Steve's Half Marathon

Remember when Steve ran his 5K race last year with the goal of beating his high school record? This year he set a new goal: to run his first-ever half marathon with a target time of 1:45. After weeks of training, he and a few friends (including Aaron, Eden, and Kenny) met up to run in the Toronto Half Marathon this weekend.

The girls and I stayed home, but fortunately we were able to track Steve's progress online during the race...

Until about a quarter of the way through, when a technical glitch stopped all updates for Steve, Aaron, and Eden (though Eden's tracker eventually recovered). We weren't sure that it was a technical glitch until the very end, so for a while the girls and I worried that something had gone wrong and Steve/Aaron had exited the race. What a bummer!

"Stuck" at Point 5

SP and AC nowhere near the finish line...

Did something happen?? Stress!

Finally around 10:35am the screen updated that Steve finished the race. What a relief! And he reached his goal, with a finish time of 1:44:54. Congrats, Steve!!

What did the girls and I get up to this weekend while Daddy was away? Yummy meals, karaoke, walking, shopping, baking, and homework. We survived!

Jessi Gets Braces:: Step 4: Expanding the Palate & Dealing with Issues

Jessi's palate is sufficiently expanded! At her appointment in mid November, Dr. Smith said she could stop the nightly wrench turns. Now we play the waiting game while new bone grows in the space that was created.

September 16th vs. December 9th

These last three months haven't been easy for Jessi though. Aside from the initial struggles to turn the expander, the appliance seemed to be getting closer and closer to the roof of her mouth over time, making turns difficult, since the wrench would often scrape the roof of her mouth. One hygienist said that Jessi might be having a slight allergic reaction to the metal/dirt on the expander, causing the roof of her mouth to swell (this was never confirmed).

Then Jessi woke up one morning (about a month into the process) and noticed that one side of her expander had started slipping off her tooth! It was noticeably lower, while also noticeably higher on the other side. We went to the ortho for an emergency appointment. The hygienist removed the expander and reinstalled it, which Jessi admits was not comfortable (the removal especially).

Everything seemed better until later that day when Jessi said that the metal of the expander was hitting her bottom teeth whenever she bit down. In other words, it was installed too low. We went back to the orthodontist the following morning. Fortunately Dr. Smith was able to use a tool to shave down the metal, rather than having to remove/reinstall the expander a second time.

After that, the expander stayed in place and turns were much easier. But of course the natural expansion of her palate created wider gaps between her teeth, which made our 13-year-old a little self-conscious of her smile. Strangely enough the gaps are constantly shifting, so now her two front teeth are touching where they never have before! Hopefully things settle alright during the waiting period as well as during the next phase of treatment (the Clark Twin Block appliance).

Larger gap vs. no gap
(3 weeks apart)

N: I'm sorry you haven't had a smooth start to your orthodontics, Jessi.
J: It's ok. I hardly even notice my expander anymore. The next step sounds annoying though, so I'm not too excited about that.

N: Hopefully you'll feel that it's all worth it in the end, like Emily!

Steve's Skydiving Adventure

Steve always said that skydiving was something he wanted to try at least once in his life. A friend of ours was planning to go this summer, so Steve jumped on the opportunity (and out of a plane) last weekend. 

Signing their lives away

Family pictures before he falls to his death

Thankfully before Steve's jump we had a chance to watch two other groups jump first. It was neat (and reassuring) to see the whole process.

Tiny dots in the sky

Orientation with the tandem instructor

Such a small one-seater plane! Goodbye Daddy ♥

How are you feeling, girls??

A message to Daddy in the sky

It took about 20 minutes for the plane to fly up to the required height of 10,000 feet. The kids and I tracked the plane while it circled up and around until it became a tiny dot in the sky.

The instructors told us that once the plane goes silent, it means they are slowing down and ready to jump. We watched in amazement as two miniscule dots fell out of the plane. Steve said the freefall portion was so crazy that he barely remembers it. Thank goodness he was strapped to a professional tandem instructor while falling at 200 km/h!! He remembers the huge jolt of the parachute opening up and within 5 minutes he was on the ground, safe and sound.   

Still so far away

Smooth landing

Here's some video footage I took of the plane and parachuting:

Episode 46: The Skydiving Adventure

Shalin coming in next

"That was crazy!"

Ears all clogged up

You did it!

The experience was so intense that Steve immediately crashed when he came home. He also said he would never want to do it again. A wild experience for sure!