Pictures :)

Grandaddy has been reading to Selah every night since daddy can't be here.

Even though S braved a 15 mile hike in the backpack yesterday, she still had a smile on her face for today's backpack ride.

If you look closely, you should see a praying mantis oriented vertically and facing right. We came upon this 5 inch long insect on our hike today and she was beautiful!

Selah gets in and out and in and out and in and out of the pool. She gets in just far enough to touch her toes to the water, then gets out again. It is hilarious to watch.

Exploring the shower....

Mom, give me back that bar of soap, I really wanted to eat that!

She seems a little talkative and has a "strong voice". Wonder where she gets that.

Kapalua Bay

Today: 10 mile run while my parents so graciously took turns carrying Selah on their hike, lunch in the coolest local restaurant EVER, snorkeling in Kapalua bay, and now sitting outside watching Selah crawl around and updating my blog. It's been nice day :)







Selah finally warmed up to the idea of going into the water. She has been pretty afraid of it until now.

For Daddy

Dear Daddy,
I miss you here in Hawaii, but I sure am having lots of fun. Today, I went to the beach in the morning and played in the sand while mommy and Grandpa went snorkeling. Grandma let me eat sticks and sand and I smiled at everyone around us. I got pretty tired from crawling around in the sand and rocks, so mommy decided to take me home for lunch and a nap. I ate lots of food and slept for two hours! Even after that big lunch, I woke up really hungry and kept trying to tell mommy what was wrong but she couldn't figure it out. Once she gave me food, though, I was happy again and we went and played in the pool. I showed all of the neighbors how I can crawl in and out of the pool and I let mommy swim around with her hands under my belly so I could kick. Mommy didn't make me wear my bikini top and it sure felt good. After the swimming, I wanted to go crawl around outside, so mommy took me to the lawn. I crawled and crawled and then I remembered that there were stairs at the edge of the lawn, so I headed over there as fast as I could. I bet I did stairs for about an hour. Then I took a little rest and then I did stairs again while everyone else watched the sunset and looked for whales. I was so tired after all those stairs! I ate the biggest meal I think I have ever eaten and fell asleep in about 5 minutes. Mommy thought you might want to see some pictures of me from today, so here they are. Love you!

Here I am at the top of the stairs. I stole the show and everyone thought I was so cute going up and down and up and down.

I finally let Grandaddy love on me and give me hugs and kisses. I'm still pretty afraid of other gray-haired men, though, and I cried really hard today when one talked to me.

We bought Ahi Sashimi last night and made more sushi than we could eat--and it was delicious! We made 7 rolls and had fish leftover that we blackened and ate plain. Yum. Dad had never rolled sushi before and he got really into it.



If you look closely,you can see mom and dad hiding behind the roots of this massive baobab tree. We hiked about 14 miles yesterday on the Kapalua/Mahena ridge trail and my sweet Selah never fussed in the backpack.

Beach time!

Day 3 in HI

Today was a big day in Hawaii. Sleeping, breakfast, morning nap (Selah), snorkeling, beach picnic, afternoon pool time, wine/sunset time, shrimp dinner, now blogging. Whew! I am so tired :)

S didn't realize she had a flower behind her ear, so I had dad take some photos.


Trying to make her smile for said photos...

Checking out the Hibiscus.





Playing on the beach with Grandma.


Too cute after eating sand. She loves this place. It is just awesome to let her go wild outside, there is nothing she can't get in to or eat or break, she is just free.

Today's post for Mikey

That's a smashed tomato on her forehead, not blood. She ate dinner on the lawn tonight.

We hiked up Waihee Ridge Trail this afternoon. Check out the beautiful mist in the peaks behind us.

How S spent most of the hike :)

And the rest she spent like this.

Since Mike can't be here, he asked for a blog update each day. Here you go, babe!

Selah with her new friend Fin from next door. Fin is 2 and has a baby brother on the way. She loves Selah!


Grandma loves.


Grandpa loves.


35 years together and looking good!

Hawaii time

Selah and I are in Maui with my parents! For two weeks! Arrived last night and the 7 hour plane ride with an 11 month old was only slightly heinous. We started off in Aspen, where our flight was delayed by over an hour. Selah was happy despite not getting her morning nap. The delay got us to Denver with only a few minutes to get to our next flight. I had the diaper bag ready and Selah in the Ergo before the seatbelt light was off, and it's a good thing! I ran with her head a-bobbing and made it to the flight right as they were closing the doors. I was the last person on board and didn't care that my luggage would probably stay in Denver (it did) because I was going to Hawaii! The first thing I noticed when getting to my seat (3 rows from the back and everyone else was already seated) was that the woman next to me was wearing a Hawkeyes shirt. "You're from Iowa? Nice!" I knew I had friendly row-mates, a necessity for a transoceanic flight with an infant. It turned out that she and her husband had 3 kids including a 10 month old, all home with grandma, so they were very understanding. Selah did very well considering that she had to sit on my lap for over 7 hours on that flight alone, and that we traveled for about 12. But by the end of the trip, she was D.O.N.E. and screamed while I waiting in vain for my luggage to arrive. I never know what to say to the onlookers who think a.) you really should shut your kid up, geez, there are other people around, or b.) what have you done to make your kid so pissed, or c.) want to help in some way. She's a baby. Babies cry and it's just okay. Thankfully, the kid stayed up late enough to make the 4 hour time change and was normal and happy today.

Sweet Selah in her new sun hat.

Nudie beach time. She loved the sand but wasn't too sure about the water (a little cold and she's not used to the waves).

Mom and I trying to get her lifevest/swimsuit thing on.

Chilling out at the condo this morning. Dad took me on a nice walk early today to show me the scene of his rescue two days ago. He was out snorkeling and came upon a young couple that had been caught in a current without fins. They were in the process of getting sucked out to sea and the man had essentially rolled over and given up. The guy weighed over 200 pounds and dad managed to drag him back to shore and then went back for his wife.

Race Day

Mike, Selah, and I all raced this morning at America's Uphill, a 3267' climb over 2.5 miles from the bottom of Aspen Mountain to the top. With a 7am start, we woke up at 4:30 to make the drive. Caffeine is a beautiful thing. Mike ran a very respectable 52:42, taking 14th place in a very competitive field. I carried Selah in the Ergo and made the ascent in 1:14, good enough for 29th woman and 5th in my age group. It was so steep that I did not run a single step. The winner, Ricky Gates, ran an impressive course record in 40:26 and was apparently the only person to run the entire race. I decided to race last night and wasn't even sure they would let me with a baby on my back. Since Selah and I leave for Maui tomorrow morning, I wanted to be nice and sore for the day of sitting on the airplane. When I asked this morning if I could race with her, they shrugged their shoulders and said, "I guess so", so I went for it! Selah was bouncing, squealing, and laughing in my ears at the start, excited about all of the people and action. But the early morning caught up to her fast and she decided to take a snooze for the second half of the race. Fun day! Too bad I forgot to bring the Iphone for pictures!

I ended up having a pretty good week of training. Last week was absolutely crazy busy at work and I ran a total of about 8 miles the entire week. It left me feeling a bit stiff and slow at the beginning of this week, but I feel back to normal now. I am terrible about keeping a training log, but here is what I think I did:

Sunday: 20 miles with El and Ashley (they pushed the pace and it was HARD!)
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 7.5 miles, felt pretty slo
Wednesday: 6.5 miles in the morning easy, 7.5 miles fast in the evening
Thursday: hiked Red Mountain with Sari (who is 36 weeks pregnant AND was carrying her 2 1/2 year old)
Friday: 7 miles with El, felt fast, 10 mile bike ride with Mike and Selah
Saturday: Race, America's Uphill

for a total of about 56 miles, right on track for where I should be with my upcoming racing schedule. My weakness? I have yet to do a situp since having Selah and my core is still very floppy. The problem is that I DESPISE doing core work... I might just deal with floppy abs.

Bananas

Selah loves bananas. Yesterday we went out on a beautiful bike ride and went to the grocery store on the way home. When we got home and opened up the Chariot I discovered that Selah had taken one of the bananas purchased at the store, bitten into it and started eating it. It was pretty funny. Joy and I have both noticed how Selah loves to eat the peel as much as she likes to eat the actual banana.

Selah Swinging

I built a swing for Selah at the end of last fall and just recently Selah has begun to be able to use it. I helped by shoveling some snow out of the yard to help speed up the melting. Here's Selah, enjoying her swing: