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.

Jiu Jitsu

Cambrie has decided to try something new, Jiu Jitsu.  The world of martial arts is not one I am familiar with at all, but Jeremy was willing to dip his toe in and help her find a gym.  They were to a couple different gyms before finding Vibrant Jiu Jitsu.  After just one practice Cambrie was hooked.  The coach came to me the next week and said that most of the time he has to teach girls to be more aggressive, but that isn't a problem at all for Cambrie.  She went into each roll at 100%, determined to make up for his lack of skill by sheer force of will.  She has since learned that 90% is the preferred amount, and is quickly picking up the skills.  She likes to roll with a girl named Sophie.  She is a purple belt and has been doing Jiu Jitsu for a very long time.  She is patient teaching Cambrie and when they aren't on the mat you can see them giggling by the water fountain.  This has been such a great fit for her so far and I'm excited to see where this goes.  I'm just so glad to see her smiling!

 

Revel Rockies 1/2

Jeremy and his boys at the office all decided to run the Revel Rockies Half Marathon, and at the last minute I decided to join them.  It was surprising how hard it was to gather my gear for just a half marathon.  What do I wear?  What fuel do I take?  How do I warm up?  I know, ridiculous questions for someone who has run thirteen miles hundreds of time in her life.  However, it's been awhile since either one of us has done a stand alone half so we kind of felt like newbies.  It was a ridiculously early morning since we needed to catch a bus up to the start line.  It was chilly up top but not too outrageous.  Jeremy and I had our three separate warm-ups to keep the blood moving so that helped. 

 When it came time to line up at the start line they obviously wanted the fastest runners near the front.  We were both intimidated and didn't want to be that close but no one else stepped up so we ended up right near that start line.  We were hoping to run sub-1:30 which is about a 6:38 pace.  Yikes.  It was a downhill course so we just went for it.  Jeremy and I ran together the first five miles or so feeling really good and enjoying the descent.  We had a little running buddy with us for a time but he eventually dropped off.  I was feeling good so I took off with Jeremy close behind.  The course was so beautiful.  It ran along a stream down the canyon, and with the overcast clouds the whole thing was awesome.  I tried not to do too much math as I ran and simply counted on those miles staying under 6:40 the whole time.  I was pretty alone up near the front but knew there were a handful of people ahead of me.  I didn't quite know where I placed as I crossed that finish line but I knew it was pretty good.  I had to finish throwing up before I could look at my results.  I took 1st in my age group, 5th female, on 19th overall.  I was pretty happy with that.  I loved seeing Jeremy cross the finish line so quickly after me.  I'm glad that he had such a great race as well.  It isn't the same kind of atmosphere as an Ironman, but it was still a whole lot of fun.  

Watch time put me at 1:26:21, and Jeremy at 1:30:04.  Good job us!