Ironkids Triathlon Nationals

Both Skylar and Kellen qualified for national championships, so here we are in Des Moines for the weekend of racing!  Of course, Skylar's friend Macay has also qualified, so we all spent the weekend together.  Here we are, lakeside, preparing for the race.

 

 A little hug for each other, right before Skylar is set to race.

 In the cue...

 Finishers (Kellen with his friend Hudson)!

 Our little group of racers had some bike troubles.  Kellen's chain fell off his bike and he had to wait for someone to help him get it back on, so he had a pretty bad bike split.  He did not care though.  All he cared about was making sure he gave everyone a hi-5 on the run!  Then Macay had a flat tire and also had a terrible bike split.  She was devastated (she was racing for top-3) and crying, so I could not get a picture of them.  But here they all are cooling down in the lake!

Enjoying the last bit of summer!

End of another season:(

It always makes me sad when it is time to pull out the trampoline and clean it up.  It is the end of summer and a certain amount of freeness.  We had to pull it out a little early this year because next week the kids and I have our big final Triathlon of the year (national championships) and then right after that, I have my shoulder surgery.  Good bye summer!

Happy Birthday Brennen!! Five Years old:)

Brennen was so happy that is was finally HIS birthday!  It is hard to be last when they are all so close together.

   

Brennen loves Spiderman (he still wants to be him when he grows up), so that was the party theme.  Kelln was mad that he didn't get balloons for himself:(

We decorated glow in the dark balloons while we waited for the food.

 After we ate, Brennen wanted to open presents before cake.  Since he is the boss on his day...

 A big one Mama!

 Now time for cake.  This is a very serious matter.

 A big breath and...

 Didn't quite get them all!

Happy Birthday Little man!

Happy Birthday Little Man!!

Since he has school today and Papa is out of town, we will celebrate tomorrow.  He still needs a breakfast treat and a round of Happy Birthday, though!  And of course, cupcakes to school...

Finally back at it!

I have not been home for more than two days since the middle of July, so I have not really had time to get the pictures on the computer and blog!  But now that school has started (Hurray!!!), I have some time:)  Please scroll down to see what we have been up to.

Back to School!

Everyone left the lake yesterday and today is the first day of school!  Mama sure is looking forward to a little routine again.

Skylar got contacts and actually cares a little bit more about how she looks!!  She got a lot of comments today about how much girlier she is.

 Brennen is so happy to be starting Kindergarten!  I just can't believe how little he looks next to the others!

 Mr. Calm and Collected, ready to be back with friends on a daily basis.

 So happy and nervous about going on to second grade.  We weren't sure all summer what we were going to do, but after his week of therapy in Nashville, we felt that moving forward was a definite!

 Brennen could not wait to finally be able to ride that school bus!

The house is so so quite....

Three generations of Triathletes!

So I convinced as many people as I could to do a triathlon this weekend and I got a good group--three generations of us!  We ended up with a lot of age group winners and one overall champion:)

  

The kids did a relay.  James swam  the 800 meters (in a fantastic time of 21:36) and beat over half of the adults who swam.  Skylar did the bike and Korrina did the run.  I think you can see by the color of her face, that she gave it her all!  Skylar and James were waiting for her at the finish and ran the last little bit with her! 

 

She did have to be consoled when she was done, but a few hours later, she said she loved it!

 Lovisa and Mormor coming into the finish line!

The rest of the crew arrives!

Trefor and his girls arrived this morning and now the big kids are happy!  They weren't here for more than two minutes before THEY jumped into the water.

Trefor takes Alana and Brennen out for a paddle boat ride.

 The boys get a fishing license and let the little ones have a go!

The early crew awakens!

The little ones woke early, while the big ones slept in.  They had fun together though!

Mini Family Reunion

 I had one day to unpack and repack and head up to the lake.  Most of my family came up for a little fun and relaxation.  Everyone jumped out of the car and into the lake!  Liz and Eoin enjoy a little cooling down.

 

Conor was not pleased with having to wear his life jacket while going down the slide:)

 Charlotta fell in love with Byron and wanted to play with him all weekend.

 Endless hours of fun on the trampoline!

 A little father/son love!  (Wystan and Conor)

The water was a little chilly, so the little ones didn't last too long...

 But the rest of us lasted long....

 

... long into the evening!