Monday, June 28, 2004

-Triathlete???-
Well I guess you can call me a Triathlete, you can still call me Ewan if you prefer :-)
On Sunday I completed the Smiths Falls Classic Triathlon. It was a blast!!!!! It was a beautiful morning and the race started at 9:30am. We spent the night at Jen's parents place who live 10mins away from the starting area. I was at the starting area by 8:20 and found a good place to rack my bike (not to close to the bike exit but not to far) and proceeded to get everything ready. I tried to watch other people to see how they set things up because I had never done it before.
We all headed down to the swim start and waited around for the your start wave (done by age). I was a bit nervous about the swim but all that went away when I got in the water (it was a little cold). I had an ok swim, I tried to stay to the outside (away from everybody) but that sort of back fired because just before the turn-around buoy I realized I had swam off course a little (ok a lot). By the turn-around I had gotten back on course. I proceeded to drift a little bit more coming up to the end of the swim (I actually ended up in some thick weeds).All in all I figure I saw an extra 100m on top of what I needed to do. I finished the swim and ran back up to the transition area.
I was a little slow in the transition area (getting ready for the bike) but once I got out on the bike I began to feel really good. I got a nice pace going and had a good 10km out. At the half way turn around, you were going into a slight head wind. I made it back in pretty good time.
My run transition went a little smoother than my bike transition (I know I have to work on those transitions). When I left the transition area for the start of the run, my stomach felt a little "funny", but I quickly forgot about it because I was focusing on the first 1km of the run, that was all UPHILL. I felt real good the whole run and was able to finish strong.
Here is me at the finish line

And here is me leaving for the start of the bike leg:

My final time was 1hr 14mins and 4secs. Good for 11th in my age group and 105th out of 331 people.
Break down of times as follows:
Swim (including transition to bike) 12:27
Bike 39:41
Run 21:57 (including transition from Bike to run)
I wasn't really concerned about my time but more about enjoying the expirience of my first triathlon. I am happy with those times (I would have like a better swim time but that can be fixed)
The whole day was so much fun, and I can't wait to do another one, I think I will be doing one on July 18th.
I had my own little cheering section, Jen, Keir and Jen's mom and Dad came out along with our friends Mark, Sara and Paige and Jen's Gran, and Jen's sister in-law and her 3 kids William, Scarlet, and Holly. Thanks to everyone for coming out.
I would recommend this race to anyone wanting to do a triathlon, it was an great location, nice people, and great atmosphere.

That is all for now
Take care
Triathlet... err I mean Ewan

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

-Father's Day-
On Sunday it was Father's Day, which was my first Father's Day as a Father. I am not one to get all excited about manufactured holidays but this was pretty neat. We really didn't do anything special for the day, (that's not entirely true, we went over to my parents for supper with my brother) but in retrospect: just spending the day with Keir (and it was the whole day, cause he was up at 6am) and Jen was very special. I have come to really enjoy the time on the weekends, it really does not matter what we do. So long as Keir and Jen are there on the weekend I find myself really happy.
Enough mushy stuff... On the weekend Keir was watching me eat an apple and was looking very interested in it. So I let him try and take a bite. It was not much of a bite because he only has his two bottom teeth. But he did manage to suck on the apple a bit. He seemed to really enjoy it, after the initial shock of the sourness of the apple wore off.
My first ever triathlon is coming up this weekend. I am very excited. I am trying not to do to much training this week so I can be fresh for the weekend. I will let you know how it goes.
That is all for now
Take Care
Ewan

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

-7 Months-
Keir is seven months old today. Happy Birthday little buddy. Over the weekend Keir developped a little bit of a cold. Well he really just had a runny nose. On sunday night Jen said that she wasn't feeling so good. By Tuesday Jen was feeling pretty crummy, so I took the day off work to take Keir off her hands so she could get some much needed rest. By later on in the afternoon Jenn was feeling better. It was a hot day on Tuesday so we took the oppotunity to get Keir's little pool out. It is an inflatable pool, we had tried the pool a couple of weeks ago but it was not warm enough yet. After a little adjustment (he could figure out why it was not like his bath tub) Keir loved the pool. Here are some pictures of the event: (click on the pic to get a larger image)
Before Pool
In the pool
Keir swimming companion
Splashing in the pool
Smiles :-)
We did fill the pool with to much water, but Keir seemed to really enjoy it none the less.

Happy Seven Month Birthday Keir!

That is all for now
Take care
Ewan

Monday, June 14, 2004

-Great Weekend-

What an amazing weekend. On Friday night our friends Mark and Sara came over for a BBQ. Both of us have little ones and have been real busy, so we had not seen Mark and Sara (and their little one Paige) in a long time. It was great to see them and catch up with everything in each others lives. Keir loves seeing other little kids so he was excited to meet Paige.
Here are some pics from Firday Night (click on them to see larger version).
Here is Paige and Keir
Here is Paige
Here is Paige and Keir
I called this one "Times Have Changed".
It was great to see Mark and Sara and Paige again. We are going to be getting together more often, actually we are going out to there place for Canada Day on July 1st.

Saturday started of weird, usually I get up a 5:30 and have my breakfast and do my Bike/run and I am back at the house around 8. Well this Saturday, I got up at 5:30 but Keir decided to get up also. So I had my breakfast and entertained Keir until around 7 when we got really tired and went back to bed. I got to go out at 7, which was nice cause it is a little warmer than @ 6am. I decided to do 40km on the Bike and a 7.5km run (I want to do some longer distances before my race on the 27th) Everything went well, but it was a little bit busier than i was used to on the paths. I was back by 9 and after that our neighbourhood was have a big garage sale, so we went around the neighbourhood to check it out. My mum and dad came with us and ended up getting some stuff for some good prices.
In the afternoon: Jen, Keir and I biked into Ottawa with the intention of having some lunch in Ottawa. We did not know but the section of Ottawa we biked to was closed for a street festival called WestFest. It really cool the main street closed and had hundreds of people walking around.
Here are some pics from the afternoon.
The closed Street (That is my Dad's office above the "Castle" the top floor of the building in the top left corner of the picture)
Me and Keir
Lunch, Jen and Keir

On Sunday we took it easy, but went and got some more plants for the garden at the front of the house. It was good to get that done because we had been wanting to do some more with the garden for some time now. Everything looks real good.

That is all for now
Take Care
Ewan

Monday, June 07, 2004

-Happy Birthday-

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday, my mom invited several of his friends over along with my brother and Keir, Jen and I. There was a nice meal but the "Piece de Resitance" was the 2 cakes Jen made for hi.
Coconut Lime Curd Cake
An Angel Food Cake

The cakes were delicious! I had four pieces which I probably why I swam so slow at my morning swim today.

In other news, Keir got his first bike helmet. This means we will be able to tow him in his Chariot. Here are some pics of him modeling the new hemlet:


The helmet was the smallest you could buy, xxs, but we still had to put in extra padding inside so it would fit his head.

That is all for now
Take care
Ewan

Thursday, June 03, 2004

-Photos-
Here are some more recent photos.(Click on image for a larger version)
Keir fell alseep sitting on the couch, this one was SO FUNNY. Keir tries to fight his sleepyness, we think he does not want to fall asleep and miss anything. This picture was the result of him losing the sleep battle!

Keir still loves his bathes, this picture is him smiling in the tub.

I mentioned last post about Baby Einstein Well this picture is called 3 Favorite things: Baby Einstein is on the TV, he is reading his new animal sounds book, and his Mom is the 3rd favorite thing!

The Last couple of times we have gone over to my parents house Keir has taken intrest in my mom's piano. He likes to bang on the keys and make lots of noise.

I had a really good run last night, the temp was not to hot, it was sunny out. I wanted to keep going longer than my 10km but decided against it.
That is all for now.
Take care
Ewan

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

-Still Here, Honest-
I have not dissappeared, really... I have just been a little slack in posting over the last couple of weeks. OK a lot slack. Things have been really busy in our house for the past couple of weeks.
Keir had his 6 month doctor's appointment today and everything went very well. His numbers look like this:
18.5lbs (that is in the 75 percentile for his age)
28.5 inches tall (that is in the 95 percentile for his age!!!! I guess he is going to be tall just like Dad).
We have found the greatest invention in the world for parents. It is called Baby Einstein. They are a company that produces all sorts of baby related products. They have a line of DVD/Videos. These videos are amazing, and Keir absolutely LOVES them. His current favorite DVD is Baby Galileo. When we put it in the player he is so involved in the DVD that it gives mommy and daddy a nice break. Any parents with babies out there, these things are a must.
Keir is also a lot more vocal, and he babbles a whole lot now.
My mum is over in Scotland right now, so Keir sent this pic over to his Gran. He then proceeded to try and eat the sign

I am doing my first triathlon in 25 days. It is in Smiths Falls, which just happens to be Jen's hometown.More info on the Triathlon here. I am really excited about it, although I am a little nervous about the swim portion. I know I can do the swim, the question is can I do it with 650 other people?

That is all for now.
Take Care,
Ewan