Thank you and Happy New Year

I just wanted to take a couple of minutes (while the boys are sleeping and Tracy is sipping drinks by the pool) to thank everyone for all of the great Christmas gifts for all of us and for taking care of us over the holidays. Things are going well on our vacation, with the highlight so far being Chuck E. Cheese, but we'll let you know more about that later.

Christmas Lists

Just to let all of you early shoppers know, the Christmas lists have been added to the right. All of the items are from online stores (though most can probably be found at brick & mortar stores too), so you can shop without having to deal with the crowds (or without fear of running into something with your car!).
--Update-- The lists are gone, thanks for all the gifts though!

Picture Updates

A quick picture update for everyone (hopefully it will update on the side), including some pictures from Halloween, Fairmont, and a nice picture of our new car in the mountains.

The Subaru family

Well, thanks to an excellent Thanksgiving in Edmonton (where Dom and his cousins Dylan were reacquainted like long lost friends, and Liam and his cousin Jack were ... there), a "conference" in Montreal for Tracy (and half a week being spoiled by Grandma for the boys), and various other events (we are calling it teething for Liam even though he hasn't cut any teeth in over 3 weeks) our children are officially a mess. Hopefully their sleep schedules will return to normal soon and Tracy and I can pursue the early morning workout schedule that we have put together.
Our other big news is that we now can no longer say "Let's take the Subaru" without specifying which one. After an extensive search through many vehicles; from the ridiculous (Come on Tracy, did you really think an Audi was in the budget?) to the surprisingly "affordable" (Really Tracy, a Lexus can be in the budget!) we finally bit the bullet and decided on the Subaru Tribeca (with a little push from a car salesman from Magrath who bought Tracy's car and leaked oil on Jason's driveway). Today we took possession of our new vehicle and it has already been named (sorry Dylan!) by our friend Breeanne - Alex Tribeca. I don't know that we'll be using the name alot, but atleast we can say that it's got one. Pictures to follow soon.

The yard

I know, it's the end of summer (as you all have been reminding me for the last couple of weeks) but after a couple of days of de-crabgrassing our yard and a quick cut of the real grass, finally here are some pics of the yard and playcenter (which has been lablled the Kwasny Clubhouse - complete with accompanying song and all!).

*Now that I see the pictures like this, I should have took a panoramic... damn!*

Also, quick thank you to Aimee for watching our kids this weekend while Tracy and I took care of all the errands we had in about have the time and also got a date night in.

And last but not least, best wishes to Cory, Nardine, Dylan and Jack as Cory leaves today for Afghanistan. Take care and good luck!

Some Pics

We took a quick trip to the Henderson Pool last night and I've uploaded some pics from this to my Flickr account. Enjoy!

Check that... I posted them to my Picasa account. Hopefully you should be able to see them scrolling to the right.

Fort Macleod Tri report

So I'm pretty sure that this is not the update that most of you have been waiting for, but now that I'm done with running while the kids are napping in the afternoon, I can start posting pictures of the landscaping and the playcenter (which is pretty cool, right Krista?) and other things (like my children).

Yesterday (Aug. 16) the 6th Annual Fort Macleod Triathlon took place, and I want to start out by saying that I was really impressed with the event and barring unforeseen circumstances I will be back next year to compete. Al Poytress and his crew did a really good job getting people registered, keeping things running smoothly, and getting the results posted quickly. Also, thanks to the guy out by the high school with his water hose spraying down the runners.

I was keyed up to swim in the sprint event at 12:15 and I think that I got into the water pretty close to that time. It was a 500 meter swim (in the 25 meter Fort Macleod pool; which means 20 lengths). The swim went well and I was very happy with my time. I figured I would be out of the water somewhere close to 15 minutes and came out in 11:25. I'm feeling more comfortable in the water and I think that helped me out. I didn't rush the swim, nor did I take any breaks. It was a continuous 500 meter front crawl. This might not sound like much, but when I started training for triathlons in the spring I was lucky to finish 50 meters without a break.

The first transition (T1) was slower the I had planned. It took me more time then I thought to get my shirt and socks (which I will go without next time) and didn't plan my spot very well as I was at the far end of the transition area. The 15 km cycle didn't go as well as I thought it would. I had been averaging 30+ km/h for the last coupole of training rides and only managed 28 km/h on this ride. Now I'm not making excuses, but there was a wind out of the north and the hill after the turn around was a little tough riding into the headwind. Also, got stopped by a train (which they deducted 0:50 from my time for) but that gave me a chance to get my feet out of my cycling shoes so that I didn't have to do it when I was rolling. T2 (that's right, the transition number 2) was good; shoes were out of the pedals already and I didn't get too wobbly of legs running to my gear off the bike. A pair of speed laces would have been good, but overall I was in and out quick. Ride time (including the 2 transistions) was 37:38.

I grabbed a water bottle off my bike on the way out to the run as it was super hot and was worried about dehydration. Took a couple big slugs and then tossed the bottle to Tracy and the boys (Thanks for coming out to support me guys) as I passed them. Very bad move! I felt that water moving around in my belly for atleast the first km. I took very little water in after the run started as I didn't really like the sloshing and I was too busy pouring it over myself to try and cool down. The run went well. I was expecting about 30 minutes as I'd run a 25 minute 5 km training run the weekend before, and that was fresh. I am pleased to say that I was able to shave about 3 minutes off of my training time and posted a 22:08. For most of the first half of the run I paced some lady wearing pink spandex (forgot to look at her race number) but passed her right after the turn around and then just kept pushing. The last block I was sprinting with a kid who was running in the Youth (under 10) division and the little bugger pulled ahead at the end and crossed the line before me. Really cool to see all the little guys and gals getting excited as they came through the finish line.

And that was the race. Final time (minus train deduction) 1:10:19:1 gave me 6th overall, 5th for all males, and 2nd in my age category (30-34 - the guy who beat me won the sprint, so...). Pretty happy with that and sorry that it signifies the end of the triathlon season for this year!

Now, stay tuned for more family friendly posts!

Sorry for the delay...

Sorry for the extremely long delay in the posts, but you'll have to wait a little longer. Some very exciting things have been going on and I am too "busy" to write about them. More updates will be coming soon.
One quick note, Dominic has found himself in need of glasses and thanks to your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, actually likes wearing them. Here's a pic (not courtesy of Peter Parker though!).

Our other big event of the month

Our baby Liam is one years old! We had a busy weekend - the whole St.Laurent/Kwasny clan was here with the exception of Nardine, Dylan, & Jack. And needless to say I don't have room for all the new toys .......we just moved into a bigger house! It was lots of fun, especially for Dominic who always had a playmate & even Liam warmed up to everyone by Monday morning. He'll get used to everyone........Now here are some pictures. Mickey mouse was our theme & did I mention that Liam loved his new water table (he actually does love it now, I do have some happy pictures.....not filling it with freezing cold water helps my sweet Jason).

P.S. Liam got his first tooth a couple of days ago......1 year & a week old! We thought it would never happen. Oh yeah, he also crawled up the stairs all by himself when we weren't around, what a stinker!

Race day

So as many of you know Jason has been talking about doing a triathlon for quite some time now. Mother's Day was the big day & if you havent' heard how he did, let me tell you. I packed up the boys & off we went to the pool for the first part. I was sitting with my friend who was telling me how hard her husband had been training - up at 5:30 am 5 days a week for months, that is when my stomach went into a few knots. I'm thinking - well Jason had been swimming for the last month twice a week & he did ride his road bike last week (his race was with his mountain bike), & he hadn't run but it is only 3 km (with the steepest hill in Lethbridge), he'll be fine, ok I was really afraid for him. Still wondering??? Well I'm proud to say that my Jason came home with a medal - 2nd place in his age category & 9th overall (there were 96 people). Amazing! I can only imagine what would have happened if he did train a bit. It did give him a boost of confidence & he has decided to enter the Fort Macleod triathlon in August. Go, Jason, go! (See how supportive I am honey).

Updates and Thank Yous

We haven't made any posts lately, and there is a lot of stuff that needs to be said, so here goes.
First, thank you to everyone that has sent a gift in the last little while (i.e. Easter and post-cruise). The kids are enjoying everything and Tracy and I have demolished the chocolate. Cory and Nardine, Dom was a little unsure of the swim outfit when it showed up, but he actually asked to wear it to the pool (shirt and all) the other day. Oh, and I'm surprised that I haven't cut myself on one of those shells, cause I seem to be stepping on them all over the house. Sammy, thanks for the matching PJs. They both wore them the first night they got them and a couple of times since, but the current weather situation has convinced us to put them away for awhile. Everyone else, thank you, and sorry for the delay.
We spent Easter this year in Washington (state) at a nice little golf resort (that was closed) just north of Wenatchee. We went to Seattle for a couple of days and got to the top of the Space Needle. Did some shopping at the outlet mall just north of the city, and other then that we just sat around, read books, ate ice cream, and played football. Dominic did some "treasure hunting" and found lots of golf balls around the golf course and a couple of geocaches. We discovered a cool little hotel/lodge in Sandpoint (which Tracy and Liam made the most of by staying up all night) that I would totally recommend if you ever end up there (The Lodge at Sandpoint). Overall, very low key and pretty fun with the little guys.
As for the kids, Dom is doing his best to keep his mother and I on our toes, and hasn't flipped anybody the bird since the first time he did it. Liam is crawling - well, crawling when he needs to go slow and army crawling when he is in a rush . Yeah, I know it seems backwards, but it doesn't seem like Liam can do anything normally. Everyone is catching a bit of spring fever and wants to get outside and into the park.
Tracy's crazy (s)crapbooking weekend went well. I guess there were some famous scarpbooking people there (I didn't know there were any either) and she scrapbooked for something like 20 hours. The pages she made look beautiful, but I still think that it was a nutty thing to do.
My triathlon training is coming along. I'm thankful now that Tracy convinced me not to enter the one last year. I never realized how difficult it is to swim. Maybe if my parents would have continued my swimming lessons past the stage where they first take off the water wings I wouldn't be the sad sack of crap that I currently am in the water. Oh well, I'll have to make it up in the ride. May 11 ladies and gentlemen, mark your calender.
Oh, and the Flames just won to force game 7 vs the Sharks. Sorry to everyone whose team didn't make the playoffs, which as far as I know is everyone but Aimee.

Our weekend with Aunty Aimee in Canmore

Off to the mountains we went..... a couple of weeks ago we picked Aunty Aimee up in Calgary & headed up to Canmore. Jason & I attended a timeshare presentatation (no - we didn't buy!) we just wanted a cheap getaway. We mainly just hung out & our big excitement of the weekend was toboganning. I think Jason had the most fun!

Heard around the House

So I totally copied this idea from Krista but I loved it so much I couldn't help it, plus I live with a 2 & half year old & he says the darnest things on an hourly basis so I thought I would share.

January 2008 & beyond

Many of you heard of our adventure to Waterton but for those of you haven't, hear is the exciting story & pics to go along with it. Jason had been dying to go snowshoeing so one Sunday in January we packed all the gear & set off for some snow which could only be found an hour & a half away in Waterton. So after driving through the blizzard (it was nasty, I kept my eyes on my book) we decided to stay in the town site instead of going up to Cameron Lake. Just so you know there was a ton of snow & still snowing but it really wasn't cold. After dressing everyone in their snow pants, tuques, etc we put Liam in the pack back & Dom in the sled. I think we were about 3 blocks away when the wailing began. So back we went into Kilmorey Lodge for a hot chocolate & treat & then we were back in the car. It was the most expensive hot chocolate treat I've ever had but we can laugh about it now, right Jason???

We are a very busy family this semester........Jason is still playing volleyball every Tuesday evening & he is taking a spinning class bright & early Thursday mornings. I am taking a weight lifting class every Tuesday & Thursday evening & a spinning class Saturday. The boys are both registered in swimming lessons & Dom is in gymnastics (he can do one heck of a summersault!).




And to add to our busyness, Jason & I, the elite athletes that we are have entered some races. Jason has registered for his Triathlon in May - it is a super sprint - run, swim, & bike. Go Jason go! I am going to do the Melissa's run in Banff this September with Susan, Krista & her sister. It is only 10 km but apparently a killer hill.

On Family day long weekend Amanda & Jeremy came to visit. On the Sunday we took the whole family out to Fernie for some skiing (not sure what we were thinking after the Waterton fiasco). It all worked out quite well - Jeremy & Jason skied the morning while Amanda & the boys & I hung out in the lodge & outside as well. After lunch Jeremy & I hit the slopes (& I led Jeremy & I to some places I should not have been), Jason took Dom out on the slopes (he loved it, he didn't want to snow plow because it slowed him down too much, & Amanda hung out with screaming Liam(he did sleep for a couple of hours)...........bet you can't wait for that baby Amanda! It was a lot of fun & everyone slept well that night (Dom was asleep before we left the parking lot).

I have previewed my stuff & I need to work on the formatting stuff but I will figure it out, at least you can see pictures! Stay tuned for our weekend in Canmore with Aimee!

The Kwas blog returns with Mrs. Kwas

Since my husband is soooo busy & can't keep up with this blog thing, I am going to try & take it over. I make no promises at the humour only Jason can provide but I will keep people updated with what we have been doing & most importantly pictures.