Crossfit games Dirty South regional!!

I am loving the Crossfit games!! My parents have been awesome taking care of the boys while I watch and cheer. My gym is putting in one heck of a performance. Our team is in 10th, coach AJ is in 11th (while battling a torn muscle), and coach Michelle is in 1st!!! One more day to go!
Here is the team getting ready for the tire flip/burpee event.



And now underway...


Here is coach Michelle.






I have so many more pictures on my camera, I will load them up once we get home.

The RVing is going well. The boys are sleeping great! The shower water pressure leaves something to be desired, but is liveable. I really couldn't ask for this trip to go much better. It has greatly exceeded my expectations. Tomorrow night we head over to Disney! Looking forward to it.

I really have so much more to tell, I am just too tired to sit up and type it on my iPhone. :). I'll type more tomorrow when the games are over. Fingers crossed that I will be reporting good news. I love Crossfit! This community just rocks!

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"big ol' rolling turd coming through"

We set off in my parents' RV today (just I case you didn't catch the reference to the movie RV in my title). We are on our way to Jacksonville. The boys have been good but they definitely do not have the patience for lengthy sitting spells. Cavan is certainly better at it than Pierson. Cav sits and happily watches a movie or plays games on his ipod. Pierson just sits and complains "I-wan-out!!!". This is after he has tossed his ipod, binky, and toys on the floor. Thank goodness they both slept for the first hour or so, only about 4 hours of driving with them awake. :P




I wish Keith could be here to see how excited Cav is about going to a campground (actually an RV park) and staying in the home truck. He would get a kick out of it. Not sure Cav is excited about going to see the Crossfit games, but I know Pete will be. Pete loves watching people Crossfit. He will sit on my lap and happily watch a workout. Then he likes to have his turn to play with the equipment, which will probably be frowned upon at the games. I hope there is a playground nearby.

After the games we get to take the RV to the Fort Wilderness Campground in Disney World. It should be a good time provided the boys actually sleep. (catching on to what my biggest concern is?). I am sure I will have some interesting things to talk about on this trip. Apparently there are places at campgrounds and rv parks called "comfort houses", which are essentially a giant public bathroom. So glad I splurged and bought a pair or $2.50 rubber flip flops at Target. Who knows what will be growing in those places. So I would get ready for some laughs over the next couple of days. For now, signing off from the comfort of the "home truck".




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Its a home truck

Today was a busy day as usual in the house of Mann Mayhem. :) I got a workout and then I had to go to the tile store again with Rick, and my parents watched the boys while I was gone. We had dinner with my brother and his family, as well as my grandparents. It was nice because Pierson sat next to Pops, and due to his shyness, he barely moved. Nice to have a well behaved little monkey at dinner for one. Cavan got wedged between my mother and my brother, which also caused him to be quite quiet. What also helped was that he was about ready to fall asleep at the table. Poor guy was exhausted after playing with Bumpa all day long. After startling him awake a few times, we left the table with a mostly awake Cavan.

This is when the excitement began. We finally got to go see my parents new RV. I know, instantly a million movie references come to mind. Robin Williams in RV with his "big ol' rolling turd", and Robert DeNiro in Meet the Folkers with "the highlight of their twilight". This RV is really quite simple, definitely smaller than the ones in both of those movies. However, my boys absolutely loved it! Cav thought it was an RV trailer and as soon as he saw it he exclaimed "Its a home truck!!". He was thrilled that somehow they mixed a home with a truck. The boys excitedly ran laps back and forth. They climbed up on the bed, clamored across it and then slid back down to the floor. Cav sat in the driver's seat and cracked up laughing as he beeped the horn on the RV. Pierson sat in the passenger seat just happy to along for the ride. It was quite the spectacle to see them. It makes me hopeful that our trip this weekend in the RV will go well. My only big concern is the sleeping arrangements. Pierson can be so picky about how he sleeps, lets hope he cooperates. He got me up at 530am today and I have been exhausted ever since.

They posted the workouts today for the Crossfit Games 2010 Dirty South Regionals. I am getting so excited to watch my coaches and our affiliate team compete. (That is where we are headed in the RV). I think it will be awesome to see the competitive side of Crossfit.

Well, like I said, I got up at 530am, so I am going to finish watching Glee and then get some much needed rest. Fingers crossed that my boys decide to sleep in past 6am and that I get to hear from my husband tomorrow. I am enjoying my daily emails or phone calls. It has helped ease my nerves a bit so I have one less thing to worry about.

Meltdown!!!

Things are generally ok with me and the boys. Not always smooth, but we recover from our bumps quickly. Today, however, would bring new meaning to the word meltdown.

I had to go out for a good portion of the day today. My dad was kind enough to watch the boys as I ran around desperately seeking a tile for our kitchen backsplash with our builder Rick. The boys had fun, they played ourside a lot. They were so happy to see me when I came home. It was so nice. My dad and I took the boys (and their cousin) in the pool. The boys had a ball. Even Pierson jumps in the water all by himself. He is so proud of himself, yelling "watch Bumpa" anytime my father dares pay attention to another grandson of his. The boys were exhausted and it was time for dinner so we got them out of the pool. And that's when the meltdowns began. Both Cavan and Pierson were a mess. Thankfully Pierson pulled himself together enough to eat. Cav however was a tantruming mess! After an hour or more of screaming and crying, a few vodka drinks for mom, lots of bribery, Cavan finally ate enough of his dinner. And what do you know, his attitude instantly improved. All I can say is it's a good thing these boys are cute.






Keith called today. It was so nice hearing his voice. It's amazing how the sound of him talking just instantly calms me and makes me smile. I think he has a similar effect on his boys. They definitely miss their daddy. When I mentioned him to Cav, Cav lost it. Screaming about how he wanted daddy right now. Sometimes I want to throw fits when I miss Keith, so I can relate to Cav's outburst.

I think I may bring the boys on my errands tomorrow. The errands will take longer, but at least they may actually be happy. Let's hope!

Hope your Monday involved far fewer tears than mine did!

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Introducing my new favorite...

Alcoholic beverage!!! I just found three olives brand vodka today (thanks to my sister in law Meg). I bought grape and watermelon vodka. I tried mixing them with diet sprite to keep it nice and light. I am in love with the watermelon! Yum!!!!

Some other great things. Had a fabulous lunch with my awesome family at a restaurant by the water called Marker Four. They are known for their seafood (duh). I had a pretty good ceasar salad with grilled cod. Then we got delicious ice cream at Nokomis groves.









The boys got vanilla, I got chocolate lime swirl. So good!



My grandparents treated to both lunch and ice cream. What a great treat.

When we got home the boys went in the pool with their cousins, uncle and grandparents while I went to the store. I first went to my favorite store for alcoholic beverages Total Wines and More where I bought the vodkas. Then I went to Fresh Market to pick up stuff to make some quiches and salad for dinner.

Finally, we closed out our evening with a skype call from Keith. What a wonderful treat getting to see my hubby. It's amazing how seeing him can make me feel like a giddy teenager. I just love my husband so much. And seeing the boys getting excited about their daddy was heartwarming.

Well here is my first attempt at video in my blog, it's a video of Pete playing on the phone trying to call his daddy. Cav is making a racket in the background with his cousin. Hope this video works.

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Seriously? Any more ER visits?

So I would love to know why it is that as soon as my husband leaves my life falls spectacularly to pieces. It never fails. Last night my poor puppy needed a quick trip to the ER vet. She had a cyst rupture on her back and lets just say it was disgusting! Thank goodness for my Mom the nurse and my sister in law, the future doctor, or I may have just tossed my cookies and hid in the closet. My father was kind enough to volunteer to take my pup to the vet while I put my over tired boys to bed. The doc said she will be fine, and gave us some meds to put on her back. The fun part (sarcasm) is that he found a suspicious lump on her back that we need to have removed and checked for cancer. Grrrrrrrrreat. Just what I need right now while I am doing the single Mom thing. Our pup with the ailment, Sweet Pea, is on the right. Our other furball, Miss Piggy, is on the left.


As traumatizing as it was to experience the dog heading to the ER, my son heading to the ER is far more frightening. I was trying to be a good daughter/house guest, and help my Mom prepare dinner. My father had volunteered to take the boys outside. As he was getting them ready, I accidentally dropped a jar of peppercorns. It shattered on the floor. I was cleaning it up when I heard the most awful hurt cry coming from the other room. Any Mommy out there knows the difference between an ouch cry and a true hurt cry. My poor little Pierson was bawling his eyes out. My Dad tried to comfort him, nothing...My Mom tried to comfort him, nothing. He came to me, sobbing, then he picked his head up and I noticed the blood on my shirt. I looked at my baby's beautiful face and noticed his nose was bleeding. My heart sank. My Dad said his best guess was that Pierson injured himself on the dowel he was walking around with as a cane. We were concerned that he had been chewing on the dowel and that he may have damaged his palate, so my father and I rushed him to the ER. After about half an hour we discovered that he was just fine. The bleeding had stopped and he was so relaxed, that he actually took at nap in the waiting room. We decided to forgo the doctor and head home. My best guess is that the little goober took a good whack to the nose with that stupid dowel. Just thankful that he is ok now and there is no permanent damage to that perfect little face (not that I am bias).

I needed a few mojitos tonight to calm down. Like I said, my hubby leaves and our world crumbles. I am just so thankful to have my family reinforcements around. They help so much, both morally and just giving me a break. Today my break consisted of a hellish workout. 400m of lunges with a 25 lbs kettlebell held over my head. It was 91 degrees out here, so it was brutal!! I managed to finish in 22 minutes and 46 seconds. Lets see how my back end feels tomorrow after so many darn lunges.

Hoping tomorrow goes smoother. I am missing my hubby dearly and hope that he gets to call again tomorrow. He has only been gone two days, but honestly it feels like it has been so much longer than that.

The adventures never end

When traveling with two young children, you must always be prepared for the unexpected. Today I asked our fantastic babysitter Erin to help me bring the boys to the airport. She was also bringing my car back home for me so it wouldn't be stuck at the airport for months on end. We started out on time. Everything was going great. A little too smooth in the great scheme of things. Cav started complaining. "my belly hurts. I want to go home. I need water". I turn around to witness my big boy vomit all over himself and his car seat. I pull the car over and run over to his rescue. I pull him out of his seat and help him crouch down on the side of the road. My poor little guy. Miss Erin does not miss a beat, grabs some baby wipes and starts cleaning out Cav's car seat. I wait until Cavan is done spewing, and help him out of his vomit soaked clothing. Wipe him down with a wipe and help put on the extra outfit I had on hand in my car. One of the most awful outfits (a free t-shirt he got from his bday at monkey joes and a pair of shiny black basketball shorts). Luckily the next time cav got sick in the car I had a bucket ready. The good news is he ate a cheeseburger then slept on the plane.




Meanwhile, Pierson drove me crazy and kept me busy. We watched the intro to Mickey mouse clubhouse about a dozen times. Played with a balloon that I had only slightly inflated (makes a fantastic airplane toy). Ate snacks, looked at skymall, then started looking at the spirit magazine. Those geniuses at Spirit put a picture of cookie monster on the second page. Pierson was thrilled. "hi cookie!!!" as he waved at the magazine. Then he ripped the page of the magazine, looked at me and said "I rip". Crazy little 18 month old stole the picture of cookie monster.

I got lots of compliments about my boys and how well they travel. One woman give me four lollipops to give to the boys. They were thrilled. All in all an eventful trip, as usual. My poor hubby has had a long uncomfortable journey that still isn't over yet. Nothing like a 6'3" man with 42" shoulders stuck in a middle coach seat for 10+ hours. I miss my man and so do the boys. They ask for him constantly.

What are some of your more memorable travel adventures?


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