WORK, FAMILY and even PLAY

WORKEND: At the end of last week I went for a trip to Denver/Cheyenne to visit friends at the Echostar uplink facility. For those of you not familiar with my job... this is a visit to one of the largest commercial Dish farms in the world. It is an amazing site and I always take pictures of it. Going home we had to endure a 2 hr delay but this trip combined many more travel issues.

FAMILY: As I came home late Friday, Maureen and I each went our own way, ennjoying a rare night out. She decided to go to the drive-in with her girlfriends, they setup a table with food and enjoyed the movie. Whereas I choose to go to some local bars with my friend Jeff - http://www.emilive.com/portals/205/tour/2000/15.html

Saturday and Sunday were HOT HOT HOT days. We just wanted to be in the shade or in the pool. With our cousin over Luke had a good time playing around in the water. We went to the beach to cool down as it just got to hot to stay home.


RACING: This weekend i participated in my first swim race ever, the CatFish - did a 35some minute 1.2mile swim. Although I like to argue the distance as my goggles fogged up so much I pretty much swam 1.4mi in my opinion ;-) ;-). However the time was good enough to be 4th in my age group and 69th overall (out of 150+). This is reasonable as it is my weakest sport of all.

This was my last training race. Coming weekend it will be RACE WEEKEND. The big race of last year. I feel in shape to do it but you never know.

GOING TO THE WORLDS IN ORANGE!

Yihaa ... it is official ... as of this morning I received confirmation that I have been accepted to represent the Netherlands (NTB) at the ITU World Championship held in Honolulu on October 5-9.


This is very exciting for me as it will be the first time ever that I represent my country. That to me means a lot although qualification is not as difficult as it is for the US athletes. I have adjusted my schedule to add another couple of weeks of training with the objective to peak at this final race of the season.

My race schedule for the remainder of the season now looks as follows:
July 24 - Catfish, 1.2 mi (2km) open water swim (C Race)
July 31 - Vineman, Half Ironman (AAA Race)
August 14 - Folsom, International Distance (B Race)
October 8- ITU World Championship, International Distance (AAA Race)

EXCITING !!!!

PIRATES IN THE 'KOOIJ'RIBBEAN

Somewhere in October 2004 Maureen and I went to Costco with the intent to buy a backyard play-set for our kids.

The $1,000 play set had everything but did not look sturdy and had a lack of imagination. So on a weekend in October I started a project to build a playset for the kids, envisioning it would take $1,500 and about 5-6 weekends.

Now nearly one year later, with over $10,000 invested (including the redesign of the backyard) and with countless everning/weekend hours spent we are nearing completion of phase one. In phase two there will still be a lot to do, but at the request of so many of you here are some shots.

The ship was hand build on land and has become a pirateship sitting on a dock. The dock comes with a drain (crawling tube/hiding spot on the right bottom), two bridges (one onto the dock and one onto the ship). The ship has a mast that holds the halyards for the main and job sail. The ship sits in a sea of blue water (rubber mulch from Miami). The kids can climb from the water onto the top deck of the boat through a hand knotted net, and there is an emergency exit with a speed slide. The poop deck has ports large enough to aim the water guns through and to serve refreshments to new privateers.

The boat is well hidden between trees, where the CapN can still steer himself clear, yet his crew can hide for a spontaneous attack. This weekend the last part being the bow was completed. Privateers can climb into the bow (netting) to feel the spray of the water on their face, yet offering safety in case of a storm.

When it hits the next dry-dock I hope to add a little crow-nest on top of the bow sprit (where the horizontal bar is). The next ship that we conquer will have to surrender its anchor so we can hang from the anchor window. The lower deck is build with a curve in it to allow us to travel through shallow water (this took quite some time).

PIRATES RETREAT
Phase one also included development of a 'Pirate's retreat' which is a tropical island (sand-box) for retreat of a tired pirates. This weekend two large Tonka trucks were spotted as it has been rumored that a treasure was found consisting of a large amount of gold. For some strange reason treasures are found regularly hidden in the sand. Fortuntaly the riverstone 'coral reefs' protect the treasures hidden in the send well from the seagrass.

With phase one completed, the ships carpeter looks forward to complete many of the smaller tasks on the Ocean passage this summer. Last night the ship was the scene of a fierce battle when a Dutch Merchant ship privateer (Stefan) tried to capture the treasures. The CapN was armed with (water) guns, and loaded cannons (water balloons).

The ship sets out to sail for the summer to host several pirate parties, one on September 8 to celebrate the third annual celebration of CapN Luke, but that is for another time.

HEAT WAVE

I officially announce a heatwave... my gosh close to 100F during the day (38-40C) and 80F at night (28-30C). Last night when Maureen went to play volleybal I had to get out of our house nad loaded the kids up in the wagon get some ICECREAM at the Pruneyard. By the way I slightly modified the wagon to adjust to the weather... you like it?

<<< ORIGINAL






KIDS SPECIAL >>>
(add SAIL and COPPER PIPE)

With Nikki holding herself up and looking over the top, and Luke announcing his presence whereever we were (jumping out to play with other kids, climbing in, telling everyone where the moon is etc.) we had a lot of fun.

After I was chasing Luke on the plaza to detox him from the ice we hung out at Barnes and Nobles bookstore where we read stories till 9 using their air conditioning.

When mom arrived home I had once again one in bed ready to sleep and the other in my arms with a bottle!

GOING TO SCHOOL

This morning I dropped off Luke at school. Since last night he was so excited that he was going to school again as he had to skip last week due to a cold. On Friday I had bought him a new Buzz Lightyear lunch box, and this morning Maureen had packed an extra set of clothes in a backpack for him as he was going to play in the water today.

When we got into the car he said "Lukie going working like papa". On the way to school he wanted to carry his own lunch box the whole time, even when he was in his car seat he held it close to him. As he got out of the car he wanted to have the back pack on and the lunch box in hand even though it was only 4 meters (12 feet) from the car to the gate.

I took this shot as he walked into the school and it felt so good and bad at the same time to see him trying so hard to be a person.

RUNNING LIKE A MADMAN

This Sunday I planned a local half marathon run race to get myself in shape for Vineman. It is a local race called Jungle run and goes over trails and roads that can be considered my training grounds.

In short, the run went great I broke my personal record (1:33) with over 8 minutes, and came in at 1:24:46, which means an average of 6:28 min/mile pace (~4 min/km or 15 km/hr). Was 8th in a group of 306 runners and was 3rd in my age group.

http://www.firstwave-events.com/jungle_run/Downloads/Jungle05.htm#BBB

The guy who won works at a local Mexican restaurant and ran an astounding 1hr10min! I be going there soon to show him my respect and ask him if he has any nutrition secrets!!!! Either way looks like my run is getting ready for Vineman.

NEED A DIAPER CHANGE AND A SET OF DRY CLOTHES

This weekend Maureen looked forward to well deserved some personal time, with a 'Korean sauna scrub down' and a lunch with friends on Saturday , and on Sunday a birthday lunch with friends.

To add to it I arranged for a baby sitter on a Friday. We have a new one (Megan) for every Friday evening and she is really good! Let's hope this works.

We left for dinner at the Cheesecake factory and then instead of a movie we went shopping for the kids (so it goes) and had a nice cup of coffee as we talked about the plans for the weeks ahead of us. Since it was the first night of the babysitter we wanted to be home a little earlier to see how things were going. And they were going fine!!!

On Saturday, I did a morning workout (swim, bike) and when I arrived home took the kids for a day in the park. Without too much preparation I just packed Nikki and Luke in the car and as I was driving away decided to go to Vasona park.

Vasona park is 2-3 km from our house and has a river you can walk in, a lake with boat rides, trails to walk, a train ride, etc. etc.

You can see it from the satellite with this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=333+Blossom+Hill+Rd,+Los+Gatos,+CA&ll=37.238073,-121.972103&spn=0.017572,0.029232&t=k&hl=en

You should have seen us as we unpacked the wagon to pull ... Nikki looking barely over the edge packed in towels, and Luke sitting opposite of her with his fishing pole stikking out. We did some fishing activities where Luke was wacking people with his fishing rod.

He also fall in the water when we went looking for shells... he promised not to tell Mama but which he told her at bed-time, so there you go ... [note to self: don't trust a 2 year old!].



We then went on the miniature train ride followed by a sugar load-up (Ice, Apple Juice, and a hot-dog make a great combo for Luke, Nikki and icecream was a sight to behold), next we tackled the merry go round where Luke chose the biggest horse ever!, and I do not like to go in circles so I got a little dizy from the ride.





Nikki was awesome, armed with 2 bottles (Mau did), 2 diapers I was able to attend to here needs and as she was sleeping attend to Luke's.

Nikki loves the swing ... she is ticklish ... so I swang here while tickling her on the return ... she has a catchie laugh! We ended the day by me racing Luke over the play structure to who could touch Nikki first. Note to Luke: I let you win ... by the time you can read this I want you to do the same for me!

On the way home both kids fell asleep in the car, I undressed Luke and removed the 'evidence' (wet clothes) from the body ... he did not even move but just slept one. With Luke down and Nikki in a clean diaper (I had forgotten to change her diaper the whole day) and in my arms with a bottle Maureen came home. SCORE!

Luke slept for another 2-3 hrs so we even could spend some time together.

WATER WATER HOT HOT

Build a water gun for Luke this weekend as the weather turned HOT HOT! Walked through an aisle in Home Depot and got an idea -- $100 and 2hrs later I put this 'Papa's toy together'.

Had some fun this week with it as Luke is aiming at me running around in the garden. Just learned him how to shoot over a tree as I am hiding behind it!

You think I should try to sell this on e-Bay?

PS Also a great tool to wash your car!!!!!

BALANCE

Ever had a conference call while attending to your children, or picking up a call while on the bicycle, waking up early to go to swim-practice and find yourself closing a deal?

To go through these and make sure the situation stays in control requires balance.

WEDNESDAY: Let's take this Wednesday noon ride for example: on Wednesday's I participate in the Kain noon ride, this is a tuff ride, especially since this is after the Tuesday night brick workout... anyway... I rush from work to do the noon ride, and on the way I call on several customers to express some business ideas. As I arrive (late) at the departure spot I get a call back from a customer.

So I think ahhh quickie ... I can handle this... 10 minutes later I find myself negotiating terms, price and availability while standing in my underwear between cars changing into bike gear. After I hang up I look over to the car parked opposite of mine to notice that there are 2 old ladies sitting in the car with a teethless grin on their face... oh well.

THURSDAY: On Thursday I take a rare day off as I needed to get my bike tuned. Instead of doing a long ride following the tune-up I decide to go home early and take Luke for a couple of hours playing. Arrive at 3pm home, fall asleep on the couch (Luke had kept me up previous night) and before I know it is 5.30pm. I have run track training at 6.30 pm yet promised Luke to play... so what do I do... I take him with me to track training. Luke was awesome and behaved well, also Shari was their and brought her baby sitter who was so kind to take Luke under her wing. Afterwards we had Pizza and celebrated the monthly awards.

Maureen called at 9.30pm to urge to put Luke to bed... hihih... well we had the first boys night out and had fun!

Balancing family, work and training it can be a fun thing!!!!

Cheers,
Jacco.