Tour of America's Dairyland re-cap

Chocolate milk really is as good as they claim! Appleton was my best race to date and I'll claim that it is because of the chocolate milk and banana that I ate before the race (before warming up, actually). Or maybe it was the 1500 calorie Applebee's pasta dish that I ate the night before? I definitely felt like I had the right energy for that race and my relative results backs that up! It was a flat and fast course, which made it easier as well.
Grafton was hilly and the wind was in my face during the downhill sections so that there was never really a break. I felt pretty rushed to get lined up for that one and ate my Nature Valley bar at the starting line.
The road race on the Elkhart Lake Road America track was fun for the first 5 laps. I thought I had a good chance at placing as well as I did in Appleton. Then on the 6th/final lap, this girl who was forgotten about behind us (I was riding with 2 other ladies) came out of nowhere and passed. This caused some sprinting and re-grouping and I didn't have anything left to give. I fell off from that group and struggled to haul myself to the finish line. My hotel breakfast that morning was NOT a breakfast of champions and there was no chocolate milk hand-outs at the registration table that day, boo.
I'm working on sprinting for the next few weeks, that is clearly the area where there is the most room for improvement. I also need to create a workable pre-race routine that includes a proper warm-up and fueling!

Genius child

This stage of development has got to be the most fun! It's awe-inspiring to see the new things that Noah is able to do with each passing day. He's combining words to make sentences and ideas now. He's getting really good at adjectives, "orange truck"! Every time I turn around I catch myself thinking that Noah has to be the smartest little guy ever - I suppose every parent thinks that though.
We were playing at toddler class in the little kitchen. Noah got out a pot and lid. I offered him some different pretend foods to put into the pot. He put the pot into the little pretend microwave, made a motor sound, took the pot out, lifted the lid and looked at his little food items. Then he put it back into the mircowave, made his motor sound, and took the food out again. This time, he opened the lid, said "steam" and waved his hands over the top of the pot. Then he said "hot" and moved the pot to the table. What a little genius!! He made that up all on his own!!!
He can't quite get the word motorcycle, but he knows how to identify them. He points them out by imitating the sound that they make, it's so funny! I can't even begin to phonetically write out the sound he makes, but he repeats it enough that we know when he is talking about motorcycles.
I have several more examples that I could comment on, but no more time to write this afternoon!