Thank You Doreen

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39641695@N04/3939263871/

Doreen (my mother-in-law) has a gift with the camera.

my first triathlon! F33!

on the weekend, i did my first triathlon and it was a ton of fun. i’m looking forward to some more next year! this was a super sprint triathlon  with a 400 yard swim, 9 mile bike ride and 1.5 mile run.

my time was 51:17. I was the 2nd female finisher, 11th overall (out of 300 females and males) and 1st for my age category! it was a nice and small first triathlon so i’m doubting this will occur again but it was a great first experience! MINUS THE RAIN!

 

jumping into my first open water race. that is my arm at the top middle of the screen. i’m wearing a black wetsuit. i was worried about a group swim. it was as expected. traffic, feet, going wide, buoy. thankfully my wave (14-34 year old women) was really small which made for a first swim race experience. i was the third women out of the water for my wave. two 14 year old girls made it out of the water ahead of me. but, like them, i was able to catch the men’s wave that left four minutes before us. that was fun.

i’m in this shot somewhere. cottage lake.

Half-way through TI. Wetsuit off. Gearing up for the bike. Notice all of my gear is in garbage bags to keep it dry.

Can you see me at the back of this photo? I have a bright yellow rain cap on my bike helmet. The rain is really picking up as i’m running my bike to the road. I had borrowed a road bike for the race and was a little nervous about the rain factor. it was a short little loop that you did twice. i love riding my bike. i quickly got comfortable and rode rainy-day fast.

finishing loop 1 of 2. screaming back at my fans!

Carrying my bike back into the transition

Finishing the run. short but sweet. People started congratulating me on the run so i have some feeling that i’ve had a good race.

The lady is holding out a medal and i was going to keep running apparently! breaks on! the clocks is off because they have to adjust for the swim waves that left before mine.

at the end, i felt great. one big lesson learned though was to go get changed right away and then come back to cheer for friends. i got really cold but the moment was too fun.

Post race! Yeah! Three friends also did the triathlon that day. It was awesome to be out there doing it together!

 

with some of the wet fans!

Miles and i at  the awards ceremony. I got an extra award for being first in my age group (30-34).  It added to the high of the day. I’m hooked.

Rich has his first triathlon next weekend – Black Diamond Triathlon!  He’s doing a full sprint, 1/2 mile swim, 11 mile bike ride, 2.8 mile run.

School in August!

Does this guy look ready for preschool or what?

This morning, Mina was up, room jobs done, dressed, hair done and wearing her backpack by 6:45AM. We need to leave the house by 8:15. She was a tad excited! Miles picked up on her positive energy which made for a great first day. Today, Mina began full day 1st grade and Miles entered AM preschool. They brought lavender for their teachers. Both are at the same school and in separate buildings, but in classrooms directly opposite one another!

M&M both had a blast. Miles followed in the path of big sister, loving snack (chewy dinosaur things not found at home) and recess. He also really liked looking for the mouse hiding under colour boxes, a frog who sits crisscross applesauce, and jumping over a candle stick. On our walk home, i discovered that he thought/hoped that preschool might be like swim camp and end after Friday. It is hard to explain to a three year old when school will end.

Mina was rather excited to have a full-day at school (big step for Mamma) including TWO recesses, lunch and the fact that she now gets to go out with her whole class for end-of-day dismissal. She loves her new teacher and this year’s smaller class. According to Mina, the lunch room was REALLY loud. So loud that i should come see it. She also noticed that she was the only kid with metal and cloth lunch containers. Second recess was really fun. She made a new friend and they chased the boys. She learned a new song with a new music teacher. I picked up one tired looking little girl who was happy to come home, eat the rest of her lunch and play lego with Miles and myself.

It was a sunny first day of school in August. A milestone day for me. I wore the yarn and paper jewelry that Mina had made for me for today.  I wore sunglasses just in case i started to cry. While Miles spent his morning at preschool, i got out for a long ride on my bike. They grow so quickly…

Egg collection

The kids can now start track egg collection on their chore chart!

The one on the far left was a double yoker!

Mina with her first blue green egg!

More cute summer photos

Our summer has mainly involved biking, swimming, working on the house and the KCLS summer programs.

   

Mina’s first time biking to Crossroads farmer’s market. It was a hot day! Oh my. She cooled down with a ice cone. Miles helped bring home the raspberries.

  

The flock keeps growing. Wow, these are like real chickens. We got the chicks on March 21st. First egg, today, August 15th.

Biking, Biking. We have enjoyed several events and even a bike camp through the Cascade Bike Club. An awesome local bike club!

 

This was a booth/photo stop at CycleFest. The idea was to show people all the biking options around town– you can bike to the police station, to a play, a ball or wherever your heart desires! Mina dressed us with delight.

Ryan Leech was there doing tricks. Miles wants to be this guy now.

They rode in a kid’s bike parade.

We’ve been swimming a bunch at the swim club as well as down at the lake. Rich and i even had a swim date so that we could swim across together. I’m trying to get used to open water swims.

 

At the swim club

We biked to the blueberry farms! Fun and yum!

Rich has really been spending the summer working on the kitchen. Goodbye wall, ceiling, old lights and floor. Here’s a mid-way photograph.

The garden has been somewhat neglected but still doing some magic. We had a nice little strawberry season and then great blueberries. I think that the weather has somewhat confused our tomatoes though. Really hot and then almost fall-like. Mmmmm.

 

Performance

Here is a funny video, fresh from Portland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4

Our family  has really been bitten by the biking and swimming bug this summer. Here’s my guy in his new suit.

 

Last Day of School

 

 

Oh my gosh –two  more weeks till school starts again. Here are some pictures from the last day of Kindergarten. Grade 1 and Preschool here we come! Note the “special occasion” shoes!

EGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With much excitement, we found our first egg today! We got the chicks on March 21st and first egg is today, August 15th! It was a lovely brown egg from one of our Buff Orpington hens.

Say “EGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'”

Chicken pictures from earlier this summer…

Marathon Cookies

YUM! 101cookbooks.com marathon-cookies-recipe

Just did some late night baking while listening to Beach House. I love the flavours in these cookies. Can’t wait to try them out on the kids.

Technorati Tags: recipe

My Handyman

Rich has been doing some interesting stuff to our house lately. His Dad sent this picture of the younger handyman. It is very sweet. Rich’s personal comment was “You can see where I get my intense drive towards safety.”