Lacrosse

Summer is the time for everyone to learn new things!  The boys wanted to try lacrosse, so we found a simple summer camp up in Erie for them to go to a few times a week.  They learned a lot of basic skills and had a lot of practice scooping, throwing and catching the ball.  

I was impressed by the games that the camp instructors came up with for all of them.  It was fun to watch them play and really a perfect way to spend our summer evenings.  

Lake to Lake

'Tis the summer of local races.  I signed up for Lake to Lake Olympic to race with Jeremy.  With his broken rib he decided that wouldn't be a good idea so it was me, Chuck and Brian.  I didn't feel any butterflies for this race. I wanted to use it as a sharpening tool and maybe see what I could do on the bike.  I didn't expect much competition and thought I might be able to take home an overall win for the first time.  The water temperature was perfect and I was excited about the swim.  I swam with a huge pack of guys on the way out.  I haven't had a lot of true pack swimming lately and I admit that it was kind of fun fighting for my spot.  It cleared out by the time we came to the first turn buoy and I was pretty alone by then.  There was not a great landmark to sight on the return and I ended up needing to correct course towards the end, but I was pretty happy with how it went.  

I was the fifth person out of the water so yes, things were going swimmingly.  

On the bike I was supposed to hold 185 watts.  I thought it was totally doable and thought maybe I could dream for 200.  The first ten miles was no problem and I was at 182.  But the next twenty miles were full of descents and I just couldn't keep my power up.  My speed was great (thanks to Jeremy for letting me borrow his disc wheel), but I was disappointed in my power.  

Off the bike I was still top ten overall and I was the lone woman.  My run was not feeling fresh.  I think I got really lucky at Revel a few weeks ago because this did not feel the same.  At the turn around I still had a six minute lead on the next female and knew that as long as I didn't stop I had the win in my pocket.  Jeremy brought his bike and was able to cruise alongside me as I raced.  It was awesome having him as a coach out there.  

We stuck around for results, which always takes hours.  But I wanted to stand up there as champion.  So I was shocked to learn that I took second!  The top three girls (me included) were less than a minute apart.  I didn't see them the whole day so they must have started farther back. I thought they had to start up front me with, so I had no idea they were there.  I was seriously bummed.  I still brought home $100, but that win eluded me.  At least I wasn't alone because that is always worse.  Thanks for cheering me on hun.

Swim 21:54, T1 1:27, Bike 1:23:07, T2 0:43, Run 44:20, Finish 2:31:33

GU buds

I wish I could share all of the stories that McKenzie comes home from gymnastics with.  These girls are the sprinkles to her sundae, the sparkle to her crown, and one of the reasons she smiles so often.  McKenzie spent every day at the gym for team camp this week.  She's been injured so she couldn't do all of the skills she's wanted to do, but at least she's been able to hang out with her friends.  This particular day was twinning day.  Instead of wearing simple matching leos or T-shirts, the girls went for something a little more creative-traffic cones! The day before McKenzie and Evalyn plotted on what to wear. McKenzie has been wanting a traffic cone for awhile (for no reason at all) so when Evalyn suggested the costume she just couldn't say no. The girls stopped at Lowes and ran straight down an aisle looking for traffic cones. I stopped to ask an employee where we should start look, but when I arrived at the right aisle I saw the girls wearing different sized cones on their heads deciding which were the comfiest and largest. I started giggling because it was so unexpected.  

The next day the entire team dressed up as twins. They could wear whatever they wanted unless it intervened with gymnastics, which made their day.  There were awards for best dressed and Charlotte and Genesis won dressed as two coffees from Starbucks.  Apparently the coaches could not tell them apart the entire practice. There was also one surprise award that no one knew about, it was a team award won for being the most festive team every single day.  Our level 7's claimed that proudly.  It was definitely the best camp she's been to, and even though she was hurt she enjoyed every bit of it. These girls are her best friends and are the reason she loves gymnastics as much as she does. 

 

Disney Cruisin'

For her Grandparents' trip, McKenzie chose to go on a Disney cruise to the Bahamas. She has been counting down the days for months and preparing in all of the important ways: Disney t-shirts, Mickey Mouse earrings, Minnie Mouse ears, new swimsuits, and pirate night apparel.  

Boarding the ship. This girl looks ready to cruise!

Bye bye Miami, hello Carribean!

Even as she entered the grand foyer she knew the cruise was going to be everything she hoped it would be.  The ship was so fancy!  Chandeliers, pristine decorations, and all things Disney.  

Just settling in...with all the free ice-cream!

Welcome show

They ran into characters every day.  Sometimes they were singing and dancing.  Sometimes they were ready for a meet and greet.  Sometimes they were just wandering the ship.  They tried to meet them all.  

The food was fabulous and they thought the theme for each night's meal was so much fun.  She branched out of her comfort zone and tried crab cakes and tuna without dying!  

They had the later meal time slot which meant that they were able to enjoy the shows before they ate.  She said that each show was so much fun and the performers were really good.  

When they weren't eating or watching shows they also participated in some of the on-board activities.  They were really good at the trivia and game shows and even came away with a couple of prizes for 1st place.  

Another perk of a Disney cruise is all of the kid activities.  She went to the teen club on the last and said it was so much fun!  She was so mad she didn't go more often because the kids and the activities were awesome.  

Pirate night

Stateroom fun

Sometimes play is hard!

The ship stopped at two ports, Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay.  On Grand Cayman they went snorkeling.  The water was pretty rough so they weren't able to stay in as long as they would have liked but they still enjoyed seeing the coral and all the fish.  McKenzie also found a great turtle souvenir for her sister.  

On Castaway Cay they went kayaking.  They saw a turtle and some huge orange starfish.  Along the beach they found a ton of conch shells, sea shells, crabs and manta rays.  

Unsurprisingly she was really disappointed when it was time to come home.  She could have easily stayed on the boat living her best Disney life.  She's pretty much convinced the rest of us that we now need to go on a Disney cruise too!

Boulder 70.3

This year it was Jeremy's time to shine at the Boulder 70.3 while the rest of us played support crew.  Since it was such an early morning for the family, we set up beds in the back of the Expedition so the kids could sleep until the last possible minute.  I went with Jeremy and Chuck as they got everything prepped and loved being a spectator for once.  We were worried about how Jeremy was going to be feeling this race.  He had gone to Jiu Jitsu with Cambrie on Monday and we were pretty sure he broke his rib.  We didn't know if he could swim, bike or run with a broken rib so it was kind of a "let's see as we go" type of situation.  He was able to get his wetsuit on, so that was the first win of the day.  The boys were able to see Jeremy at the swim start which isn't something they've done before because it's always so early.  They couldn't believe how many athletes were there in their wetsuits and provided caps...all looking exactly the same.  

His swim was a little slower than usual since he couldn't use his right arm fully.  I also had to help him get out of his wetsuit because he couldn't pull hard enough to remove it.  Well, he was off to a good start and we just didn't want him to crash on him bike and make that break worse.  

The kids and I were going to be volunteering at a run aid station so we helped set that up while Jeremy rode.  It was a unique aid station with only water and ice, so there wasn't much to set up.  I had to teach the boys what to do and they picked it up like champs. They had to learn quickly since the first athletes who came through were the pros.  They require next level care, but there were enough of them who smiled at the boys that it took the edge off.  Daxton and Kelton lined up at the front of our aid station which meant they were the favorite volunteers.  So many athletes made a point to grab their water from the boys and make them feel special.  It was awesome being on this end of it.  

Jeremy came through for his first lap looking great.  He had a killer bike split, I mean it was his best ever!  So his rib must not have been hurting that badly.  He looked happy and I hoped his body could hold together for the whole run.  

While he ran we kept passing out water.  So much water!  I loved that the kids had real smiles on their faces.  

I kept watching the tracker and everything looked to be going according to plan for Jer.  We passed off our shift to more volunteers and made it to the finish line as he was cooling down.  

He had a really good day and said he wasn't hurting at all.  (Edit: the next day he said it felt like he broke his rib all over again so maybe it wasn't as easy as it felt.)  We were all so proud of this guy.

Swim 38:33, T1 5:12, Bike 2:16:17, T2 2:16, Run 1:51: 23, Finish 4:53:41

Cheering for Chuck, because racing is more fun with friends.