Olivia "TRI"es Something New

Olivia Sanders: Pre-K student, future princess, and now- triathlete. This morning Olivia took part in the "SuperKids Triathlon" sponsored by the YMCA. Even though we do foot races quite a bit in the Sanders family, no one has ever attempted a triathlon. So I guess this means that Olivia is the only triathlete in the family- until next year, that is, then Owen will be old enough to do this event too. The race began at 8:30. Before the race started, we had to check in at the registration table. My good friend (and Olivia's swimming teacher), Krystial, was the one manning the table. Krystial used a water-proof marker to write Olivia's division number on her leg. This, I have learned, is common practice in swimming events as a paper number would likely get wet or wash off. After checking in, Brian and I got busy setting everything up for the event. Brian took Olivia's biking gear down to the designated area while I set Olivia's clothes up in the transition area.





The race began on time, and Olivia was in the first heat. The first portion of the triathlon was the swimming. The kids in the four-year-old division had to swim the length of the pool. This was actually the part that I was the most nervous about. Turns out, there was nothing to fear. Olivia did great. Of course she had to use a flotation belt, but she has been using this in her swim class and so she had no problem with it. She said that the swimming was her favorite portion of the triathlon.

After the swimming portion, we moved to the transition area. Here, we helped Olivia dry off a bit and we put some shorts, socks, and shoes on her. We then made our way to the bike area and helped Olivia get her helmet on. The kids in her division had to ride a half mile on the bike. I never noticed it before, but Olivia's bike is way too small for her. It was much smaller than the other kids' bikes, and she had to pedal much harder to go as fast as they did. I know she had to be really tired during the bike portion, but she never complained or gave up.

After the biking portion of the race was over, it was time for Olivia to run a quarter mile. She did pretty good with the running. Brian ran with her, and she also got lots of support from her "cheering section"- which consisted of me, Owen, my parents, and Sam. At the finish line, she received a medal and lots of love. The event was not timed, so everyone was a winner. I'm not going to lie- I was impressed with the way that Olivia persevered throughout the race. Of course, she was exhausted in the afternoon and took a fairly long nap.

...And after all of the excitement of the triathlon in the morning, I was just itching to do a race myself. Fortunately, there was a 5K in Waycross in the p.m. I finished the Harvest Run 5K with a time of 26.25 (happy with it) and placed first in my age group (not the only contestant). Whew- this has been a busy day. Now to prepare for next weekend when I "du" (hint) something new myself.

Olivia's First Day of Pre-K

Today was Olivia's first day of Pre-K. She is attending a state-funded program that is located in the same building where Owen goes to daycare. Olivia reports that she had a fantastic first day. She learned about flowers, books, and the sound that "ew" makes. She is so excited about this school year. Here are some of the pictures that I took this morning before taking the kids to school/daycare.

Beach 2011: The Year of the Boogie Board

We had a wonderful beach trip with my family on Amelia Island this year. As usual, we rented condos at Amelia-by-the-Sea. The weather was perfect all week long. We spent our days on the beach and at the pool. Granny Mel was able to come for a few days and enjoy the beautiful weather with us. Brian and Kelly bought boogie boards for the kids early in the week, and the girls really took to it- especially Ava. Unfortunately, Brian wasn't able to stay the whole week because of work. I hated that he couldn't stay, and so did he. Below are my favorite pictures from the week.

Sparklers

The kids were introduced to sparklers this July 4th. I don't know that they were quite ready for them yet, but they sure had a good time trying them out.

Peachtree Road Race

The Peachtree Road Race is a 4th of July tradition in Atlanta. It is the largest 10K in the world (over 55,000 this year), and it is officially the most outstanding racing experience that I've had in my 3.5 years of racing. I ran the Peachtree for the first time this year, but it will definitely not be the last. The way that the race is organized is that each runner must submit a time when they register. The runners are then placed in start waves A-Y based on their qualifying time. I was excited to be in wave E this year. I had stayed at my sister Cassie's apartment the night before because she lives less than a mile from the starting line. As I was approaching the corral for my wave, I could feel that this race was going to different and exciting. To begin with, there were photographers all over the streets taking our pictures (for later purchase). It reminded me of the photopass people at Disney World because they were in uniform with cameras in the middle of the streets. There were also about four helicopters that were flying over the start line filming the crowds for the various news channels. I found my corral and waited for the race to begin. I could see the start line from my position, and there were speakers everywhere so I could hear everything that was going on. At about 7:25 someone sang the national anthem and then there was an awesome fly-over. Wave A (otherwise known as the fast runners) began promptly at 7:30, followed by wave B at 7:35, wave C at 7:40 and so on. As each wave began, the remaining waves moved up closer to the starting line. I really liked how this was done. There was a DJ at the starting line and he made a really big deal about the start for each wave. When our wave began, he played the "Party Rock Anthem" and we were off. There were tons of spectators that were lining the street for the entire 6 miles. Businesses along Peachtree were handing out all sorts of goodies to the runners- water, t-shirts, pastries, beer, etc... There were also DJs and bands all along the course, so I was well entertained during the entire run. The only downside to the race was that it was h-o-t. They said that this was the hottest start since 1997. I ended up with a time of 59:15- which is the worst I've ever run in a 10K. I'm not upset with this time. I'm just glad that I made it in under an hour. Even with this time, I finished 504 of 3510 in my age division. That's really quite good. Below is an ariel shot of the runners taken by a news crew as well as a view of the finish area taken by me. This race was the BEST, and it is my new favorite.

Owen's First (Full) Movie

Owen is almost 3.5 years old, and has just seen his first full movie in the theater. I really did try to take him to see a movie before now. As a matter of fact I bought tickets for Toy Story 3 last summer, but he acted up so badly that we had to leave halfway through the film. After that fiasco, I swore that I would wait a full calendar year before I even attempted to take him to the movies again. His year was up last week, and so we gave it another go. We saw Winnie the Pooh, and I'm happy to report that we made it through the whole movie without incident. The kids love the Pooh characters, and they loved the movie. I confess that I really liked it, too.

The Jungle Book on Stage

Last year Granny Mel introduced Olivia and I to a wonderful production series called the Peach State Summer Theater Series. The PSST group consists of theater and fine arts students and professional actors that come together at Valdosta State University during the summer months to perform various plays. There is usually one children's play. This year the children's play was The Jungle Book. We had had such a great time last year, that we couldn't wait to go back again. Owen was old enough to go this year and the Murrays also joined us. Granny Mel was so kind to get tickets for all of us, and we had such a wonderful time. Before the play, we did a bit of shopping in Valdosta and had lunch at Cheddars which is- according to Granny Mel- the hot new restaurant in town. Melanie had gotten tickets really early and I think we had the best seats in the house. The kids loved the play, and it was just perfect for them. There was lots of action, and it didn't drag on. After the curtain call, the actors came back out and led the whole audience in singing "I wanna be like you". The kids already knew the lyrics from having watched the movie a million times, so they had no trouble singing along and doing the motions. When we exited the theater, the actors were outside to take pictures and sign autographs. My kids had their pictures taken with Bagheera, Baloo, and Shere Khan. I don't know what they're planning to perform next year, but it's going to be hard to top The Jungle Book.