Splish Splashing

One wonderful feature with our new home is the pool.  We are getting a lot of use out of it this summer.  Mia was the first to take a dip, when she fell in before we even had a chance to clean it.  It was the absolute most filthy thing I had ever seen, but after vacuuming, a new pump, blowing out the lines (we had a plastic 6 inch tent stake stuck in the line) and some chemicals, we were swimming in it six days later.  We've had many friends over for swimming.  The girls are in the pool almost every day.  I enjoy it, but come to find I enjoy a rainy or cool day now and then.  I am always on "mommy watch" and can't enjoy it so much myself, that it's nice to not have a day of sitting in the hot sun watching the girls and their friends swim.

The girls even got Grandpa McNeil to go down the slide.

Jimmy Lamb striking a pose as he enters the water.

Mia and Abe saying good byes.  It was wonderful having the Randalls here for quite a few weeks this summer.  They came and swam on many occasions.  

Mia snapped a picture of Tina and I after our final swim together.

The girls loving on each other poolside.

Emma and Olivia getting ready to jump.

And there they go.  Splash!

The pool truly has been a blessing.  Now our focus has turned to the outside of the home instead of the inside.  There is crack that is increasingly getting bigger in the top step of the pool that allows it to leak water.  We are trying to wait patiently for the company to come and fix it, meanwhile we are refilling the pool almost daily.  Our biggest project is concrete work.  The rooflines have the gutters all draining at a couple spots and the ground slopes towards the house.  We are digging down, piping it all away from the house and pouring concrete over and sloping it away from the house.  It's been fun (sarcasm).  Hopefully it is done in the near future.  We are currently in the "it has to look worse before it looks better" stage of this process.  

If you're in the neighborhood, bring you suit and towel and come on over for a swim!

A Duo of Triathletes!

After this morning, all the Feyes girls in our household are now officially triathletes!  Both Olivia and Mia completed the Goshen Kids' Triathlon.  Nana, Papa, and Aunt Jen braved the grueling walk over from the far off parking and hustling all over the park to cheer on the girls.  Thanks for your support!  

A prerace photo of the duo

The triathlon consisted of a 25 meter swim, 1.2 mile bike ride, and finished with a 1/2 mile run for both girls.  Next year, Olivia will move up to the next age bracket and have a longer duration of all events.

It's hard to see because only one parent is supposed to be inside the pool area, but that's Olivia's arm in the water in the end lane with Andy watching on.  She was the first out of the pool in her heat.

And she's off on the bike portion.  The bike is her strongest leg I would say.

She lowered her seat, and didn't appear as comfortable as usual to us, but she still did great.

Finishing strong!

Almost there

And she's finished.

High fives from dad.  (Thanks to Aunt Jen for taking a lot of these photos.  I actually wasn't at the finish line, because Mia was getting ready for her heat to start.)

Mia swimming with all smiles!

She's out of the water...

and off she goes...

On her bike...

rounding towards the finish line.

The end of the bike course is near.

Running hard.  She was definitely getting tired.

Finishing strong still.

And she officially completed the race!

Two happy girls for their post race picture!

Andy hoisting Mia up to reach the misters in the tent and cool off.

Some of you might recognize the two boys pictured here too.  Mia's buddies Easton and Cooper were there cheering on Mia along with their sister Lola and two cousins!  It was a pleasant surprise for all of us.

A photo opp with Lola and her cousin Alexa.

Now we added Lola's cousin Myla to the picture too.  Olivia had a friend, Brooke, compete today as well, but we never managed to get a picture with her.

A family photo

Mia placed 5th for her age group!

Olivia placed 4th for her age group!  Way to go girls!  Mommy and daddy are very proud of your hard work and not giving up.  We celebrated after the big race at Olive Garden with Nana, Papa, and Aunt Jen.

4th of July 2014

We arrived in Alpena on Thursday, June 26th in the early afternoon.  After a new battery was purchased for the tractor and the lawn was mowed, the girls both enjoyed their 4 wheelers.  Mia was safer than I expected and we had no 4 wheelers colliding into each other.  Olivia was always aware of where Mia was on the trails and would slow down and pull aside if Mia was heading straight at her.

Mia tearing up a new trail.

Both my girls having a blast.

Mia did occasionally get stuck.  We had her throttle turned down low so she couldn't go too fast.  This caused her to get stuck going up hills a few times.  She also veered off course once or twice, and according to Olivia rolled her 4 wheeler over once.  She was just scared by it, but thankfully not hurt in the least.  She got right back on once Andy got it unstuck for her and off she went.

Mia has also been discussing buying Grandma Janie a princess balloon for over a month.  So we headed out and let her pick out a princess balloon and took it to her grave site.  The whole life and death concept is still quite a confusion for Mia, but she is full of questions and eager for answers.  

John and Esther arrived in Alpena on Tuesday, while Jennifer and Robert showed up on Thursday the 3rd of July.  My dad and Patty had all of us over for a delicious dinner on the deck the night Jen and Robert arrived.  Andy decided on our way over that it was high time he got Mia her own fishing pole, so we stopped at Dunham's and she is now the proud owner of her first pole.  So they dabbled with fishing a bit that evening off the deck.

We were also blessed with a gorgeous double rainbow that evening.  The second one is off to the right a bit and harder to see.  It was more prominent at different times.  Seeing the reflection of it off the water was quite a sight.

A view of the full rainbow.

The Fourth of July in Alpena means the annual parade.  We got ourselves parked in our usual spot and Aunt Julie and Uncle Dale were there with their family as usual.  The parade didn't disappoint and was full of fun with every float that passed on by.

Mia drinking her frozen lemonade courtesy of Aunt Jen.

Neiman's grocery store passed out (delicious) bagels, toilet paper, and bottles of water.  When the humane society was walking dogs by there was this little guy who kept sitting down and refusing to walk.  I offered them my bottle of water.  Boy was that guy thirsty, and soon we had about five dogs over drinking in front of us.  The girls loved it.  We found it comical that the humane society of all places, were the ones without water for their dogs.  Granted we sit at the tail end of the parade, but regardless, we were glad we could help.

After the parade we headed to Ocqueoc Falls.  We went last year and loved it, but Robert and Jen had never been.  The weather was perfect for it.  Not too hot or cold, and the water was refreshing.

Jen all smiles after a fall into the river.

A gorgeous view from part of the falls.

Mia walked all the way to the top with us this year.  I left my camera behind for most of that trek.  I know my clumsy limitations and thought that best.  When we returned, Mia hung with Nana and Papa, while the rest of us headed downstream, to which I braved it and took my camera.

Jen and Andy.  No Andy is not pregnant either.

Olivia and I stopping for a photo opportunity in one of the waterfalls.

When we got back and were heading up the rocks, we heard people discussing a rattle snake.  This little guy scurried under some of the rocks that people go up and down.  I'm sure glad he retreated away and no harm came to him or anyone else.

Nana and Papa relaxing.

Andy and I (mainly Andy) got some more work done on the barn this year.  It may  not look like much, but we are pleased with it.  The window upstairs was added to let a much needed breeze and natural light source upstairs.

Stairs were built to have access to the upstairs.

A view of the upstairs.  It was just enough of a project to get done.  We were able to accomplish the project in about 2 days, giving us time to enjoy ourselves and time with family.

A view from the upstairs window.  

Another big accomplishment was we sold the main camper!  We didn't get much for her, but she was leaking bad, and someone was willing to take her off our hands and put a little extra spending cash back in our pockets.  Needless to say, we slept in the barn the entire trip.

 Olivia playing ladder ball at the motel with some kids and Robert. 

Mia ready for the fireworks.  She stayed awake for over half of them this year.

Snuggling with Nana.

I put my camera up for the fireworks, but they were again, phenomenal.  Other parts of our trip that happened, but were not documented with photographs were lots of shopping, eating great food, the Besser Museum, Wineries, miniature golf, and Mia getting her ears pierced!  (That ordeal is a whole blog post on its own)  Andy does have photos and video of that on his phone.  Thanks to all our family for making it another wonderful and memorable fourth of July!