Jackson participated in the County Swim Meet this year, and was surprised to find our mailbox decorated in preparation for the meet. The folk around here take the county meet very seriously, and it is amazing the work that the Leslie Beach Club volunteers put in to getting our team ready for the event. Maybe next year Jackson will actually care as much.
Jackson and his friend Matt before the Medley Relay..."Which stroke am I swimming again?"
Jackson diving in for his freestyle... He did not like the pool because it had the "coldest water in the world"!
Here are the 6 & under girls at the end of the year swim team awards ceremony. Catie was thrilled to get a trophy! She may not look it by her size, but she was the youngest swimmer on the team.
Jackson did a bit of "grandstanding" when he got his trophy!! His shenanigans made us so proud... every time we look at this picture we just shake our heads.
The "Stinky Zoo" is always a hit with the kids... one of the kid's favorite parts was riding the mechanical horses at the entrance.
We got up early on July 4 to run the Peachtree Road "Race" (12 years in a row for Ann, 9 for Stiv, and 7 years of babysitting for Grandma)... Our friend Brandie actually woke up early enough to watch the race in front of her condo and snapped a few action shots...
Abster in her patriotic 4th of July outfit. She is growing into quite the busybody.
Here we are at the Chamblee fireworks, waiting for night fall. The fireworks turned out awesome this year and were extraordinarily load. Catie was so frightened that she kept her head buried under Daddy. After, she claimed that she saw them because she "peeked."
LBC had pool games on the 4th. After about 15 minutes of whining, Jackson finally agreed to participate in the Cowboy relay... he had to swim a length of the pool with the noodle and cowboy hat.
The last race was the shaving cream relay race... the kids kicked across the pool, transferred the glop of shaving cream to the other teammate, who then kicked back across the pool.
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!!
Catie had Isaac over for a sleepover last weekend, and they quickly dawned their Superman/Supergirl costumes and had a blast running around the house. It was a fun night as they did not fall asleep until after 11 pm and were up "chatting" at 4:30 in the morning.
The girls on the tractor... Abby wants to do whatever her sister does....
We have not brought out the white trash jumpy house in awhile, and the kids had a great time... even if Ann put it over the maximum allowable weight level!
We think our sweet little Abby is turning "bad"! She is well on her way to winning the prize for our most high maintenance 17 month old. This girl is into everything or on top of it!! She is a real climber... everytime we turn around, she is up the stairs or sitting (or standing) on the dining room table with big smile on her face.
Catie talked Ann into buying a face painting kit on a recent trip to Target. Here are a couple pics of Ann applying her "artwork" to Catie's face.
Catie had her buddy Isabella over for face painting "facials" and dress up. These two either get along like two peas in a pod or oil and water... guess which day it was...
Saturday night, Steve decided to cook a new recipe for everyone. He looked up the recipe and watched a video online to ensure the meal would be made to perfection. Then he made a special trip to Publix to purchase all the ingredients. As you can see, it turned out perfectly and we all enjoyed a good laugh and trip to McDonald's!
