Olivia the Tri-Athlete!

The big day has come!  Olivia competed in her first official triathalon today and made us soooo proud!  Goshen, IN held their annual kids' tryathalon today.  This is the first year we knew about it.  When we got there we were excited to see some other Sturgis faces in attendance.  The Gottschalk family whom we know from Andy's Stingrays days were there.  Skylar had already finished and Laci was getting ready. 


Laci, Olivia, and Skylar

Olivia getting ready to enter the water.  (25 meter swim)

She swam well, but got going sideways 2/3 of the way down and hit the lane marker and that slowed her down.  She stopped and had to get herself straightened out and swimming again.

Daddy helping her out of the water.  (They let one parent on the pool deck to help their children.)

And she's off on her bike for the 1.2 mile ride.  This is the leg of the race that she flew!  One of my sister's good friends happened to have a son who swam a few heats before Olivia.  She was waiting for her son to come towards the end of the bike route, when holy cow, "Could that be Olivia already?"  Sure enough, she came in before quite  a few kids on her bike making up for some time lost in the swim.

Flying in to the end of the bike loop.

A parent is allowed to accompany the kids on the 1/2 mile run portion too.  Skylar volunteered to run with Olivia.  We were grateful, and I think it helped keep Olivia motivated.  The run was the part I was worried about with her.  She doesn't like to run very far.  She did lose a little ground on the run, but still did great.

Getting ready to cross the finish line.

And she made it!  Doesn't she look tuckered out?

Her final time was 17 min. and 40 sec. putting her in third place for her age group!
Awesome job Olivia!

Mia hugging on Olivia as all the girls cool off in the misting tent.  Skylar and Laci did awesome too, placing high amongst their prospective age groups as well.  It was a super fun event that we definitely plan to do again next year.  Olivia said she loved it and had so much fun.  After we headed to Olive Garden with the Gottschalks for some much needed lunch and air conditioning.

Independence Day 2012

Another 4th of July has come and gone.  We spent the week as we usually do, in Alpena.  We are so thankful we were there.  We enjoyed absolutely beautiful weather the entire time, topping off in the 80s typically, while Sturgis battled with over 100 degree temps the entire week.  Andy's parents and Jennifer joined us in Alpena on Sunday.  The following day we headed out on a glass bottom boat tour of the many shipwrecks in the Thunder Bay.  Crystal clear green waters made it so easy to view the remains of what once was a great freighter, barge, or schooner that sailed our Great Lakes.  The crew were entertaining and could answer all kinds of questions.  It was perfect weather and an enjoyable ride.

Esther and John with Olivia standing in front of Lady Michigan, the boat we sailed on.

A view of some wreckage.  I can't recall what ship this was.

Olivia letting the wind hit her face and blow through her locks.

John and my dad at the annual parade.

The girls standing ready to retrieve gobs of candy.

The motel John and Esther stayed at was on the beach and butted up next to the Starlight Beach, which had it's annual Sand Castle building competition.  It was cool to see all the creations.  I didn't get any pictures of them, but they were amazing.  They also inspired Olivia.  Above she is posing with her sand turtle creation, and yes, her turtle is tipping back on a wine cooler.

Mia and Aunt Jen anxioulsy waiting for the fireworks.

As always, the fireworks didn't disappoint this year.  We thought they might at first when we saw two huge fireballs eruppt at the start.  We were sure that a huge amount of them went up together, and someone had to have been hurt.  No sirens were ever heard, and they were spectacular as is the norm.  Glad no one was hurt and we got to experience the deafening grand finale that we've grown a custom to love.

Mia and Olivia sitting on the sand couch that Olivia constructed.  Not too visible here, but there was also a coffee table and a television.  Mia is also doing her "rapper" pose as Aunt Jen refers to it.

The week was filled with a little work on the property, followed by time with family.  We visited the local winery on our only rainy day, but the rain didn't last long.  We spent some days lounging by the beach and soaking up the sun's warm rays.  Routines and schedules were completely thrown out the window.  If Mia did manage to get a nap it was not near her usual time.  The girls rarely got to bed before 10:00 and some nights 11:00, but memories were made and will be cherished. 

Our last night at the property dad and Patty came for a cookout.  It's great to have all our family together to enjoy the beauty of Alpena and celebrate Independence Day.

Our patriotic display.

We loved spending so much time with Mother Nature, but sometimes Mother Nature bites, literally.  Being in the woods, you're bound to get mosquito bites.  Mia and Olivia had a fair number after the first night there.  Overall the mosquitos weren't really that bad this year, but poor Mia and the mosquitos didn't quite get along.  Monday evening we noticed one of her mosquito bites looking blistered and infected.  We popped it, cleaned it, and bandaged it up.  The next day it still was looking discolored around it, plus she had another blister between her toes on the same foot, but not as bad.  We found a Dr. Office with walk in hours and headed in.  Sure enough, he agreed it was infected and prescribed some antibiotics.

Mia's poor foot.

On the drive home, we noticed a mosquito bite on Mia's face just below her cheekbone, start to turn white and as we got closer to Sturgis, it started to swell some.  By night time, it was noticabley swollen.  This morning she couldn't open her eye.  Since it is Sunday, we headed to the ER since not many other options are available.  They gave her a shot of steroids that she took like a trooper.  They also prescribed steroids and another antibiotic.  Hopefully this clears it all up.  Her swelling has been going down already today.  We debated spending a large chunk of change on a mosquito eater machine that is supposed to keep over one acre clear.  Now with Mia's reactions, I think it's no longer a debate, we will be getting one before we head up again.

We stopped in East Tawas on the way home for a few hours to visit with the Mighty Doyle Clan.  It's always good to see them.  Then it was a smooth sailing, little traffic, uneventful drive home.

Another greath 4th of July is in the books for us.  We hope the same is true for all of you!

Cyclops Mia - thankfully it doesn't seem to bother her at all.  She laughs about it more than anything.

Sisters in the Garden

Summer is officially here, and I wanted some photos of my girls that scream summer.  The color yellow just resonates summer in my mind.  And no other place do I know with such gorgeous summer flower gardens than Dave and Sharon Smith's home.  Nana Sharon and Papa Dave as they are lovingly referred to by my girls allowed us to come over and snap a few photos.  I am by no means an expert photographer, but I grabbed a few cute ones I think.

 

I love Olivia's expression in this picture.

Mia and Olivia sitting together.

This is my girls sad attempt at being pirates.  They were saying "Arrrr," and then Mia tried covering her eye, like a patch and Olivia followed suit.

Olivia has always loved the camera and to pose.  She was so easy to get to take photos and would come up with great ideas all on her own.  Mia on the other hand, wanted to do what she usually does at Nana and Papa's house, play!  Because of this a lot of the photos I took of Olivia look overly staged and fake, but I got tons of her.  That meant Mia I got fewer of, but hers are more genuine, since they were usually Mia in action.

 

I was trying to get Mia to smell the flowers.  She said, "Ewww, smell this Olivia."  I love the honest expressions she conveys.

Mia started doing this prayer pose all on her own. 

I think this was my favorite picture of the day.

 

Mia wasn't really mad here.  I just asked her to make her grumpy face, and she can do that face anytime anywhere. 

 

 

 

 

They wouldn't be sisters without a little hair pulling.

We had a fun morning playing in the garden and enjoying the sunshine.  Now we'll have some great photos that epitomize summer and sisters.

The Beginnings of Summer

The beginning of summer always means busy times.  This blog entry is just randomness that has been going on lately and in no particular order.


Mia's been acting so stinking cute lately.  She's still quite a handful, but is so darn cute misbehaving you can't help but smile.

 

One cute photo of Vada before she went to her new home.

Lesley, (Bun in the oven), and JB Starkey

Friday, June 15th was that last required day for teachers to work in Sturgis.  We also decided to throw a shower for a fellow teacher Lesley Starkey.  She is one of those adorable pregnant woman that just nasueates you to look at.  I know both her and her husband JB will be excellent parents.  It was a great time after work at the home of our counselor, Renee's home on Omena Lake.  We played some undtradtional games, and just had a swell time relaxing and catching up with all our coworkers knowing that school was over.  The Starkey's daughter will make her debut arrival sometime in mid July if all goes on schedule.

Mia had been perusing the weekly shopper's guide and let us know she wanted a pool.  Now that Vada is not in the backyard to ruin one, Andy obliged.  I came home from the shower Friday night to find a large inflatable pool in the backyard.  The girls are loving it, although on this particular day, Mia seemed to enjoy the sprinkler more.  I'm sure lots of pool photos will make the blog this summer.

Another cute one of Mia, that I couldn't pass up.

Saturday, June 16th we hit up a couple of open houses.  The last one being Andy's cousin Pam's son Daniel's.  That meant a two hour drive to Ohio, but we had a great time.  It was good to catch up with some of Andy's family we don't see often enough, and thankfully we were together for a happy occassion.  We also stopped on our way home in Genoa to visit the gravesite of Andy's grandparents.  It was so cute to watch Andy tell the girls stories of when he was little and all the places and things he would do with his grandpa.  Olivia took it all in.  Andy even washed the bird poop off their tombstone before we headed home.  I was only able to meet Andy's grandpa, but he was such a gentle and kind man.  I love hearing stories about his grandma as well.  From what I hear, she was quite the card shark.  It was so special to witness Andy sharing some of his special memories with our girls.

Andy and Olivia sharing the lane on their mile swim day.

Sunday June 10th was an exhausting day for most of our family.  The Community Pool had a fundraiser.  Participants had to get pledges, but then had to swim one mile.  Both Andy and I did it and Olivia swam 1/4 of a mile.  Not too shabby for a six year old if you ask me.  I chose to swim later in the day, primarily because there wasn't supposed to be anyone to witness my lack of swimming ability.  I recruited Andy's sister Jennifer to swim with me.  She of course beat my time, but I'm just thrilled I finished.  The pool's goal was $5000 because a local foundation is matching it up to that point, and they surpassed their goal.  We were ecstatic that we could be part of such an exciting event.