One Borzenski working hard, the others playing

Place: Racine, WI, Sunday July 17, 2010
Weather: Hotter than H-E- double hockey sticks
Event: Racine 70.3 Half Ironman
Participant: Patrick Borzenski (aka "One Borzenski working hard")

Patrick completed his first Half Ironman this past weekend. A HUGE congratulations to him and all the hard work he has done to prepare. Awesome job, Pat! His time was 5hr 56 min which is fantastic for his first race of this caliber. He swam 1.2 miles, rode 56 miles and ran a half marathon, 13.1 miles. 70.3 total hence the name of the race.

Above you see the "sleeping shirt" that Lillie made for him to wear on Saturday night before the race. Don't worry, Mom ironed on the letters. But all the other artwork is Lillie's. I particularly like the picture of "Daddy running" under the "R-U-N" on the back of the shirt. He is wearing the number "7" because that is Lillie's favorite.

Place: 9800 S. Hamilton Block
Weather: Mild, shady, nice
Other details: Plenty of cool beverages (no gatorade or recovery drinks) and chairs in case we got tired
Event: BLOCK PARTY!!!!
Participants: Mom, Lillie, Charlotte (aka "the others playing")

While Pat was traveling to Racine and preparing for the race Lillie, Charlotte, and Mom stayed back and played. We had our block party on Saturday. A fine time was had by all. Kids were exhausted after being in the huge blow up jumper all day long. We had it for 8 hours and I'm pretty sure they were in it for 7. They did take time out to eat, enjoy a visit from the CFD and to put on a fantastic bike parade. Of course Lillie had the pink princess them goin' on.

Here Roley Poley!

Each and every day Pat and I learn just how much the personalities of Lillie and Charlotte are completely opposite. Maybe it's because Charlotte is the "fearless" younger one, I don't know. But sometimes I know that has nothing to do with it.

Take bugs, for example. I don't like them. You will never see me pick one up to show the girls or otherwise. I put up a strong front for Lillie who screams bloody murder at the sight of a fly and runs away as fast as she possibly can. I tell her "don't worry about the bees. If you don't bother them, they won't bother you" all while wanting to run in the house myself. Then there's Charlotte.

Every year we get some sort of volume of Cicadas. Ugly, noisy Cicadas. They leave their shells all over the trees...just hanging there. Charlotte has found it quite fun to pick them up and talk to them- "Hi buggy. Sleeping? Ok."- and puts them down. The other day she picked one up, talked to it and squeezed a little too hard- crunch. "Uh-oh. Mommy, bug broke." I was just cringing thinking how quickly I need to wash her hands.

Then on to the roley poley. She loves them....or rather to scare them into a ball. So on this particular day she got one and was carrying it around. (Lillie will join in as long as it stays in it's ball form. One small movement and that roley poley will go flying!)Charlotte squeezed it a little too hard and killed it. She continued to carry it around and finally put it down to see if it would unroll. Nope. She picks it up and prys it open and tries to flatten it out and put it down to walk. It somehow rolled/blew away. She then walks around saying "Here wo-wee po-wee. Where you?" Then she decides if she puts some evergreen down it will come back to eat.

Prying it open.



Looking for it.


Leaving some food in case it comes back.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes, and ....

What fun is a sprinkler if you don't get every part of your body wet?

This past week Lillie and Charlotte got to spend some great times with Nana and Papa H. It's a joke with our neighbor that they have to come around Charlotte's birthday in late May because they bring the warmer weather with them and it generally sticks around. Well, THANKS!, Mom and Dad. You did it this time. 90+ degrees with about 1000% humidity for the majority of their stay. Child's play to them, I'm sure, coming from swampy-feeling land of Alabama where it's been that way since March.

Plenty of sprinkler time, pool time, and of course, bowling! Lillie really enjoyed bowling and even attempted holding the ball with fingers-in-holes a few times. Of course she took this direction from Nana and not from Mom. I had a few flashbacks from when I was a kid and my mom was not just my mom, she was also my bowling coach. There's a double-whammy for a kid. Many-o-times did I storm off saying something to the effect of "I'm not listening to you! I KNOW what to do." I'm sure had I been the one teaching Lillie life would have come full circle. Charlotte also had a ball... hee hee. Here are some pictures from the week.