Erie Balloon Launch

This morning I took the girls to the Erie balloon festival.  I had no idea it was part of their town day celebration at all, but that didn't matter because we were so excited when we found out.  I woke the girls up bright at early and headed to the golf course from where the balloons would be launching. 

 

While we waited for the balloons to get set up, we had a lot of time to cuddle under their blankets and eat donut holes.  We started talking about freckles.  Aren't my girls' freckles cute?  

After a very long wait the balloon crews started getting their balloons ready.  We watched from our warm blankets for awhile then curiosity got the best of us and we had to take a closer look.  

The girls wanted to touch a balloon, so they did.  

The wanted to look inside the balloons as they were being filled with hot air, so they did.

  They didn't want me taking so many pictures of them, but I did, so I did. 

 It was so awesome watching the balloons grow and lift from the ground.  It felt very whimsical. 

 Cambrie kept running around saying, "Mom, thank you so much for bringing us!  This is so much fun!  I've always wanted to do this!"  It was a perfect reward.  I felt as if I couldn't take enough pictures to capture the beauty of it all.   

McKenzie found her favorite balloon near the end, a pink and purple one.  She willingly smiled for that picture because she didn't want to ever forget it. 

I think the balloon launch is going to be a new tradition. 

Lemonade anyone?

The first lemonade stand of the season was cut short because of the rain, but McKenzie didn't let that stop her.  She loves selling her lemonade.  Or more appropriately, she loves making money.  She's not sure yet what she's saving for, but I'm confident she will find a way to spend her money. 

 

While McKenzie was hard at work, Cambrie picked up her book, "Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary."  That girl can never find enough time to read.  I can't say that I'm complaining.  I love finding her in bed at night with her flashlight left on and a book next to her.

The Basement Begins

Jeremy and I have wanted to finish the basement since we first bought this home.  We've toyed with the idea for years and finally decided it was time to take the plunge.  The first step was obviously emptying the basement.  That took me almost two weeks.  There were baby clothes, baby toys, baby supplies, big kid clothes, snow clothes, camping equipment, outdoor fun equipment, cleaning supplies, decorations, books, memorabilia from Jeremy and my younger days, toys, sewing stuff, toys, food storage, toys, food storage, and more food storage.  Jeremy's side of the garage is now our temporary storage unit.  I really hope I don't need anything from inside that cube of stuff before the basement is done because there's no way I'm getting it out.  What didn't fit in the garage is upstairs in our bedrooms.  The girls have lots of extra toys in their room, which means it won't be clean any time in the near future.  Kelton is storing an extra bookcase and an extra full-sized mattress and box springs.  Jeremy and I have my sewing stuff, big pictures, and the extra lamps.  It feels just like we are back in our old apartment in Philadelphia-squished.  

Before:

After we removed everything Jeremy and I demolished the temporary walls that were there and prepared it for the beginning of construction.  So far we have started marking the walls and picking up the tools and supplies we're going to need.  Jeremy took advantage of all the rain that softened the ground to start digging out the bedroom egress.  The window well needs to be a foot farther from the wall that was prepared, so that has been a ton of work.  We are waiting now for our materials before we can move on to fireproofing...ya!  It's going to take us all summer to get this baby done, and hopefully we enjoy at least some of the process.
 

Not yet after, but currently:

Mother's Day snapshot

These three kids sure know how to make me smile.  Gotta say I love being their mom.

St. George 70.3

Ironman 70.3 North America Pro Championship St. George Champions!

(Quick disclaimer, I only have the photos from one camera, so I may be adding more later.)

After months and months of training, Jeremy and I can now finally check "Finish the St. George 1/2 Ironman" off our list.  It was an amazing experience!  It was so much more fun than I anticipated and we are already trying to figure out when we can do another one.  Leading up to the race I have been really, really, nervous.  I trained as well as I thought I could and hoped for the best.  But the week of taper leading up to the race left me feeling anxious.  There was nothing else I could do at that point but hope I had done everything right.  We drove into St. George Thursday night and met up with Jeremy's parents.  They had driven down to experience the chaos with us and to watch the kids.  (Thank you!  Thank you!  We could not have done it without you!)

Friday morning we woke up and started getting ready for the next day.  We drove the bike course and realized how big those hills actually were...talk about raging butterflies in my stomach!  Then as we looked over the map again we saw what hills we would have to run up...now I was feeling rather sick!  I kept trying to tell myself, "I'm strong.  I can do this."  But it wasn't enough to calm me down.  We went to check in at Ironman Village and suddenly it felt very real.  There were 2400 athletes at this race and I felt like they were all amazing.  I just hoped I could hold my own against them.  At the Ironman store I felt like a kid in a candy store.  I couldn't help myself.  I was so excited I was actually there!  No injuries had stopped me this time and I was going to do an Ironman 70.3  I had to celebrate so I picked up a jersey, a sweatshirt, and a tank top.  Back at home we sorted through all of our gear to pack our transition bags.  It was the moment of truth, did we forget anything back at home?  And would we forget to put a critical item in our gear bag?  Luckily neither one of us forgot anything.  That was a small miracle.  Bruce drove up to Sand Hollow Reservoir with us that evening to check in our bikes and to hang out while Jeremy and I warmed up in the lake.  It was cold!  62 degrees was just a little chillier than I was hoping for.  It was so cold that I couldn't get my breathing under control and I was really nervous for the next morning.  We didn't have long to spent at the reservoir though because we had to get back to Ironman Village for the kids' race.  

We were a little late which made finding the starting line really stressful, but we made it.  McKenzie ran in the quarter mile race first.  Jeremy ran with her while I took pictures.  I didn't know if she would have fun or not but as she flew past me she had a huge smile on her face.  

I didn't get to meet up with her before Cambrie started, but I assumed she'd had fun.  Cambrie's race was one mile long.  No parents were allowed on the course so I hoped that she would have fun and be fine.  She came across the finish line with legs blazing and smiling from ear to ear.  

Each girl got a Popsicle and a medal at the end of their race.  McKenzie was thrilled because it was the first medal she's ever received and it was gold!  

After their race the kids played in the splash fountain.  Kelton didn't want to get splashed, but he happily held Cambrie's things while she played.  

McKenzie started getting a little cold after the sun went down.

Cambrie was just having a ball!

Jeremy and relaxing one last time as we watch the kids play  before the chaos of the morning.  

That night I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned all night with nightmares about the race.  In each dream I dreamt that I had finished the race but couldn't remember anything about it, not even my time.  So when I woke up and realized I still had six hours of racing ahead of me it was really disappointing.  After breakfast Bruce took us to the buses and wished us luck.  Now it was a waiting game.  We still had 2 1/2 hours to wait until our wave started.  We took our time getting our transition area set up, then sat around resting our legs   We had time to watch the pros start their swim, exit their swim, and hop on their bikes before it was our turn.  It was inspiring watching them and realizing that even pros make simple mistakes.  

Suddenly it was our turn.  I started in the front of my swim wave so I wouldn't have to fight past anyone and really focused on keeping my breathing under control in that freezing water.  I felt good and strong, but I probably took it a little too easy.  I was slightly disappointed in my time, but that's okay.  When I exited the water I just thought, "Shoot, the easy part is over."  I found a wetsuit peeler who stripped me of my wetsuit super quickly, then headed to my bike.  

This was the leg I was most nervous about.  I was worried about getting a flat tire, losing my water bottles, not having enough strength on the hills, being alone, and mostly crashing.  I've put hundred of miles on my bike since I crashed last year, but I'm still not over the fear.  As the first climb came I took it nice and easy.  I didn't look at my spedometer once during the entire ride. I was mostly focusing on feel.  I didn't want to blow out my legs too early because I was concerned about speed.  There were five hills before Snow Canyon, and as each one passed I counted them off one by one.  And as I continued along I realized something, I was having a TON of FUN!  The aid stations were super slick so I could always get the nutrition I needed, and I didn't drop a single water bottle.  I was chatting with riders I past, and laughing almost the whole way.  I was smiling at the volunteers.  And I was killing it on the climbs.  I'm not kidding, besides the crazies who have spent thousands of dollars and hours on their bikes, I was awesome.  Of course, because of my fear of crashing I didn't go very fast on the downhills, and I was passed a lot then too.  Oh well.  The way the course was set up Jeremy and I saw each other three times on the bike.  He looked great.  He is such a strong biker that I knew he was just destroying the other guys.  I also knew that my chances of beating him were slowly melting away because he had so much of a gain on me.  Right before I entered Snow Canyon I saw our little cheering section waiting for me.  My girls were holding up the signs they had made and ringing their cowbells.  I love seeing those kiddos. 

I'm not going to lie, Snow Canyon was tough and it seemed to just keep going, but I marveled at how strong my legs were.  They just kept pounding it up the hill and didn't feel too fatigued.  When I finally crested the top I was so relieved.  The climbing was done!  Now we had seven miles of downhill.  Even though the roads were smooth and clean, I didn't dare get down into aero position.  I wanted access to my brakes.  It was a long way to cruise.  As I pedaled in closer to the next transition I passed Jeremy who was then on the run.  He had about a 25 minutes head start on me and I knew I wouldn't be able to catch him, but I was determined to have a better run.  

Jeremy's transitions were so quick Bruce and Leesa almost missed him.

Coming out of transition I saw my cheering squad again!  I was able to give my girls high-fives and gave Kelton a kiss before taking off for the 13.1 mile run.  

My goal was to not walk up any of the hills on the run.  And after 3 miles of up hill I was wondering if I was insane.  I was starting to get hot, I was starting to get very tired, and I was starting to get dizzy.  But I knew I was strong enough to finish the run and finish it strong.  There were aid stations every mile and I walked through each one dumping four to five cups on water on me, and grabbing a cup of ice to munch on while I ran.  I saw Jeremy again at mile 5 and started to falter.  I was very jealous he was a mile and a half ahead of me.  I wanted to be done.  I pushed through each mile and never walked up the hills, but it was getting tough.  I thought my climbing was going to be done at mile 9, but it stretched until mile 10 1/2.  That was draining.  I couldn't even open it up on the downhill after that.  Coming into town I just kept thinking that I was about to complete a 1/2 Ironman.  I dared to look at my watch at that point and realized that I was on pace for a 1:56 run, which was awesome considering the circumstances, and I was on track to finish well under six hours.  I pushed it through that last mile and came across the finish line strong.  Looking at the pictures the photographers took, I look beat, but I felt great.  I put on my medal and then found my amazing family. 

 

Ironmans are a family affair, you can't do it without them.  

As we sat down recovering and reliving our races, Jeremy and I just kept gushing about how amazing the race was.  We even immediately started looking at future Ironmans that would work.  We were tired, but not too sore...yet...and so happy we both did well.  What an adventure!

Jeremy's splits: swim (39:29), T1 (3:19), bike (2:47:43), T2 (1:13), run (2:03:57) Final time: 5:35:41
AJ's splits: swim (30:54), T1 (4:39), bike (3:09:08), T2 (2:24), run (1:56:32), Final time 5:43:37

Kelton stretching with me while we cooled down.

Playing in the fountains while Jeremy and I continued to cool down and eat as much food as possible.

Dinner afterwards was at a great steakhouse name Anasazi's.  We cooked our steaks on hot stones brought out from the kitchen.  Man I love steak after a race.  

That night I just wanted to rest and my cute kids cuddled with me while I did.  Pretty good way to recover after a long day if you ask me.