Adventures in Parenthood: Ironmanning in San Diego

Dada hadn't done a half Ironman since Emmett was born so he figured it was about time to stop being lazy and get it done (I, on the other hand, continued to be lazy). He signed up months ago for one in Oceanside the first weekend of April. This was perfect because Mikaela and Zach happened to have just purchased a house in Oceanside! I had to go to LA for work so we headed down Thursday afternoon. The trip down was great, Emmett slept most of the way and Clara even slept for awhile. There was no crying or screaming and we didn't stop at all! We met Tia Biffy for dinner. We spent some time at the beach playing and catching up. Clarita loves hotels and was super excited when we arrived (even though it was after 9:00). She ran around exploring the room while Dada brought in all of our stuff and I got Emmett ready for bed.

Tia Biffy is so fun!

Someday...

Clara and Dada played in the hotel room Friday morning while I went to my work meetings and Emmett napped. We headed out around noon and Clara and Emmett both fell asleep. Unfortunately Clarita woke up when traffic stopped and started screaming. For the first time since the chuponcito fairy took her chuponcitos, she cried for it. After at least 20 minutes of screaming (which woke Emmett up) we stopped to eat and she finally calmed down. The rest of the drive involved terrible traffic but at least there was no screaming! We hit the beach while Dada went to a race meeting. Clarita was obsessed with playing in the water and running from the waves. At one point a wave knocked her over and completely covered her. I thought she would cry, but she popped up and said, "That's why I have my swimsuit on!" Emmett enjoyed watching Clara play in the water. It was a little difficult having both kids by myself at the beach since Emmett had to be held and Clara wanted to play in the water, but we managed. Dada joined us for a little while and played in the water with Clara before we headed to Mikaela and Zach's. Clara fell back in love with Mikaela in 10 minutes and requested that she hold her and play with her! Mikaela helped her make her very own pizza and Clarita was in heaven! Emmett loved watching their dog, Duke, and laughed every time his face got licked. We had a delicious dinner and Mikaela, Zach, and I stayed up way too late catching up while Dada and the kids rested up for the big day.

Hotels are so fun!

There are a lot of crazy people who want to exercise for hours...

I got up way too early Saturday to take Dada to the race. I was able to get a little sleep when I got back, but the kids had other plans for our morning which did not include sleeping in. After breakfast we headed to the park to meet up with Nicolette, Jeremy, Bennett, and Perrin. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but it was great to see them and the kids had fun playing. Then we headed to pick up lunch and Clarita turned into a monster. She refused to walk or let Mikaela carry her and insisted that I carry her (which was hard since I was also carrying a sleeping Emmett in his billion pound car seat). We finally got lunch and headed to eat it at the beach hoping to see Dada finish. Of course we got there too late and missed his finish by 10 minutes! This is the first half Ironman that we didn't watch any of and I felt bad. However, with two kids it is getting more and more difficult to lug them around super crowded races so I feel like this will probably become a trend. Dada did great with a personal best of 5 hours 26 minutes and 30 seconds (much longer than I ever plan to exercise)! We were very proud of him and felt like lazy bums! We ate lunch while he went to collect his stuff and eat, and Mikaela played in the ocean with Clara while Emmett and I hung out in the sand. He loved eating the sand (what baby can resist it?) and gobbled down handfuls! Dada joined Mikaela and Clarita when he was done and they played in the water until Clara was shaking from cold. The little Wiggle laid on her towel with her sunglasses on and said, "This is what all the people do at the beach!" Mikaela was so proud of Clara since sunbathing is one of her favorite past times (seriously we would have to rotate after a certain amount of time when we went to the beach in college)! Clara also played on the playground and pushed Bluesha on the swings. At one point she fell down and she immediately popped back up and in a perfectly serious and upset voice yelled, "Bluesha pushed me!" I think she needs nicer imaginary friends!

Mikaela is so much fun!

Sand = real yum!

Smoothies = real yum

Pushing Bluesha

We collected Dada's bike and headed back to put the kids down for a nap while we hung out and the guys watched basketball. Zach made us a stellar dinner and we enjoyed spending time with them. They lived in Colorado while Mikaela went to grad school so it's nice to be back in the same state again! Mikaela needed to take some pictures of her doing play therapy with a child for a work brochure and Clarita happily obliged. She had tons of fun blowing bubbles and playing with the feelings octopus!

Bubble fun

Mikaela is so fun!

Ironman and Ironbaby (Clara picked out this
onesie for Emmett at the last half Ironman
before he was born!)

Sunday we hung out for a while and then had to say goodbye. Clara did not want to leave, but was happy to know we would be back in a few months. We headed to Newport to meet Beth, Ken, and Hadley for a picnic. Traffic was terrible again, but at least both of the kids slept through most of it. And Clarita woke up super happy so that was a plus! Beth and Ken had a great picnic waiting for us and the girls had tons of fun playing at the awesome playground and on the beach. Emmett was content to eat Mum Mums and smile at everyone! It was a nice pit stop and a great opportunity to see the Hailes! We continued our drive home and didn't hit too much traffic. At one point Clara declared that she "real real" had to go potty so we stopped and she pooped a ton. It's so nice that she can tell us these things now and she did great on all of the long car rides! I got tired of listening to Clara's music (imagine kids singing the same songs over and over) and decided that we would each take turns picking a song. Clara bought into this idea and chose songs like All the Single Ladies and All About that Bass so we got a break from annoying kid music! We got home around 8:00 and were all very happy to be back!