Update on the Tagged List Posted Below

Last night I had posted the following on my list of 4's.

4 places I would like to visit:
-Bahamas
-Italy
-A remote cabin with Bridget somewhere--anywhere in a mountainous region with a large cupboard of food and frosty diet beverages, a roaring fireplace, a good book, and a couple of bikes during the fall while the kids are at Grandma's house (either one)
-On a podium accepting a medal/ribbon for a cyclocross race top three finish. (I don't care what race class)

Unexpectedly, I can now cross of the last one. I finished 3rd in today's cyclocross race. So what if only 13 people raced in my class, Master 35+ C. I still lapped half of my competitors. Heck yeah! I beat the 4th place guy by well over a minute. The race lasted almost 50 minutes and it was really hard. I felt like puking at the end from trying to catch up to the second place guy when I thought he might be faltering just a bit. He didn't but I sure blew up trying to reel him in the last lap. At the end I was toasted.

Prior to racing I looked forward to eating some fresh tamales that were for sale there. But I was so baked and nauseated at the end that I just couldn't do it. And since I needed to get going so I could still work this afternoon I had to take a pass on them. Oh well, 3rd place is good enough. It is easily the best finish I have had in this class. There are two classes above me (Master A and Master B) and one below (Beginner). So there are still plenty of better riders out there. But last year I was finishing in the back 1/3 of every race. This was a nice change. Friends were acusing me of sandbagging this year--also a welcome change. I may make Master B's yet this year.

POST OVERLOAD

There are three (3) NEW posts after this one, so don't miss any of the action!

Tagged by Stephanie...

OK, here we go...

4 Movies I would watch more than once of the Superhero genre:
-Dark Knight
-Spiderman 2
-Ironman
-Matrix

(OK so the above was not one of the original categories, but 3 of the four movies were superhero related and that seemed lame.)

4 Movies without Superheros I would watch more than once:
-The Godfathers 1 and 2 (I am cheating here with a two-fer)
-Field of Dreams (my tear-jerker)
-Aliens
-Mallrats (ok I haven't watched this in about 7 years, but I really laughed a lot watching it for some reason. But I don't recommend it, it is...um...a baaad movie.)

4 TV Shows that I would watch more than once:
-Everybody Loves Raymond reruns
-College football
-March Madness--College Basketball
-Spongebob Squarepants (not so much because I want to, but because I have had to watch so much of it.

(Hey, I don't watch TV much at all and if I do it is likely sports related.)

4 Places I have been:
-Washington DC
-Mt. Whitney
-Hawaii on a catamaran sailing (I am telling ya--I was so peaceful)
-On a football field accepting my J.D.

4 places I would like to visit:
-Bahamas
-Italy
-A remote cabin with Bridget somewhere--anywhere in a mountainous region with a large cupboard of food and frosty diet beverages, a roaring fireplace, a good book, and a couple of bikes during the fall while the kids are at Grandma's house (either one)
-On a podium accepting a medal/ribbon for a cyclocross race top three finish. (I don't care what race class)

4 favorite foods:
-Carnitas tacos
-Spaghetti with italian sausage and garlic bread
-USDA Prime New York steak
-Gourmet/expensive pizza from somewhere like the Flying Pie Pizzeria in PDX or the Pie in SLC.

4 people who email regularly (I am omitting companies and organizations here):
-Brian Spears (cyclocross junkie and friend here in PDX)
-Kulani Fisher
-Dave Johnson
-Barack Obama (Well, he supposedly writes it even if it is sent to millions of people)

4 things I am looking forward to in the coming year
-Having a job other than at the bike shop
-Spending another year with my wife
-Being able to play with all of my boys
-Finishing the Oceanside Half Ironman (why, or why did I sign up for that race?)

4 people I tag:
-Bridget
-The Fishers
-...
-...
(I don't even know if anyone else reads this blog. Stephanie already tagged most of the family. And most of the people I run with don't do blogs--or if they do they only read my cycling blog)

Jumping On Pillows

The following was 100% instigated and thereafter encouraged and photographed by Grandma Flynn. The boys sure look like they had a good time.

Out of This World

The title is also the name of the place that we went to visit while Mom/Grandma Flynn was here last weekend. It is a big indoor playpen for kids to play and for parents to relax a bit. They also have some pretty good pizza. It was my first time there, but the kids and Bridget have been there several times for playdates with friends.

I liked it, we all liked it and it was really fun to be there with Mom/Grandma Flynn.

New Post--Finally

Since Patrick is the squeeky wheel here, I will post some stuff. These pictures were all from this past weekend when Mom was here. I have more, but no time to post them until later.

Kick and Chase with Ryan

Ryan is on a Kick and Chase Soccer team. This week was his first week. They are pretty good considering their age. His team is comprised of all kindergarteners.

Usually the they follow the ball in a tight pack. It is rather fun to watch. There are usually a few good kicks during the game and a few goals. The field is much much smaller than a regular soccer field, maybe the size of a basketball court at most.

Ryan does well and he gets really excited while playing. Here are some pictures and movies.

Ryan during warm-ups:


Ryan sticks his tongue out almost continually when attempting to do anything with the ball. It is pretty funny.

More Colin

I forgot to post this video previously. It is from just after the birth.

And here are some recent pictures. The first two were from a little crying fit he had last night. I liked the little crying face.


Bath Time! These were all from this morning.



So far he has been great!

Introducing Colin Henry Flynn

I took this not long before I left to be with the boys this evening. Colin was not yet quite 24 hours old.

The name was going to be Samuel Flynn. We sort of decided on Thursday or so that Samuel Colin Flynn might be the way to go. I liked Samuel Patrick Flynn, but Bridget didn't--sorry, my brother. Anyway that was the way were were leaning even on Saturday.

I went to work on Saturday and got there around noon. I rode there and while it was pretty busy at first, it soon died down to a more manageable pace. Around 2:30 I called Bridget to see how she was doing. Nothing happening. I knew she really wanted to have the baby this weekend before her parents took off for a 6 week vacation that has been planned for about a year or more. They leave Monday, or in about 8 hours from the time I am writing this post.

She and her mom went to Babies R Us and then to get their toes painted. For some reason she started having painful contractions while she was getting the later done. She went home and called the hospital and they told her to wait an hour to see if the contractions still held up. That was around 4pm. I guess a lot can change in an hour and a half, the amount of time since I had last talked to her. At 4:30, even though she still had another 30 minutes to go until she was supposed to call the hospital again, she called me and told me it was on. It takes me about an hour to change and ride home if I hustle--which I did. I told everyone at the shop that all systems were go and they bid me farwell.

On the ride home I was thinking about the little guy and for some reason Colin seemed like the right name. Maybe it was because it was the right name or maybe it was becuase it was hot, I had not had a sip of water in quite a bit and I was riding home at a pretty good pace. The ride home is 13 miles by the way, and fairly hilly at the very end. It was on one of the final climbs were I thought that Colin instead of Samuel was the way to go. So delusion or truth, I will let you guys decide for yourselves.

I showered fast, drove to the hospital (only 2 miles away thankfully) and made it to my wife's side. Her mom then took off to relieve Bridget's father who was watching Ryan and Jack.

Around 7:15 she was swapped from some sort of private secondary room to an actual birthing room which was wide and spacious. She then got her drugs and an epidural. Things started to feel better for her then, up until then the contractions had been pretty painful, the most painful out of her three pregnancies. Drugs are good, drugs can be very good.

Also of note, Saturday, September 6th is my Dad's Birthday. When I told him that I was on my way to the hospital he said he would be expecting my call with the good news prior to midnight. He joked about it, but I know he was very hopeful that this would turn out to be the case. I thought there was a 50/50 shot that the newest Flynn would make it in time.

While waiting for the little dude to come, Bridget and I discussed the name thing again. She also like Colin as a first name. But we could not do Samuel as a middle name--there is already another baby in the family with samuel as a middle name. We were ok with using it as a first name, but it just wasn't going to go in the middle. I called my mom to ask for family names. She gave some and Bridget and I quickly decided that Henry--my Grandpa Flynn's middle name as well--would be the name. Thus, finally after months and months of indecision we had finally arrived at a complete name for him: Colin Henry Flynn. Although it took us until tonight, a day after he was born to decided that we would spell Colin with just one "l" instead of too. Both Bridget and I and enough friends and hospital staff agreed that "Collin" was more a last name and "Colin" is more a first name.

Anyway, around 10:45pm our nurse was expressing some concern about the little dude's heart rate. It was going a bit too low during the contractions. They tried to move Bridget around to make it easier on him, but this did not totally relieve the problem.

The Doctor came in just after 11pm--and he was very very good--and said that it was time for baby to come out. I thought he meant that it was time for a C section. So did Joan (who was back after making sure that Ryan and Jack were asleep so that Grandpa didn't have to worry about it), but we were relieved to find out that this was not the case. Ryan had to be delived C-section due to a similar problem. Jack went out the regular exit. Bridget prefers the regular exit. Much less recovery time.

To cut a long story down just a bit--it went really well. At 11:26pm Colin was out and Bridget was getting fixed up just a bit. Both were doing really well. Colin came out with his eyes opening almost immediately. And he had a good healthy wail.

The time since the birth has going really well. Bridget is sore, but in great spirits. Colin has been sleeping lots and feeding relatively well. Lots of poop. Not a big fan of the tar-poops that kids have when they are first born, by the way.

And my dad was pretty happy that he now had a grandson that shared his same birthday.

Now for lots of pictures and a couple of videos.

The private waiting room when I first arrived:

Mid-contraction determination. She was not wanting me to take this picture.























Me trying to get a picture of us in the birthing room.

He's here!
























Mom holding him while they clean him up.


Close up just a minute or so after birth.

Nurses checking him out..Colin's not happy about it.

Birth weight: 2.930 Kilos = 6 pounds 7.4 ounces.

"Hey, you want summa dis!?!?"

Bridget and Colin the next morning.

Colin snuggled in with mom.

Hanging out tonight, wide awake, just chillin'

This evening watching the MTV Video Awards. Why? I dunno, Bridget had the remote.

Ryan's First Day of School

Brushing this teeth...

Getting his new backpack on with all of the school supplies that he was assigned to bring...

Bridget and I decided it would be better to take ryan to his first day of school instead of putting him on the bus to fend for himself. Ryan and I walked since the school is so close. He was very talkative the whole way there--about 1/2 mile. I offered to carry the backpack for him since it was sort of heavy but he said he was strong enough to do it by himself.

Ryan's school...

Ryan checking out his classroom...

As I was leaving I took a picture of the class.

Jack was bored at home while Ryan was gone. He wanted us to take pictures of him and to make a movie. I think he needed some extra attention on Ryan's big day.



3 hours later we all waited for Ryan at the bus stop.



Ryan had a good day, although he said he didn't learn anything new. I think he was expecting something more than what happened. Nevertheless, he had a good time.

Jack starts preschool next week. If we weren't soon to have boy number 3 Bridget would be bored for a couple of hours in the morning. Good thing that won't be the case...yeah, right.