Last weekend, the Stien Mountain Triathlon Team traveled to Macon for the Rock N Rollman. John, Donovan and Steve competed in the Half Ironman and Ann and Ann H., the sprint. It was another strong showing for Stien Mountain, as Ann was 3rd overall Masters (5th overall), Ann H. was 3rd in her age group, John was 1st in his age group (11th overall despite being injured) and Steve and Donovan finished their first Half Ironman in respectable time with limited training.
Ann H. is zipping up Stiv's wetsuit before the 1.2 mile swim. The Stien's were their usual speedy swimmers, as Ann was the second woman out of the water and John was top ten. Steve had his best swim ever and was only about a minute behind Donovan.
The "Anns" holding the latest hardware for the Stien Mountain Triathlon Team! 
Here is Stiv pretending to look strong near the finish of the 13.1 mile run in 90 degree heat and 5:44 of racing.
Check out the new uniforms that John had made for everyone...very cool! Notice the deer in the headlights look on Steve's face.
As usual, the kids had fun running around the event grounds during the race as Grandma and Grandpa Stien kept watch. We are convinced that someday soon, they are going to disappear and not return until the kids are old enough to watch themselves! This was a long hot day and we have to say THANKS for the help! 
We've had a set of geese spending part of the year in our neighborhood, and last week they decided to spend the week crapping all over our yard! So we did the only thing a good neighbor would do... we started to feed them in our neighbor Rich's yard! The genius plan worked perfectly!!!
Lots has been happening over the past few weeks. Above, Jackson at his awards ceremony at Midvale Elementary. Our little guy made the honor roll, excellence in art, and perfect attendance. He looked quite dapper in his shirt and tie!
Steve's new tri bike!
Here are the kids on Jackson's last day of 1st grade...
Jackson, in front of his school on the last day. He was thrilled because there were no book bags allowed on the last day...
Abster playing with a ball after Catie took over her car.
We headed to Tallahassee, FL over Memorial Day weekend to visit our friends Wendy and Josh. Despite a forecast of rain and storms, the weather turned out to be great! We checked out two different pools which the kids all enjoyed. After much deliberation, Jackson finally tried the slide, and as usual, couldn't get enough of it.
Catie had a blast playing with Naomi or "Sister" as she frequently called her. They were big into the face painting. It took a few hours to get her "lion face" above all washed off.
Jackson started his swim season. We had our first meet last night... I guess this is payback for all the years Grandma and Grandpa Stien spent with us at the pool as kids. The meet went until after 10pm. Jackson swam 3 events, the medley relay, 25 yd free, and 25 yd breaststroke. Above, Jackson and his friend Matt. Two peas in a pod... notice they are both missing the same front tooth!
Here he is, waiting for the breaststroke leg of the medley relay. He actually made the whole 25 yds without getting his hair wet!
And now, the 25 yd freestyle. He was thrilled to win his heat!!
We took a quick trip to St. Petersburg, FL over the last weekend in April for St. Anthony's Triathlon. This is one of the largest triathlons in the country and is the premier Olympic distance event in the SE, with around 4,500 participants. Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sandye came over from New Smyrna to spend the weekend with us. Actually, we put them to work for two days watching the kids and could not have done this event without them!!
One of the main reasons we chose this event was the ocean swim, something that neither one of us had tried before. Saturday, morning, Ann, Steve and Donovan excitedly made our way to the beach for a practice swim in the ocean. When we got there, it was windy with 3 foot breakers... this was not what we had envisioned! Ann and Donovan took off like two seals on holiday through the waves while Steve was fighting off nerves. After a good quarter mile test swim, even Steve felt ready for the swim on Sunday.
Race morning, Sandye and Jim arrived at our room at 5:30am to watch the still sleeping children while we made our way to the race. We had about a mile walk and half way there, we were informed that the swim was canceled due to high winds and large breakers creating dangerous conditions. "This was a historic decision," said the race director. "This is the first time in 26 years that we have had to do this." JUST OUR LUCK!!!
With the exception of the Pros who still swam, the event was turned into a Duathlon, and everyone tried to make the best of it. All of the participants started off in a line just outside the transition area, sent off 2 seconds apart. We ran into the transition area to our bikes, and started on the 40k bike, followed by a 10k run. We both had decent races, but were disappointed about the canceled swim leg of the race (Ann more so than Steve).
If you watch the attached video of the Pros racing, Ann and Steve are in the front row of the crowd at the 1:20 minute mark. We finally made it on YouTube! I guess that the trip was worthwhile after all!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjRUxiT05VA
Ann on the bike...
Steve finishing strong on the run. 
We also managed to fit in a trip to Busch Gardens Saturday afternoon. The kids had a blast walking around the park, looking at the animals and taking in a safari through the "Busch." Below are several pictures of our day there...
We know it has been forever since we've posted pictures! It seems like Easter was ages ago... We had some neighbors over for the 2nd annual Schwartz/Escoffery Easter Egg Hunt. Unfortunately, it was wet and rainy outside, so the egg hunt moved indoors, down in the basement. Here are the kids, anxiously waiting for Mr. Steve and Mr. Rich to finish hiding the eggs.
Off they go!!
Even the Abster got into the hunt and found an egg.
Jackson was very disappointed that we did not have carrots for the Easter Bunny. So, he left an apology note for the Bunny and some Oreos. Here, he is reading the Easter Bunny's reply.
Imagine that... Jackson getting Legos for Easter.
Catie was thrilled with her Lion King stuffed animals, Simba and Nala.
Here's Abby with her new baby...
We mentioned a few posts ago, that Jackson won "Principal for the Day" in the silent auction. He took his role very seriously and dressed the part.
Here he is in his office, getting ready for the busy day. He had a blast! First, he went to several classrooms and helped Ms. Wilson with teacher evaluations. He made sure that "all of the teachers were doing what they were supposed to do" and took notes on the "good things that they did." He then called a fire drill and helped make sure that everyone knew what to do in the case of a real fire. Next, he walked on the school nature trail to make sure it was safe for the kids. Finally, he also enjoyed a special lunch with Principal Wilson in the teacher's lounge.
Sarah and Catie playing dress-up in the basement... It looks like Catie is outgrowing her dress-up clothes!
The Wilsons had a great new slide setup for Landon's 1st birthday party. Everyone had a great time playing in the pool and eating several helpings of cake and ice cream! We can't believe Landon is already one... it's about time for number three!
Jackson finally throwing caution to the wind and sliding down head first. 
Abigail is showing off her new swimwear... pink is her color.
Catie is starting to gain confidence in the pool and is just about ready to start swimming by herself. When she accidentally swallows pool water, she lets out the loudest burp you have ever heard. Seriously, several times we have had the entire pool stop and look around at what made such a sound.
A serious game of chicken between the Voelzkes and Schwartzs (or is it Schwartzes?). Unfortunately, Dan's "tonnage" makes such a solid foundation it was no contest.
Catie started swimming on the Junior Penguins swim team this summer. As a four year old, she was the youngest one on the team. She started out only "torpedo-ing" five or six feet off the wall. After a couple of weeks on the team, she was ready to participate in the year-end Junior Penguin Mini Meet. She swam the entire length of the pool freestyle (with some doggy paddle) and had only slight assistance during the backstroke. 
Catie is extremely excited by her fourth place ribbons! She is so proud to earn ribbons one year before her big brother!
