The issue with Olympic Delays

Sunday mornings is usually my, get up early, but not too early, and go out for a medium to long run before it gets too hot. This morning however I wake up and Women's Olympic Cycling is on. I know, for many people that is not a big thing but I am the guy that watches every day of the Tour de France and it is not very often you get to see the women race so I got distracted. When I finally pulled myself away from the TV it was in the md-70s and my medium run would be a bit more challenging.

I am the guy that loves running when it is 30 or 40 degrees. I will tolerate 50 or 60 but when it is over 70 it is not as much fun for me I was not to be deterred though and did an 8.5 mile run through Brambleton and Broadlands and made it a little bit challenging with the first 2 miles mostly down hill and the next 4 up, another big down hill and the rest up hill again.

It was not fast but it was good. I can't wait for the fall

Untitled by tricdn at Garmin Connect - Details

Baltimore

Kris has headed up to Baltimore for the Otakon Convention for the last few years. So yesterday I took the two girls and headed up to Baltimore to drop Kris off and so myself and Sam could go grab a nice supper. Kris stays with a friends family while there and in the past we have hung around with them for a bit but this year myself and Sam went straight down to Bagby's, which is in the Fell's Point/Little Italy area, for some Pizza and salad.

After we ate we decided to head over to the Inner Harbor which is just a short walk. On the way we saw lots of Otakon attendees but also noticed how much has changed in the area. There were new and innovative parks, new stores and Ripleys had opened. Made us realize that we do not go up to Baltimore often enough.

We did see some unique things and of course I took a couple of pictures :-)

The local "Pirate Ship" that Tika has always been trying to see when we are there

Some new pictures

Just click on the picture to be taken to an album of kayaking pictures

Laura checking out one of or new kayaks

A Great Weekend

Yes it was a bit cooler than we are used to during July in and around DC, and yes it was a bit wet at times but for me it was a great weekend.


Saturday I got to spend the whole day with my beautiful wife. A relaxing
coffee in the morning, a nice lunch, an afternoon at the Torpedo Factory catching up with a couple of our favorite artists, Laura Edwards and Matthew Johnston followed by a nice relaxing supper at home and an evening watching Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. The day was relaxing, no stress and no running around. I got to spend the entire day with the person that makes me smile every day - how much better can it get.

Sunday i went out for a nice run - it was a bit cooler and just occasionally misty - so 7-1/2 miles from Brambleton through Broadlands was great. After i got back and had breakfast and coffee I packed up all the kayaks and took Kris and Sammy kayaking at the reservoir. This was Kris's first time but she did great. We had grabbed some sandwiches beforehand and paddled across the reservoir and had lunch there. On the way we saw herons, turtles and even a loon. The girls were both a bit sweaty afterwards which was also good - I like that they get exercise when they do not think they are :-)



After kayaking Laura and I took Kris to get some things for college. The usual stuff that she will need in her dorm but Kris always appreciates when we do things like that for her. After dropping the girls off Laura made me a great carb loaded supper and we watched the end of the Tour de France (now we are all excited about the start of the Olympics this week).

So as you can see - a great weekend and after that I have no issue in looking forward to a bust week at work.


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Kris is a Patriot

I mean that in the very school sense. George Mason's mascot is the Patriot.

A busy couple of days

OK - outside of the obvious - work - we did have two big things that I thought I would quickly post on:

- Kris spent yesterday and today at University orientation at George Mason. She seemed a little bit nervous but also excited when I dropped her off yesterday AM. I will see how she is when I pick her up this afternoon :-)

- Sammy finished her in-car driving school today with her official driving test. SHE PASSED!!! Woo hoo! Oh wait - that means she gets to drive - YIKES! Just kidding. According to her instructor she did very well and we are very proud of her. There is a bit of a catch. Technically she cannot get her license until August 23rd so she still has a few weeks to wait. At that point she gets her 180 day temporary license and then, assuming no problems, come next February she gets the real McCoy.

Congrats to Sammy and Kris - we are very proud of you both

Not where you would expect ...

So this morning I was out paddling and glanced over to the shoreline to see a deer standing in amongst the vegetation growing just off the shore of the reservoir. I should not have been surprised because there are lots of deer around us but I had never seen one in the reservoir before. Well before I finished paddling I had seen 4 of them, along with a few turtles and an osprey.


Today was not the first day of being surprised by nature. Yesterday morning it was a baby bunny in my front garden.

Yesterday evening it was a surprise to see one of my sunflowers had flowered.

I guess nature is full of surprises.

If you want to see some more pics from kayaking we have an album up on Picasa.

A Bit of a Repreive

Going out the door this morning was a bit of a reprieve ... from the heat that is. This weekend was one where I actually skipped running - it was just too hot. This morning was a bit better - just around 70 but with high humidity still - ok technically it was light rain when I ran so I guess that means 100% humidity. It was nice though that for 30 minutes of running it was raining and that kept me cool for the last 25 minutes.

I did find time on Saturday to go kayaking. EMS runs demos every now and then and this weekend they were going to meet at Beaver Dam so I figured I should go and check out a couple of kayaks. It was great as it was a few degrees cooler than the 100+ at the house a couple of miles away and on the reservoir there was a breeze. You are not supposed to swim in the reservoir but if a kayak happens to tip is it technically swimming? It was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a hot summer day though. I am looking forward to getting out Saturday with Laura :-)

Adding another form of exercise

So last weekend myself Laura and Sammy took a course with LLBean. It was a intro to kayaking that was part of their discovery series. I have paddled quite a bit over the years so I knew I would love kayaking on the Occoquan. Sammy and Laura were a little more hesitant but it did not take them long to love it. Being the outdoor person I am that was great news since now it meant we had another outdoor activity that we could do with the kids - I think even Kris will give it a try.

So this week we got some kayaks. We got two bigger ones for myself and La and a smaller one for the girls. The girl's kayak we picked up at the store so the next day I was anxious to get out in it. Normally on the days when I do not run I would go to the gym and do some cardio but yesterday I decided to just take the kayak to a local reservoir and spend an hour kayaking.

What a great idea this was - the reservoir was calm and silent. No one else was on the water. The sun was out and the fish were jumping. It was very peaceful. I spend about an hour cruising the lower part of the reservoir, doing 5 minute sprints every now and then. It was a great workout. Now rather than going to the gym on my off days I will likely just grab a kayak and head to the reservoir for an hour of paddling. Then of course on the weekends I will be able to go out with La and maybe one of the girls.

It can hardly get better

Happy 4th!!!

We are looking forward to a nice relaxing 4th. It is nice that it falls mid-week - last Sunday being Canada Day and then only a couple of days til the weekend again ... woohoo!

We hope all our friends, family and followers have a wonderful holiday.

Gary & Laura

A Quick Pic

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

This is one of my favourite times of the year. It is a week or so after the beginning of summer - I get to celebrate my heritage today and in 3 days get to celebrate with the country that adopted me as a son :-)

The weekend has been interesting so far - the storms Friday that we slept through - a great midday kayak on the Occoquan with La and Sam followed by a great fireworks display in Brambleton. Now I am just relaxing over coffee after removing a large tree from the girls house and getting ready to celebrate the day.

There will be pictures :-)


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