Habitat for Humanity Triathlon

We now have another official member of the Stien Mountain Triathlon Team. Lesley McGee decided she was going to get back into shape after having baby Brennan last year and signed up for the Habitat for Humanity Triathlon as motivation. After only six weeks of training, she managed to get herself in shape and finished the triathlon in style. It was really quite an accomplishment. Donovan, Matthew and Connor were all very proud.

As you can see from the picture, Stiv decided to do the race at the last minute. He figured that it would be a good chance to finally beat a McGee....

The sprint race was on a tough course with extremely steep short hills. To top it off, it was raining for 90% of the race with thunderstorms during much of the bike portion. What a setup for Lesley's first triathlon... after this, the next one will be a breeze.

Notice the rain in picture below... at least no one over heated...

Stiv finally broke through and managed a third place in his age group! We kept trying to take different angled photos to try and make the mini-trophy look bigger! One award down and about 75 more to go to catch up to Ann's trophy count....

This picture shows the kids clowning around prior to the race. It was one of the few moments that the rain stopped. Connor and Matthew participated in the kid triathlon later in the day and both won trophies. Jackson was reading in the car during the race.... "It's too rainy outside..."

Catie making the most of the day...

This is actually how everyone felt about the day!

That evening, we went out to dinner at the Shores and upon our arrival home, found Abster sleeping in the position above. I guess everyone was wiped out from the long day.

Abster has started getting ready for "school" just like her older siblings.

This is why playdough should be banned from all residential settings... what a $#@% mess!!

First Day of School

Jackson and Catie ready to start the school year! It is hard to believe that class start in early August...it just does not seem right.


Catie is excited to start Kindergarten at Midvale and thinks she is so cool because she has Jackson's old teacher Ms. Aycock! Truth be told, we are happy too because she is far and away the best teacher.


Here they are entering the school together for the first day. Jackson was a great big brother and was very serious about showing Catie the ropes. He said "Dad, if Catie gets in trouble at school they can call me to take care of it instead of bothering you or mom."


Ready to start 3rd grade with Ms. Walker. "I got the best seat in the house!"


Catie started her first day of school like a veteran and walked in like she owned the place. She said a quick hello to her teacher and then went and found her name tag.


She was extremely happy to have been seated next to her friend Lizzie! I wonder how long this will last? They are having a blast together so far!

Lake Logan 2010

It's hard to believe that the first weekend in August arrived already and with it, our annual trip to the Lake Logan Triathlon. The event takes place in the mountains of Western North Carolina and provides a gorgeous backdrop for the race. The Atlanta Summer has been relentlessly hot and humid, with most days well into the 90's. The weather was a real treat, as race day temperatures did not get into to 80's until the race was over. It was such a relief racing in such perfect conditions. This is a special race as Todd won it the inaugural year. The winning male's award (pictured above) will "forever" bear Todd's name in his memory.

As usual, we were up early race morning packing all the gear and corralling the kids into the car in a desperate effort to get to the race venue before 6 AM. For the fourth consecutive year, we took a wrong turn on the way to the race and were late! Above, the bikes are ready to go!

Unfortunately, Abby was not quite ready yet...

This is a picture of the 40-45 year old swim wave start. Both John and Stiv started in this wave. John is off to the right out of the picture, but Stiv is right in the front row center checking his watch. What you don't see is Stiv running to the swim start after the race had already started or the series of unfortunate events that led up to the frantic start. Most notable of these events was an incident involving the porta potty. As we pulled into a parking spot far from the race start, Stiv spotted a much needed porta potty right near the parking spot. He ran in, but in his haste, accidentally dropped the car keys right into the toilet (keep in mind it was still dark out!). We won't go into all the details, but in a frantic moment, Stiv reached in, felt around the bowl and fetched the keys right out! Yes, it was as disgusting and hilarious as you are thinking!!

Here is Ann... leading the way towards the end of the mile swim.

Stiv is having some type of difficulty with his glasses prior to the bike portion of the race.

Here comes super mom heading into transition after a good ride.

After a quick change into her running shoes, Ann is off to the races!

Stiv is finishing the race stronger than anticipated.

Post race...

Donovan and John, watching the remaining finishers and discussing their performances. Is that a smile on John's face???

Ann won her age group and got a nifty Lake Logan coaster as an award.


Here's the team after another bunch of great races. John took third overall, behind a couple of professionals that showed up for the race. Ann Hattamer and Steve pulled off PR's and Donovan finished ahead of them both.

Check out the new Stien Mountain tent that John had made so Kim and Lorann would have a shady place to hang out at our races... pretty cool!

The kids enjoyed swimming in the river and jumping off the dock to stay cool.

Long after the race was over, Jackson and Catie were still hanging out by the dock on the gorgeous river.

The kids enjoyed swimming with Grandpa at the "fancy" motel pool the night before the race.

Look out below!! It's a Catie Cannonball!!!

And another goggle shot...