Trip to Cordele, GA

We completed our 4th (out of 5) triathlon over the weekend at Lake Blackshear in Cordele, GA. We met our friends the Somersets there, and rented neighboring cottages for the weekend. We were all excited about the race until we saw a sign near the swim which read, "Beware of Alligators." It seemed to work for Steve, as he suddenly turned into Michael Phelps for the swim portion. We don't have any race pictures because Josh was nice enough to watch all 5 kids (under 6 years of age) by himself!! He had his hands full... Thanks Josh!

This was a pretty big race for a sprint, with more than 300 people. We all had a great race. Who says you can't buy speed? Ann's new tri bike seemed to improve her bike as she finished 3rd overall for the women, and more importantly, 24 seconds in front of Steve. This was just Wendy's second triathlon and she had a great showing. We are trying to talk Josh into participating next year.

Jackson seems shocked at Ann's award...

After the race, Steve and Josh went golfing, and Ann and Wendy hung out at the pool with the kids. The kids had a blast swimming around. As usual, the Schwartz kids were on volume 10, and the other guests quickly cleared out and we had the pool all to ourselves.

Jackson and Naomi are playing some sort of river dolphin game in the hut tub. Following the swim, Steve calles from the 15th hole after hitting 2 straight balls into the water. He asked to be picked up because he was too exhausted to finish. He took a DNF on his quad-athlon as he did not complete the golfing portion. After a brief rest, we headed to friends of the Somerset's lakehouse. The kids had a great time... the highlight was going out on a "midnight" boat ride.

Ann has another baby!!!!

Well, not that kind of baby... But, Ann got a new Tri Bike! Here it is... the Trek TTX. Pretty flashy!

Lake Logan Triathlon

Saturday's Lake Logan Triathlon in Canton, NC was a big event for all. The race was an Olympic distance triathlon, 1.5k swim, 40k bike, and 10k run. This was a special event as Todd (Ann's brother) was the inaugural winner in 2006, and the overall winner's trophy bears Todd's name. The Todd Stien Memorial Fund sponsored cash prizes for the winning categories (overall winners, top swim time, top bike time, etc.). A group of us competed last year and this year we had even more participation! It was a phenomenal day... the weather was perfect, and it was a competitive field with almost 600 participants.

Steve looks so happy coming in from the bike leg (it took him that long to forget about his horrendous swim).

Off like a dirty shirt onto the run... Ann is looking fast!

The children were left alone for 3 hours without parental supervision, and once again, the results speak for themselves!

Six of us competed in the race. John had an awesome race, finishing 4th overall and first in the Masters Division. Steve put a lot of pressure on John to reclaim some of the prize money donated from the Todd Stien Memorial Fund, and John did win $100 for his first place finish. Ann H, in her third triathlon, continues to get faster. Once again, she has an unfair advantage with her high-end gear that she continues to unveil. Donovan had a great race and finished ahead of Steve again. Steve is convinced that Donovan is sandbagging his training sessions. On the far right is Trevor. Trevor not only had a strong race at Lake Logan, but did another triathlon the next day in Hiawassee.... CRAZY!!

Back at Stien Mountain, Jackson chills out on the bear rug to watch a bit of TV.

On Sunday, we rented a boat and went out on Lake Chatuge. We cruised around the lake for a bit, then threw in the anchor and went for a swim. The water was like bath water! We always forget how beautiful and peaceful it is out on the lake.

Steve and Catie, enjoying a swim...

Abster loved the wind in her face and being on the boat, despite the "straight jacket" flotation device.

To give Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle John and Ann H a break, we took the kids to Fun World. They have skeet ball (Ann's favorite), putt-putt, go-carts, and more. Above, the kids enjoying the inflatable slide. After playing for a bit, we cooled down with some ice cream.

Lucky for us, this is how Abby usually looks (smile on her face). Knock on wood...

Abigail turned 6 months old this week. This means that she finally gets to start eating real food. She has been showing great interest in food for the past month or two and has been grabbing for our food. She wasn't quite sure about the rice cereal at first, but did eat a pretty good helping.

Trip to The Land of Cheese and home of 60 degree weather in July...

We headed up to Wisconsin last week for our vacation. It was quite an eventful week, so many pictures will follow. Ann had her 20th high school reunion in Eau Claire, so we made a little trip out of this event.

Above, Ann and Catie are burning up the water slide at Fairfax Park. Catie loved it and went down several times. Jackson went down one time, and that was enough for him!

Jackson enjoyed playing the mailman at the Children's Museum. Steve continues to encourage Jackson to be a doctor or a "leader," however Jackson is more interested in being an artist, mail carrier, or "bathtub cleaner."

Here we are at Big Falls, one of Ann's favorite places as a kid. The "Big Falls" weren't quite as big as she remembered, but we had a great time swimming in the rapids with Grandpa nonetheless. Abby stayed home with Grandma Moe.

Abigail was baptized at University Lutheran Church... the same church where Jackson and Catie were baptized. Although I don't think Jackson and Catie will be invited back anytime soon, as they were a bit mischievous during the sermon.

Abby was good during the baptism because she was distracted by her beautiful dress. She loved the feel of the texture and it must have tasted good too because it was in her mouth the whole time.

The main event!! Here we are, heading out to Ann's 20th high school reunion, a dinner at the Country Club.

It was great to see everyone at the reunion. Here is Ann with her best friend from high school, Mary. Ann was as popular as ever at the reunion (just kidding).

We then drove to Milwaukee to visit Grandma Schwartz. As you can see, once again, the kids are a model for well-disciplined children (NOT!). Actually, they were good and enjoyed their visit with Grandma Schwartz, especially the trip to Winkie's Variety Store. Winkie's is a special place to Steve... he got caught shoplifting there when he was 4 years old!

Steve had lunch with Dave Wright, his old friend and mentor. This is a picture of Dave's new convertible SMART car. This is quite ironic for Dave to be driving such a green automobile as he is a world-famous industrial chemical salesperson!! We all took turns driving it and it is actually quite a fun ride.

We headed to the new Bayshore Mall with our friends, the Cowgills. The kids enjoyed playing with Halle and had a blast running around. Catie is still asking about her "new friend."

Jackson, Catie, and Halle...

Thanks to the grandparents for a nice visit and helping with the kids so much. Hope you have caught up on your sleep since we left!

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sandye visit

Catie and Jackson were playing airplane on their custom chairs and having a ball in anticipation of Grandma and Grandpa flying in for the weekend!

Grandpa Jim is mentoring the kids in the art of TV watching... As you can see, they got straight A's! For some reason, we didn't take many photos, and once again, Grandma Sandye evaded the camera. It was a short trip but we had a nice visit. Grandpa and Grandma were en route to pick up their new Scottie "Mason." On Saturday morning, we went to a birthday party at a park. We hung out at the house for the afternoon and then enjoyed an adult-only dinner.

Catie enjoying the birthday party balloons...

Jackson has been reading the books about Captain Underpants!! If you haven't read them, I would advise against it!!


Ann needed a "family photo" for her high school reunion this weekend up in Eau Claire, so here's what we came up with. Sorry Steve, but we needed someone to take the picture.

End of the Year Swim Team Party

We celebrated the end of the swim season over the weekend. Jackson seemed to enjoy it, although it seemed that the actual swimming was a distraction from playing with his friend Matthew.

Here is Abster, content as usual...

Jackson is proud of his trophy!

Here's Catie in her new pink swim suit, anxiously waiting for the awards to be finished so she can go swimming.

The night finished off with a parent vs. child relay. Here are mom and Jackson, getting ready to race.

Happy 4th of July!!

Photograph by Steve... Chamblee fireworks.

Early morning, on our way out the door to the Peachtree. Photo courtesy of Grandma Moe.

Another successful Peachtree Road Race. Our friend Brandie was talking about how every year, she is in front of Houston's, watching the Peachtree and cheering the racers on and to make sure we ran by so she could say hello ... So, we went WAY out of our way, weaving around many racers to get across the street to say hello, but no Brandie! (Later we find that she overslept from a Moon Pie hangover!!). We would have broken 50 minutes had we not had this detour. But, it was not a total loss. We got a tap on the shoulder near the end of the race, only to turn around and hear, "Hey guys, I'm your mailman!" Steve has thought that the mailman has been stalking us for years, and now I am starting to wonder.

After 3 years of wearing nothing but stretch pants and T shirts, Catie has decided that she loves dresses...

We enjoyed a 4th of July party in the neighborhood.

Catie was test driving a motorcycle from the local "CHIPS" precinct... That's "Chamblee Highway Patrol."

The Abster seemed to enjoy the fireworks... hopefully she does not have permanent hearing loss!

Jackson with Conner and Matthew, being silly as usual...