May the 4th be with you

Here we are getting ready for the July 4th parade to start at noon. NOON. Yeah, it was hot, but we had a great time.  It was the first time Grandma and Grandpa have been in town for our local parade, and the first time they have missed the Murray parade in many years.  We have found our local parade to be quirky and fun and the kids get a LOT of candy so we quite like it.

 

Even Grandma's umbrella is patriotic!



Jameson had no idea what was going on and when the first fire trucks came by his reaction was pretty funny.

 

 

He could not figure out why people were just sitting around on chairs looking at nothing.

But then candy started falling from the sky and we actually let him have it so before too long it became the best. day. ever.

 

Jameson enjoying a dum dum sucker.

 

Grandma tried to get a mid-parade picture with him, but he could see more candy being thrown out and was a little bit distracted.  We typically don't let him have a lot of sugar (you know, because he is plenty active without it) so it was quite surprising to him that we were willing to open anything he brought to us and let him have it.  By the end he was "drunk on sugar" and was twirling and smiling and laughing and dancing around. He fell asleep as soon as we put him in the car to go home. It was a fun and exhausting parade.

 

So, how much candy did Britton get?

 

 

 Wow. That's a lot of candy, folks. This doesn't even show all of the otter pops and the candy he ate before getting home.  He is the master candy gatherer. 

Jenna participated in a summer strings program for orchestra.  She went for an hour and a half each weekday for 2 weeks.  At the end they put on a concert for parents and I was pretty impressed with the difficulty level of the music.

Jenna's group at the parent recital

 

Jenna loved every minute of it.

Last summer I decided that I wanted to do a triathlon but when I started looking into what it would take to do one I was more than a little bit overwhelmed.  I knew nothing about swimming or biking and the one sport that I did know about, running, was also the one I wasn't going to be able to do a lot of because of old injuries.  I decided to make a plan and just go for it so last November I started taking swimming lessons from a tri coach that taught adults how to swim.  As a kid my Aunt Raylene taught me how to swim so I could swim across a pool just fine,  What I couldn't do was swim across a pool without stopping to catch my breath in the middle because I never felt like I could get enough air.  I soon realized it was going to take more than just 2 lessons to learn how to swim with good technique. I took my lessons until January and then spent the rest of the winter going swimming 2 to 3 times a week. I'm still not the strongest swimmer but I can swim 500 meters (20 laps) without stopping and that, my friends, is a HUGE improvement.

Biking.  The biggest obstacle with getting into biking is the start up cost.  By the time you get a bike, shoes and clips, a helmet, gloves, water bottle holders, water bottles,  bike shorts, a jersey, a flat tire kit and a pack to hold it on your bike, etc. you have already made quite an investment.  Now that I'm up and going and have great friends to ride with it has become my favorite sport by far.  I really love it.

Running.  I have done very little running. My philosophy is that if I'm swimming and biking and weight training I should be able to pound out 3 miles on race day.  With my IT band and other problems with my legs it's better to keep my running to a minimum.

Yesterday was the day of my first triathlon. It took me a long time to finally be ready, but I felt such a sense of accomplishment when I crossed the finish line.  I took on two sports I knew absolutely nothing about and made it happen.

It was a sprint triathlon so I swam 500 meters in the aquatic center pool, rode 12.5 miles on my bike, and then ran 3 miles.  I know I have a weird sense of what is considered "fun", but it was a lot of fun!  I already know it won't be my last triathlon.  You can imagine my surprise when I found out that I had finished 2nd in my age division and 10th overall.  It was a small triathlon (only 64 women) but to win a medal in my first triathlon was unexpected and kind of fun.

The other 2 women on the podium obviously knew each other and wanted a picture of them showing their "guns".  I felt pressure to put my arms up so I wouldn't look so silly in the picture, but who are we kidding? I still looked silly. Nothing like having a big shirt covering up my non-existent "guns".

Today was Jameson's first day of nursery at church.  Halleluiah!!  It was a year in the making and Adam and I BOTH enjoyed Sunday school and our other meetings for the first time in a long time.  Jameson did better than I thought he would so it looks like we may have a smooth transition after all. Woohoo!