Dominique's blog

Summer 2011 or the summer of Nationals?

I cannot believe it's over. Summer I mean. This year has certainly been a hectic one for us.  We started the summer (last day of school really) in the ER with Bailey. Dislocated knee while playing football with her teacher.

Not the end of the world really but her plans for the summer were to train, train, TRAIN!! She was going to USAT Youth National Championships at the beginning of August and this might just put a damper on things. We have an amazing peds ortho that is also a triathlete, Olympic Team doc, and coach to a pro triathlete. He gave us all hope. He said she could still go to Nationals but this year she would participate, not compete. Oh how her tears flowed after those words. :( Even just to participate there was work to be done. Her doc and therapist worked with her coach and she trained. That made her so happy!! She was immersed in a triathlon environment. Working at our local tri specific store, learning bike wrenching with an amazing bike mechanic, training with her coach, lots of open water swimming, some biking and a little running, meeting and hanging out with professional triathletes... WOW! What a summer job!

The end of July was at hand and tapering began. We were leaving for San Diego! We stopped overnight in Vegas and decided it really wasn't our place. Man it was HOT! With bike in tow, we were happy to get back on the road and get our butts to our favorite town!

Oh how the nerves were setting in. Bailey has always been a big crank before a race, nerves and tapering, but this time it was pretty big. There was a pre-race clinic the day before, the nerves were seriously on edge then...

But it got better as soon as they let her in the water!

After the clinic we just went home and relaxed to prepare for the next day. Bike and gear checks ensued.

After a water quality issue delay we packed up to head out to Chula Vista Marina. Bailey seemed mostly relaxed with her nerves showing here and there a bit.

Loaded up but not wanting to let go of her bike, Mr. Pickles.


Made it to the marina and she seemed happy to be in her element, surrounded by her fellow crazy tri kids!

Warm up completed and ready to get started...

She got all situated in transition and all that was left was to wait for this thing to start. Remember that nerve thing we talked about? Oh man!

She started in 50th and ended the swim in 4th! She made some serious time there. Now, with little time to work on the bike and run due to her knee we knew she'd end up slower than many but no worries... we were there for the experience!

She dropped to 8th after the bike. Seriously not bad at all!! Cannot believe how well she is still doing at this point. SUPER proud of our girl!! Onto the run course...

Her run was slow but that's just fine! She worked hard through all this. Coming down the chute was worth it all!

DONE!

The best part about all of this was immediately after her race the first word out of her mouth was "That was SO MUCH FUN!" What a girl!! We had fun supporting her through everything. We did it all together!

Bailey placed 15th! WAY better than any of us thought! Not bad from the lone Idaho entry! She made Idaho proud. She makes us proud everyday!

The race is over and all this girl wants is her favorite pizza. PIZZA PORT!!!

It really was a wonderful summer. It was hard and busy but all worth it. It truly was a Summer of Nationals. I know there's more to it, more races, more fun. Really this was most of it for us. Our deepest gratitude goes out to Harold, Jules and Antonio at TriTown in Boise for the guidance, support, and love they give to Bailey and us everyday! TriTown is our Rock!

Formerly a blog.

Well, it's, hopefully, going to be one again. Things have been crazy here, as usual. LOTS of cool stuff coming up! Bailey has some amazing opportunities coming and I'll keep you up to date here... ok, I'll try to. :)

The Aquathon

Aquathon 2010

Please watch Bailey's slideshow. We are so proud of her accomplishments. I am totally convinced that without the Swim Team Bailey would be a totally different person. I'm not sure I'd like that person so much.The Swim Team has given her so much more confidence and pride in herself. She has such a strong will to succeed these days. Her grades at school are showing it too! STRAIGHT A's!! Will you please help support Bailey's Team? :)
Her personal goal is $500. If you would like to help the Boise YMCA Swim Team please contact me at nique22@gmail.com .
Thank you!

P.S. She will be swimming 200 laps on February 13th to end her Fundraising! GO BAILEY!

Lunchtime Dilemmas

Bailey decided before school started this year that she wanted to go "garbage free" with her lunches. She said that she watches all the kids at school throw away so much garbage that it seemed crazy. She said there was no need for that. In agreement, I thought this was an awesome undertaking; something that she could certainly be proud of for helping her world. She had even decided to give up her beloved string cheese because the came individually wrapped. We've made it halfway through the school year GARBAGE FREE!!! WOOHOO!!
Now, here's where I need your help... we've hit a snag. Field trips. Bailey recently had an all day field trip and was required to bring a sack lunch. She was not allowed a backpack or similar item except for a small purse if necessary for "personal items." Nothing big enough to put her reusable containers in. Crap. We don't buy baggies (i.e. Ziplocs) so we had to make due. We used foil (which she secretly brought home LOL!) and borrowed one plastic bag from my mom for her pineapple. She repurposed an old gift bag to hold it all (we do not have plastic grocery sacks in our home either). It all worked great except she was quite bummed about the garbage it created and that she had made this commitment to a garbage free lunch. I reassured her that everything she has done and will be doing in the future will make up for the very small amount of garbage she threw away. If anything this has certainly sealed her commitment to continuing to be garbage free. My question to you is... What would you recommend to help her continue being garbage free with her lunch when she requires a "sack lunch?"

DSCN2006

Bailey and the kite she and Erin made completely of recycled garbage!!!

Validation

@m3mo Tweeted this today: “You. Yes, you. You rock. You’re an amazing individual. *Big hug!*”
We all need this at some point. Sometimes even when we don't think we need it. This was a beautiful short film! PLEASE watch... you won't be sorry. Thank you to my friend Marcy for pointing me in this direction. :)

Validation

 

Swimming

I know that I rarely post and yet when I do it almost always has something about swimming in it. Well, it's our life, Bailey's really. We are at the pool with her 6 to 7 days a week... practice, practice, practice, and... wait for it... more practice! Welcome to our world. :p
We had our big Thanksgiving Invitational this weekend. Bailey did such a great job!! She took time off in all but one event!! The most wonderful part about it was that she finally got some recognition for it! Our friend Mike who works for the local NBC station here came out to the pool this weekend and did a story with her! She was soooooo excited! She really did a great job! Was great recognition for the entire swim team too!
Alright, enough with the out of control exclamation points... on to her clip. Please ignore me, I'm a bumbling idiot.

That's my BABY!!!

Meet Frieda

Meet Frieda!

She reminds me when I need her to... to just let go. I do have a tendency to be a bit demanding, strict, and sometimes unforgiving. I have always had a strange attraction to seastars. I never knew why. I think now that THEY were trying to tell ME something. This summer on our annual family vacation for Beach Week, we walked over to the jetty and noticed there were ridiculous amounts of seastars clung to all the rocks. Some rocks weren't even visible... they were just blobs of seastars sticking out of the ocean. Seastars clinging to every inch of the rock.

Lots 'O Seastars

One day I sat there and watched them as the tide went out. Seastars are very slow movers and the tide seemed to be going out faster than they'd like. So as the waves came in they just let go. Let Go. It was faster and easier. When conditions weren't ideal they just... let go. Things all of the sudden started making sense.
There are a lot of things in my life I need to just "let go" of. Old relationships, old ways of thinking, old feelings, etc. One major thing I needed to let go of had to do with Bailey. No, I wasn't planning on letting my child go... but there are sometimes like when we are arguing that I need to just "let go." Most of our arguments aren't worth all the worry, pain, time, hurt, blah, blah, blah. Dan periodically has to remind me to pick my battles. I have a really hard time with that. Especially when he's not around to remind me. I also have a tendency to hold on to feelings when something angers me and they just fester inside me, seemingly poisoning everyone around. It's usually not them... it's me... and I NEED to "let go." There are so many things in life that might actually be better if we just "let go."
I learned something big that day sitting on the jetty. I am still learning. Everyday. I have a really long way to go with all this "let go" business. It's hard. And it can be difficult to remember. Now I have Frieda to remind me. She's cute, makes me smile and is definitely helping me keep a few things in perspective.
Is there anything that you should "let go" of?

My Birthday

Happy 35 years to me!!
The day started off quite shaky but it got sooooo much better! Especially this part...

35th Birthday

Such great friends I have! Oh yah, we are dorks!

Bad Day?

So, I think I'm having a bad day. I worked over 14 hours yesterday and barely got any sleep last night. That's not new, I rarely get much sleep on any given day. I'm just using it as an excuse I suppose. Anyway... I had to get up early today to take my car in to FINALLY get the broken window fixed. *Side note: It's 30 degrees or below here in the am these days and yes, I am missing a car window. BRRRR!* I get in the car to drop it off and I make it about 2 feet before it dies. Thought hey, it's chilly out... let it warm up a bit more and get movin'. Nope... two more feet... dead. Shit. I manage to make it around the corner before I decide this isn't working.  Don't want to leave the car there so I choose to just hit reverse & get back to the house possibly. Lo and behold! The car works FINE in reverse. WTF? I call Dan and tell him I can't take the car in, he's already a bit pissy I waited this long to begin with.  I inform him of why I can't take it and he's like "it can't be doing that." WHAT? It sure as hell can be doing THAT... cause THAT is exactly what is happening! I then proceed to yell at him cause he's really pissing me off which he ever so calmly says "Don't yell at me. I didn't do it." Like I did. I hang up the phone and burst into tears. Burst into tears?? WHAT? Why the hell am I crying? This is stupid. Then of course my mom tells me I am totally overreacting, which I of course say I know and I'm the one that told her that. Now I'm really losing it. Ok, seriously where did this girl come from? I don't know her. Quite frankly, I don't like her either. I should just go back to bed right? RIGHT???? You had better agree with me damnit! 

5 year olds are easy...

Now if this was 11 year olds, I'd be screwed.

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