Dana Burland

The months leading up to Kindergarten we started talking about it. The weeks before we visited the school playground, let you pick out a "hot lava" backpack and shopped for school supplies. You were excited, until you weren't. The weekend before Kindergarten you got real, real nervous. And so I was too. The morning of your first day you jumped out of bed. Smiled through breakfast. Danced a first day dance in the kitchen. Begged to go to the bus stop early.  You've been ready, and today was no exception. I danced with you and took your picture on the front porch. We walked to the bus stop together and stood with the other kids and watched buses that weren't yours yet pass with excitement. Your smile was just as long as the bus was when it finally rolled down the street. You walked right up, right on, turned around for a smile and were gone. Were you nervous on the bus itself? Getting off at a new school with new kids and a new teacher? So much unknown and so m...

Every summer I make it my mission to get the 4 of us away together. Traveling with family friends or grandparents is fun, but it's important to me to make memories just our crew.  This year we went hiking in Hocking Hills, Ohio, and WOW. This trip just blew our minds!  We stayed in a perfect little AirBnB north of downtown Logan, Ohio. It very much seemed in the middle of nowhere, but going up up up the hills and then WAY UP the super steep and long driveway we were rewarded with our own private place, no one nearby, with a big front porch with cozy swing, hot tub, fire pit and AMAZING view.  What interested me in Hocking Hills to begin with was hearing from a few people the hikes were super attainable for small kids. That couldn't be more true. Ash Cave This was our first hike on day 1. From the parking lot there's a smooth paved sidewalk all the way to the cave itself (disability friendly). After about a half mile hike through some beautiful woods you're dropped into ...

I was just talking with a friend about this: how I organize my photos and videos. I’ve had a rock solid system for years, that I’ve likely blogged about before but it’s worth revisiting. Like organizing anything, finding the system and getting started takes time. Falling behind takes time, too. The regular maintenance is a breeze, though, and makes me feel like I have a good handle on the output of all the snapping I do. Phone to Computer clean out and organization About every other month I move my favorite photo/videos from phone to computer. My convention for computer saving is simple: a folder for each year, and within each a folder for each month. I batch select photos from my phone and send them to my computer to save. Once they’re on my computer, I delete them from my phone (unless they’re a FAVORITE like the most recent family photo). This keeps my phone decluttered, easy so sift through, prevents storage issues and also makes it very clear where I left off from when I go thr...

Here we go again! I just wrapped up week 2 of another 8 week sprint triathlon training plan.  I’m following the same one I did for the Grand Rapids Triathlon in June. It works so well with my schedule, was challenging without being killer and prepped me so well for the race I decided to repeat it. Typically that means: Mondays: rest Tuesdays: swim during my lunch break (WFH day) Wednesdays: run before work Thursdays: bike during my lunch break (WFH day) Fridays: rest Saturdays: swim during kid nap time Sunday: run and/or bike in the morning or at nap There’s always something to do, sometimes it’s just laundry. Weeks 1-2 were very mild. Swimming is my strong suit so I modified the stop-after-each-lap plan to sets more in line with my ability. I’m respecting the run workouts, which so far have been run/walks. Starting slow with the base of fitness I have allows me time to improve my speed and form. The biking is a whole new world. I finally ditched my 15 yr old mountain/hybrid bike a...

When you’re 5 you know everything. More than mom for sure, except she does know what paleontologists are. When you’re 5 you eat 4 helpings of Caesar salad for dinner. And cake for 3 nights in a row. When you’re 5 you’re a great soccer player, a speedster on your bike, like Flash when you run. When you’re 5 you ask for a police tow truck Lego kit, Minion dinosaur birthday cake and a bounce house/real dinosaur at your birthday party. You get the dino theme, an Uncle dressed up in an inflatable dinosaur costume to battle in the backyard, by the grace of God actually a legit police tow truck Lego kit (to which you absolutely beam and say “I WAS WANTING THIS!”) a magician/balloon animal twister to wow your birthday guests and a party so great when your friends left you sat on the front porch and frowned, “I want them to stay forever.” When you’re 5 you’re a sweet older brother, who takes his younger brother aside to say “I can help you”, and “you’re not going to like hearing this, b...

I'd like to submit a new word for Webster Dictionary consideration:   uhy /uh-y/ exclamation used, mostly under-breath, often involuntary/subconsciously to express shock and/or disgust. "Did you turn on the news? Uhy..." origin: Yiddish "oy vey", "oy" It's more than "oy". Less "o", more "uh" or "ugh". Put an extra heaping tablespoon of dread into it. It definitely ends with the "oy"-like "y", though. I caught myself gravitating to it awhile ago, but man has it been in heavy rotation lately. 

  LOOK at her! Isn't she a beauty??? This is my new bike. My first road bike! I didn't even realize it until I started seriously shopping around but I was riding my previous bike, a big black hybrid mountain bike, for at least 12 years. I think it's time for something new. I'm going to absolutely FLY on this thing!