Decathlon Day 1

Today has finally ended. I say that in a good way. Its just been really long, and I can only imagine how Tom feels. He started competing at 10 this morning and finished the 400 at 9:40 tonight. He is currently in 5th place and everyone is fairly close. His foot is bothering him, but that's about all I got out of him. He's kinda quiet if y'all didn't know. Tomorrow will be even longer, but all worth it. Today during our break we went to the oldest temple in Japan and looked around there, and Kinley had the best time chasing and feeding the pigeons. Here are a couple pics from the track today. Enjoy!

Japan So Far

Yes, we got here safely and have had a great time! We spent about a day in Tokyo and saw so much. We have been packing in as much as humanly possible every day. And it has been worth the exhaustion at the end of each day.

This is Kinley and I in Tokyo at a little shrine in one of the parks the Senso-ji Temple.
Kinley likes riding the trains and subways, her favorite part is holding on so she doesn't fall over.

We took the bullet train to Osaka and got to meet up with Tom and Bonnie and have dinner with Tom at Outback (yes, the food was pretty normal). The next day we went over to another town named Nara and saw the world's largest wooden building and the largest bronze Buddah in the world. This whole town was amazing!

This is my cousin Nancy, Christy, Kinley, and I in front of Todai-ji Temple.

So far we are doing well. Today Tom starts competing, so we are all excited about the meet and the competition. I'll update more later!

Cutie Pie

Just wanted to share with everyone a couple of cute pictures of Kinley.



This is at my mom's house. All the kids like to "hide" in this cabinet in the living room. She thought it was pretty cool to climb in there and peek out.



Kinley wasn't feeling so hot one day, and after a little accident she just wanted to lay in the rocking chair. I couldn't help but take the picture - she's too cute!

Now, this last one I have to say is hilarious. She really liked playing with my sister's puppy, but I think she enjoyed the crate even more.



Do you think she would travel well like this?
Just kidding - don't call social services!

When Dad's Away...

We successfully got Tom to the airport and out on his own. He arrived in Japan on Tuesday evening. He says the hotel they are staying at is beautiful and the food (although not native Japanese cuisine) is pretty good. The dining facilities in the hotel for the US team has had regulars like hamburgers and french fries, pizza, and even sea bass. Tom's spending his time at the track, in the weight room, eating, sleeping, and in the training room. Pretty much just like being at home, but no Kinley to tuck in at night.

Kinley and I went down to Texas when Tom left for Japan (not much in Manhattan for us). We have had a lot of fun with everyone down here. We went to my dad's condo for lunch and a swim on Tuesday. This was pretty momentus for us. Kinely put on big-girl arm floaties for the first time.

She actually did really well. I only had to balance her a little bit. She would occasionally let her feet float up behind her, and she would need help to get them back down, but I was really impressed with her. She also has found the love of jumping into the pool. She stands on the side and basically belly flops into the pool and trusts that I will catch her (I do). We had a great time eating and playing with Opa and GrandLis. We also played a round of Marco, Polo and I forgot how easily little people cheat at this game. We still had a great time!

Thursday was rainy here, so we went to the mall. They have a huge store that just has those big inflatable jumpy toys. There must have been 8 or so in there, and they had a couple for little bity kids. We didn't know, but besides it being rainy, it was also half-price day, so it was packed! We still had a great time. All 5 kids ran and jumped and had a blast!

This is Kinley starting to run down the little slide. Most of the time she would turn around and slide down feet first on her tummy. A couple times she jumped down and even did a few barrel rolls. I only got upset once when a little girl (about 4, I think) tackled Kinley and then held her down until I yelled at her to let Kinely up. Kinley wasn't that upset, but it made me a little mad that the girl's mom wasn't watching her. I guess that's just me being the protective mom.

We have had a great time so far, but we miss Tom soooo much! We are talking to him every day, but its just not the same. Less than 2 weeks until we go over to see him - Yeah!

Kinley's Talents

After Tom was finished icing and doing some treatment, he went over to the wall. Almost as soon as he got in position, Kinley came to do the same. Such a mimic!


Last night Kinley started bouncing in her seat. I quickly grabbed the camera, and tried not to laugh too loud. she started off with the bouncing in her seat, then we asked her to jump. This is really new for her. She tries to jump, and only occasionally does she get the credit card vertical. Along the same lines, she then started dancing for us (okay, mostly just turning in circles). She is trying so many new things every day. We love to see her trying and especially succeeding. See for yourself how talented she is...enjoy!