Apple Picking

A great memory of mine from when I was a teenager was going apple picking at an orchard. We lived in Northern VA when I was a teenager which is very close to where we live now, so I tried to find the apple orchard (the one that my brother called The Top of the World) we had gone to so many years ago. After a lot of research online I didn't find it, but we did find a wonderful orchard in the Northern VA area. It was one of those crisp cool fall days that made you crave hot apple cider and throwing leaves in the air. Brady had a blast picking apples! He wanted to use the apple picker on a pole in the worst way and I wouldn't let him until we found a shorter one that he just picked up and went to town picking apples. Before I could say no I noticed that he was really good at picking apples with that thing, so I let him continue. Could have been a mistake though considering we came home with $42 worth of apples! Holy cow, that's a lot of apples! My goal is to make some fresh apple puree baby food and freeze it for Grayson, make apple sauce for us, can some apple pie fillings and can some apple butter. In the mean time I have made some delicious applesauce, 2 apple cakes, apple crisp and Tim made us apple pancakes, and not to mention we got crazy and just ate them raw. While we were at the orchard they also had pumpkins, so we went ahead and got ours there. I am sad though that we didn't get to go to the pumpkin patch. But this was a nice way to one stop shop! Haha! Fall is my favorite time of year, so the orchard was a great way to enjoy the start of a beautiful season!

All bundled up, snug as a bug in a baby bjorn.

Got his bag and he's ready to pick apples!

Brady, 3 and Grayson, 5 months
How you doin?!

We packed a picnic and had a tail gate party. Grayson packed his picnic too, but he had to eat inside the truck. :)

Look mom, an apple!

He's got the whole world in his hands...

I love this picture with the sign in the background!

My Super-human Dad

I will start this out by saying my Dad is not normal! Heehee!! Basically he is super-human. My whole life he has been doing some kind of endurance activity. When I was a baby and up until I was in high school he ran in marathons. I have many memories of getting up before it was light outside to take my dad to a race. We would stop at 7-Eleven and he would get 2 huge cups of coffee and that's all he would drink/eat before a marathon! And he would refuse to let my mom drive on these days which would drive my mom crazy, because he had to have the top off his coffee to let it cool while he drove and inevitably he would spill his coffee. Quite comical! So when he retired from the Air force and they moved down to Texas he decided his knees had had enough running and it was time to switch sports so he started cycling. So of course the man can't do anything half way and started riding A LOT of miles, riding in the Hotter N Hell Hundred-100 mile bike ride at the end end of August in Texas-Hot! Then my mom started having symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and it is highly likely that she has MS, so to support research and finding a cure he started riding in the MS 150. Just to name a few of the rides he has done. And he always rides to break the world record, not a slow little ride. So when I moved down to San Antonio he got me into riding. From the time I started riding my goal has always been to out ride my dad...and 10 years later I'm still trying!
Since we only got to do half of the MS 150 this year, we had to make up for it the last week I was there and we went on quite a few more bike rides. I had trained my butt off-or so I thought-for this race, so when I got to TX and we went for a ride with the Texas wind and 90 degree weather, it threw me for a loop when I was dying! And the worst part is, I am working my ass off and I look over at my 55-ish (I can never remember how old he is-old at any rate! Haha!!) and he's just riding along, whistling along, not letting me forget that his heart rate is at 130 and mine is about 180 about to explode! Grrrrrr!!!! So there is one route that is a favorite torture route of ours-the 211 hills. It is about a 30 mile ride where you climb 5 miles of hills including San Geronimo hill at 9% grade, in the middle. As our last ride while I was there we decided to do the 211 hills. I thought, "I'm ready for this, I trained back home on nothing but hills, bring it on!". So we went and it was a great ride! I didn't kick my dad's butt or anything, but I wasn't dying either. I was feeling good. So on the way home I was thinking about my crazy dad and his ability to do ANY physical feat you put in front of him and I thought I would write a post about it, then.......BAM! I got a new subject to blog about-my BUTT! We were about a mile from home and my dad assumed I remembered the couple of turns we have to take, but I didn't and we had to turn right at one point. My dad was on my outside and I had my head down cause the wind was kicking my butt at the moment and well, he turned and I did not. We just barely clipped wheels and down I went flat on my butt and bounced a few times before coming to a stop. OOOUUUCCCHHHH!!!!! And this my friends is how I bruised my tail bone. My mom likes to tell the story as my dad pushed me off my bike. Haha!! I like to tell it as, "just cause I was giving you a run for your money doesn't mean you have to push me off my bike!" Haha! So anyhow, sitting-especially breast feeding-has been painfully interesting. I finally got in for a Dr. appt. yesterday and we took an x-ray just in case, but the treatment is the same whether it is bruised or broken. And unfortunately she couldn't give me any good pain meds because I am nursing. So she gave me 600 mg of motrin and a donut to sit on and sent me on my way. Booo-hooo! It is getting better though, slowly but surely. And that is the story of 'Oh my butt'.

More Texas fun!

While we were in Texas we decided to go to a local museum. In the 11 years that my parents have lived in San Antonio and the 5 years I've lived there off and on we have never been. They have pretty neat hands on stuff for kids and a lot about Texas history. The newest addition is the HEB science tree house. There were different exhibits/experiments all geared towards kids and having fun while learning. We all had a good time.

Mimi, Papa and Brady playing with one of the expermiments. They were flying airplanes which were above them.

This was the music area. Mom and Brady are playing with this double sided wall made with all kinds of buckets, pipes and all things metal or plastic that you can drum on. Brady loved it because he was being encouraged to make lots of noise!

Pause for a picture half way down the tree house. The museum and tree house are set on the banks of the San Antonio River which is where the River Walk is as well.

You can see the pretty tree house in the background as Brady plays with the water exhibits. He had a blast playing with the Archimedes screw!

A pretty windmill on the grounds of the Witte. My mom loves Windmills and Brady thought it was pretty cool too.

Fun times on the porch! This was after one of Dad and I's bike rides-as a matter of fact the ride that I fell off my bike on. But anyhow, one of our favorite things to do after a bike ride is to sit on the porch and have a beer. Ah, good stuff!

My crazy "Tia" Leo was in town for the evening.

Mimi and Brady decorated a pumpkin like a pirate. Brady kept saying, "Arrrr matey!"

Mimi had to get in on the morning cuddle time action.

Nap time. I'm not sure who put who to sleep here. Haha!

MS 72

The second weekend we were in TX was the weekend of the MS 150. Wahoo! It's finally here! My Dad and I have been training like crazy to out do each other and we were ready. The 150 miles is broken up over 2 days. The first day you ride about 75-80 miles, then the 2nd day you ride the other 60 or 70 miles (they aren't very exact with the 150 miles). But on day 1 they give you an optional century loop to follow that will give you 100 miles for day 1, so you end up riding about 170ish miles for the weekend. Dad and I of course were going to do that option and were psyched! This year though they changed the route and mucked the whole thing up! Dad and I were not happy about it! It usually is called Bike to the Beach and you ride one way down to the beach at Corpus Christi. It's the same route we've been doing for 6 years and now they change it on us to an out and back Ride to the River. So lame! The half way point is like an hour from my parents house. I mean it was nice that we didn't have to spend the money on a hotel, but still, that's the fun of it. So anyway, back to this years ride. All summer long Texas has been praying for rain. They had hardly gotten any rain for the past 4 months, but the week before the ride they started predicting torrential rain and thunderstorms for this weekend! Nooooooo!!!!!! So we get up Saturday morning around 5 am to head to the Alamo Dome to the start of the ride. And since Grayson doesn't wake up until 7ish I had to pump a bottle of breast milk for him, plus I had to shrink the girls a bit! Haha!! On a side note-doing these kinds of endurance events as a nursing mom adds a whole other element to your training. I was going to be away from Grayson for about 8 hours both days, so I worked really hard to make sure I had at least 8 bags (4 for each day) of breast milk pumped before we even got there. My body produces only as much as Grayson eats, so trying to get an additional pumped "feeding" into my day was alot of work! It was all frozen so I put them all in a cooler with ice packs in it and they all stayed frozen all the way down to TX! I was so happy because then I could keep all that milk for the ride weekend! Wahoo!!! I am such a mom! 6 years ago when we started doing this ride, I never imagined I would be pumping my boobs in the back seat of the car on the way to the ride! Too funny! So anyway, on the way it starts sprinkling and the whole time we are getting ready in the parking lot it is sprinkling and cold-mind you the temperature has been running at 90 degrees or so and this day it was like 60 degrees and wet. Brrrrr!!!!! We were hoping to beat the storms, but we ended up riding the entire 72 miles in the rain. It was miserable! And to top it all off because of all the rain the loop for the century part was flooded! So they had to cancel the century loop, so we only got to ride 72 miles the first day. What a disappointment! And because of the rain our average was only 15 miles per hour. Terrible! On our training rides we were both averaging around 16.5-17 miles/hour. So we changed our clothes and hopped in our "chase vehicles" that mom and aunt Jeanie were nice enough to drive up and went for a post ride dinner at B-dubs (AKA-Buffalo Wild Wings). Yum! There's nothing like wings, beer and football after a hard ride. So we get up the next morning again around 5 am, I pump in the back seat again and it is absolutely poring rain and thundering and lightning. All the roads are starting to flood at this point. At one point the water was so high over the highway that we had to stop and turn off onto the access road because we couldn't have made it through the water. Then half way there I get a text message from the ride organizers and Day 2 of the ride has been canceled! NOOOOOOOO!!!! So needles to say, my dad and I trained for 3 months for a 72 mile bike ride. I did a training ride longer than that! Harrrumph!

Here we are! Ready to ride before the sun's even up!

Putting on our rider numbers.

Got my rain coat on now! Brrrr, it was cold!

Race day fuel!

Mom and her umbrella.

Mom made friends with another group who had an awning. Don't want the "Pitt crew" getting wet or anything!

Here we are, all ready to ride. That's the Alamo Dome behind us.

In the chute getting ready to head out.

Oh my butt!

So you may have noticed that it has been a while since I have posted anything. As you can see now, oh 2 weeks later, that me and the boys went down to San Antonio for the MS 150. The reason for my lack of posts is to make a long story short (don't worry, I will post the longer version later) I have a very bruised tail bone-oh my butt! The day before I left TX my dad and I went for a bike ride and on the way home-about a mile from home is all-we collided and I fell straight down on my butt and bounced a bit. Ouch! Unfortunately though, it still hurts, 3 weeks later! I am having trouble sitting, so blogging has been put on the back burner. I have an appointment next Friday, so we'll see if there is any real damage or just a bruise. I really need a doughnut to sit on!

San Antonio or bust!

As many of you know I have been training for the MS 150 (2 day 150 mile bike ride) for the past 3 months and the ride is finally here! I decided to make the trip worth while and stayed for a whole 2 weeks! I packed up the boys and flew by myself down to San An-tone! Unfortunately Tim had to stay and work-poor baby! So I had both boys all on my own on the airplane. I was really nervous about the whole flying thing...Brady is a seasoned traveler (went on his first flight at 4 weeks old for crying out loud), but to have them both on the plane, it could get hairy quick! So because of this anxiety I decided to make it easy on myself. I scheduled the flight for a Saturday afternoon and got a non-stop flight. Tim was able to take us all the way down to the gate and when I arrived in San Antonio my dad was allowed to come down to the gate and he met us at the end of the jet way. Beautiful! The flying part couldn't have been easier either. My two boys did amazing! I'm sure when people saw me-the lady with an infant strapped to her and a 3 year old in tow pushing a double jogger with a car seat stuffed in the bottom basket-they wanted to run screaming saying don't let me get stuck sitting by that lady! But once I got the stroller folded down and the car seat in place you wouldn't even know we were there. In fact I brought the DVD player for Brady to watch, but it turned out I had a 'I'm Quad and I'm an idiot' moment, and the battery wasn't charged, so I told Brady he couldn't watch his movie and he says, "it's ok mom, I'm sleepy, I'll take a nap now". And I gave him his fia and off to sleep he went! Such an angel! Then Grayson fell asleep in the Bjorn. So there I was with 2 sleeping boys confined to a seat. What did I do you ask? What any good mom would do; I ordered a cocktail and got down to business catching up on my gossip in US weekly! It was fabulous! Good flight boys!

My Dad, PaPa, loves to feed the grand boys Dibs and cookies! Grrrr!

Eating breakfast on the porch. Sitting on the porch is a favorite at Mimi and Papa's.

Mimi catching up on cuddles and kisses.

So, I ask Dad to get some shorts for Brady from our suitcase and this is what Brady came down in. At first glance they look fine...on second glance I said what shorts are those? I don't recognize them. Upon further inspection it turns out these are Graysons pants! Keep in mind they are size 3-6 month and they fit Brady around the waist...and he's 3! Hilarious!

Papa and Brady shaving-too cute! Papa took a real razor and just took the blade off and let him "shave" with the handle-put shaving cream on his face and everything.

Papa and the morning ritual. Brady would wake up around 7 and I would tell him to go down and find Papa. Then the 2 of them would cuddle in the chair, eat breakfast and watch a few hours of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This particular morning though, Dad heard Grayson cry and got upstairs to him before I did. It was hilarious because Dad looked like he was on a heist stealing the baby! Quick, before mumma catches me!

I think Brady got to bake cookies with Mimi and Aunt Jeanie every other day. Lucky boy!

Brady having his daily chat with Daddy using my blue tooth. Too cute!