Colorado Visit Day One

Did you know birds eat stir fry? Well, Ryland was helping the birds in Colorado out and made a little stir fry for them. As you can see it isn't the type of stir fry that we normally think of. I guess this concoction is bird stir fry. It is so fun to watch the grandkids in action! Ryland just wanted to help mother nature out a bit.
Keri relaxing on the deck after I arrived in Colorado. Well, she doesn't really look relaxed does she. She sort of has the MOM, what are you doing look. Get used to it! 4 days of picture taking to come Keri!
We took a little shopping trip after I got there and found a Rockie's ensemble for Easton!
Grandma and the adorable boys! So happy to be here to see all of the family!
The first adventure in Colorado was a Rockies game. Keri decided it would be a great adventure for all of us to take the train to the game. She is buying tickets here. Good idea Keri! We zoomed right by all the traffic that was backed up in downtown Denver.
The train!


Off the train and in the train station!
I always see these bikes and drivers outside of sporting events. Keri reminded me that I had taken one at a play that we went to with my mom in Arizona. My driver then was kind enough to pedal me back to the car because I forgot the tickets. Oopps. This time there was no need to return to the car for tickets. Keri had them. Fun ride!
This was a first for me. Keri and Mark bid on some tickets and won. They were in a suite. Fancy!

Suite 39 here we come!

All the food we could eat. Beer, wine, water, pop! Wow! This was livin' life in luxury!

If we wanted to be outside we just stepped out the door and had seats behind home plate on the second level.
Ryland and Easton love this baseball thing. Ryland watched the game intently!
So did Easton but for just a minute or two. He loved going into the suite and then back out to the seats over and over again! :-)
Happy happy! Ryland and my beautiful daughter Keri!
Keri, Ryland and me!
The view from the suite!
We could hang out inside the suite and watch the game on TV if we wanted to!
Game over and we sped away on the people powered bikes.

Off to the train station for a ride back on the train.

What a fun day and evening! Loved being with Keri and the rest of the family! We all loved the baseball game although I think we need to work on Mark a bit. He thinks baseball moves too slow. WHAT! We will try and convert him!

Lucy for a Day

The simple pleasures of life. If hanging out with a one year old for a day doesn't help you to focus on the simple pleasures of life I don't know what does. Layne, Kristin, and the cousins went to Silverwood for the day and I spent the day with Lucy. Lucy, so full of joy!We always take walks when the girls are here. This might have been my first walk with Lucy by herself. The simple things fascinated her. A pine cone to investigate! What is all that stuff sticking out of it?

There are sticks to throw. No toys necessary. God provided them for Lucy today!
Pick it up and throw it again. Fun!
Oh, and the neighbors yard showed lots of promise for a good time!
And of course there are those curbs. Up she goes!
And down she goes over and over and over again! Priceless!
Last but not least the hill in the front yard. Lucy is 1! She decided she would hike up the steepest part of the hill. I didn't think she would make it without help! It is really steep as you can see!
Here she is on the top! She looked at me and I could see it in her eyes...Told you I could make it grandma! You are a star Lucy!
The piano is always fun!
A little dancing to top the afternoon off!
What do you think about when you look in the mirror? I think about wrinkles and aging and what I don't like about my face. Especially when I am holding a one year old next to me. We have it all wrong you know. It isn't about wrinkles and aging. When Lucy looks in the mirror she laughs and has fun with the person across from her. She just loves looking in the mirror.
That's how it should be for us older folks too. We should celebrate the years that we have been given and enjoy the person that looks back at us in the mirror. A child a God and created in His image. We should be celebrating that!
Lucy and I had a great day together. She is a precious joyful little person. Full of spunk like her mom!
Love you Lucy! You are a light in my life! Thanks for sharing the day with me!

The Danskin Sprint Triathlon Aug. 15, 2010

Here we are Sunday morning 5:15 AM in an empty bus. WHAT? Where is everyone? Turns out I had the wrong parking lot in mind for the shuttle. I lead everyone to the Qwest parking lot and it was the Safeco parking garage. Now this could have been a big problem especially for me because I had the first starting time. Turns out it wasn't a huge problem because a couple of the bus drivers made the same mistake and were waiting at Qwest field. I think God was watching out for us. The bus driver figured out what was going on and drove us to Safeco a few blocks away! Whew! Sort of a stressful way to start the day.No cameras for pre-race. No time at all. By the time I got ready to go it was time to take a dip in Lake Washington. Katie came to watch the event and take some pictures afterwards. Thanks Katie. It was the best to see you at the finish line and hear you yelling MOM, MOM! Loved it! Here is the finish line bubbles and all.
The race went pretty smoothly for all of us. The swim went a lot better for me than at Chelan. No problems at all. It was 800 yards. Of course I was so relaxed for it that it took me way longer than it normally did in workouts. That is OK though because relaxing was the most important thing this time.
The volunteers waiting to take those timing chips off our ankles after we finished!
Here I come crossing the finish line water bottle in hand.
Getting my medal and giving a little wave to the camera!
Deanna, Freida, and I are finished. We started in waves. The oldest start first so I was done before the other walkers because I am older! Here I am hanging out with the runners even though I didn't run. I tried a couple of times but too much pain in my knee. Of course I managed to jog across the finish line.

The bike went smoothly except a little fall at the dismount area. I unclipped both my shoes and went to step down and crash! I guess one wasn't unclipped all the way. The volunteers all ran over to see if I was OK. YES! I am just fine! It was a minor crash but it did leave some marks!
AHHHH! Massage anyone!
This is a big race and lots of family and friends come to watch and support. The last 2 miles on the bike the road is lined with people cheering. It was pretty cool. The finish is packed with people cheering too.


We never did get everyone together at the end for a picture. We all finished at different times because of our start times being different. Here we add Sheila to the finishers.


Lots of silliness for sure!
Thanks Katie for getting up early to come see us and cheer us! The pics are great!
Sheila, Deanna, Jackie! Mariane and Emily also finished with flying colors. If you have pictures girls I would love to add them to the blog!
Love this shirt. Team survivor! If you are a cancer survivor you were given a survivor shirt! They actually have a club that provides training for these events for those who have had cancer. Pretty cool I might look into it because I am a survivor. Yippee and thank God for that!
It was a great day. Swim 800 yards. The waters were calmer than in Chelan for sure. Took me way too long to swim it but I had no problems. Bike 12 miles. Lots more hills than Chelan. Tougher course but I had about the same time as I did in Chelan. Walk 3.1 miles with a pace of 14:14 which was better than in Chelan. I was happy with my overall 2 hours and 6 minutes time. My goal now is to do a sprint in under 2 hours. I came home and got right online to find another triathlon nearby to do. No luck so it will have to wait until next year! Now training for the Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in Denver starts!!! Praise the Lord that we can all do these fun things!