Father's Day

Any man can be a father.

It takes someone special to be a dad.

Here's to our three very special dads!  How blessed we were to spend this Father's Day with each of you.  You are loved and treasured.

Thompson insisted on taking a picture of the three dads...

he took the picture himself! 

all the boys

dad and his boys

future dads

not surprisingly, William wanted to take a picture like Thompson

so here's his attempt (not too bad!)

1st Night in "Big Boy Bed"

William is as tall as the pack-and-play is long, so we bit the bullet tonight at Annie and Poppy's and gave the twin bed a try!

WY + Strider @ Arboretum

This afternoon marked William's first official "ride" at the Arboretum. He successfully rode 3.5 miles on his Strider and upon getting into the car requested we return tomorrow.

William-isms

William remains a walking-talking barrel of hysterical ramblings.  So, before I forget them, here are a few...
--he's still requesting "hug-kiss-nose kiss" when we leave him at church, school, child care at the gym, in his crib, etc.
--"when I get bigger I jump off diving board like Thompson. five times"
--when putting him down for nap and bed..."you go sleepy time too (yes) and dad go sleepy time (yes) ok"
--"be wery careful. don't touch my two {holding up both index fingers} hats"
--"I 'member my dog (you do?) yea. I wuv my dog (you do?) in the whole world"
--during nightly prayer time..."I fankful dat{fill in the blank} also fankful dat{fill in the blank} [repeat] amen"
--seeing the small bike with pedals..."this is way awesome"
--"let's do it"
--"I'm wooking at somefing"
--"my brover Thompson"
--"I go put it in my secret hiding pwace"
--"don't move. stay wight dere.  i be wight back."

More biking adventures...

Both boys continue to make significant strides in their biking abilities. In one short week, William's balance on his Strider bike has improved by leaps and bounds (or should I say strides and glides). He's now striding and does a great job balancing his bike the length of 2-3 lots. He loves to ride up on the curbs and in our, the Freemans and Wagners front yards (translation: down the hills). This afternoon he started running alongside the bike and then jumping on it (don't know where this idea cane from). As a bonus, we are borrowing a mini-bike (with pedals) to see how he does.

Thompson continues to amaze us with his confidence, skill and determination. Yesterday, he rode 10 miles in Bent Creek. He took a small tumble at the start of the ride, but after shaking that off, he had five noteworthy accomplishments (talk about confidence boosters!)
--riding a drop-off at the top of Rice Pinnacle
--tackling the first three hills of Ingles Field Connector
--riding the drop-off on Boyd Branch single track
--riding through the creek at Explorer bridge (only needed a tiny nudge from Herb climbing the hill on opposite side of the river)
--riding over the log/tree that had fallen down across the road up to Middle Explorer
Unfortunately, his ride ended a few minutes short with a crash that took out a tiny sapling. While it bummed him out and definitely rattled him, he's a trooper! Ready to ride again. He's also expressed an interest participating in a triathlon, so we'll see what the upcoming year holds!

"a very" great tri

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me;
my only aim is to finish the race and complete
the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of
testifying to the good news of God's grace." - Acts 20:24

I did it!  Sunday morning, after 2 hours 39.05 minutes, I finished my first triathlon...the Tsali XTERRA.  A personal best! {smile} In the record books, a 0.5 miles swim, 5 mile trail run and 11 mile mountain bike ride at Tsali.  The weather couldn't have been better, although 45 degrees provided a chilly start.  Thankfully the water was MUCH warmer than the outside air temp.

My personal goals...18 min swim, sub-1 hour run and 75 min ride.  And, all in all, I did it! My swim time (including transition to run and on the trail) was 19.20, so I figured I definitely met this goal.  I ran the loop in 58.36 minutes.  My bike time (including transition) was 81.49 minutes.  My bike computer showed moving time of 78 mins.  I took a fall at mile 4.5 and opted to walk the bike up the 1st and 3rd hills at mile 8.  So with a bit more practice, I'm confident I can shave off some time.  A personal confidence booster was passing a couple men walking their bikes up the hills while I rode past them. (They caught up with me on the downhills, but that's OK, I expected it.)

Overall, I finished 90th of 96 participants...but the highlight was taking 3rd in my age group (women's 35-39).  What a surprise!  Without a doubt, this is one of the hardest things I've ever done...and I'd do it again.  Many thanks to Ma-mere and Pa-pere who came to cheer me on and help with T and WY, and most especially to Bobby for being my right-hand man, support staff and biggest cheerleader.  He was definitely bummed he couldn't participate due to his shoulder injury two weeks ago, as was I, but watching the race made him ever-more ready to prepare for his first tri.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord, not men." - Colossians 3:23

getting into position

and yes, we are swimming counter-clockwise around

those three orange buoys {way out there!}

and we're off!

look at me go!

out of the water...I wasn't last!

transition time

 

finishing the run

lucky #21

(interestingly, all the bikes on this row were women)

quick transition

I did it!

on the podium!  really!?

T-man believed I'd win a medal the whole time

must have been that lucky 5-leaf clover he stuck

in my water pack just before leaving the bike transition area 

my celebratory "life is good" tri cake

courtesy of Nay-Nay and Herbie

Last day of Kindergarten

Can't believe we'll have a 1st grader in the house come 12:30 pm!