A Full Mouth

Ever since Noah was 2 I knew that his mouth would need lots of work. Well the time finally arrived and we went on a whirlwind of orthodontist appointments. After two months of impressions, spacers, brackets, lip bumper and an expander he finally got his braces on. He had to go through 7 weeks of "cranking" on the expander before his top jaw was wide enough to match up with his lower jaw. He has been a good sport about it. He hasn't complained about the braces. He seems so much older now with them on. He is looking forward to October so he can get black and orange bands on his brackets. At least he is having fun with them. I sympasize with him very well. I remember all those appointments to Dr. Running's office and being miserable the first couple of days after each appointment. At least I am not making him eat hard things right afterwards.

The Bitter Sweet End

Since summer is almost over I decided to let the kids have one more fun activity. On the 21st we went to Disneyland and California Adventure. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. The boys love that place. Lily however has developed a fear of loud noises and the dark and that place has both. She survived and was happy. We went on the Autopia and Buzz Lightyear at Disneyland. We always have to go on those two. I can never get past level 4 either. Drives me nuts. We were able to see The Alladin Show, which was absolutely fabulous and the Electrical Parade. I haven't seen that since before they took it out of Disneyland. During the parade Snow White walked over to Lily and smiled at her and waved. Lily thought that was the greatest. Having the Disney passes this year has been great. We just relax and have a good time while we are at the parks.

After we left Anaheim we drove to Mortensen Manor to spend a few days with our cousins. The kids loved swimming, playing with the chickens and having more kids to play with than just each other. It was a nice break for me. The kids would be in the basement and I wouldn't even here them. What a nice change after 7 weeks of summer. Thanks Jen!

Lily has done a few funny things lately and I thought I would share them just to get a laugh. She is also doing a lot of annoying things lately too, like not sleeping through the night. Which is why this post is so late. The other day we were getting in the car and she said, "Mom, I want to hear anky noodle." I said, "Anky Noodle?" She said, "Yes. Anky Noodle rides the pony." I laughed and told her it was Yankee Doodle. Then tonight at dinner Noah commented that Lily was the only kid who hadn't stuck anything up her nose while being three. Well later on during the meal Lily stuck rice up her nose and a lot of it. I couldn't get it out with a tissue so I asked her to blow her nose while plugged one nostril. I didn't think she could do it, but she did and the rice flew all over my lap. That got all the boys laughing. I can now say all my kids have stuck something up their nose. Yippie.

When asked today if I was going to watch the Democratic National Convention I said, "No, what is the point?" I don't need to waste my time. If you haven't been to JibJab this political season you should. It is hilarious. Also on another political note, I don't usually do this, but Damon has been out walking the neighborhoods doing some canvasing, so it has been on my mind. If Prop 8 in California fails and marriage can be between any two persons than what is to stop people from marrying their dogs. Marriage has to be define as something so why not have it be between a man and a woman.

On another book note I have been cured of my Twilight obsession. I still like the books, but I don't feel the need to pour over them. While at my sister's I came across a series of books that I read while living in Oregon and was reintroduced to out of a touch of insomnia. I was reminded of some male characters who are much better than Edward. If you haven't read the series yet you should. They are the Amelia Peabody Series by Elizabeth Peters. So good. You have to read them in order though, but my favorites are Falcon At the Portal and He Shall Thunder in the Sky. Definitely team Ramses. Happy Reading.

My last note is about my wonderful spouse who I love and adore. We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Can't believe it's been that long. I guess that means we have been having so much fun that time is flying by. Thanks Dames!

Family Night at the Beach!

We were able to get together with the Beck's on Monday night for family night at the beach. Their boys were home from college and they wanted to see us. We met in Oceanside in the late afternoon and just played. We also had dinner and a great lesson from Nathan about how are ancestors should inspire us to choose the right. He did a great job. The kids had a blast playing at the beach with their much older cousins. We had such a wonderful time at the beach. It is nice to be reminded of the perks you get when living in Southern California.

Big Girl Now!

Since the potty training of Lily has entitled her to be called a big girl she decided she no longer wanted to sleep in the crib. She wanted to be in a big girl bed. So we took her to the store and she got to pick out sheets and a comforter. All last week she would ask, "Can we put my big girl bed together now?" I kept telling her on Saturday. Well Saturday finally arrived and she was not going to be put off any longer. We washed her new sheets, took down her crib, which she insisted being a part of, and rearranged the furniture. The finished product looks pretty nice except in Lily's words, "It's so beautiful." She truly is a big girl now. I am not to keen on the bedding myself, but it makes her happy. I only wanted it to match the paint in the room. On a different note Damon was a little sad breaking down the crib. It has been up for 8 1/2 years. I however was doing the happy dance.

Bowling and Birthday Cake!!

Adam got to celebrate his birthday this week and as a family we went bowling. Adam thought it was great that Dad got to go along since he never goes bowling with us. At the end of one game Damon bowled a 124. I was excited for the first little bit because I was actually leading but ended with a disappointing 83. Both the boys ended up with 71, which was good because neither of them could rub it in that they had won and Lily, who quite by frame 6 and spent the rest of the game pouting, actually got a 64. After bowling Adam was allowed to pick where we would go out to lunch. He was told he could pick anywhere except Rainforest Cafe because it is in Anahiem. I love my child, but we ended up at McDonald's. The kids of course had a blast. The rest of the day was filled with phone calls from family, swim lessons, pizza for dinner and birthday cake. Adam's most favorite present was his Indiana Jones legos. We are so glad Adam is a part of our family.

Olympics, here I.....

There is a lot to be said about Olympic athletes. They are super human. I really don't think they lead normal lives. Where do they find time to train? They are simply amazing. Well, to kick off the Olympics in the Afualo household I decided to race in another triathlon. Actually my sister decided for me. I thought it would be fun, but didn't realize at the time of sign ups that the race was only 10 days after we got home from our vacation. Well as you can guess I thought I would spend those 10 days training hard for that race. NOPE! I was to busy trying to recover from our trip and get life back together. I am not super woman. I don't pretend to be anything more than normal. So 5 days before the race I decided I better get serious again. I spent those days trying to get my body not only adjusted to running again, but running after biking 18 miles. My legs were apparently still on vacation.

The morning of August 9th rolled around much faster than I had wanted it and after a night of little sleep and terrifying nightmares of sharks, fish and forgetting my registration I got dressed, grabbed my gear and woke Damon up so there would be someone to drag my mangled body back home after it was found in the ocean or on the side of the road.

After setting up my gear in the transition area I found my sister and brother-in-law as we listened to our pre-race pep talk. Then we headed for the beach. I looked up to Damon one more time to send him a final goodbye wave, just in case it would be our last. He couldn't tell it was me, but I hoped that he knew how much I loved him.

As we waited on the beach for our start time which was 8:47am we watched male swimmer after male swimmer being pulled out by the life guards. I kept thinking, "If these guys can't make it, what am I going to do." By this time my nerves were shot and I seriously thought I was going to lose what little food I had in my stomach. As they called my wave to get set I zipped up the rest of my wet suit, suctioned my goggles to my eyeballs and put my blue swim cap on. Then the adrenaline kicked in. The shot gun sounded and I was off, heading towards the water where 3 months earlier another triathlete was eaten by a great white shark. I was OK for the first few waves where I was still taller than them. As soon as the water got to deep I had to start swimming. Then when the first big wave hit me and I got my first mouthful of salt water and was pummeled by yet another wave I thought, "Why am I doing this? This is so not worth it." I was tempted to swim over to the life guard boat and order them to take me to shore. I knew my sister would never let me live it down so I kept swimming and swimming and swimming. When I finally looked up in front of my I realized I was still in the front of the pack. That made me keep going. As a swimmer I was trained to keep my eyes open underwater, but even when you are wearing goggles in the SoCal Pacific Ocean you still can't see anything in front of you.

I finally made it back to shore got changed into my bike gear and was headed off into the canyon for my 18 mile ride. There were no mile markers and I forgot to put my watch on so I had no idea where I was, what time it was or how far I had left. Some where after the halfway point I hit this big hill and I had my bike in low gear and I still felt like I wasn't moving at all. I finally got off my bike and walked it up the rest of the hill. I didn't even care about how silly I looked. I got back on my bike and finished the ride with little enthusiasm. I felt some since of pride because I passed some people so I knew I wouldn't finish last.

The run was easy because it was a short distance, but it was hard because my legs didn't have much left in them. At the last quarter mile of the 3.1 mile run I was met by about 8 marines stationed at Camp Pendleton to help push me through the finish. I actually sprinted through the finish line. It took 2 hours and 21 minutes to finish this race. Some actually did it in 1 hour and 11 minutes. I like to call them overachievers.

When all is said and done I have learned some lessons. 1) you need to train a little bit more seriously if you want to do well 2)quiting is never an option in my family 3)it is wonderful to have a husband who will push your bike back to the car after your race 4) over indulging in milkshakes and french toast from Denny's after any race is well worth the effort 5) I will never be an Olympic athlete and I think I am glad about that.

On the Royal Throne

Most of you know the struggle I went through earlier in the year with trying to potty train Lily. Well, right after we got back from our trip the same battle began to brew. After a day of Lily screaming her brains out and refusing to use the toliet while she sat on it I had a nice little chat with my 3 year old. I said, "It is my way now. This is what we are doing. You are not going to win on this." Well, who knew that would be the turning point. I haven't really had a problem with her since. She loves going to the bathroom now on the potty. The first few days were rough. I think we would go through 6 pairs of princess underwear (we can't call them underpant. Lily doesn't like that) the first 4 days, but now she wears the same pair all day long. On Friday we were out running errands and I told her every store we went to would have a potty. If she needed to go she needed to tell me. I kept asking her, but she never had to go. Thank goodness because public bathrooms gross me out. We are so very proud of her. I am so very excited to be almost done with diapers after 8 1/2 years. YIPPIE!!