Washington Farms

We continued our tradition of  kicking off the Halloween season by spending an afternoon at a local "farm festival." This year we selected Washington Farms, just north of Atlanta. 

Abby checking out all the "little pumps..." It was a long and arduous decision, but she finally picked a good one. 

Catie is ready for her annual ride on the cow barrel tractor ride.

Abster is looking good in her trademark shades!

Abby loved the huge jumpy pad and didn't want her turn to end.

Jackson and his good buddy Matthew jumping sky high....

Everyone was ready for the pig races to start. This is always a favorite event and watching the little piggies race through the water trough never gets old! 

This farm even had a petting zoo with chicks, rabbits and horses. The kids loved holding the animals but dad was afraid they would poop on his hands.

The swing tube was a huge hit with all the kids and a few adults too.

Jackson displaying his souvenir from the giant maze.

Thomas Todd Stien

As many of you know, Ann's brother John and sister-in-law Ann, had a baby named Thomas Todd Stien on September 6.  He measured 7 pounds 2 ounces and 19.5 inches long.  Thomas had a rough entrance into the world.  Ann had a placental abruption shortly before his birth, which means the placenta started to pull away from the uterine lining causing blood to fill into the amniotic sac.  As a result, Thomas swallowed a lot of blood and also got some into his lungs, all of which left him with a decreased oxygen supply.  He was transported to Children's Hospital in St. Paul, MN where he fought hard, but eventually lost his fight after two weeks.  Although his time with us was too short, he will live on in our memories forever.  
Heaven has gained an amazing and beautiful little boy.

Leader Telegram Obituary (9/23/12):

Thomas Todd Stien, age 2 weeks, died peacefully in his mom and dad's arms at Children's Hospital in St. Paul, MN on Thursday, September 20, 2012.

Thomas was born in Eau Claire to Ann (Hattamer) and John Stien on September 6, 2012.  He fought an all too brief but courageous battle, unfortunately never making it home.  He and his parents are very thankful for the great and loving care he received at Children's Hospital in St. Paul.

Thomas is survived by his parents, Ann and John, and grandparents, Margaret Hattamer of Holcombe, and Kim and Lorann Stien of Eau Claire.

 

Friends may offer condolences online at www.fullerspeckienhulke.com.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Thomas Stien Memorial Fund at Charter Bank in Eau Claire, with donations going to the NICU at Children's Hospital in St. Paul.

Lake Logan

The annual trip to Canton, NC and the Lake Logan Triathlon seemed to sneak up on us quickly this year. Since Ann Stien is 8 months prego, we only had four of us participate in the race. After a rainy night, the was weather astoundingly perfect and provided a great day to celebrate Todd's memory! 

We stumbled across this video that one of the participating triathlon clubs put together. They did a nice job and the first part really shows the beauty of the location.

  Bonus points for those of you that can spot Ann and Steve on the bike portion of the rather long video... don't blink!

The girls are proud of their mom and always cheer her on during the race. Unfortunately, that also means Mom gets no peace before the race! 

As usual, Ann had one of the fastest swims and then cruised on her flashy bike.

Stiv has not had a good wetsuit swim all year, but it did not matter as he had a race PR both on the bike and run.

After a season working hard with coach Suzann @ SRM Performance Training, Stiv PR'd every race he entered this year. Next year he is looking to go super fast!!!

Ann has been battling injuries for the last nine months that have kept her from running.  The good news is that she is finally able to run again, even if at this point it is slower than her usual speedy self. 

How many people do you know that can sit around eating with their pregnant wife all summer (John claims he is semi-retired from triathlons),  train for a few weeks and then win their age group? His name is John Stien....

The kids always have a blast horsing around with the McGee's during the races, even if Jax and Matthew spent the entire day on the Nintendo DS.

Stien Mountain Tri Team hanging out waiting for the awards. Congratulations to Donovan and John!

We had a big day! After the race was over, we drove back to Atlanta, quickly cleaned up and got dressed for a wedding that night!  The kids were so excited to see their buddy Kelly get married. The girls could not wait to see her "marrying dress."

Here's Dad, keeping Jax and Abster focused during the beautiful outdoor ceremony.

Catie was bound and determined to have a piece of the wedding cake. Mom & Dad ran out of gas well before the kids, and after a fun evening, we were finally able to depart shortly before 10 PM!

  Everyone was in bed and out cold within minutes of walking in the door for the night!

First Day of School

As usual, it is hard to believe, but it's time for the annual first day of school photos!

Jackson begins 5th grade and Catie is off to Midvale for 2nd grade.

Here is a behind the scenes picture of an upset Abby. She just woke up, but was also bummed because she is not going to Midvale for Pre-K. DeKalb County has a lottery system for pre-K and we were not one of the lucky ones, so Abby was slated for the Oak Grove pre-K program. Big news hit a few days into the school year, Abby was pulled from the waiting list and now has a slot at Midvale!!! This means big savings for Mom and Dad as well as only two schools for drop off instead of three....Yes!

Final Summer Activities

Camp Winshape

Winshape camp is always one of the kids' favorites and this year Catie joined Jackson for a week of fun. We are fortunate to live only a few minutes from the host for this year's camp.

Catie chose to participate in music, cheerleading, and painting. Initially she threw an epic fit because she did not want to do cheerleading, but after the first day it was her favorite! 

Jax chose basketball, secret ops and photography. We never did see any pictures, so not sure how photography went... kind of a mystery. He was also able to spend some time with his buddy Carter from his old school Midvale.

Big Bro and Little Sister showing their spirit on the last day of camp.

Catie spent the last week of summer at horse camp. If you have not figured out that Catie loves animals by now, then you have no idea how excited she was for this week! 

She was issued her own horse for the week! Her horse's name was Odessa and they became great friends.

She spent the week learning how to care for her horse "Odessa". She learned how to put on the saddle, feed and clean her.

 

By the middle of the week, she was riding Odessa by herself. She learned how to stop Odessa and turn her in both directions. No jumping was taught at this session... maybe next year.

Of course, Catie became fast friends with Sammie the local puppy. "Catie and Sammie will be BFF's forever," said Catie.

Jackson went to the Emory basketball camp run by the head coach. Coach Z was not only bald as the kids like to point out, but was a great role model for the kids with endless energy.

Jackson always shows a fondness for basketball, but never wants to practice in our driveway hoop. We have not figured this one out yet.

Jackson's team made it to the championship game, but came up a few points short in a tight battle. He was very upset by the loss because he really wanted to take home the title. Maybe next year...

Another winning outfit. Notice the boots.

Abby got the short end of the stick... again! She spent the week at Oak Grove, just like it was the regular school year. Her time will come!

The kids love spending the night in hotels, so we decided to spend two days up at Lake Lanier Pine Isle Resort to finish off a great summer.

The Ferris Wheel was a big hit and had some amazing views

The resort has all kinds of activities, such as an awesome water park, beach, pools, boardwalk and even zip lines! The tube rides and the wave pool were big hits with the kiddos.

What would a resort be with a fake trolley car?

We even got into the action with a midnight zip line course that is set up in the park.

Chattanooga Trip

While Jax and Catie were away, we took our "only" child Abby up to Chattanooga to spend some time seeing the sites and participating in the big Waterfront Triathlon. Abby was so excited to "go on a twip" alone without her siblings.

The trip started with an early morning wake-up for the Olympic distance triathlon. We took care of Abster by having a babysitter come over in the morning so she could sleep in! 

Once again, Stiv made the local news but no one will ever recognize him. There he is in the picture above, below the green arrow, getting ready to enter the swimming start on the dock.

This race is kind of unique because they have a time trial start, sending swimmers off down the river every 2 seconds. Kind of a nice change and it definitely makes for a fast swim.

It was another hot day in Chattanooga, but the results were much better than last year. It's just too hot and humid to go "super" fast on the run when you're old, so overall it was a good day.

Abby was looking forward to making the trip to Chattanooga without her siblings and told everyone at school that we were going on a trip to Chattanooga! She had a blast cooling off from the heat in the giant waterfall steps outside the aquarium.  

Future supermodel showing off her new bathing suit. Abby is already into fashion and loves to get dressed up in hand picked outfits and "high heel" shoes.

Chattanooga is actually a fantastic little town to visit with children. They have many activities all within a short walking distance from each other. The Children's Museum was a big hit with the Abster. She started off making beautiful paper flowers.

Mom was reading books to all that would listen in the library zone. Nice legs!

Abby decided that she was going to be the guest reader...

While all the reading was going on, Stiv started to feel a little tired from the race and decided to take a little nap in a remote corner of the Children's Museum! Father of the year! 

Our future Doctor was into the pretend medical office. "I am just like mommy!"

Abby participated in the hula hoop contest but needs some work to match some of the other kids incredible skills.