Good Old Days

This last weekend, we went down to PG for the "Good Old Days," one of the town's "major" festivals (i.e. two-block parade, local bands, two-block arts-and-crafts/food booth festival).  Seamus is obsessed with watching fire truck parades on YouTube, so he had fun going with his grandparents to watch a real-life parade with some fire trucks.  There were also members of the local high school marching band and dance troupe, local kids marching for the library, and old classic cars.  Oh, and belly dancers, the Senior Center tap class brigade, and the Castroville artichoke queen -- you know, your typical parade fare.  What's a parade without belly dancers on a float?

We stood across the street from the fire station to walk the parade, and Dude got a new junior firefighter sticker.  Here we are:

He then spent much of the next day and a half standing up on my parents' couch and looking out their front window onto their very quiet street, announcing "Fire truck!" Or playing with my dad in his studio, looking out the window into the backyard and pointing out "Fire truck!" Or, maybe he wasn't announcing or pointing out; maybe it was wishful thinking?  An attempt to summon?  Or maybe "Gah Guck" doesn't mean fire truck after all -- maybe it means outside? Red? Awesome? Music? I don't know; I'm a little confused.

But he had some good parade-watching time, hanging out in the studio time, playing on the porch time, going to the park time, and general lots-of-attention-from-grandma-and-grandpa time.

You could tell he had a great time, because when we drove home on Sunday afternoon, he looked like this:

When we got home, he ran delightedly through the apartment to the living room, and pointed right at his red fire truck: "Gah guck!" He then ran to the window, climbed up on his stepstool, and looked out at the crowded city streets.  "Ck! Ck!" he shouted.  I think it means truck.  But, you never know.

Losing Weight in My Hair

I used to be a swimmer (and would like to be again one day), and I have pretty much always hated running, but after I had Seamus I found it difficult to do much swimming, as driving through the city, parking, getting into the gym, getting changed, swimming, and then showering, getting dressed, and getting back home just felt like too much -- and it is pretty rare that I have that much time all in a row to myself, so I wasn't managing to do it all that often.  But, we have a little gym in our building that has some treadmills and elliptical machines and a bike and some weights.  So, after I quit the big gym with the pool, I started going downstairs to that little gym sometimes.  And then, since I was going to a gym that had no pool but that did have treadmills, I decided to try out that Couch-to-5k program, that is supposed to teach non-runners how to be runners.  I am now running 2.5 miles at a time, without stopping, so I guess it is working!  It kind of fools you into getting there, by making you run and then walk in intervals, and by gradually increasing the amount you run and decreasing the amount you walk.  It also makes you run three times a week, which keeps me more honest than just going to the gym "sometimes" -- but all the workouts are only 30 minutes, and I only have to run down the stairs to get to the gym.

I can't quite say that I love running like I love swimming, but I do feel quite virtuous after I run, and I love that feeling.  I thought, though, that this running three times a week would help me lose some weight, but it doesn't seem to be making much difference yet.  Maybe because it just makes me hungrier than I would be if I wasn't running?  

So, since I'm not losing weight in my body, I thought maybe I should lose some weight in my hair.

I felt like my hair had been long for a while, so I let my hairdresser cut quite a bit off the other day.  Shay didn't seem to notice any difference, but Patrick says I look like I got scalped.  I think that he is joking.  So anyway, I don't quite know how to gauge the new 'do, though I kinda like it.  My head feels lighter.

We'll see if my new lighter head helps make the running easier. After one more run at 2.5 miles, I have to do 2.75 for a week, and then 3.  I signed up for a real 5k in May, so wish me luck! I figure if I tell the internets that I'm doing it, it'll keep me from backing out.

Do you run?  Do you love it?  Can you help me learn how to love the part where I am actually running, instead of just the part after I run?  I am thinking that it might start with going to pick out some new shoes, right?