Making a Mess-sterpiece

Wow, we decided to fingerpaint after naps today. Here are the amazing results! :) Lots of blogging today. Finally, a day at home after three weekends away camping then at the lake house, two weeks of summer camp for Lauren, one trip to the zoo, one trip to the Children's museum, two trips to the Georgia Aquarium, and countless "errands!" (Target, WalMart, bank groceries, REI, TJ Maxx, Target, Walmart, bank, groceries, over and over and over again....) Sometimes, it's just good to be at home with "nothin'" to do but make a big mess... The kids are playing with their Cars cars (Disney movie cars) and "going to Dinoco." We are having lots of fun today just hanging out and catching ladybugs. I'll catch up with the triathlons on a later blog. Got a fun one coming up this weekend, a sprint triathlon Saturday morning. Can't wait! Just gotta get my new bike. I've been saving up all my pet sitting pennies for the big purchase. Can't quite compete with my ole' '93 GT mountain bike, although I've done pretty well on the ole' girl. She'll still be good for pulling the kids in a bike trailer, so we'll keep her around.

"Look, mom!"

"Mom, it's on my leg." "Really?"

Anyone want to help clean this up?

Camping Trip to Lake Lanier

We had a great time on our first tenting adventure! We combined that with my first triathlon (super-fun!), so it was quite a trip. More on the triathlon in a later blog... The kids did fantastic. We spent two nights at Lake Lanier Islands and Resort. The site was right on the water, and had water and electricity - good for washing dirty little hands and a floor fan in the tent. There was plenty of shade to pitch the tent in and protect the picnic table. The first night, Friday night, was all about getting settled at camp and picking up my race packet. Saturday morning I got up at 6:00 am to get ready for the tri. Eric and the children were able to see me on the run leg of the race! It was great to see them on the course! I got back to camp and we went right to the water and played. They didn't do very well with naps in the tent, but we've learned that Lauren now gets to skip naps at camp and Ethan gets to have a peaceful, quiet atmosphere from now on for his nap. Saturday night we had a campfire and marshmellows. Sunday was more fun in the lake, then we packed up for home! Our camera ran out of batteries, so we didn't really get a chance to take many photos.

Lauren and Ethan at Camp

Our camping trip was fantastic! Our site was right on the shore of Lake Lanier, so we played quite a bit at the water's edge! Here's a fun video of the kids.

Goin' Campin'

Trying out Nana and Papa's Tent


We are headed out on our first camping trip this weekend! Two nights, in a tent, with two kids.... The dog stays home. Oh, and let's not forget to mention that the whole premise for the trip in the first place is so that I can do "My First Triathlon" race at Lake Lanier Saturday morning! The triathlon in now just a hiccup in the weekend, rather than my main event. :) Last night, we set up the tent in the back yard to make sure all the parts are accounted for. We borrowed it from my parents and after they let some young men use it. The tent was returned to them with no bag, no directions... We decided to play it safe and set 'er up. The children had so much fun in there! Their excitement got Eric and I really excited for the trip. We think (and hope) that they'll love it!

The kids were so excited to get in the tent...

Ethan loved flopping in the tent!

Chocolate ice cream on the boy's face...

Save Our Skin 5K - First Place Woman!!!

I won my first 5K! Well at least, the "female" portion of the 5K. I was the Overall Female Winner. There were 258 other women running and they were all behind me. There were also 177 males and I managed to finish in front of all but 14 of them, making me 15th overall with 436 runners total. My finishing time was 20:18... I was hoping to break 20 minutes again, but of course I'm pleased with my result. It was very strange running with only a few men in front to lead the way... I kept waiting for some fast chick to take me down, but it never happened. I don't know if I'll ever get another "win," so I sure am enjoying the moment!