It's my birthday! And I'm TWO!

Quinn turned 2 on Monday, and we had a nice little party for her at my dads house on Sunday.  She insisted on wearing her swimsuit and also her swim cube (her brother had just gotten in the hot tub and she thought that was where she was headed)  she was a little under the weather this day, and she was very hot and cold with her attitude.  But we all got through the day.  She got some nice gifts, thank you to everyone.  Some clothes, a few gifts that she always steals from Brennan- a new thermos h20 bottle, a blanket, new Elmo stuffed doll- and a new play kitchen set.  The kids really enjoy playing with it in her room.

This card has coloring page on the back.  She really enjoys coloring.

We had a lot of food for our little party....

Two little candles on the big yellow cupcake.  Uncle Joe and Aunt Suz practiced with her on how to blow her candles out.  it was a little breezy on the deck but it worked.

She didn't want to touch the cupcake. 

So Papa helped out and held it up for her.

Can you see her eyes?  the sugar must be going straight to her head.

And the head tilt.  Who doesn't love the really sugary bakery frosting :)

High Cliff Triathlon

This past weekend I competed in the High Cliff Half Ironman triathlon.  I was on a relay team with 2 other ladies; I swam 1.2 mi, Mary biked 58mi and Lori ran 13.1mi.  This was my 2nd triathlon event with these ladies, but my first at such a distance.  It was a lot of fun and look forward to doing more.  We have a small race we are in in August.  At this event there were 46 relays competing, we got 13 place.  They didn't have the women's teams seperated, but from looking at the results and picking the womens teams out, we took 3 out of 16.  That's not too bad :)

The kids were troopers, it was an early morning and it was a hot morning too.

Here is the swim.  I am out there somewhere.  I was in wave 4, near the front. The course was calm at first, it made a triangle, about halfway through the race I could feel some swell rolling under me and on to the final turn, there we a lot of chop as we headed to the shore.  It was rough.  But I thought, if I'm struggling, so is everyone else. 

Open water is intimidating.  I think of it like being the opposite of claustraphobic.  The openness is a weird sensation.  And if you think about it too much and over analyze it, you end up with a panic attack, so you just don't and you swim. 

After exiting the lake, I had to run to the transition area to pass the timing chip to the biker.  It was a huge hill that we had to run up, and I was having a hard time breathing at this point, the wetsuit was cutting into my neck, so here I'm walking fast past the family, i just couldn't run anymore.

waiting in the transition area.

Mary just finished her bike and Lori is getting the timing chip to take off running.

Lori hitting the finish line.  Way to go!  It was a weird weather day, it was so hot, and then the sky opened up for about 20mins but soaked everything, with lightening and thunder, but the race must still go on.

The champions! 

Breakfast on the farm

What do we love about the month of June?  Well of course the fact that it is dairy month!  so that means Breakfast on the farm.  These are huge events all over the state, the county picks a farm and the farmers and other volunteers make breakfast for the people that want to come.  There is typical breakfast food, eggs, hashbrowns, ham, cinnamon rolls, and then some dairy things- cheese and cheese curds milk and ice cream.  The farm is also open for tours. They put on a great production. 

They even talked about dairy month in their daycare.  Check out Brennans art on the left.  And they made butter at daycare too.

checking out the petting zoo area.

here is the food tent.  I missed the photo opp, but the man left was making hashbrowns, and had just put a whole block of butter on that huge frying pan.  I'm floored by how they make it all work.

Quinn wanted nothing to do with the calf and did not want to be near it.

Another Bellin Run

I have hung up my running shoes for the time being.  Some people to continue to run while pregnant, I on the other hand am embrassing the lack of exercise :)  (if you didn't know, now you do- we are expecting baby #3 in Dec).  Adam on the other hand has started running.  He is training for a half marathon in September.  He ran the Bellin, a 10K in early June.  He did great, and the kids were great supporters for the crowd.  And it was record breaking heat, so great job to everyone!

Y Kids Run

Swimming is going good (he is real close to not needing flotation) and he really likes gymnastics.  Physical activity is important, but I don't want my child going to elementary school not knowing how to play team sports.  I may have posted or maybe you've seen/heard about t-ball and soccer.  They have kinda been a bust.  (We are on a schedule break and will start again next week.)  But Brennan is usually the only child (on either team) that is crying or upset.  The parents on the sidelines are all going "aahh, it's oK buddy...."  NO- don't give into his ploy!  Adam and I push him away and say suck it up and get out there! 

But maybe individual sports are going to be the way to go for this kid.  This summer the Y is hosting some Kid Runs to help encourage activity and fight childhood obesity.  1/4mile for the littlest guys up to a 1mi for the big kids.  He knows that I enjoy running so I thought we'd give this a try.  The first of a series of 4 thoughout the summer was June 3rd.  At first he didn't want to, then he was excited, and when we got there, I ended up at the start line and he was still at the car.  He begged me to do it with him, so there I went, flip flops and all. 

But he finished, the next run is this weekend, wish me luck.

May

Memorial Day parade, the village of Howard puts on a nice little parade; a boy scout troop, the hs marching band, fire trucks, ambulance, police, vets and that's it.  done in about 30 mins, you don't get an obnioux amount of candy and we could walk there. 

The year has finished and he has graduated!  On to 4K in the fall.  He really loved school.  I hope that love continues in the years to come.