ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Saturday morning was an early one with Marcy and I getting up at 6 to go on a 3 mile run. I wanted to keep up w/my running schedule and knew it would have to be early if I was going to do it in Texas. We finally got started at 6:40 and the humidity was so high that I was covered in sweat from head to toe by the time we finished. Marcy wore her Garmin 405 and the data from our run is here.

After breakfast, showers and a brief nap (for me anyway), she and I headed out to get Aubry's birthday cake and pickup another friend for Aubry's birthday party that evening.

Around 3:30, it was time to head out for the birthday party.

The girls (and a boy or two) opted to swim inside rather than outside.


The smell of chlorine was so strong that it hurt our eyes just sitting next to the water.

After a couple of hours of swimming, we all headed into an adjoining party room for pizza, cake and presents.


Payton was having a hard time because her eyes were really red and burning plus her nose wouldn't stop running.

Tissue on the nose the whole time...


Cute cake with Teddy Grahams going down the waterslide...



Present time!


Her reaction at getting an iPod Nano from her parents...


We wrapped up early and headed back to their house where a couple of girls were staying the night. At this point, Payton was crying because she was in so much pain. I suspected she was having an allergic reaction to the strong chlorine but was confused by that since she's been swimming since she was very young and had just recently been swimming at our YMCA. I told her to take an antihistamine and get in the shower and while she did that, I researched.

Turns out that indoor swimming pools with elevated chlorine levels and improper ventilation can lead to sinusitis type reactions particularly in asthmatics. That all made sense to me and the advice I'd given Payton happened to be correct. After her shower, she hung out in the bedroom with me, took some eyedrops and kept a cool cloth on her eyes. In the meantime, Marcy took all of the towels and swimsuits and washed them and all of the girls took showers. At that point, Payton was better and was able to come out of the room. Whew!

I checked on her periodically while the girls played Rock Band...


She was doing well so Marcy and I headed out for a drink and a more sushi. We had a long day so we got home early and were in bed around midnight.