winter 2017 updates.

It's been a nice, low-key winter season in our household. We've been enjoying some of the city's winter activities (such as our neighbourhood's Winter Glow festival, replacing the weekly fireworks of previous years - the festival was okay), trying to keep warm in our apartment, and just enjoying each others' company on the weekends.

the Docklands Winter Glow festival. fire everywhere.

Ben's been busy at work, while I've been focusing my free time on art projects and recording new music for upcoming videos, and also preparing for our upcoming trip to the States.

visiting Dada at work on his birthday!

A 21 months, Arden is a little sponge - learning dozens of new things every day, surprising and delighting us with new words, mannerisms and quirks. Some of our favourite recent verbal acquisitions are: "Star Wars!", "AWESOME!", "Yay I did it!" and counting from 1 to 10 (give or take a few numbers...). She loves to sing, often joining in on the lullabies we use to soothe her, and even humming recognisable tunes when she's in her stroller or nursing. She uses a cute sing-song voice when she's looking for something ("ball? oh baaa-alllll...") and in the mornings when she wakes up, the baby monitor will crackle to life with "mama? mamaaaa... oh maaaa-maaaa...?" which is honestly a little creepy too, haha.

For some reason, I feel like this past weekend she's really become a little toddler. She finally started asking to video chat with our families, which is really sweet. It's also really fascinating to see how differently she acts during various FaceTime conversations - she's very shy in front of some of my friends, while she's grown very accustomed to once-a-week phone calls with my family, and doesn't need any time warming up to most of our family members. And thanks to the little family picture book I made her, Arden can recognise and say everyone's name and/or family title, which is really great. Hopefully she's just as warm and playful with everyone in-person during our upcoming USA tour!

weekend storytime

Arden is a bookworm, currently happiest curled up on the couch surrounded with her stacks of books (and a specific order in which to read these books, I might add). She can recognise many letters and a few numbers, and when we're walking outside she'll point out letters on signs and advertisements and shout things like "M! Hi-yo M!" as if the letters were dear friends. She is also obsessed with pointing out boats ("booooat"), planes ("paaaaain"), and helicopters ("COPPA!") as they pass by our window. I also should add that her hearing and eyesight are pretty incredible, as these vehicles are often faint sounds and tiny dots in the distance. She also gets very excited when she sees clocks, especially the giant one at Melbourne Central that opens up every hour and plays "Waltzing Matilda" with little animatronic animals dancing around.

looking for helicopters.

Arden also has a keen sense of direction, to the point where I have to bribe her with Cheerios if we go the opposite direction from her favourite park and library, or else she has a terrific meltdown. She loves wearing "pretty" things (and NOT the cool superhero t-shirts I just bought her... how devastating!). She's also still a bit needy at home, always wanting to be carried or cuddled, but every now and then she'll happily entertain herself with toys or puzzles for a few minutes. Sometimes I'll catch her acting out exercises from our swimming lessons with her plush toys, which is really adorable.

with her "pom poms" and "pretty necklaces"

Sleep habits have improved a lot, especially night-time sleep. We still have really bad nights, but these are once/twice a week occurrences (instead of the other way around), and she is very capable of sleeping through the night in her crib, after one of us (usually Ben) coaxes her to sleep for an hour. Naps are still held/carried (usually in her bedroom in her glider chair, as she nurses) but we've gotten accustomed to the routine. And once she's asleep, I can carefully put on my headphones and catch up with my favourite YouTube vloggers, so it's downtime of some sort!

All in all, it's been a wonderful winter. We're excited to see our families very soon, and especially for everyone to meet almost-2-year-old Arden (who will hopefully be a lot less terrified than 8-month old Arden was last year!)...

CK

Brisbane!

When Candice and I had the opportunity to travel around as part of my job and visit a few Australian states, I started to think about whether it might be possible to visit all the states/territories around Australia. It isn't nearly as daunting as the US, as there are only a handful, but Australia is still extremely large so it wasn't going to be easy either. After our trip to Perth earlier this year, we decided to take advantage of another holiday weekend and book a trip to sunny Brisbane to escape the cold and tick off another state from our list. (Only 2 states to go now, Tasmania & Northern Territory (technically a territory and not a state, but whatever)).

Brisbane!

Our first day in Brisbane was just what we needed. When we left Melbourne on Thursday evening, all three of us were in varying states of sickness, constantly feeling cold and craving a new adventure. We woke up on Friday morning to clear blue skies, with temperatures approaching the low 70s and a whole new city to explore.

 After getting some coffee from a little cafe near our hotel, we started wandering and shortly came across the Kurilpa Bridge, which led us to the art district and then on to Southbank. Southbank was a really cool area, it has a man-made beach (Brisbane is on a river, and the only beaches are about an hour away), really cool kids pool and playground area, tons of restaurants, a little market of locally made crafts every weekend, a winding archway of flowers running the length of the area, and excellent views of the city looking across the Brisbane River.

the Kurilpa and William Jolly bridges

Southbank

kids pool

the Goodwill bridge

apparently Segways are very popular in Brisbane, as we saw many of these signs around the city!

After getting our fill of Southbank, we walked across another footbridge back into the city and explored the City Botanic Gardens. This was probably our only letdown of the trip, as all the other cities we have visited have excellent botanic gardens, but the gardens in Brisbane were pretty unspectacular. They had lots of open grassy areas and would be ideal for picnics or playing footy, but what we love about botanic gardens are the densely packed sections with native and exotic plants, so you feel like you have been transported to a little mini-jungle. The gardens in Brisbane were too open and really didn't feature much in the way of gardens at all. Arden still loved wandering around them though and walking up to random strangers to say hello.

one of the cooler parts of the Botanic Garden: a circle of palm trees

The rest of the day we walked along the river, taking in the views of the city and Brisbane's most iconic landmark, Story Bridge. One of the cool things about Brisbane which is very different from Melbourne, is that the Brisbane River winds and meanders through the city, dividing it up so that as you walk along the river your perspective of the city is always changing. The river is also much larger than the Yarra (the river that runs through Melbourne), so Brisbane has a network of CityCats (catamarans) and ferries which shuttle tourists and commuters to various stops along the river all around the city. After our long river walk, we took one of the free ferries back to the pier closest to our hotel, and enjoyed the views of the city and surrounds from the top deck of the little boat.

view from the ferry

Our second day in Brisbane was forecast to be rainy, but ended up being another beautiful sunny day. We decided to explore the CBD, which is full of very unique skyscrapers. Almost every high-rise in the city has a different style, but they flow together well and each has a unique feature which sets it apart from the one next to it. After wandering through the CBD, we walked across Story Bridge, and made our way to Kangaroo Point Cliffs Park, which is a popular destination for taking photos of the city skyline and rock climbing.

view from Kangaroo Point

After mistakenly deciding it was a good idea to get a milkshake at the cafe on the cliffs (seriously Australia, a milkshake is not meant to be runny and watery), we headed back to the city to explore the Queen St Mall and Roma Street Parkland, which had a beautiful garden area and cool waterfall split in half that you could walk through. It was something we had seen from our hotel, and definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I'd definitely recommend it over the City Botanic Gardens.

the iconic Story Bridge up-close

Roma Street Parkland

the Pointsetta Riverfire sculpture

The last day was the highlight of our trip. Before our trip, Candice saw that the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA for short) was hosting an exhibition we had to visit - Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe!!!! We timed our visit perfectly too, as that morning the weather had turned so it was a perfect escape from the rain. The exhibit was so cool! We loved seeing all the original costumes, weapons, various large scale props/decorations and of course the life-size Hulkbuster. Also, I've never seen an art exhibit with such huge lines (not to mention all the visitors dressed up in costume). Thankfully we got there early, before the line went out the door and around the street.

Thor throne room

Iron men.

some green-screen fun. :)

part of the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok movie was filmed in Brisbane, so we got to see some sneak preview props!

Hulkbuster!

We had such a fun time in Brisbane and highly recommend a visit. The weather was great, the people were friendly and there were so many nice places to walk along the river and around the city. Arden also loved Brisbane, though that's probably because we let her walk around on her own and explore more than we had on any previous trip, which she absolutely loved. As soon as we took her out of the pram so she could walk around, her face would light up and she could barely contain her excitement. It's so fun sharing our little trips and adventures with her, and seeing her grow with each journey. 

Next up: a big trip to visit our families back in the States!

-BK
Brisbane - June 2017 from Candice Kortlever on Vimeo.

autumn 2017 running adventures.

After last year's running adventures, I decided to set my sights on running some longer distances.

The Run for the Kids race is probably the last major Melbourne CBD running event I hadn't done yet, so I decided to participate in it this April.

probably the nicest running photo of myself in existence. obviously I wasn't running hard enough!

The R4K race is a huge fundraiser for the Royal Children's Hospital, offering a long course of 14.6k and a shorter 4.8k version (very... specific distances. but on the other hand, at least they're honest!). I decided to do the 14.6k because of its unique course - it goes through the domain tunnel (a mile-long tunnel under the Yarra river that connects the freeways) and over the iconic Bolte Bridge, a large cantilever bridge that we can see from our neighbourhood.

the Bolte Bridge, from the waterfront

Training for the race went fairly well, although it was pretty time-consuming. I took the jogging stroller out a few times during the week for short runs, and did a longer run over the weekend while Ben watched Arden. Having a substantial goal and a moderate training plan helped keep me fit (although at the peak of training for this race, I posted a full-length photo of myself on Instagram and was immediately congratulated by a few friends on being pregnant again - even though I'm not...! haha), and I managed to stay (shockingly) injury-free. My GPS watch also broke in the middle of my training, and I decided against replacing it as I wanted to focus on enjoying the event instead of worrying about time goals.

Race day was unfortunately a bit rainy, but everyone was in good spirits and I felt a lot of positive energy at the start line. As the event is a fundraiser for a children's hospital, many of the participants were running in honour of sick children, or in memory of those who had sadly passed. Some runners wore t-shirts with their loved ones' names and photos screenprinted or taped onto them. 

The domain tunnel and Bolte bridge were definitely some cool areas to run through. The tunnel was long and humid, but offered a nice break from the cold and rain. People took lots of photos and selfies (yes, I'm guilty) and there were even race volunteers stationed at the top of the bridge offering to take photos of runners by the iconic posts.

inside the domain tunnel

approaching the Bolte Bridge

view from the bridge

a quick obligatory selfie.

I definitely enjoyed myself a lot more running without a GPS watch. When you're a mediocre runner like myself, the numbers are pretty arbitrary and more for curiosity than anything. Throughout the race I felt strong, but I had plenty left over in the tank, and that was just fine with me. 

Also, I'm not usually a big fan of product endorsement but I have to say... Hoka One One makes some awesome running shoes. I'll admit that I only got the Clifton 2's because they were on super sale and black, and for some reason it's really hard to find all-black women's running shoes. Prior to running in these, I always had to wear a compression sleeve on at least one knee due to runner's knee/PFPS. But ever since I started training in these shoes, I haven't had to break out the sleeve at ALL. Which is amazing!

After completing the 14.6k and feeling great, I decided that hey - a half marathon is "only" about 3-4 miles longer than what I had trained for. Why not go for it, while I had already built up the mileage? I looked up half marathons in the area, and set my sights on the Geelong Half, only a few weeks after the R4K race. We love Geelong, it's a short train ride away, and the timing worked well. However, Ben reminded me about the Great Ocean Road Running Festival, a destination/bucket list race for a lot of people. It's a significant car ride away, a harder race (hills!), and a longer race as well (most half marathons are 21k - this was 23k). This was a rare occasion, as Ben is usually the one who tells me not to push myself. I had to take advantage of this opportunity! :)

The Great Ocean Road Running Festival (previously called the Great Ocean Road Marathon) is a two-day running festival that offers seven distances (all the way up to a 60k ultramarathon). This year the festival saw a record of 7,000+ participants, and a few of the races were sold out.

A few weeks prior to the race, I had barely managed to find a small baby-friendly B&B close to one of the race shuttles (word to the wise: when making travel plans for a race where most people are out-of-towners, book accomodation ASAP!). Skene's Creek is lovely, and upon arrival we enjoyed a walk around the neighbourhood and down to the beach, observing a tree full of exotic birds.

Skene's Creek

pretty birds.

pretty ocean.

Prior to this race I had never taken a shuttle to a start line, so that was exciting. The half-marathon began at Kennett River, which is a popular tourist destination for wild koala-watching. While I waited for the race, I got to witness an amazing sunrise while trying to keep warm on the beach.

The course was long and challenging, as I had expected. But the views were incredible, and it was by far my favourite race experience. I spotted a few koalas sitting above the trees, one of them seriously observing the runners below. At one point, my playlist came to Syd Matters' "Obstacles," the perfect soundtrack for a morning coastline run. 

running along the highway

I ran comfortably but didn't push myself too hard (again, I was GPS watch-free), crossing the finish line in under 2.5 hours, which I was happy with. My 21k time was only 5 minutes over my very first half marathon time, which wasn't too far off the mark. 

Of course, the thought did cross my mind that training for a full marathon is "only" 6-8 more miles than this half marathon (most marathon training plans recommend training up to 20-22 miles, instead of the full 26). I was very VERY tempted to set my sights on my second full marathon, especially being completely injury-free and in great spirits. But after some consideration, I've decided to scale back on my mileage and focus on other things at the moment - specifically artistic and musical endeavours that I've put on the back burner this year. Being a mother doesn't necessarily mean I don't have time - it just means that I need to prioritise my goals differently. 

me and my crew!

I'm very grateful that I was able to dedicate the first half of 2017 to running long(er) distances and regaining some of my pre-pregnancy confidence. I'd love to do a few more half marathons in the future, and hopefully I'll feel up for training for a full marathon again someday, maybe when Arden is a bit more independent. 

Thanks to Ben for the encouragement and taking care of Arden during my frivolous weekend rundays, and to my run-friends for all the love and support!

CK