The Triathlon

I competed in the Megan's House Heels and Wheels Sprint Triathlon again this year.  I was a little worried that the event would be cancelled because they drained the lake back in the spring and it hasn't filled back up all the way yet.  The triathlon did take place, but the water level was low.  I could touch bottom in the middle of the lake.  How did I do?  Well, I finished in 1:39:49, which is about the same that I did last year.  I shaved two minutes off of my swim, but I added it right back with my bike.  I ended up sixth in my age group (which was last place).  This is the only triathlon that I do each year, and I always look forward to it.  It is fun and raises money for a good cause.

Skating

The kids and I went to Jesup a few weekends ago to go rollerskating.  When I was their age, we had a skating rink in town and it was THE place to have your birthday party.  Unfortunately, that rink is long closed and the one in Jesup seems to be about the closest one around.  This was the kids' first time on skates, so there was definitely some wobbling going on.  Both Olivia and Owen started out using the walker, but Olivia ditched it pretty quickly.  She preferred to just go around the rink on her own and cling to the wall as much as possible.  She really liked skating and by the end she could make it all the way around without falling. Owen on the other hand was not a fan of the skating.  He took off his skates after about 45 minutes and spent the rest of the time in the little arcade.    

Back to School

School has begun.  We have completed one full week so far.  That means we only have 35 more to go (hooray!).  The kids had a great week.  Olivia is in third grade and her big news is that she gets to change classes this year.  She has two separate teachers and will study different subjects with each.  Owen is in second grade this year.  His big news is that he will be getting pulled for speech therapy once a week.  He is pretty excited to start this.  Both kids will also continue in the WINGS program this year.  We are hoping for a great school year.

St. Simon's with Gigi and Papa

 Most of the teachers in our area had to go back to work for pre-planning last week.  My mom and dad agreed to watch the kids all week while us teachers went back to work. We are very grateful that Mama and Daddy agree to do this for us.  On Wednesday, they took all of the grandkids over to St. Simon's Island for a day of fun.  They went to the top of the lighthouse, visited the little waterpark (which you can see in the background of this first picture), played a round of putt-putt, had lunch with Aunt Quincy (who now works on St. Simon's), and got some ice cream.  Basically, they just had a really fun day.  What a great way to wrap up summer break.

Summer Vacation Highlights

 Summer vacation is officially over.  We will miss those long, lazy summer days but at the same time we are glad to be getting back to our normal routine.  We did have some good times this summer and I would like to take a moment to highlight five of the things that made this summer awesome.
#1- movie time.  The kids have gotten to the age where we can take them to the movies to see something other than cartoons.  We saw a couple of movies this summer including Inside Out, Jurassic Park, Minions, and Ant Man.  We are already eyeballing a couple of movies that we want to see later on this year (Star Wars).

#2- summer reading program.  Olivia and Owen participated in the library's summer reading program again this year.  They read books on a weekly basis and received little prizes for their efforts.  We also attended two programs at the library.  Their favorite was the guy who made balloon animals.

 #3- kittens.  The kids have been enamored with the kittens ever since they were born back in the spring.  We were able to find a home for the two female kittens, but we are still in possession of the males. These kittens offered hours of entertainment for Olivia and Owen this summer.

 #4- playdates.  Olivia had several playdates with her friend Hannah this summer.  Those girls get along very well together.  The two of them choreographed a dance to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off"- a dance which I have seen a trillion times this summer.

#6- fort building.  The kids have perfected their fort-building skills.  Toward the end of the summer we had a fort going up in the living room on a daily basis.  I made them disassemble it every night, but the kids were not deterred.  Each day the fort got bigger and more elaborate than the day before.  The final version had its own flag and various rooms.

We will definitely miss summer, but we are looking forward to football and cooler weather.

Ichetucknee Springs

I have to report back to work next week, so we decided to go tubing on the Ichetucknee as our "last hurrah" of summer.  The kids have never been before, so we decided to only do half of the river.  We started at the midpoint and floated for an hour and a half to the final take-out point.  They loved it.  I think next time we will do the full distance.  

The Ichetucknee is a spring-fed river in north-central Florida.  The water is clear and a bit cold- which makes it perfect for a hot day.  Owen stayed in his tube the whole distance, but Olivia liked to get out and swim.  She used her goggles to see the fish in the water.    

 After our float trip we returned our tubes and drove to the north entrance to the park.  There are a couple of natural springs at this end of the park.  We tried to swim in the very deep Blue Hole Spring, but it was crowded and the kids were reluctant to get in because it was so deep.  We ended up going to the Ichetucknee Head Spring instead.  It was a shallower and less crowded- there was even an area where Owen could stand, so he stayed there. We could easily see the opening of the spring.  Since the water flows from an aquifer, the spring maintains a super cold year-round temperature of 72 degrees.  We swam around the spring for a bit and then we headed home.  We all enjoyed our trip to the Ichetucknee very much and look forward to a return trip.

State Swim Meet

 Our last swim meet of the GPRA season was the district meet.  Swimmers who finished top three in each event qualified for state.  Olivia swam the 25 free and the 25 breast, but she did not qualify to move on so we thought our summer swim season was over.  About two days before the state meet we learned that one of the girls who had qualified to swim the freestyle relay at state would not be able to attend.  Olivia was asked to fill in as an alternate.

The state meet was a lot of fun.  The day began with a parade of participants. It kind of reminded me of the Olympic opening ceremony.  Each swim organization was called and the members walked in with a sign. The teams "dressed up" in different costumes for this- we were superheros.

The preliminaries were held in the morning and the top eight teams in preliminaries advanced to the finals in the afternoon.  Olivia's team almost made the cut but ended up finishing ninth by about 4 hundredths of a second.  It was so close.  Still we were happy to have had the opportunity to participate.

 I also want to give a shout out to this little man.  Owen has attended swim meets all summer.  He has sat for hours out in the heat so that his sister could compete.  I know it has not been fun for him, but he has not complained.  He was front and center to cheer for his sissy at the state meet.