OLY TRIALS IN REVIEW

We have been moving at the speed of light, so let me recap on some of our antics at the Olympic Trials. We were fortunate enough to visit some VIPs in the fine state of Oregon, although we did not get to see our peeps in San Francisco, Sacramento, or Seattle. Sorry about that. Many VIPs came to us, at the Olympic Trials in Eugene. That was such a treat!

Vanessa saw or met the following PRAYER WARRIORS at the Trials:

Ken and Denise (Ken was honored as the Head Women's Olympic Coach for the 1980 boycotted team)
Ralph and Doris (Doris is an Olympian and 5 time World Champion)
Grant and Amy
Big Alley Hedges
Neil and Steph

And "Cousin" Gabe Jennings

Okay, so Gabe is not a cousin, but we share a name. Vanners doesn't take kindly to us thrusting her into the arms of a complete stranger, even for a photo op'. I had to take her back from Gabe to get this shot. Sorry V.



Eugene traded in cloudy skies and cool temps for a heatwave just in time for the Trials. We stayed on campus in a dorm room which was heated, but not air-conditioned. It also had concrete floors and a door that didn't latch from the inside. The heat, concrete, and easily-opened door made babysitting Van in the dorm nearly impossible. She got really good at opening up the door and sprinting down the hall to either the elevator or the 4 story concrete staircase, and yes, she can press the elevator buttons.





When we weren't climbing the dorm room furniture to get out the open windows or sprinting the dorm hallways together, V-Dog and I were very much attached. I wore her on my belly most of the time (in 100 degree heat) and walked around. You see, Van is so curious, she'll maybe hold still while being held if you are walking, but she definitely will not hold still if you are, say, seated and trying to watch a track and field event. Being at the track meet was a lot like being at church for her. Not a lot of desire to sit still.


I don't know which was harder, babysitting an active toddler in an entirely unbaby-proofed campus or trying to be a spectator while babysitting said toddler in said locale. Let's just say, I have a hundred photos of Vanessa playing from the first four days at the Trials. I hear there was a major track meet going on... Luckily, she's cute:



Daddio was very busy working 12 hours a day in the beginning of the track meet, so Mama wore Vanessa around and sweat a lot. People did in fact stop me every few steps to offer me water, a place to sit down, or a medic. I must have looked a fright.



There was an athlete's lounge we could go to see the meet on the big screen. The lounge had computers, air conditioning, and free food. Too bad Nanners wasn't interested in being seated. I tell you, she's a whipper snapper! We brought toys to the Trials, but she was familiar with them already, so she investigated new things in Eugene. See her here, after exhausting the playful use of a box of recyclables found at the athlete's lounge.





Let's just say this Mama was very happy to see people who could help entertain our wee spitfire.

Thank God for Daddio, who took V. to the mens room shower every day to hose her off in the handicapped stall with a hand-held wand. Not sure how he did that, but I sure needed the break. He also is much more adept at feeding Vanessa and himself at the same time at dinner. That's quite a skill.

Other babies are a bit more mellow, we've observed. Take her buddy, Baby Jack, for example. He is the same age and, at church, while one of us is running around outside chasing Vanessa, Baby Jack is sitting through the homily in his stroller. I don't mean to compare, but when, exactly, does Vanessa sit in her stroller? Almost never. Regardez-vous nous infante, s'il vous plait:

When we did go to the track, Van and I were on the move. Everyone knew us. I'm sure we were quite the spectacle. In fact, after the first two days, people I'd never seen before would make comments and say, "Oh we know you... we've been watching you." On the crowded days, we could spend time in a big open area next to a giant TV screen. Vanessa would work the crowd, believing everyone is part of her family. I'd chase her around, only to catch her mooching food and sitting on random laps. No crowd fright here, folks. She was quite a hit. I'd dare say she was the most popular spectator at the meet.

Now, the track-friendly people of Eugene put on a kiddie race, whereby the kiddies and their well-meaning parents could go Big Time and race on the track. It was a cattle call. We were shuttled through a throng of kiddies and well-meaning parents, all of us raising one hand and shouting out the age of our child. Nanners and I didn't work the throng fast enough to be with the other "ONE YEAR OLDS!" so, for her first official track race, V-Dog was put with the "TWO YEAR OLDS!" Daddio couldn't be there, so I "filmed." Let's just say, after the initial shock and delight of looking up and seeing a crowd roaring and cheering at her, Nanners was at a loss of what to do. She came in dead last, me dragging her by her wee arm the whole way, saying, "Good job! Way to go!" as we reached the finish line.

Mid week Daddio had a break in his schedule, so we made a 24 hour side trip to Portland to see Derek and Jo, and then Katja and Todd and meet Baby Anja. Anja is 4 months old and as well mannered as she is beautiful. Katja said, at 10:30 at night, "Oh she's really cranky - she's so hungry and tired." How did Katja know this? We're not sure, because there were no blood curdling screams, no tears, no thrashing about. Anja is such an angel. In fact, Anja is rumored to sleep in her stroller. Imagine that.

The mini trip to Portland was an outstanding break for me. I got to sit for the road trip whilst my Irish jumping bean was strapped into her carseat, and, when we stopped to visit, Daddio was head babysitter. Thank God for Daddio (have I mentioned that?). After a night at Katja and Todd's he got up, made us a pancake breakfast, got Vanessa ready, and went shopping with us - baby wrangling in the store the whole time.

We had such a good time roadtripping and visiting, we hope to do it again next summer, sans Trials.

Back in Eugene, we got to spend a lot of time with "Auntie" Shea-Shea's parents and sister Jasmine, who also made the Olympic Trials in the high jump. What an athletic family!

The finals for the women's high jump were on Friday, July 4th. It was a big, big day. That morning I said to Daddio, "Well, tonight we'll either be really, really happy, or really, really disappointed."

See Sharon's family and coach surrounding her after she made the team? We are really, REALLY happy!

We prowled town a bit with the Olympian. It was the 4th of July.

When we arrived home from our trip, we were pooped out. Luckily, Vanessa's first passport was waiting in the mailbox for us, and we started right in on our travel planning for Beijing (you pronounce the "j" if you want to be correct).

Our first week back I had another MRI of my abdomen, Daddio had surgery for a ganglion on his wrist, a dear friend of mine from work in Seattle lost her battle with cancer, and my Uncle Terry was diagnosed with a third kind of cancer. Luckily, my MRI looked great and Uncle Terry's tumor has been caught so early - kidney cancer, like my dad had - he is probably looking at a surgical cure. Thank you, Lord.

Maybe it seems foolish or at least inconvenient to have brought our toddler to the Olympic Trials this year, but hey, she loved the wild, new experience. Carpe diem! Beijing, here we come!

SHARON DAY, OLYMPIAN

Yes, if you haven't heard by now, "Auntie" Shea-Shea made the Olympic team for the high jump. WOO HOO!

Sharon will be representing you, me, and Vanessa in Beijing in August.

It's very hard to make the Olympic team. In track and field, they take three athletes for each event. So, let's see. That's three athletes every four years... easier to get into Harvard Medical School than make the Olympic team...




Here's an article from our local paper on Sharon, with quotes from Daddio:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/sports/story/411757.html

Here's a youtube video of Sharon clearing the Olympic "A" Standard height of 1.95 meters (6 feet 4.75 inches) at her conference track meet. You can't go to the Olympics without having achieved the "A" standard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsP8VjUpfbQ

Here's an article from the L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/custom/extras/la-spw-jump6-2008jul06,0,3302338.story

If you want to see a video of the full press conference, complete with Daddio's commentary, too, check out the college conference website. Sharon's piece is on the right hand part of the screen:

http://www.bigwest.org/

We are planning to go! This is not an opportunity to pass up! We're taking VanNannerkins as well as Granny Ernestine (who grew up in Japan as a missionary kid). We are so excited!

Oh, and here's some television coverage of Sharon and Daddio from before the Trials:

http://www.ksby.com/global/story.asp?s=8544138

Here's a professional shot of Daddio coaching "Uncle" Chris, but you can imagine he looks like this coaching "Auntie" Shea-Shea and Vanessa, too:

Sharon's family also hopes to go cheer her on. Their church is helping to send the whole family to Beijing:

http://www.palmharvest.net/site/default.asp?sec_id=140002332

Currently Sharon is competing in Europe - Paris, London and Stockholm. She seems to be getting frequent air time on TV, if you want to record track and field and see her. It's so exciting to see her compete as a world class athlete.

P.S. I'm having trouble posting blogs because I tripped HARD over our computer cord, severely impairing the power feed. So please bear with me.

EIGHTEEN MONTHS OLD?

Can anyone believe we have an eighteen month old frozen-tot gipper amongst us? Not us. The other night Daddio and I climbed into bed and, after a moment to catch our breath(s), we both said something to the effect of, Wow. Vanessa knows more than we thought she did.

So I've not posted because we've been out straight with activities, visitors, visiting, and, well, a heat wave. Officially, it was 115, but our stucco house seems to trap and radiate heat. It was so hot I didn't even bother running our portable air conditioner: I felt it perhaps irresponsible and even futile to use up all that energy during the day.

One of the days, I put Vanessa in the car and drove around for hours with the A/C on. It was really hot. Another day, the heat got to "Uncle" Chris so he got a haircut, Chez Jacques.

Luckily, we live 100 yards from God's air conditioner, the ocean. Can you say Las brisas del mar?

Lest I forget, here are some of VH1's newest tricks:

- Favorite food is salsa.

- Favorite phrase is "Come on!" (pronounced with a hint of disbelief).

- New trick is dipping food - then feeding it to someone else.

- Another new trick is grabbing an adult by the finger and dragging them to see [something], saying, "Come on!"

- She can hang by her hands on the monkey bars at gymnastics.

- She runs.

- She helps apply sunscreen on her arms and legs.

- Her mother entered her in the Cutest Kid in America contest on http://www.parents.com/ (go vote for her if you think she's cute). Ellen suggested this of Vanessa - thanks, Ellen! Try this link:

http://www.parents.com/app/sharemy/photoDetails.jsp?photoId=211700181&fromSearch=true

If that doesn't work, go to the site and select Photo Contest, then Cover Search, then type in "Starlet" to find Vanessa's pictures. So far, I think only her dad and I have voted for her...

Here is a rundown of some of the visitors we've had or visiting we've done since Grandma Patty and Auntie Anne left town:

- Gerri and Paolo came back through, wearing their "Jack Hoyt Shorts" (long, plaid shorts - a term they coined on our Mediterranean cruise in 2003).

- "Auntie" Nell has been injured, so she wasn't able to train through the U.S. Olympic Trials. Instead, in a few short weeks she has landed herself an L.A. modeling career complete with a women's fitness magazine cover shoot, and a man. Her man, Braidy, came by to show us how to eat man-burgers and stretch. He's a pro volleyball player (and high school science teacher on the side). Aren't they hot?

See Nessa getting some modeling tips from Nell...

- SPU grad Bjorn Bostrom and chiropracty classmate Jordan spent a few days with us before we left on our road trip to Oregon. Bjorn and Jordan agreed to soak up the California sun, surf and sand as our house sitters. They were already exercising, massaging and adjusting Milo and Max. Nope. The pets won't be missing us this week!

- We spent one night with Granny Ernestine and SPU/Cal Poly student Bridgette Sexton was there, sleeping on the couch until she starts rolling out the Benjamins from her new job at Google. It was the eve of Daddio's 44th birthday, so Granny rolled out a birthday cake and candles, and recounted how, 44 years ago, she was overdue with her 7th child, so Jack's dad put her on the back of his motorcycle to buzz around. Sure enough, Ernie went into labor.

- The next day - Daddio's birthday - we drove through the Bay Area fire haze to sizzling hot Ashland, Oregon to stay with "Uncle" Pete and "Auntie" Michelle. They have brand new twins, Juliette and Amelia, who are so exquisite we wanted to run away with them. Of course I also threatened to run away with big brother Graeham, who turned 4 this week. It was a full house, as "Uncle" Johnny, "Auntie" Rennie and Pete's parents Mack and Marcia were also visiting. Jack, Johnny, Rennie, and Pete were freshman together, so it was oh so fitting to sing happy birthday all together, with our little babies all around us.

Saturday we finally arrived in Eugene, Oregon for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Here are Daddio's elite athletes, Sharon Day, Chris Randolph, and Aris Borjas, hamming it up with Vanessa. They compete in the high jump, decathlon, and javelin respectively. See them here, at one of their last practices before Oregon:

Vanners was afraid of Aris's muscly hug. Well, really Aris held her at arm's length the way you hold a giant, nubby toad who's likely to whiz all over you. Nanners, being part dog, smells fear, I think. This shot cracks me up.

P.S. This post has taken me several days to publish because we've been running so hard at the Trials. My next post will be all about the Trials...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

We have had a week of activity and excitement. Daddio was in Iowa, watching the river waters rise and the NCAA Track and Field National Championships.

Not to be outdone in the fitness department, Vanessa's grandmothers (aged 78 and 81) showed they still have it with some leg lifts in the living room.

No wonder gymnastics class is a snap for our little Wahkeenah. Vanny took one look at the climbing wall and scaled it faster than you can say Spiderman. Other moms had to support their babies' bums and place their hands on the grips. Not Van. In fact, where is her mother in this picture?

We Jennings girls scoured the area like tourists. See us here, doing all kinds of things. Grandma and Auntie Anne commented that Vanessa has a very easy dispostion and quite a bit of stamina. Both loved to watch her out in public and field all the comments Vanessa inevitably draws.

This was a very special week, since both Auntie Anne and Grandma had birthdays. We treated it as a celebratory week, really. A lot of fish and chips and fish tacos went down, and I think we had ice cream every single day. You don't even want to know how much coffee we moved.

Well, let's see. Thank God for photographs, because I can scarcely keep track of our days and whereabouts. Vanessa (and the rest of us) were graced with the presence of Gerri and Paolo, our dear friends who were en route to L.A. - they brought Vanners some books.

Unfortunately, Daddio, Grandma and Auntie Anne we all coming and going on trains, planes and automobiles at the same time. Van and I put Grandma and Auntie Anne on the train to San Francisco, where Granny lives, so she picked them up. Too bad Amtrak lost Grandma's checked bag - a 3 hour trip became an 8 hour trip, and they didn't get to Granny's house until 1 AM. They all got up Sunday morning at 5 AM to catch an early flight, got delayed in Chicago, and arrived in Connecticut late, with no luggage. Daddio was similarly delayed on his trip home, was delayed, rerouted a few times, flew stand-by, and ultimately arrived home without his luggage. If these are the biggest problems we have, then we'll take 'em!

Our dear, white kitty, Max in fact has had some big problems. He got cancer on his ear tips and had to have them removed last week. Auntie Anne was Charge Nurse and managed to wrastle him down for not just post-op pain killer, but also antibiotics. He's doing well, despite looking rather gruesome. I was in tears when I heard he was to lose those big pink ears, but our vet was so nice and told me that even her family had that happen - a nearly inevitable situation with all-white (or white-eared) cats who go outside. Once Max's fur grows in he'll have little Scottish fold looking ears. I think he'll look like a big, white otter.

Daddio arrived home and we saw new graduate Bridgette and her family. They, along with their church, have been major prayer warriors over the years for Vanessa and her sibling embryos, and, of course, us. What a thunderous answer we all got back for our prayers - that Vanessa is quite a statement!

We also had Daddio's two Olympic "A" Standard athletes, "Uncle" Chris and "Auntie" Shea-Shea over. "Uncle" Chris broke the 8000 point mark in the decathlon, which is equivalent to "Auntie" Shea-Shea jumping 6 feet 4.75 inches in the high jump. Coach and athlete were very happy, as is our whole family. Chris has come a long way since Daddio recruited him as a high school senior.

"Auntie" Shea-Shea also came by, to pick up her lost luggage. She placed second at the U.S. College Championships, despite being the best jumper in the field. The poor dear had strep throat, so we're pretty much wondering how she could walk upright, let alone jump over 6 feet in the air. See Vanessa mooching some brownie off our star high jumper (and future Olympic hepthatlete, if my calculations are correct), here:

So that was our week. How was yours?