Triathletes Again!

 My girls continue their love for a healthy lifestyle.  This was the third year for the Sturgis Youth Triathlon now known as The Dave Locey Memorial Youth Triathlon.  Olivia wanted to compete again and Mia was now old enough to do so too.  The only hang up was she was not allowed to wear a life jacket for the swim portion.  With some encouragement she thought she could do it.  She had swam a full 25 yards at her last swim lesson a few months back.  I took her in to practice the night before and she clung to me or swam to the wall all the time.  I wasn't so sure how it would turn out, but still encouraged her to try.  The race day was Saturday, June 20th.

Miss Melanie helping Mia get ready

Mia, almost to the finish

In perfect Mia fashion, she didn't disappoint.  She was the last one out of the pool, but made it all the way down on her own.  

Climbing out after the swim portion.

heading out on her bike in the transition area.

She made up some ground in the bike portion.  The event is untimed and is to encourage children to have fun and enjoy being active, but as parents we take note of how they finish.

Coming in from the bike portion.

Heading off for the run

Strutting her stuff as fast as she can.

Crossing the finish line

Refueling at the snack station.

Chilling with Papa post race.

Olivia's age group was next.  We weren't worried in the least about her performance.  We knew she would try her hardest and do great.

Swimming strong.

She was first out of the water for her heat.

Heading to her bike.

Heading out.

And she's off.

And shortly later she's back, passing kids from the heat that was before her heat.

Off on the run portion.

Here she is trying to catch up with our good friend Lukas.  Lukas wasn't about to let her pass him, so it kicked him in gear too.  They both did fantastic!

coming in strong for the finish

Finish line shot

Post race picture of Mia, Olivia, and Lukas. 

Andy always times the girls.  Mia came in just shy of 9 minutes and Olivia right around 17 minutes (the distances are farther for Olivia's age group).  We are thrilled to see them have so much fun with these events and will be heading back to Goshen for the triathlon there in mid July.  Thanks to the Community Pool and Sturgis Elks for hosting such a fun event.  Oh, and Mia's picture made the front of the sports page in the Sturgis Journal on Monday, June 22nd.  

Girls On the Run...

Our girls have been active lately, and when I say active I don't mean just busy, I mean physically active.  The photos below are now old, but I still wanted to post.  Along with travel soccer, Olivia was busy with the Girls On the Run program.  It was a great program that not only got girls running, but taught them to be strong, confident, young women and to stand up for one another.  The culminating activity was a 5K held over at Constantine HS.  Of course this was also a night I had to coach Mia's soccer game, so I missed the start of the race, and we left Mia's game early to see Olivia's hard work pay off.

Nearing the finish line.  She twisted her ankle two days prior to this run during a soccer game too.

Here she is finishing strong.  Most of her close friends finished well ahead of her, but her ankle was pretty swollen by the time she crossed the finish line, so the fact that she finished impressed me.  We actually went to get it checked out afterwards, and ended up at the hospital getting x-rays and didn't get home until 10:30 P.M.  It was fine, which I knew it was, but better off safe than sorry I guess.

Chilling with her good friends Quinn and Brooke after the race.  Quinn finished first for the entire event, and it was a county wide program.

Great job to all the ladies who ran and helped put on this great race!

Another Soccer Season in the Books

Spring soccer has come and gone for both of my girls.  I once again coached Mia's team along side Sarah Smith.  We had such a fun time watching the girls grow and work as a team.  The weather was brutal most days, cold, rainy, windy, extreme heat...you name it we had it.  They still showed up and gave it their all.  Their progress this season was impressive and made me proud.  Especially since we moved up an age group this year and had such a young team.  Only one of our girls had played on the U8 team before, the rest always had played U6 or never played before.  Great season girls!

Our "Super Pink" team.

Super pink is what we screamed together in our huddle.

My camera only made it to one of the last games, and Mia and I had to leave early from that game to go to Olivia's Girls on the Run 5K.  I only snapped a few pregame team photos.

As well as Mia, Olivia also wrapped up a terrific soccer season with her travel team from last fall.  I did remember my camera for two games, but the first game we were rained out and sent home.  The girls on Olivia's team have grown leaps and bounds this season, not only as soccer players, but as friends too.  It was truly a joy to watch these girls blossom, and is quite sad to see it end.  Travel soccer try outs begin in the next week or two for the next fall/spring season, but age groups mean we lose some girls to the next age level, and new girls will be coming in.  Change isn't bad, but it's rarely easy.

Olivia taking the kick

And there it goes

So it's hard to see here, but Olivia is the far left orange player.  The goalie is hidden behind number 55.  Then between the legs of the player on the far right you can see the ball.  That ball is in the net, put their by Olivia!  She scored her first goal when her team was down significantly and they were scoreless for the game.  I was jumping up and down so excited for her.  I haven't had that feeling of pure joy in a long time.

Since I was busy jumping and celebrating, all my photos of her beaming smile afterwards were out of focus.  Oh well, I was relishing the moment.

Quinn (L) and Olivia (R)

Shortly after her goal, her good friend and teammate Quinn followed suit.  I took the two goal scorers to dinner at Olive Garden afterwards with Mia and me.

They did lose this particular game, but played as a true team.  They were passing, calling, working together and looked better than we had seen ever.  The coaches Matt, Geoff, and Ramon told the girls this.  They hadn't won a game yet this season, and had one tie on the books, but this was their best game.  The following day we headed up to Kalamazoo for their last game of the season.  Andy, Nana and Papa, Aunt Jen, and Robert all made the trip too.  They played a team that beat us pretty good before.  Well, not this time.  Our girls won 7-1!  Olivia was scoreless this time, but was an asset to her team.  She took a huge kick to the knee and had to be carried off the field with 10-15 minutes left in the game, but she happily cheered her team on from the sidelines.  Her knee will heal, but her smile, commitment to her team, and enthusiasm will live on in my memory forever.  The team celebrated their victory the following evening at Jimi Joe's for ice cream.  Thanks for a great season coaches!

A Millionaire Among Us

Both of my girls have a saving's account with Sturgis Bank and Trust.  Every Friday, representatives of the bank are at the elementary schools before school, so students who have accounts can deposit some money into their accounts.  Aunt Jen always comes to Congress School to see her nieces.  The amount can be a penny to a large sum, just to teach kids the importance of saving money.  Towards the end of the school year, students who participated are invited to enter an essay contest where they write what they would do with one million dollars.  Names are removed, and a panel of judges from the bank vote on the winners.  The winners are then dubbed, "Millionaires for a Day!"  They get picked up from school in a limousine and escorted off for a day of fun.  One million dollars is deposited into their account for the day and they get to keep the interest earned.  Olivia has entered four times now.  This year she wrote about donating half of the money for cancer research because her third grade teacher is currently battling breast cancer.  It was written from the heart, included some spelling errors, but was completely written by Olivia.  I thought this was her year.  Mia didn't show much interest in writing one having no previous knowledge of the program, but did one with my encouragement.  She wrote about buying a pedal tractor and food for kids who don't have food.  They choose one grade level winner from each building.  This year's winner......Mia Feyes for kindergarten from Congress School!

Since Aunt Jen works at the bank, she volunteered to chaperon.  

Mia, Lukas Yunker for 2nd grade, and Miley for 1st grade.  Mia was thrilled her buddy Lukas was going.  Also, Olivia's good friend Quinn won for the 3rd graders at Eastwood.

Time to load in.

The school came out to wave them off and wish them well.

They were whisked away to a day of laser tag and bowling, pizza, cruising around town, frozen custard from Culver's, a tour of the bank, including the vault, and were each given one dollar to make a deposit into their account while at the bank.  Mia loved it!