Map My Ride/Run

So I have been running and biking a lot of new routes lately. (I like to mix things up a little down here in Florida). Not so much when I am biking but when I run I am always wondering how far I have really gone. I generally just calculate things in my head or when I lose track I just go off my time. Sometime afterwards I take a little car ride to see exactly how far I did go. I found this free website that keeps track of all your workout stuff! It even saves all your routes and calculates the mileage, which I am the most excited about. So instead of always having to google map your routes EVERY time or even taking a short car ride (but long enough for your legs to cramp up) it saves it for you and also track your fitness. Way cool.
I am getting ready to run a 25k with Kristine on the 9th and am running out of places to go on my long runs. I hate to do a short run twice! Capital B-oring! Here in Sanford to some of the neighborhoods are to hoodish to run through so I am sort of limited around here. But most of them are so beautiful. I love having year round good weather to workout in! Here is my route I did today and it was so fun. So just go to mapmyrun.com for running or mapmyride.com for biking and have a good workout!

More Grandma and Grandpa

In March grandma and grandpa Tyler come out to Florida. In April grandma and grandpa Derrick came out to visit us too. We have had lots and lots of fun having our parents out here! Max has especially loved having them around.

Max thought is was so cool to take pictures of all his toys. He loved grandmas camera.

Our main street is being renovated so we stopped to look at the 'back-hoes' on our way home from the park. Grandpa always has just as much fun as Max!

Here we are at New Symrna beach. I love the beach. We built sand turtles, buried feet and flew a kite. The most exciting part was to watch the coast guard speed past us at a few hundred feet above the ground.

2 Years Old Already!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!! We had lots of fun for Max's birthday. Ben had the entire day off (Hooray) so we had a great family birthday! We went to Sea World and saw Shamu and the dolphin show but most of all we saw Manatee!! Max was so excited to see the Manatees, go figure. The were actually really cute. There were big heads of lettuce floating in the water and they were just munching away. So we were there for a while watching them float and eat. Max fell asleep towards the end of the Shamu show cause he was so worn out watching the Manatees. We walked around, had some lunch and called it a day and headed home. Oh and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a stuffed Manatee from the one of many gift stores at Sea World. He even brought the Manatee to church today. He hasn't put it down.

We have so much fun with Max!! We are so lucky to have such a sweet little guy that makes our family complete. Our lives wouldn't be the same without him...Happy Birthday Maxie!

Everything leads to Something

I am a big believer that every experience (good or bad) you have in your life prepares you for something that you will experience later on in life. Now I don't want to get to philosophical or anything but every now and again something happens in my life that allows me to draw upon past experiences and I am so thankful for those little learning moments. It is almost like when you learn a new word that you have never heard and suddenly that new word is EVERYWHERE! That is what I am talking about...anyway.

So remember how Max loves his Signing Time movies? Before he could talk he was such a good little signer. Well now he is doing a lot more talking and not very much signing. The whole reason I taught him sign in the first place was so that he communicate before he was able to talk. It worked out really well. A couple months ago we got a new neighbor upstairs from us. He is super nice and he is also deaf. He was so surprised to learn that I had taught Max some sign. I was also really excited that we could communicate fairly well (mostly with his ability to read lips) but with a few sings and using the sign alphabet we are able to talk. He is really patient and teaches Ben and I new signs. We are having fun getting to know him. From now on I will think of Max's signing as another language instead of a bridge of communication between him and I. If we keep signing and talking he will grow up knowing another useful language.

I thought that I would throw in some old movies of Max signing....ahhh. But they are on our old comupter dang! maybe later :)

Just Living

Wow, I missed a whole month! I guess we have been having to much fun around here. Actually its due to our dying computer...it was a long and slow death. That and our Internet connection was not that great. I would sit down to check email and I would be one sentence into typing and the computer would shut down! So between the computer shutting down without notice and our very low wireless signal I haven't done much of anything on the computer.

I have however read a couple books in my spare time. First was Icy Sparks. Has anyone read this one?? It was great. Another memoir, this one is about a ten year old girl who develops turrets syndrome. Its on Oprahs book list (not the reason I read it, but). Some funny, sad and very human experiences in it. I liked it. Also the Alchemist. I am not quit done but so far so good.

Kristine, my friend, called me a couple of weeks ago and invited me to do a 25k with her in May. I was all for it! I need some kind of goal and what better than to do it with a friend! I am really excited. I have been looking and finding all sorts of awesome triathlon and duathlons and even running races but have yet to sign up for anything. They are all expensive and I swear there is always a conflict. I did a 5k a couple weeks ago and it was really fun. I even got a two friends from my ward to do it with me. I set my goal at 25 minutes and made it! I got fourth place and won a Hummer! Well I did get fourth place for my age group and 24th place over all. I love the excitement in the air! That is what is the most fun for me.

Max is a little swimmer! Michael Phelps watch out! He jumps (falls) into the pool all by himself and swims to you without any help. At first my heart stopped but now I am ok. He does really good. He spends a lot of time under water. He will come up for air and go right back down and just look around. I bought some goggles for him to try but he doesn't like them. Maybe it was the suction?? Ben and Max will jump from the hot tub to the pool and back again. Everytime Max comes up with a huge smile on his face. The pool is freezing too! Max loves it.

I know this looks weird but this is how he sits in the hot tub...he must like the sound.