swimming Archives - Page 4 of 4

After taking our obligatory bluebonnet pictures of Avery in a stranger’s front yard, our small family made it to our destination; Nana and Papa’s. We hadn’t seen Kelley’s parents in a while, and they had plenty of hugs and kisses and gifts for Avery.

Steve and Kathy, my wonderful and loving in-laws, had us over for a delicious, healthy lunch of grilled chicken, spaghetti squash, and spring mix salad. Per our request, Kathy left ours unseasoned/marinated and let us add herbs, spices, and other flavorings as we saw fit. Everything was great, and I could’ve had 3 more helpings!

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But right before sitting down to lunch, I had to do some form of quick workout for my mental well-being. Crazy, I know, but it’s me. At first I thought I’d do a quick session of hill sprints since Kelley’s parents have several awesome hills in their neighborhood, but wanted something different since I can do that at home too. Then I got the perfect idea; a cold water swim in their pool!

It’s not quite ideal swim weather in Texas yet, but that was part of the allure. I’ve heard a lot about cold thermogenesis lately, and wanted to give it a shot. I’ve already taken cold showers which suck at first, but you feel ah-mazing afterward. So I borrowed some of Steve’s shorts (thank you, Steve!), and went outside for a quick swim before lunch. I just had to psych myself into jumping first…..

After contemplating, I took the plunge and felt an instant stream of goosebumps flow across my entire body.

Brrrrr! But I acclimated rather quickly and went about doing around 11 back and forth sprints. Not by preference, I had a trio of the family dogs there to ~~cheer me on~~ bark at me, and one of them, Harry, decided to photo “bomb” the picture Kelley took of me during a rest break.

See the bomber there in the background? Yeah, you’re welcome, I enjoy sharing everything with you guys. 🙂

Meanwhile, Avery getting lots of love with gifts from Nana and Papa and tickles from Aunt Steph and Cousin Taylor.

Avery immediately started reading one of the books many books by Sandra Boynton after taking it out of the giant gift bag from her Nana and Papa. Doesn’t she look like she’s really getting into the plot?

But reading material wasn’t the only thing Avery received, she got a few clothing items from boutique shops in Colorado, where Nana and Papa live most of the time now, and even the most psychedelic (Going Mom and I both used this word at different times) stuffed animal moose ever!

It’s hard to see in the pic, but Avery’s face shows just how psychedelic the moose is. With peace signs and flowers all over, I was half-way expecting a guitar and a joint to go along with it, but they never did. Probably for the best! After opening her gifts, it was playtime with her Aunt Stephanie and Cousin Taylor.

Avery took interest in a toy car (yes!!!) and proceeded to venture on her own a little.

She even used the remotes to somehow turn the TV directly on to The Walking Dead. Guess she’s hooked just like Mommy and Daddy!

The weather was cooler than it has been, and clouds kept the sun from harshly beaming down on us, so we took things outside for a while. Taylor worked with Avery on her soccer skills, but Avery made sure to hold on to that toy car.

Before we took off back home, Stephanie snuck in more cuddle time with the car-holding Avery as she adored her cute hat.

The hat didn’t last long, but they had a nice hand-holding walk around the yard with car still in hand.

It was a busy, fun-filled day at Nana and Papa’s, beginning with the bluebonnet photo session. On the way home, Avery took a short nap and then we did a few chores as she ran around like a wild child/any toddler before going to bed.

We had to leave the car with Nana and Papa, but Avery seems to have forgotten the vehicle and is now giving rowing lessons to her psychedelic moose.

I don’t think hippies and rowing mix well, but guess Avery will do her best; she’s a determined kid, that’s for sure!

Have you ever tried subjecting yourself to cold water or air? Ever hear of cold thermogenesis?

Do you have any Sandra Boynton books? We had “The Going to Bed Book” and enjoy reading it every night, so we’re glad to have more in our book arsenal!

Okay, it’s getting back to normal at home after our extended stay over the weekend. And by normal, I mean constant chaos from a mobile baby on the verge of teething. We keep blaming her fussiness on the possibility of her cutting a tooth, but have yet to actually see a tooth.

I guess since Going Mom is still breastfeeding, she’s probably not trying to rush those chompy incisors too much!

Our 4^th of July weekend started with us frantically gathering random things around our house and putting them in the car to take to G-Ma’s (i.e. packing) all while doing our best to manage Avery and give her the attention she needed.

I credit my awesome wife for tending to Avery most of the time and I’m not sure what I would do without my beautiful partner in crime parenthood.

Eventually, we had everything packed, including all of the cloth diapers we own, and were on our way to G-Ma’s. With virtually little to no traffic (uncommon for I-35W), we made it in around 40 minutes and were exchanging hugs with G-Ma and her boyfriend Paul.

Avery enjoyed a short nap on the drive and G-Ma wasted no time getting her Avery hug time in. But now that she’s a crawler, Avery was anxious to get down and explore new territory.

Our long-time friends and neighbors just a few houses down always have a 4^th of July party, so we were going to head down there to swim in their pool and watch the fireworks at night.

G-Ma lives in the country where anyone can shoot off their high powered artillery. Kelley and I were excited for this because it would be the first time Avery gets to experience fireworks. #StupidNewParents

After a failed attempt at getting Avery to nap, we walked down to Tim and Melissa’s, our friends/neighbors, to go for a swim. I just finished an intense workout in the heat, and was in yearning to jump in!

We all spent a few hours relaxing in the pool and having a few drinks as Avery made her rounds.

Tough to please, but she kinda smiles if you tickle her a little. But not much!

She started to get cranky, even after Kelley fed her, so we decided to go back and try for another nap before heading back down to eat and watch fireworks that evening.

Avery had different plans; how about no nap and just staying up with everyone else. She had 10 minutes of this, which looked promising, but then woke up crying.

Suckers, I'll wake in precisely 10 minutes!!! — Suckers, I’ll wake in precisely 10 minutes!!!

I guess she really wanted to see G-Ma! Despite her resisting sleep, Avery kept showing all signs of being tired, but she remained stubborn…..and awake.

With the sun starting to set and fireworks on the mind, we walked back to our kind hosts to enjoy food and fireworks. But first, we tried another picture with G-Ma in hopes of a smile…..fail.

Tim and Melissa have 4 boys with the oldest being Uncle Preston’s age and the youngest just about to graduate high school. Every year, for as long as I can remember, they would buy massive amounts of fireworks and always put on a big show. But this year, they said they were going to keep it low key….

Ummm, yeah, not sure what happened there.

Maybe we have different views of what “low key” means, but that looked like a lot to me. Oh, and that was just what they could fit in the wagon, there were more fireworks waiting to be loaded.

After eating grilled chicken and a colossal salad topped with their homemade salsa using veggies from their organic garden, we impatiently waited for it to get dark enough to have the fireworks begin.

Yes, “impatiently” because we had an increasingly fussy baby who needed to get some quality sleep!

But not before we made her wait to see bright lights and hear loud booms. Both great things to introduce to a sleepy baby, right?

Finally, the fireworks had begun, and instead of us watching as they exploded in the air, Going Mom and I were glued to Avery’s face to see her expression. G-Ma boldly held her as she actually showed a little sign of enjoyment!

The loud sounds and bright displays of light had her attention, but she hardly reacted as they went off. Not quite what we were expecting, but I guess that’s what happens after a long day of no sleep but a lot of swimming and having a fun time with G-Ma and Paul.

We hung around a little longer just to let “the experience” set in before Kelley and I returned to G-Ma’s for Avery’s bath and bed time.

As we walked back, it sounded as if we were in the middle of a warzone with the fireworks shattering in brilliant displays of light; not the best setting for a baby’s bed time.

With our white noise and a fan set on the highest setting, we hoped for the best as Avery was laid down for the night. There were fireworks still going off past midnight, but Avery actually slept through it all.

Kelley and I had to share the same room with Avery, which was difficult to try the whole “let them cry 10 minutes” thing, but we survived to speak of it today! I’ll share the day after in tomorrow’s post, and will leave you with what we woke up to first thing the next day.