill and Channel Catfish makes pretty fun. After a short lesson on Knot tying, fish identification, and fishing safety. We were ready to fish. With the first cast to the center of the pond the bobber went under, the fight was on. There wasn’t much fight in the fish though because the fish was only the size of the palm of your hand (Brayden Hand!!). So Brayden ran around the pond to get another worm and the waiting started. Brayden and Becca like to fish but waiting and watching a small floating bobber just isn’t much fun, running in the clover and ring around the rosy is more exciting. The family next to us was using stink bait (rotten chicken livers) and they were catching big Channel Catfish, so Brayden and Becca would run over to them when they had one on. After about an hour we had only caught 3 fish, including one that Grandpa caught that was only the size of Becca’s hand. We did have fun though and for next week we will have to bring our own stink bait.

Lights over Lake Michigan

While up in Michigan the other week we witnessed a rare weather phenomenon. On Friday night May 9, at about 10pm my dad noticed some faint lights on the horizon. After getting out the big binoculars, you could see distinct white lights in the shapes of buildings and piers. To help determine what or where we were looking at we got a compass to determine the precise azimuthal direction we were seeing the lights. Westward we could see lights from 251, 260, 274, and 281 degrees. To the south in the middle of the Port Sheldon pier we could see light at 192 degrees. Using the pointer on the GPS and drawing a line on the correct azimuth we determined that the west lights were from Waukegan Illinois, and Racine and Milwaukee Wisconsin at a distance of over 85 miles away. The light to the south followed an azimuth directly towards Benton Harbor Michigan 60 miles away.

Over the past 10 years that my parents have been living on Lake Michigan my dad has seen these lights beyond the horizon only about 6 times. It always occurs in the spring time as it is a weather phenomenon called a Superior Mirage. Superior Mirages are caused by a uniform and widespread temperature inversion, cold air lying beneath relatively warmer air. This contrast in tempature bends the light rays around the horizon enabling one to see objects that actually are located well beyond or below the geometric horizon.

Using the Lake Michigan Nautical Map I mapped the azimuthal directions that we saw the lights.

If you place a comment with your e-mail I can send a higher resolution photo of this map.

NINE MONTHS OLD!

Andrea went in for her nine month check today. She got a clean bill of health, except for some fluid in her ear, which seems to never go away she was great. Andrea weighed in this morning at 19lbs, and a height of 28.5in. She is running middle of the road-about 50% for her age. Yes, she did get a shot today, both Brayden and Becca sat on chairs watching with big eyes-each plugging their ears-I guess they don't really like to hear Andrea cry.

Weekend

So another weekend comes to a close. Fortunately for us we were able to spend some great time together as a family and enjoy some of the activities we love to do when we are home. Friday afternoon the kids and I headed into town and were able to pick Ron up from work and make our way to May Fest down town Tulsa. The kids were excited that daddy didn't have to go back to work after our time together-usually we meet Ron for lunch and the kids are not very happy about having to bring him back to work and not home. The kids enjoyed coloring some visors and wooden yo-yo's in the kids zone. Everything Brayden colored was done in black-his favorite color. Becca was just enjoying being able to do some of the things the big kids were doing and not having to sit in the stroller-where Andrea spent her time surveying the activities. It was a wonderful evening.
Saturday we had all three kids in our bed room bouncing around-such energy right away in the mornings. Andrea get's so excited to see Brayden, bouncing on her knees and waving her arms around, so fun to see. Well, we decided to skip the Aquarium race this year and instead we headed out to the donut shop-even ephie got to go. It is the perfect place on Saturday mornings, Becca was excited because they got a new stool just her height, a chair just for her. It was nice for her because she was a little disappointed as she thought she could run with us to the shop, instead she had to ride in the stroller-as no one was running, it was a laid back morning for all. Both kids love to run/race/exercise as they call it. It is very cute to see and they can actually make it around the small loop in our neighborhood. Becca sits on the curb every so often ,"I tired mommy, I rest" but the instant I suggest the stroller she is up and running. The rest of the day we spent working in the yard. Brayden loves to work and will do just about any job you give him. He racked, helped pull all my old flowers, swept, and cleaned up bird seed. Becca just loves being close to either Ron or I and Andrea spent her awake time trying to eat grass and flowers. I didn't realize how serious Brayden was about helping/working till I put him to bed for his nap, or so I thought and about 30min later he was standing next to me outside fulling dressed and with his shoes on-"ready to work mommy!" he was crushed when I told him he had to finish his nap-poor guy. Even after he had slept we walked into the living room-huge bed head, half sleeping yet, shoes in hand and the first thing he says-"I am ready to work, mommy"
It was quite a day the yard looks much better and the kids had great fun helping, and still seemed to have energy in the evening for more outdoor play, much more than Ron or I.
We all enjoyed a bike ride today and I think the kids were most excited about being able to finally play in the water fountain along one of our biking routes with the kids. Clothes and all, they go and and just have a blast. Becca stands next to one of the spouts and leans her head over into it to get her air wet-then runs to us to wipe the water out of her eyes. She had such a fun time " I wet mommy, my hair wet" then off she would run and just scream with delight when she would get wet.
It just had to happen that the Tulsa heat starts to kick in and our air goes out right as the weekend rolls in. Hard to believe I spent most of my growing day's without air-then again in was MI. So on to a long hot night-Ron has all his temperature gages rolling today. Out of interest sake..... data shows a high outdoor temp of 95, a high inside temp of 83 (much too high for my comfort!) and a high attic temp of 127. Hopefully things are in working order tomorrow!

Boys and Girls

I am seeing the difference between Brayden and Becca everyday-it is so fun to see each of them developing and learning at their own pace and understanding.
Becca got her first two wheel bike when we were home in MI. It is her barbie bike-although I don't really think she knows what a barbie is-her one barbie she still calls her baby. Anyway, we have been trying to get her used to riding it. Totally different that teaching Brayden. Becca has no clue how to steer, or really peddle for that matter. In fact to change directions she promptly jumps off the bike and pulls it to where she want to go, gets back on, peddles for about 1 foot and them jumps off again. After a little bit of this she decided to give up on the bike and get her little trike out. For some reason she has a hard time keeping her feet on the peddles, so after peddling by herself and saying very loudly "this is HARD" we saw her sitting on her trike, dog peddling with her feet on the ground. She was determined to keep up!
I have to keep telling myself she is only two and not my little boy Brayden. Brayden on the other hand was trying to be encouraging by riding up to Becca and then wiping out on the street, he would get up look at her and say "see it's okay" and then get back on his bike and ride off. I think he was actually scaring her but it was his way of trying to motivate her. She is so sweet, and gentle natured-something I can only hope Brayden learns! As we were packing up all the toys I heard her call to Brayden-"can you please help me, my bike is heavy, so hard...thank you Brayden" ( I can't believe some the the sentences that come out of her mouth) And Brayden was the big brother and helped her out-they do have their moments.
Needless to say we are needing to do some more practicing at this bike thing-the good thing is that both kids love playing outside, no matter what we are doing.

Driller's Baseball

Tonight was the Ceja party at a Driller's baseball game. The kids had a lot of fun-we had great seats, right next to third base. Andrea was entertained the entire night. She loved the music during the breaks and loved all the noise-so very opposite from her sister! Brayden had his glove and Cindy was able to get him a baseball-it is in his bed for the night, along with his glove and plastic ice cream baseball hat. The foul balls were everyone's favorite, thankfully none came to close. With ice-cream, popcorn and hot dogs before the game the kids were truly satisfied. Although Brayden spotted a beverage he thought he wanted, I informed him it was beer and only for adults. His response, loudly was "I LIKE BEER" great, just was I want to come out his mouth!

Anyway, it seems that the kids really never quite talking, my head can hardly keep up at the end of the day and if I do nod off, both kids are quick to say-MOMMY, MOMMY and keep repeating their questions over and over again. Becca has finally started to pray on her own-she is our stubborn little girl and has just sat with hand folded at meals and refused to pray. She now will say her prayer, but in a loud bear growl voice-oh well, I don't think God will mind.

Both kids got new bedding today and Becca is going to sleep on a big girl bed-or as we call it a blow up bed, no more of this toddler bed stuff! They all seemed to sleep much better on vacation and have been up multiple time during the night this week. We are hoping that new pillows, cozy beds will entice them to have a better nights rest! At least for one of them to sleep longer than 5 hours would be a welcome reprieve for Ron and I.

SHOTS

It was one of those morning's-one we would have all preferred to stay home and in our PJ's. Instead we were off to the Dr's office for Brayden's four year check. So I had prepared him for the Dr asking questions, listening to his heart, looking in his mouth and ears....I kind of decided not to talk about the shot issue, as I was not really sure if he was going to get any. I don't really know what I was thinking as I should know by now the kids always remember the things you would like them to forget. As were getting out of the car Brayden said-"and shots mommy?" I said I was not sure, maybe one, not a big deal. That seemed okay to him and he was off running in to watch TV in the waiting room. They called his name, he got a big grin on his face, I think he thought he was pretty special as we are always there for either Becca or Andrea. He was measured, weighed..poked, prodded and he did great. He was pretty set on telling the Dr that he could ride a bike without training wheels, every question she would ask eventually got an answer associated with his racer bike. He is about average for height and weight, 37lbs, 40in. So the Dr leaves and on her way out said that we just needed to finish some boosters. Brayden started to get a little worried so I said that it was okay to cry a little, or yell OUCH, that it would be really fast. WELLLLL.... the nurse walks in the room carrying not one, not two but four needles. I think Brayden's face lost all color, you could just see him starting to freak out. He got up on the table, "four mommy??" I felt kind of bad as I really thought it was only going to be one, maybe two. Well after the first one he cried good and loud, and when they were done he was convinced that his legs didn't work. It was quite the trip trying to get to the car. For the rest of the day I had to listed to whining about his legs not working, and after nap he was convinced again he couldn't walk. After playing a little he looked at me and said "I have to bend like Grandpa...it's hard" Grandpa Mulder, who we had just seen had thrown out his back and could hardly move, let alone bend over. At bedtime one set of band aids came off, surprise surprise that leg now works. I am hoping the other two fall off in bed and he wakes up with two good legs! Anything for attention.

TULIP TIME

RACE DAY

Today was the big day. Everyone was up at 6am-who runs this early in the morning??? The 10km started at 7:30, I think it was about 40 degree's out-COLD. The kids went in their PJ's, first because they were still dead to the world at that time of morning and second, they were about the warmest clothes we had along. My race (10km) went well, although it was very crowded, over two thousand runners, so it was very hard to run at a steady pace until the last two miles of the race. Ron's race (25km) started at 8am, with over four thousand runners it was a huge race. Funny thing-as he was running he heard some one yelling for his sister, turned out she was just a couple of steps behind him, and he actually finished the race with his other sister Tracy. It was a hard race for him-the first split was great and right on time, the second split was another issue, one he never figured out. I was just glad he was upright at the end of the race and functioning! It was lots of fun to watch with the kids and family, and a great way to start the day. The kids busied themselves with donuts, suckers and lots of dirt-they were a MESS, but they did great watching and cheering for 2 hours. Congratulations to all the runner's out there-some amazing times!

Race Results-Ron Haveman 25km
Amy DeKruyter 25km
Tracy Smith 25km
Beth Haveman 10km
Dan Smith 5km

http://www.53riverbankrun.com/index.php?page=78

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day. I really don't think the kids really understood what today was or supposed to be?? A birthday??? Anyway we were off to church this morning. Brayden stayed in church for the first time and went up front for the children's time. He was not quite sure of the whole thing but made it to the front and back. He was very cute in church, folding his hands and praying with the pastor and then shaking people's hand around us and saying "good morning" like he was an adult. I got a big kiss and a chocolate kiss along with a cupcake from him after service. After church all of the cousins got together-WHAT A MAD HOUSE!! Brayden and Becca were in their glory, running around with guns, wrestling, playing hide and seek and just in general having lots of fun. You can only imagine the noise level. We spent the second part of the day at my parents house. Brayden was excited to watch the Lone Ranger with Grandpa. Becca broke out of her shell and let people read to her and hold her, enjoying all the attention. Andrea is growing up so fast and is finding she enjoys feeding herself. Today she sat in the high chair with a selection of food and was quite content to try and get anything she could in her mouth. We ended the day with lots of hugs along with zerbert kisses to all-lots of slime! To top it off the kids are beyond tired and total basket cases. Brayden has informed me that he is sad and needs to cry. I said-go right ahead. He said that he wanted to cry loud that he was SOOOO sad. Funny how things can be going so well and then at bedtime it is like the end of the world is coming. Becca just lays there next to him and stares, eventually they both will give in to some much needed sleep.

Happy Mother's day to all and continued Patience and Understanding to all Mom's out there.

Parade

Yesterday we were finally able to enjoy a parade with the kids. Wednesday was a rainy cold day and although some die hards still kept the parade alive, we were not among them! Yesterday we went to the children's parade-full of kids walking with their schools. Becca and Brayden had a lot of fun and just couldn't keep their eyes off the road to see what was next. Becca was so cute, clapping for all the bands and waving to all the kids. Brayden loved seeing what things the school kids were carrying. His favorite were the spiders, to re-inact the nursery rhyme, little miss muffet. He thought it would be fun to join either the kids roller skating or riding bikes thought the parade route. Andrea loved all the noise and excitement and watched in awe-mouth open tongue out. She was most animated when some rescue dogs walked by-I think she though they could understand her baby gibberish. Cousins Jack and Peter sat by us, all dressed in their dutch costumes, very cute. This year none of the kids minded the loud bands-no hands over their ears, which is how they watched much of the parades last year.

TULIP TIME

It is that time of year again-amazing how fast time goes. We are off to Holland Michigan to enjoy the festivities of the dutch festival Tulip Time. Last year we went with two kids and this year we will arrive with three-how things change in one year. The kids are excited to go-crazy as they know the drive is long, but neither seem to mind. Parades start already on Wednesday, cousins are street scrubbing and riding on floats, combined with Mother's day weekend and of course the big race sat morning, it is going to be quite a trip!

MICHIGAN/FAMILY HERE WE COME!!

Sanibel Island

VACATION

We are home and a complete family again. This past week the kids and I spent our time at Sanibel Island by Fort Meyers Florida. We had a wonderful time. The complex we stayed at was soooo quiet. We had the pool and tennis courts to ourselves much of the time besides for a couple older couples also enjoying the pool.
The kids loved spending time with Grandpa and Grandma. We found lots of shells-Andrea spend a good portion of time trying to devour the beach. She found out she loved the little tide pools, and the taste of salt water. Becca enjoyed swimming in the pool and learned that it was pretty fun swimming with a noodle and not just hanging out on the steps. Brayden loved splashing-EVERYONE. There were a couple other kids and he loved following them around and jumping in with them-whether they wanted him around or not! Uncle Doug had gotten Brayden a blow-up shark for the pool which both kids were too scared to ride. As usual Brayden convinced Becca to try it first-such a brave little girl, as long as someone is giving her what she wants.
We spent one morning at a nature preserve, but did not see a whole lot-some raccoons were the big site of the morning. Actually, at the end of the week Grandpa spotted two alligators along the board walk to the beach-unfortunately no one else got to see them. Uncle David was the only one to find some sharks teeth on his beach walks-lots and lots of people walking the shore line with bags and nets finding treasures.
Traveling went pretty smooth with the kids-both were pretty funny as each time we boarded the plane each would diligently put on their seat belt and pull out the safely instruction manual. I can say that Brayden knew it inside and out, he was the one seated at attention with his manual listening to the stewardess go through the monotonous instructions-such a good little student. Although by the last flight he was starting to put it all together and was wondering about the slides and water. He was quiet concerned when I said it was in case we landed in the water-his concern..."I DON"T HAVE MY NOODLE TO SWIM!"
Some of the things they enjoyed the most..cinnamon rolls for breakfast..I can't type how they pronounced it but you can imagine a two year old asking for a cinnamon roll. Each loved being read to by the Grandparents, who brought a bunch of new books. Funny thing is that when asked to get a book to read they would always pick the same one-over and over again. Both swam until their fingers and toes were pruned up daily. Brayden learned how to surf with Grandpa. Lots of fun until he would feel something on his legs or toes and then he was done with the water. We even were able to see some dolphins from the beach.
It was a wonderful trip and I was able to get in a little exercise with the extra help around with the kids. It was a pretty motivational place to run as only in Florida can a runner pass bikers!