Dana Burland

The week of July 4th I keep the boys home from summer day camp. It's a true vacation week for them, where I put on "Mama Camp".  At almost 9 and 6.5, they play on their own, get ready for the day, and do a quick house clean up in the morning. Then the fun begins. Monday we took a free tour of our county's recycle plant. Smelly, but REALLY cool. Tuesday they both had play dates with friends. Wednesday we had ice cream school. Yeah. Ice cream school. We made an easy, four ingredient, no churn ice cream... complete with the boy's own mix ins. It turned out excellent, and definitely will need to be repeated. 4 Ingredient No Churn Ice Cream Inspired by Nap Time Kitchen Ingredients 2 cups heavy whipping cream 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk 2 tsp vanilla extract pinch of salt Any mix ins you want (chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, Nutella, sprinkles, M&Ms, health bars, etc) Directions 1. Whip the heavy cream either in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until stiff ...

Wow, I had a great racing day today. Today was the Grand Rapids Sprint Triathlon, an event I've been training for 8 weeks for. And man did that training pay off. This was my fastest GR Sprint Tri EVER! I had my best swim time by a minute, best bike time by a minute and a half, and fastest run time by about half a minute. PR'ing was not my goal, my goal was to relax and enjoy the race, though focus in and push the bike portion. This was my first time racing with cages on my pedals allowing me to push down and pull up and maximize my cycling, the first time I spent nearly all the race in my highest/toughest gear setting, and the first time I spent nearly all the race in my lowest handlebar hold crouched position. Best of all, this race felt relaxed and fun (mostly). On the swim I wasn't trying to sprint, but was able to relax more than I think I ever have in open water. I wasn't panicked or fighting it. On the bike I tried to stay in the moment and push, focused on gettin...

The sun is shining, chalk stained drawings litter the driveway, and fresh mulch has been laid around the yard. Today is the last day of school, and the official start of summer.  I'm working at my desk with a jar of incredible backyard-cut pink peonies nearby, drinking cold coffee (not purposefully), while watching a huge snapping mama turtle lay her eggs in a hole she dug in that fresh mulch I mentioned.  Everything and everyone is in bloom right now, growing fast and furiously. Like my peonies, I look at my boys and wonder: HOW are they so bold and brilliant? I don't feel like I've done enough to make them this way!  A finished his first season of soccer, and his first year of Kindergarten, with flying colors. My shy guy who once "participated" in a soccer season glued to my leg (as I participated in it for him), who walked into school for the first several days hand-in-hand with his older bro, now confidently runs through life on his own. He loved being on his ...

We’re back from a weekend in Traverse City, for Cam’s first BIG soccer tournament. I’m reliving it all with a box of Kleenex. Cam’s team played four games throughout the weekend–three regular matches and a finals match. They played against an incredibly tough team, a questionably aggressive team, a match with a grumpy ref, and a shortened game in cold rain on a slippery field. Through it all the whole team played with heart and hustle. Cam gave every game his all–never shying away from getting a touch on the ball, trusting when his teammates had it, moving the ball up the field to pass to open team members, and taking gutsy shots when he had to. Coach gives out “man of the match” awards after games, two for these tournament games. After game 2, a teammate who won it immediately turned and awarded it to Cam–an extra meaningful award coming selflessly from a teammate. When Coach gave Cam the award after game 3, he passed it on to another team member of his he felt deserved it. Se...

I just finished week four of an eight week sprint triathlon training plan. We’re halfway, baby! This training plan is broken into four, two week chunks. Each chunk asks more of me than before—increased mileage and speed work. Here’s what my workouts looked like in the last two weeks: Monday : 3 mile run, with 4 sets of 2 min fast/2 min slow Tuesday : 45 minute bike ride, with 4 sets of 3 min fast Wednesday : strength training Thursday : rest day Friday : 30 minute swim, moderate pace Saturday : 30 minute bike ride + 15 minute run Sunday : 55 minutes easy endurance (walk or easy bike ride) I’m finding the first week of each new chunk totally wipes me out. The step up from the week before is so tough. I’m sore and exhausted. The second week though, while still plenty of effort, is much more manageable. Most days I can easily find a time to get my training in, but one day this past week was comical. I needed to be home for an afternoon service appointment. With work and kid stu...

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to the newest member of our household: a 3D printer! The boys wanted this, and worked hard to earn it over the last few months. C specifically picked weeds, washed windows, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed the house, did the laundry–over several weeks. So far we’ve printed an obligatory little test boat, and 80% of a chip clip (before we ran out of filament). I’ll tell you what, though, that clip is solid. I imagine we’ll be printing LOTS of little knick knacks and do-dads. Pretty cool for the boys to get into this next level of creativity and tech. I’ll report back after we get some more creations under our belt.