Triathlon

So I am realizing that I probably didn't train enough for the upcoming triathlon Sunday.  I postponed swim practice for so long that it will be me, the breast stroke, my guardian angel, and sheer determination...or possibly a strong desire to avoiding drowning.  My brother, Gabe, has been convinced to participate too, so at least we'll have one another for encouragement while we swim.
Of course no one will want to be anywhere around us as the breast stroke just simply is not a group friendly stroke.
Maybe this will work to our advantage!

Katherine has organized a team and will be doing the biking part.  She is so nervous she is ready to curl up in a ball and sleep til Sunday.  Michaela is ditching us, though, and heading to Spokane with cousins to cheer them on in a basketball tournament.  Maybe I should have went with her ~:o) Although I do like how muscley my legs are looking!
Okay,so that's vain.

Last year I was determined to practice more, to be completely and totally ready to rock this tri, to swim freestyle and finish up with a 7 minute mile.
Gulp.....it's just not going to happen.
There are too many weeds below me in the pond and there could be some sort of creature that would devour me if I make eye contact so it is just better to keep my face out of the water.
That's my excuse for the swimming, there simply isn't one for the running, other than I get really bored running.

Katherine's anxiety finally broke me down and we went and practiced the actual ride she will be biking Sunday.  Now she is ready to roll, or at least can function normally.  She told me the only reason I am not anxious is because I have had 38 years of practice being nervous.
If she only knew!

Child at Heart

I am not sure if Shannon lacked excitement in his life growing up or if he just hasn't really entirely grown up yet.  Whatever the case may be, he provides some mighty fine times for our cherubs.
This weekend he brought a Gradall lift home.  After he completed his chores with it, learning how to use it etc. he thought it may be exciting to raise it above the pond so we could all jump off a few times.
I conceded that my kiddos are far braver than I when they had no qualms about jumping 20+ feet and I was more comfortable with, say, five feet.
After all I did have to help the littles jump off and they didn't want to jump too high ~:o)

Shannon wasn't too excited about letting me run the lift so he could partake in the fun.  For some reason he was concerned I would drive it into the pond, which certainly would have been a travesty.  But after watching the kids he changed his mind and let me operate it for a couple hours.  Although Shannon will disagree that he played that long, my left hip is sunburned to prove I was just sitting there for quite a long time!

Of course it all began quite close to the water ~

Bit by bit, the leaps became higher and higher ~

Even Annika, who a couple years ago was quite content sitting playing

with dolls, was in the thick of it!

Nickles wanted to go with the big kids...

...and was excited AFTERWARDS!

For some of us sunbathing is simply the best ~

"Hello, Grandma, I jumped in the water and I was so brave and

I am rowing around in our pond....."

Higher, Dad ~

Coastguard to your service ~

Gold

The boys have been infatuated with metal. They collect it wherever they can, including retrieving spent rifle cartridges to add to their stash that is heading to the recycling center.  I would like to claim that we are just that ecologically minded, but that is certainly not the case.
Every rock that has any sort of color to it while we are hiking they examine to make sure it is not some sort of precious metal.
This has rubbed of on Nickles.  We were working in the shed and he kept bringing us rocks that he had discovered in the sand dirt box so we could help him examine them.
Then, he decided he wanted me take pictures of them.

"Pic rock, Mom.  Pic rock."

And so I did....because it doesn't matter how many pictures I snap now that we live in the digital age!

Then he got weird ~ and began eating them!

Wocket Boots

Dom, coming out of his room after he was tucked in for the evening.  "Mom, do you want me to make you some wocket boots?  Then, you can fwy away whenever you want."

Dom's "wocket boots"

If only it were so easy to escape ~ I would probably take a short trip every time I was hanging laundry!

Alaska Trip #7

So, our final stop was Victoria.  It was beautiful, which I am pretty sure was already mentioned!
I could have stayed there for days taking pictures and looking around, but we only had a couple evening hours.  Maybe we can make it a destination for a family vacation in the future.

A red cedar tree ~ I want one.

Of course I'll be dead before it grows this large.

"Mom, everything just smells so good!"

Then, there's Josh.

He just can't quite pull it together for pictures most of the time!

Everything lit up at night...it felt like Christmas!

Our transportation, playing a harmonica tune before he departed.

It was a rough night ~

Joshie

Joshie is one of the most newsworthy children in our family. I hope this does not carry over into his adult life!  It's just that something is continually happening to or with the child.  

This morning (and I only witnessed this in my peripheral vision) we were leaving a park that had a low chain link fence around it.  Everyone was racing to the suburban to claim their favorite seat when Josh decided to take a shortcut and jump the fence.  

Unfortunately, his shoelace caught on a wire and he went down

Hard.

With an, "Ooooomf."

Flat on his back, his foot still hung up on the top of the fence.

It was immediately apparent that his pride was more damaged than his body given that he landed on rain soaked grass. 

To add insult to injury I had to pinch myself to keep from laughing...actually everyone did.  The sight of him lying there, when he was certain that he would outsmart everyone by hopping the fence was too much. 

After freeing his leg, he and I had a chat about humility, which of course was applicable to both of us!

Alaska Trip #6

The next day we traveled all day ~ the seas were high and I hardly took any pics as I was bouncing off the walls all day trying to stand up.  The highlight was swimming in the pool which had lost a substantial amount of water but still had enough for some pretty substantial wave action.  The kids were in all their glory.  

The following day was Mom's birthday.  The swells weren't nearly as bad, so we played basketball and ate and ran around the ship and ate and swam and ate...I mean what else does a person do with an ice cream bar that is open all afternoon and through the evening?!?

That evening our port was Victoria.  I loved it.  Our taxi driver provided an immense amount of entertainment on our drive to and from town!  It was a bittersweet evening; the city was so beautiful but tomorrow our vacation would be ending.  

It was such an exhausting morning, Nickles threw off his clothes in the cabin 

and laid down to watch cartoons.

Mmmm, saltwater.... 

Apparently Dad was exhausted too!

We need to teach this kid how to dribble!

Or he just needs larger hands!

It's difficult to focus on the basket when the floor is moving!

The cookie monsters ~

Happy Birthday to Grandma!

I must say, we loved our dining staff.  They treated us like royalty, but like family too.  My sister was laughing at me, but it was difficult to say good-bye to them following this dinner.  

Yeah, it's a tough job eating dessert for the 20th time today, but somebody's gotta do it.

Alaska Trip #5

Ahhhhh, this was an awesome vacation.  I was so worried while packing that things would be disastrous.
And they simply weren't.
I learned many new things about whales, magicians, food, and how one keeps a pedicure or manicure looking wonderful for an extended period of time...they don't do anything!
Okay, I don't know if that is true or not, but by the end of a week not doing dishes, laundry, cleaning up random messes or really doing ~~~~Anything ~~~~At ~~~~All ~~~~
My toenails looked like I had just polished them and I actually had a full set of white fingernails!
It was amazing!
Well, not really amazing but I definitely felt pampered!

So, movin' right along.
The next day we went to Skagway.  Shannon sent most of the kiddos on a wagon tour of town while we decided what we were going to do for the rest of the day.

I am not sure the horse had ever pulled such a load!

Travelling up White's Pass

Canadian rest area...not that there was any resting here!

In town it was downright nice, but up here it was frigid ~

~Not cold enough to keep my boys out of the water, though!

I received huge bouquets of dandelions which is thought by some to be the Alaska state flower.

Dom spent so much time with his nose stuffed in dandelions that his face was 

yellow for the rest of the day ~

And Annika thought they made perfect little boats to sail downstream.

Of course, my family spotted the money that some previous hiker either 

dropped or threw into the creek. 

If they were making a wish, while they probably didn't 

receive theirs, it made my cherubs' day!

I just love taking pictures of him when he is totally unaware ~

A perfect little beach on our walk back to the ship absolutely delighted the boys and 

fulfilled their need to get filthy, filthy, filthy...

...you know the kind where it is still being washed out of their pockets~

We passed by this perfect little lighthouse late in the evening.

Wouldn't this be a perfect place to hibernate all winter?

Okay, maybe not!

Mom, look at how many of us there are !

Grandma!  You are the best card player ever!