Lots of things have happened since I last blogged. I'll go through them quickly:

1. We went to Disneyworld (yes, AGAIN). Mike had a work conference to attend, so we went out there a couple of days early and enjoyed the parks. This year Hayden was really into "Soarin'" at Epcot. We rode it 9 times. Another favorite was the new Midway Mania ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Here's Hayden and me wearing our snazzy 3D glasses:

His shirt does not have a strange blue and yellow spot on the side - that's Dorie tucked into his armpit. And yes, his hair is now officially longer than mine.

We also went to Downtown Disney to see Cirque du Soleil's "La Nouba." It was incredible, one of the best Cirque shows I've seen. Hayden was in full Green Bird costume. We couldn't help but let him dress like that since he put so much trouble into designing it. He's already designed a new La Nouba costume, one for the Red Pierrot. He's planning on wearing it the next time we go (which probably won't be until school gets out in May).

2. I went to Panama City Beach at the end of October to watch some friends compete in the Ironman Florida triathlon. The 2 girls I had been coaching all summer did super - one cut 2 hours and 15 minutes off of her previous Ironman Florida time (and didn't have to go to the medical tent afterwards, something that she ALWAYS has to do at the end of her races) and the other finished in a very respectable 14:35. Both had amazing experiences, and I was so proud of them. As a congratulatory gift, I knit both of them a pair of Knucks. Here's a picture of the pair I haven't gifted yet:

The other ones are exactly the same but done in a pink. (The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed, by the way. The tats spell out "IRON CHIK.")

I'm not a very good photographer, but I did get a great shot of my friend Dee peeing in the bushes at mile 70 on the bike course:

It has a very "Where's Waldo?" feel to it.

I drove down there with another friend who signed up for next year's race:

I was tempted to do the same, but then I slept on it and came to my senses. I didn't race at all this summer - doing an Ironman next year would not be smart. My goals are to do some sprints and Olympic distance races and end the season with a Sept/Oct/possibly Nov half Iron distance.

3. Rudy finally succumbed to his liver cancer. He died peacefully in his sleep, so although it's very sad, it happened exactly the way we had hoped it would. He was sick - it was only a matter of time. He ate Hayden's leftover hamburger for dinner, sat next to Mike while we watched an episode of "Family Guy," then went to sleep. It's been weird without him in the house. Mike and I started dating in October of 1995, and Rudy was my Christmas present that year. We had had him for almost as long as we had been together. Hayden understands what happened more than we thought he would. He asks, "Where's Rudy?" every once in a while and when we explain that he's gone and he's not coming back, he cries for a couple of minutes. Lately he's added, "I wish he would come back and be with us again," which is a line from one of his favorite Magic Tree House books, but it's very fitting. Last night Mike taught him how to draw a dog and this is what he ended up doing on his own:

The brown one is Gracie and the black and white one is Rudy. I will never throw that away.

4. I've been taking part in NaKniSweMo (I think that's how you spell it). For you non-knitters, that stands for National Knit a Sweater in a Month. It's a tradition for the month of November, and it began as a play on someone else's idea to write a novel in a month. I'm doing Wisteria from the new Twist Collective site. (Twist Collective is THE SHIT when it comes to knitting nowadays. I have 3 more patterns that I bought last week. Must get knitting!) I don't know if I'm going to make the end of the month deadline, but I'll at least come close. After getting home from Mike's aunt's house yesterday I got to start the sleeves, and I'm planning on getting the first one done tonight. If I can knit the second sleeve by Sunday night, I'm golden. The yarn I'm using is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, which I like. Here's the body:

The cable detail doesn't really show up very well in this shot, but it's truly amazing. It may be my favorite sweater I've knit. What's better is that I've learned how to do the felted join (yes, folks - I'm a spitter) so I won't have many ends to weave in. Yay me!

That's it for my update in a nutshell. Off to do some more sleeve knitting (and maybe take a trip to my LYS - Cascade 220 is 20% today and I'm seriously thinking that is God's way of telling me that I need to make the Heroine felted jacket from Twist Collective for myself).