OCE Triathlon Video

Quick note:  Kevin was first in his age group at the Hawk-I-Tri mini-triathlon this morning.  1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run.  He finished in 1 hour, 27 minutes and some change, and I’ll post more about that later.

BOYS AGE GROUP: 1 - 14
Place O'All No. Name Age Rank Swim Tran1 Rank Bike Rank Tran2 Rank Run Time
===== ===== ===== ====================== === ==== ======= ======= ==== ======= ==== ======= ==== ======= =======
1 469 274 Kevin Hutsell 13 3 12:13 3:09 3 41:34 1 1:10 1 29:19 1:27:23

The first video has 2 minutes of the boys swimming, and then a lot of Matthew bike and running video (with a brief snippet of Christopher starting to bike and finishing the race).  Of note is Matthew’s reaction to starting to run when Christopher is finishing…..

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kevin is in the 2nd lane from the left in this video for the swimming.  The bike is new; he’s in a full adult bike now and we’ve moved Christopher away from the run-over-by-car bike that he was using (which never made it back to a decent condition) and up into Kevin’s old one.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

OCE Triathlon

Boys certainly got their exercise yesterday.  Let’s review:

1)  Michigan Mile  - 1 Mile Running

2)  Bike Ride to Triathlon – 1.5 miles

3)  Triathlon – for Matthew and Christopher, that's 75 yards swimming, 2.25 miles of biking, .6 miles of running.  for Kevin, that’s 150 yards swim, 3.75 miles of biking, and 1.2 miles of running. 

4)  Bike ride home – 1.5 miles

Matthew and Christopher:  Seven through Ten year olds all go at the same time….Matthew and Christopher go in the same heat.  You can tell the kids who are on the swim team; they’re the ones just motoring away from the others in the pool.  The boys?  Well, I am committed to making sure they clean up their form this summer…they made it, but it was ugly.  Christopher held the lead for almost all of it but Matthew pulled ahead at the end. 

They run out to their bikes and take off.  Both seem to be doing well, Matthew comes around the 1st time and I lose track of Christopher.  The event was a little disorganized, and even though we had told and told the boys 3 laps (swim), 3 laps (bike), and 1 running, Christopher was told by about 10 adults to pull in and well, after 1 lap he’s off running.  They announce his name on the loudspeaker that’s he’s off and running and Suzanne and I look at each other and start laughing.  Oh well, the big guy will pick up the DQ for the event.

Matthew is just flying along on the bike…he’s catching all of those flip-turn swim team guys and starting to make some serious headway on the kids in the heat in front of him as he heads off to run.  One of Christopher’s classmates is in the heat in front of them; by the end of the run Matthew had caught her; granted, she had a small small bike but she was the first out of the pool (nice flip turns!) and Matthew powered his way through. 

Matthew ended up finishing first in his age group.

Kevin:  Kevin’s swimming stroke isn’t quite as bad as Fric and Frac’s….but, he also has earned some remedial stroke work from Dad this summer.  He finished fourth in his heat, which, is pretty respectable. 

Of course, the rest of the race is Kevin’s bread and butter.  He’s flying along on his bike; he’s passing kids left and right.  Misses the transition area to park his bike (wave Christopher in early, but, don’t remind Kevin that he’s finished 5 laps and to turn in…again, could have been a little better on the organization).  He remembers though, and pulls in late, and probably loses 10-15 seconds in that.  Whatever he lost he more than made up in the run; he says he’s the only kid he sees that didn’t stop to walk…he’s flying along.

He ended up finishing 2nd in his age group….and I have to wonder about that.  The kids in the 11 year old age group one and we know for sure that he only biked 3, not 5 laps.  Kevin was 2nd by 3 minutes…..I find it hard to believe he was behind by that much.  The other guy that was right ahead of Kevin (in the older age group) and flying along only beat him by about a minute.

Oh well…doesn’t matter….boys all had fun.

Kevin Recital

Asked to be first at the recital today so that Kevin (and I) could get out of there and get moving towards the OCE triathlon that starts at 4 pm.

This is the last of Telemann; the 4th movement of the Concerto in G Major that he’s been working through for the better part of a year.  We’ll have a post about the next major piece soon.

Kevin nailed the parts he was worried about and, except for one very obvious missed note, was almost perfect.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Michigan Mile 2009

A somewhat sad day….this is the last time Kevin will be running as a ‘participant’.  We’ve been doing this for a long time.

Boys Pre-Race

Kevin:  We’ve always believed that the Michigan Mile is really the Michigan Nine Tenths of a mile and figured this year would be the surest test of that; if Kevin runs anywhere in the 5 minute range we know for sure it’s short.

He finished in 5:31.  Tape below shows him briefly at the start and as he finishes.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

 

Kevin, pre-start, from the race photog

ditto

Christopher: Same old same old. Wakes up..."I don't want to go" "I'm not going to do it" "Why do we have to do the Michigan Mile?" But, he decides to come with us and finishes in 7:42, which is completely awesome and we think, but aren't completely sure, better than Kevin at that age. Video below....much more of Christopher at the start (I'm really zoomed to get that view, and of all the kids, he was the only one I could pick out from that distance before the race started....) and at the finish. The big guy decided to wear his gray light jacket as he ran, which makes him even easier to pick out.

 

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Matthew: The anti-Christopher....woke him up this morning and hopped out of bed "Let's go, it's the Michigan Mile. And I can go really fast today because I don't have to wait for my friends!". Ask Kevin to help Matthew navigate through the staging area so that Matthew can be near the front (he helped Christopher as well, but, it didn't matter to Christopher, and it made A REALLY BIG DEAL to Matthew). Mom and Dad both cautioned Matthew that he may not finish first again this year, and that was ok. And, he didn't finish first, he finished 2nd in 6:34, and was really really disappointed about it. Video below, not very much at the start because they blew the horn to start unexpectedly. At the end you'll see Matthew run by his kindergarten teacher who is bending over near the finish line shouting encouragement. Matthew obliges with a burst of speed.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Matthew, being right up front, made it into a lot of pre-start photos.

Weekend Preview

Going to be a whirlwind weekend around here!!!

Tonight:  Bennett Woods night at the Lugnuts game

Tomorrow:  Michigan Mile; Kevin Recital; Okemos Community Ed. Triathlon

Sunday:  Hawk-I-Triathlon for Kevin; going to see ‘Up’ that afternoon.

Throw in 2 hockey games, and an urgent need to a) get the lawn mowed and b) study for finals (Kevin) and there ain’t going to be much time to sit around.  There will be plenty of pics and video though!

In other news, a nice article about the company on my paychecks is here.

Baseball 2

First, the traffic here at blind nut squirrel has been off the charts!  There’s been at least 30 people wandering in for a visit.  Why you ask?  You’ll never believe it.  I mentioned that musical in the last New York post, and, I guess that means that ‘the squirrel’ ended up in the most relevant posts for that.  *that* led to the blog being linked from the message board dedicated to the American Idol guy who’s the lead in the musical, and a slew of groupies coming to visit.  You can go here if you want to see the reference; it’s near the bottom fo the page. 

Baseball was another loss, 10-6; we were home and didn’t bat in the bottom of the third(!).

Matthew played catcher…think he enjoyed it, he was involved a little bit more in the flow of the game.

Christopher had 2 hits and scored once.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Matthew struck out at his first at bat and was thrown out at first the next time.

 

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Baseball

One of the reasons behind the 5:30 am start from New York, other than traffic avoidance, was making sure we were home in time for the boys first baseball game.

In practice, both have been ok in the field, Matthew maybe a step ahead of Christopher, but, at the plate, it’s been Christopher who’s doing well, and, surprisingly, Matthew who’s had a tough time catching up to the ball.

Decided this year to tape from the outfield, so, the video of each at-bat is a little better.

Lost the first game 4-1 (I think).  Christopher’s first at bat was a double, second time out (not shown here) he was the last out of the game on a good hit to first.  Christopher’s double should have scored a run, but, you can see there’s a little base running snafu at third as Christopher is coming into 2nd

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Matthew's first at-bat was a strikeout (you get 5 hittable pitches).  But,  his second go round he punched one into right field for a double and then scored on his buddy Greg’s triple immediately afterwards.

 

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Matthew Art 2009

The end of the year art show has arrived.  Comments from the artist below in quotes.

 

This football field was the cover of the big envelope that Matthew brought his art home in

 

“First you have this little tiny stamp, then you dip some white paint on this, then you have a big one, a medium one, and a little one.”

“A lizard. I painted it, I did designs with it, and I put cool stuff on it.  I made the tail, wrapped up like a yo-yo”

“It’s a scarecrow and you get to choose stuff out of the scrap box to make the legs, pants, and shirts.  I made scratches with itsy bitsy teeny weenie squares.”

“An apple basket.  First you cut out the apples, then you paint them, then you make the basket then you have the tire wheels of a car and you rub that all over the paper and then you put two oranges on the outside and one in the middle”

 

“I made a robot. I had a lot of cool designs.  I made a work robot with a laser on top with a wrench, screwdriver, hammer, and a nailbox.  I cut with little tiny scissors that I used for the chest that I cutted it into two squares and then kind of a big square and then put the rest on the leg and I had a marker and I did stuff with it”

“I made a sculpture of myself.  I made it exactly like my hair, and had skin color, blue shirt. You start with the head, and you put the ears where the middle is.  Then you draw your eyes and we had mirrors to see our faces to see what we looked like.”

“I made sunflowers in February with a lot of leaves, a vase, and three flowers”

“We were studying about insects, so, we had the ladybug as a project.  We made the ladybug on a stick, I counted the leafs and there were 64, and then I put the ladybugs on on”

“I made a turtle and I could color it with different colors.  First I made the shell, and the I made the feet, and then I made the head.  The feet were kind of tricky, one was small and one was big and it was hard to make them equal.”

New York Day 3

Monday was Statue of Liberty day.   Kevin and Mom started the day off early by wandering down to the Today show (really, just a 2 block walk from the hotel…I could hear the crowds from the room).  They didn’t make it on TV, but listened to some performances from the new Broadway musical “Rock of Ages”

The boys and I met them out there about 9 am; heard them performing “High Enough” by Damn Yankees and realize that if I had heard this earlier in the trip we would have gone!  Hope it comes to East Lansing.

Took the subway down to Battery Park and boarded the ferry for Liberty island.  Really enjoyed the trip, both over and back.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ellis Island, from the ferry.  Would like to go here, and think I could spend the better part of a day here, but that wasn’t going to be on this trip.

  

You can see the observation deck on the base of the monument.  We had tickets, and went up there.  Had to go through another security screening on the island (went through the metal detector to get on the ferry).  The screening at the Island involved the newer devices that ‘puff’ air on you and then the machine ‘sniffs’ the air to see if you have any chemical traces you shouldn’t have on you.

   

The ferry went around the island to dock, so, that was excellent for the views.

    

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

Matthew declined to be in this picture

The view up from the base.  160 steps up to this level, will have to come back sometime and go up to the crown when it reopens.  Really am glad I got to do this….was telling Kevin that for me, this is the most ‘American’ of things, or, the one place that represents our country the best.

The Iphone panorama of NYC from the base

Staten Island Ferry on the way back

Took the ferry, and then the subway, back to the hotel to relax for a little bit and then headed off to our second pizza dinner, Grimaldi’s, over in Brooklyn.  Again, had to wait almost an hour to sit, and the seating was simply a collection of long tables.  Pizza was very good, I think I liked this better than Lombardi’s, but, realize now that I like Giordano’s in Chicago and Vincent’s in the ‘burgh better. 

Best part of the evening was walking back across the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk.  Suzanne, I think has much better night time photo than I have, but, this is the one that I have that came out really well.

 

Got up early (5 am) and were on the road by 5:30 Tuesday.  Think that this was a really good move; we were in PA before 7:30 am and missed all of the traffic (although it was pretty heavy eastbound in NJ).  Made it home at 4 pm. 

New York – Days 1 and 2

Friday:  Leave Okemos.  Make the poor decision to leave later because Matthew really wanted to participate in the last day of Mileage Club….get to the school to find out he’s not doing it(!).  Late start means a 10:30 arrival at the hotel in New Jersey

Saturday:  Get up, eat breakfast, and head into the city.  Dora isn’t the best GPS helper here….too many quick turns in short order makes it hard to follow along, and, two ‘detours’ occur.  But, we get in around 10:30 am.

Head over to Rockefeller Center and check things out as we wait for our 12 pm ticket to the Top of the Rock. 

looking up at the Rock

from the top, south to the Empire State Building

ditto

Iphone panorama to the southwest

Iphone panorama to the northeast

After going up, and then back down, we check out the Nintendo store (of course) and finally can check in to the hotel (Club Quarters, Suzanne’s priceline present…rooms are big enough, location, right across from Rock Center, is awesome).  Head out for dinner at Lombardi’s (we’ve decided we’re going to hit the two ‘main’ pizza places in NYC, this is the first.  Let Kevin guide us on the subway back to Times Square and then watched Night at the Museum 2 at the big theatres (never have taken 5 big escalators to get to the theatre).  Walk back to the hotel and use our Top of the Rock tickets to go up again at night and see the lights.

Christopher waiting for the train

Boys Behavior Scale:  Low….just not a lot of listening going on today.

Sunday: Start the day off by walking from the hotel over to the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space museum.  It’s a long walk, but, we manage fairly well.

Had a good time touring the ship….boys enjoyed walking through the bridge areas and going down the narrow ladders….they had some hands on displays that were pretty fun as well.

All ahead full, Captain!

 

looking down on Mom from the Bridge…

What course, Captain?

Kevin at the helm.

It’s Fleet Week in NYC this week….lots of extra displays…Matthew at the wheel of a Humvee

They can be cute when they want to be….

or not…Kevin’s bailing out….

Collected some video here as well….here’s Matthew and Kevin on the cargo nets

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

and here’s the band that was playing.  Good song choice…Kevin’s recently spoken up and said he really likes this tune…..

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

After the Intrepid, we went back to the hotel, rested up for a little bit, and went to meet up with Lloyd and Amy in Central Park.  The boys were thrilled, ecstatic, you pick the word, to find open spaces with rock outcroppings and spent most of the time there climbing up and around various rock formations.

 

Love this sign…the trains come up and the conductor leans out the window and ‘punches’ the controls to change the track ahead.

boys + rocks = fun

Went down to Times Square for dinner at Dave and Busters’ with Lloyd and Amy; had a good time talking while the boys did their level best to race through the available fundage and play games and collect tickets.  Christopher hit the jackpot on one game twice and had a ton of tickets at the end.  Concluded the evening; said goodbye to Lloyd and Amy (who we’ll see again in November at their wedding) and hoofed it back to the hotel for the evening.

Boys Behavior Scale:  Better as we progressed through the day…..