Torture Tri...

I am blogging this at almost 10:30... and have been up since about 5:00. I have swam 5oo meters, biked 18, ran 3, drove just over 200 miles, done 3 loads of laundry and given 4 baths! All in all, it was a pretty fantastic day. Chad had decided late last week that he wanted to try and open water swim triathlon. I was game, as I knew sitting on the sidelines was not for me. I have been very apprehensive about open water swims for several reasons, mainly the distance. So far my tri's have been anywhere from 250 meters (5 laps) to 400 meters (8 laps). Of which, I had no problems with. I have always enjoyed swimming and while I am not fantastic, I can certainly get it done. So when this tri, at 500 meters, became open it was 'do-able'. The only problem was that it was rated as 'hilly'... and it was almost 18 miles. So far the longest bike I have done has been just over 12 miles. What a difference!

Anyways, Pops and Nana graciously agreed to watch the kiddos so we could torture ourselves. :) It was quite the different tri. You start in waves based on age and sex. There were 75 women 35 and under starting in my wave. You basically run toward the water as fast as you can. You get kicked, shoved, stepped on... whatever it takes. I kinda stood back and watched, as I didn't need to be in the front of the pack. I quickly learned that the green water I was swimming in made it very difficult to see where you were going! Although I didn't have any problem with the distance it was very different in 'open water'. Chad seemed to enjoy the change and was certainly willing to try it again... regardless of the fact that he HAD to wear a swim cap :) So cute, btw! The bike was rated as hilly, and boy was it ever! In fact towards mile 13 someone went off the opposite side of the road and down and embankment. EMS 'extracted' him on a backboard! Quite an event. I even saw someone either just starting or just finishing (the very hilly) run who had passed out and was lying in the middle of the road! These people are a bit too hard core for us! I did enjoy the bike, I never felt like I wasn't able to finish. Now the run.... a different story. My legs were very tired and while the first mile felt great, miles 2 and 3 didn't go as well. Chad and I both finished. Obviously slower times than we liked, but it was definitely an accompliment.

The shore we left from

End of swim...

The best part of the race!!!!

Might I mention that I am super lucky that not only does Chad encourage and support me but he wants to participate. I love that we have events like this to do together. Even if he is a little more competitive than I am :)

I only have one more 'scheduled' event right now... end of September. But I am

sure by tomorrow evening we will both have one scheduled sooner! Too funny!

Not exactly my style...

So, we spend the night with Pops and Nana so Chad and I could do this triathlon... I will blog about that later. They asked me to photograph a spider, yes a spider. Like I said, not exactly my style....but ok. Here is it!

And just for the record... YUCK!

Still catching up...

So the pics I am starting with are of our Disney trip... Carrigan's first time! She was completely captivated by every moment. In fact, she only napped for about 30 minutes the whole day! All

3 of the kids loved the fireworks, and the Haunted Mansion didn't even phase them. I honestly feel like we have Disney 'down'. We know the in's and out's and know exactly when to hit the rides, the food... everything! And we definitely have learned NOT to do than one park without a rest day in between.

Other happenings...

We are tentatively planning a joint birthday party for Caelyn and Carrigan on October 23. Hoping for some cooler weather. Should be fun x2!

The big kids start school on Wednesday. Carson and Caelyn both got the teachers I requested. These teachers are phenomenal! We are super excited for a great year. Within the next 2 weeks Caelyn will be starting gymnastics and Carson will be starting swim team. I can't be more thankful that I can carpool them to and from their 'events'.

Um.... I completely tri#6 of the summer this morning. It was quite different from the rest. I drove up to Raleigh all by myself, stayed in a hotel.... all by myself. Was very different. I chose this hotel because it was nice, and quiet. Nice and quiet. I only repeat that because the fire alarm went of 3 times. Only between the hours of 11:30 and 4:30. Needless to say I didn't sleep very much, luckily I am used to that. The swim was a bit longer than my presvious tri's... this one was 400 meters, where I usually do 300 meters (8 laps vs 6). Of course my big mistake was losing my goggles 3 seconds before I was to start. They were on the bottom of the pool. So, it took me a couple laps to get in the grove, and I was convinced I lost a contact in the whole ordeal. I didn't and all was good. It was nearly perfect weather. It's hard to compare times with previous tri's because each is a different event. They may be similar distances but some are much more hilly, more hot, rainy. But, all in all it was a good day. My shin's are doing well. Surprisingly I switched back to my old running shoes and it seems to have fixed 'it'. Forgot to mention I placed 2nd today in my age group. I won a towel! The kids (and I) were pretty disappointed. A white towel. Oh, well. Good accomplishment.

We are hoping to teach our kids to keep busy and lead a healthy lifestyle. When leaving the Y last week Carson asked when he was going to be able to workout after school starts! Too silly. I reassured him he could start running with me, in addition to swim team. I think he is temporarily ok with that answer.

Results....

http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=2021My motivation by Caelyn... it says, 'Caelyn, Mommy I LOVE YOU!'

Chad and I are debating long tri next weekend. It would be our first open water swim, and a longer distance. And the bike! It is super hilly and about 5 miles longer than what we are used to. What's life without a challenge here and there... right? I could always fall off my bike and need stitches...or lose my goggles!

Family fun day!

Seems I have worn out my old camera, so it was time to sink the money and upgrade (gulp). Here are some of the first pics I took with the new one.

We enjoyed a Saturday afternoon by on the shore (I guess that what you can call it). The kids enjoyed playing in the water, and Aunt Mary even attempted to hold her own against the boys... which proved no easy feat.

Carson and Ben are hilarious! So different, yet so alike. Every time they are together they pick right back up... like they see each other every day. We are so lucky to have cousins that are so close in age and get along so well :)

Can't help but put these pics of Carrigan in... could just eat her up!

Learning lessons...

Someone who doesn't mind having her picture taken....

I am learning that as I try to teach my kids new things every day, it seems they are teaching me more than I can keep up with. In not so many words Carson and I came to the realization that we do things that we love because we love to do them. Sounds pretty basic. But after all is said and done, it is probably forgotten by most. I enjoy my pictures, so regardless if my kids like to let me take them... I am going to! Ha! Carson didn't exactly like the end of that realization :)

We have also learned to surround ourselves with good people. This is hard for Carson, he has a dear friend who sometimes does bad things and makes bad decisions. There are people that bring you up and people that bring you down. We agreed that we 'are' the people that bring you up and only want to be with those people.

Happy Retirement to Bonnie and Rick! You 2 are an inspiration to our family. Working hard at what you love to do. Glad we could celebrate with you!

More FL...

My kids are officially fish.

Not much to blog other than pics... they pretty much speak for themselves. All 3 of them love the water. No fear, no worries. All day, every day. Tan lines to prove it. Besides... I just can't resist her white fanny!

They just kept going and going...

FL!

Our FL trip! Well, we decided that it isn't often that we can just pick up and go where we want when we want so we did! Chad packed up the van (kudos to him- he has some crazy amazing talent to make things fit... still working on marketing that!) and I left with the kids. Yes, just me and the 3. I was a little worried because our recent beach trip was not to much fun. But everyone actually did fantastic! Not one complaint, and no ear plugs. :) We left Tuesday and since Chad was working he flew down friday.

We had such a great time! The kids stayed with camp grandma, which I honestly can't believe I didn't get a picture of! It was a fort in the corner. They honestly slept and napped there the entire time! Crazy kids!

One thing I have been trying to complete is Carrigan's profile. We had the older two done several years ago and when I found out I was pregnant I went to get the same frame. It has been empty now (on the wall) for almost 2 years. We unsuccessfully attempted the profiles in april. But i was determined. So we braved downtown Disney. Now, mind you I love these profiles. I love the fact that when we had them done, the artist was fantastic with the kids, she was quick and friendly AND they look amazing. So, this time I expected nothing less. Wrong. The man couldn't have been more opposite. It was torture to say the least. Of course we pay... then look at them. They were horrible! Horrible! Horrible! There is no way to make Carrigan not look cute, just isn't possible. So we truck on over to customer service. 10 minutes later we had 4 free Disney tickets (apparently they do the profiles on main street). Seriously! Was that easy, and we got our money back for the horrible ones. :) I love a deal, and the kids LOVE Disney!

So, here are some pics from dowtown Disney...

Giradelli ice cream... a Michael favorite.

Not sure anybody reads this anyways...

Some days I even debate spending the time to update this I as i know very few people who actually read it, or care. Needless to say when I do update it i must think someone does...

Funny moment caught before we left for my last tri. They loved the swim caps!

This was by far my worst tri, unfortunately because I was so excited about it! We ended up getting a hotel room AND taking the kids as we had no family around and couldn't afford a sitter. We definitely learned our lesson the hard way! No sitter= No tri! It was a miserable cold and rainy morning. I didn't care much, but poor Chad was toting 3 cold and tired kiddos around. The kids even made signs to cheer me on, but the rain made them very difficult to hold.

I even finished after riding over half the bike course with a flat tire (no fun). Was a fantastic workouts on my legs... just what I need before my 3 mile run! My times were ok. But to be expected. The rain stopped shortly after we got out of the pool, but many bikers busted on the slick roads. Luckily, I didn't this time!

My biggest fans!

Nothing to exactly be proud of, but I did have a flat tire :)

http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=1976

Like I said before, I have no idea what this means, except that I went up in 'standings'.

http://www.setupevents.com/files/FemaleAge_SS.htm

lots more pics from our fantastic FL trip to come... :)