My Darling, My Super Hero, My Husband

Jon in his "supersuit"

This past weekend was the culmination of 8 months of hard training. Although he has been training on his bike for the past 3 years, Jon wanted something specific on which to focus his fitness goals, as well as give him variety in his workout. He decided to do the Grand Columbian Triathlon.
We loaded up the van on Friday and headed for the Grand Coolie Dam, right there in Coolie, Washington. Jon’s friend Evan was also racing that weekend, in the half Iron Man competition and we met him there to finish the registration process. We had a great time in camp that evening and settled down to an early night in order for everyone to be fresh for the morning’s races. But, that wasn’t in the cards for any of us. Ja`el woke up with a terrible cold and kept Jon and me up pretty much the entire night. Although, she had absolutely no symptoms of fighting anything the day before, there was no doubt that she was sick. No luck for poor Evan either. Some idiot campers decided to take the camping spot next to us…at 3 am. They had their headlights pointed directly into Evan’s tent, and then went hammering away to put their tent up, using a loud air pump to inflate their air mattress, and speaking as loud as they could in the process. Needless to say we were all a bit beat when we woke up in the morning.
But, all that didn’t stop my man for absolutely killing it out in the race. It was so exciting watching him go. Ja`el especially enjoyed watching the swimming. She would yell out “Go Daddy, GO!!” and “Yay, Daddy!” as we watched him run by. Since he knew his times pretty well going into the race, we were able to be there during all his transitions and cheer him on. He ended up doing very well. He took 6th in his age division and 55th over all, within the top 40%. I am soo proud of my husband!!
Here are some pics from the exciting event.

It is fun to stretch Daddy’s face as far as it will go! See?

Jon was pretty excited that he was #357.

Crossing the finish line! Yay Daddy!!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

When Jon decided that he was going to go on 2 “man-trips” in a row, one to go camping in the Black Hills and another on a long fly fishing trip, Ja`el and I decided that it was high time we had a “girls only” trip (who wants boys with us anyway!). We wanted to go somewhere fun, but not so far that we couldn’t drive. What better place than to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and then over to see her favorite “Ja`el’s” (Note: they are no longer “Ja`els” but “Crameron and Tristan” Sad to see her baby words go.). Although I was a bit nervous to drive all that way alone with a 2 year old, I was completely prepared to when Mema came to the rescue. She decided to join us for the drive and the visit. And good thing she did. Although Ja`el was awesome, 10 hours is a LONG time to be stuck in a car. So, after a few setbacks, we all piled into our trusty Outback and road tripped all the way down to Boise to see Grandma Karen, Grandpa Jim and Aunt Erin. We met my sister and her kids there, who joined us for dinner and then took Mema back to Twin Falls with them, while Ja`el and I stayed in Boise for a weeks worth of shopping, going to the zoo, the park and playing in the water! We had such a great time and I wish I had taken more pictures to share, but, again, I was having so much fun, I forgot to bring my camera in most cases. I did get a few shots, though.

Although she enjoyed looking at the real animals, Ja`el LOVED the fake ones.

Here is Grandma and Ja`el at the lake. Two of her favorite things in the world.

After we left Boise, we met up with Mema at my sisters home in Twin Falls. What adventures we had there! We went to the fair (“Crazy round and rounds!” she laughed when she saw the rides as we pulled into the parking lot), on a hike up in the South Hills, and lots and lots of quality cousin wildness.

Playing teeter totter during a break on our hike

The Three Musketeers, Idaho style

I love it!!

First roller coaster ride. Look at the smile on this face!

First corn dog. She didn’t know what to do with it, at first. She just looked at me like, “what the heck am I supposed to do with this?”

Not a huge fan of the goats.

It was a great two weeks! Cannot wait to do it again!!