Wednesday, July 18, 2012

playsets, pools and pals

This weekend we also spent some time with good friends.  The Dahl Family had us over for dinner and Cullen and Simone enjoyed playing with Lauren and Katherine on their giant playset - complete with Simone's favorite - swings!  On Sunday, we ventured to the Dickinson household to swim in the pool.  All of the Dickinson grandkids were there - so it wasn't much trouble to add two more rugrats to the mix!  Cullen had his first experience jumping from the diving board - and he loved it. Fearless Simone had no trouble keeping up with the big kids and loved jumping off the side (keeping her Dad busy).

Kids Tri 2.0

This past weekend, Cullen participated in his second Kids Triathlon.  He had been pretty excited about the event for the last couple of months.  Everyday as we would walk in or out of the Y, he would excitedly point to the poster and ask how long until the race.  Race day came and as we walked up to the registration, the excitement for the event faded and was replaced by the draw of the huge Ironman Bounce House.  After informing Cullen that the bounce house had to wait until after the race, we headed toward the start.

The event, starts with the swim, and a kid is sent in the water every 5 sec.  Cullen started somewhere around 10-15 spots back of the first kid and pretty much stayed in that position through the duration of the swim.  On to the bike, with his little sister chanting "Go, Cullen, Go", he made his move.  Cullen had the distinct advantage of being one of the two kids who was riding on two wheels vs training wheels (or even a big wheel).  He quickly moved into second place and was neck and neck with the leader, the other kid on two wheels.  As the run began and with his sister still chanting "Go, Brother, Go," he pulled into first place.  The battle for the lead went back and forth until the very end, when Cullen followed Dad, who he had asked to run along side him, out of bounds.  He quickly got back on course and finished in 2nd Place!  We ran up to congratulate him and lost track of him in the mix of people.  After looking around for a brief second we were able to locate him...in line for the bounce house.   His sweet reward was not the medal placed around his neck (every participant got one!), but the giant, inflatable toy.

A few of our neighbors and our nephew, Jameson, also participated in the Kids Tri.  And we are proud of them all.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Big Fish Lake 2012

We had another fun-filled vacation at Wowee's cabin on Big Fish Lake. For the first time in many years, we picked a great weekend with warm temperatures - perfect for swimming.  The cousins had so much fun just being together (and so did the sisters).  Cullen and Mason each jumped off the diving dock at least 746 times.  Simone perfected her "cammenball" into the baby pool.  And Dane, he just took it all in with a smile.  Thanks to my parents for hosting us (organizing the meals and buying the beer).  We can't wait for next year!