The Great British Summertime

There is a story behind this picture.We visited my uncle's house a few days ago.  He has an unheated outdoor pool, and we all decided to brave it.  The temperature was in the mid-50s, the pool a little less.  I jumped in, and it was icy cold.  But as I keep saying, I burn hot and I love the cold.  I was interested in seeing who else in the family shared my werewolf tendencies.

Gavin jumped in and didn't stay long.  Dylan escaped from Nancy and launched himself in before even taking his shirt off.  I caught him and managed to hold him out of the water until we could at least get his shirt off.  Then he launched himself again.

I caught him and decided to let him plunge right into the water to see what he did.  He caught his breath for a second when the icy water hit him, then he laughed.  We played around in the pool, and every time I asked if he was ready to get out, I got "a few more minutes daddy" from chattering lips.

We outlasted everyone, and I was so proud to have identified the next generation of werewolf.  We did succeed in getting him out a few times, only to have him escape and jump back in again!!!

Here's Dylan in "corpse pose" after finally being dragged out and wrapped.

And here are some other photos from our trip to rural West Wales.

Best of British - Gavin with his wristbands and wellies outside my uncle's greenhouse

Me and Gavin at the end of the dock on the estuary

Nancy, Dylan and my dad by the yacht club

Dylan enjoying a photo shoot after falling over

Very Cool

My brother with the Olympic torch

Daddy Duty Number 36(b)

A pair of funky chickens?

It is something that you don't realize until you have kids, but there is a universal set of Dad rules formulated at the dawn of time and set in stone that describe what is expected of you.  And your kids are born with this knowledge fully ingrained.

One of them is thus:

If you happen to be at a beach and your boys want to go in the water, daddy is automatically the designated bather.  It does not matter if the temperature is in the 50s and the water even colder (though not as cold as a certain winter day in Galveston), it does not matter if none of you have bathers and you are wearing 1 of the only 2 pairs of trousers you brought over with you.  It does not matter that you are hacking up a lung after picking up a nasty cough from the plane.  You are going in.  There is no question, negotiation or way around it.

Yesterday we visited Aberavon beach, a quick 5 miles from my parents house and a regular haunt for me growing up.  It was cold but fun, and me and the boys ended up in the water.  This is not Texas ocean - it's icy.  But next time we go, I'll make sure to wear my running shorts.  Much easier than rolling up the legs of my trousers and still getting them soaked.

Gavin ploughing ahead - Dylan a bit more cautious

Hey, that jacket looks familiar!!!

At one point I started humming the Jaws theme and Gavin sprinted out of the water

We got some pretty good waves

Across the Pond

Greetings from the UK.  It's been a whirlwind few days, but we're down in my hometown of Neath in South Wales, enjoying very pleasant running weather.  It's so strange to be home - I've been away a long time.

It was a long flight from Austin, with a 6 hour layover in Chicago, but just let me say that the Chicago Children's Museum rocks!!!  They have a superb play area at the airport which burned through quite a few of those hours.

We spent the first few days up in Manchester with my brother, enjoying a typical Northern English summer (cold, gray, rain).  One of the first things I noticed was there were flags everywhere - a combination of the Jubilee celibrations, the Euro 2012 soccer tournament (which England got knocked out of last night on penalties - some things never change) and the upcoming Olympics.  Everyone is excited about the Olypmics, and you can feel the anticipation on the streets.

On the day we landed, we hiked at a beautiful National Trust park near Manchester called Lyme Park.  We went about 5 miles - starting at the deer park and heading straight up until we could go no further.  It was a magnificent view from the top.  Both Gavin and Dylan made the climb, and then we made a big circuit and ran the trail all the way back to the bottom where we found a fantastic adventure playground made entirely out of trees that had fallen during storms.

It started pouring with rain while we were there, but we played on regardless and had a blast.

We headed back to my brother's house soaked.  Both boys fell asleep in the car for the 15 minute trip back, though both later denied they had done so.

I should have been dead tired that night, and Nancy and the boys retired to bed early and collapsed, but I stayed up late with my brother.  It's been almost 5 years since we've seen each other, and it was wonderful to catch up.

We drove the 4 hours down to South Wales the next day.  The trip included a "clean up stop" after Dylan blew chunks everywhere. But by the time we crossed the border into Wales, the rain had stopped, there was a hint of blue sky peeking through, and there were no more bits of carrots for us to pick out of the seat belts!!!

Saturday morning I got up early to go for a run, and woke my brother up to go with me.  He was not happy, but for me it was a late start (6am).  It was fully light, in the mid-50s, and we headed up the Gnoll woods - a beautiful country park literally around the corner from my parents house.

Beautiful until you realize the first mile is straight up (then again, this is Wales - the only way you would avoid hills here is running circles around your block).  But when we reached the lake at the top and the forest trail with the cascading waterfalls it was well worth it. It was quiet, damp and tranquil.  We headed back down (much easier than going up), crisscrossed the town center and crossed the bridge over the canal out to the old college before looping back around and home.

The run was not as easy as it should have been.  I have barely run in the last month, and my weight has increased accordingly.

But more on that in another post. I enjoyed the run because I've never run with my brother before, and this may be the only chance I get this trip.  He had to drive home that night because he and the Stockport Harriers got to run with the Olympic torch the day after (and even got into the official Olympic relay function afterwards - how cool is that).

That afternoon we headed to my uncle's house.  We are home to celebrate my parents Golden Wedding anniversary, and he was putting on a party for them.  He has some large grounds, the boys got to run to their hearts content, and I got to spend some quality time with family and friends I haven't seen in years.  It was a great afternoon, and we ended with myself, Gavin, Dylan, my brother and my cousins rugby tackling each other on the grass.

Here are some photos from the afternoon.  More to come later.

Me with my dad and my cousin Nick

The boys with my dad

Nancy with my parents

The Big Blue

Have you ever seen the Luc Besson movie "The Big Blue"?  It's an eclectic film set in the world of competitive free diving.  In one scene, Enzo (Jean Reno) has had a bad day, and Jacque (Jean-Mac Barr) sympathizes and tells him that sometimes "the sea doesn't want you".  I recalled that particular scene this past Saturday while slogging out my run on a muggy old morning because sometimes running feels exactly like that - there are days when the road just doesn't want you.

Here in Texas we call it summertime.

This blog has been quiet for a while, not because I have nothing to blog about, but because I've been so busy with other things.  But somewhere in the whirlwind of the last few weeks I signed up for another marathon - the BCS marathon in College Station.  I ran this last December in its first year and loved it - well organized, friendly, and a wonderful online community.  I'm glad to be going back to run it again.

That's two marathons I've signed up for since I quit running them in April!!!

We've also signed up with the YMCA and have been having a blast taking the boys swimming.  I've also been enjoying popping in for an early morning swim or workout after my midweek runs - it's a great way to start the day.

Travel for work also continues apace, especially since I got a promotion.  I now sport the title "Director of Data Integration", which is obviously something they confer on somebody who can't keep quiet and tends to be a wee bit bossy!!!

I just got back from a conference in Vegas ("back" is a relative term, as I'm writing this from a hotel room in North Dallas), where I managed to get front row seats to the Cirque du Soleil show.  That was just amazing, but you can keep Vegas - give me the mountains or remote woods any day.

Ho hum, I'm off to get some shut eye.  I discovered I can use my YMCA membership at the local Y, so I have an ambitious plan to get up early.  We'll see how that goes.

What I'm reading: The Devil in the White City.  An interesting snapshot in time of Chicago in the 1890s when it hosted the Worlds Fair.