A Perfect day on the lake

On Wednesday, we took the boat to St. Mary's and it was perfect weather. The water was smooth like glass, and the weather hot. I kneeboarded and skiied and actually figured out how to get air crossing the wake on the kneeboard--now I think I'm hooked. Austin brought his friend Michael, and he had to put on a show for him by standing on the kneeboard and turning around backwards, among other tricks. At the end we took Mike, Austin and Preston on a long tube ride which started out gentle. As the kids got more confident and we clamouring for more, we took the tube over more waves, and near the end actually dumped both Austin and Mike...Preston bounced around on the tube, but didn't land in the water.

Alyssa's Swim Meets

Alyssa had swim meets in Cardston on July 17th and in Stirling on July 24th. I missed her Cardston meet because it was at the same time as the triathlon, but I am posting some pictures from the Stirling meet. Alyssa has improved her speed dramatically this year even though she hasn't swum for 10 months. I guess it is just how she has grown and gained strength with all her other sports. She got ribbons in all of her events at both meets ranging from first to fourth, with the majority being second place. Don't she and her teammates look good in their matching suits, goggles and swim caps? I am swim club president this year and I have been trying to keep them outfitted and organized.

Wasa 2010

Wasa Lake was great this year. We had mostly good weather. It stormed in the night the first night, and on the first day, it was beautiful in the morning and threatened to storm in the afternoon. The other days were nice. We returned to our campsite Monday afternoon when the storm clouds moved in. I took advantage of the time to take a nap--for 2 hours, which is pretty long for me. I guess most of the other adults did too, leaving Granny and Tracy doing activities and crafts with the kids. Thank you! Granny was impressed with Preston's interest and patience in making bead key chains (à la Napoleon Dynamite "I have infinity of these from scout camp.")

Paul wakeboarding

Alyssa making a smooth landing

Kayden getting some air.

Granny and Grandpa enjoyed a few tube rides with their grandkids. In this one, Chad is in the middle.

Who needs a boat? The knee boards are pretty fun on shore, too.

Preston isn't too sure about kneeboarding in this picture.

High-five for kneeboarding, Preston! (Even though he didn't want to get on his knees on the board that day).

One thing I liked about Wasa this year is that almost everyone tried something behind the boat. Tylissa and Kaylene kneeboarded. Chad and Keston tried the wakeboard, Michelle skiied, Granny tried skiing--but found the arthritis in the hands makes it too hard to hang on, the grandparents tubed and even Tracy, Michelle and Sherylee went on a tube ride together. Alyssa learned how to slolam ski on a narrow ski too. Thanks Granny and Grandpa for all your work preparing food and everything!

Best Dam Triathlon

A week ago today, I participated in the Magrath "I swam the dam" triathlon. It was an incredible event, very fun and lots of hard work. There were about 300 particpants all together including those who did the sprint distance (me), those who did the olympic distance, and those who participated on teams. The race began with a 750 m open water swim in the St. Mary's reservoir. The water was a little chilly, but not that bad once you got going. I completed the swim in 16.10 which was 50th of 115 in the solo sprint triathlon group.
In this picture, I am with my friend, Tabatha, just before the race. She swam as part of a team.

Can you see me swimming? I'm swim cap #246.

This is me just starting the bike. The bike is where I lost a lot of time. My bike time was 58:09, but I like to think that if I had a real road bike, I could have knocked a fair bit off of that. I was 77th overall on the bike and 11th in my age group. The bike time includes all the transitions and was 26 km.

This is me on the run. The run was my strongest segment. I ran 5 k in 26:58 which was 46th overall, or 7th of 20 in my age group.

Overall the race took me 1:41:18 which was 62nd overall or 9th out of 20 in my age group. And, man was I tired! I loved doing the triathlon and highly recommend it. My only/biggest problem, is that I have had very sore feet, especially my right foot since the race, such that I haven't been able to run. I have plantar fasciitis and this is the source of my complaint. I managed to keep it mostly at bay through my 1/2 marathon training, but lately it has been worse and the training and race for the triathlon put me over the edge. But, stretching is one of the best treatments, so I am attacking that aggressively.

Prete Reunion: Holland Lake Day 1

By the end of the reunion, we may have forgotten that there was one day at the beginning that was almost nice enough for boating. Emma, Sara & Haylee got to kneeboard, I think Joe got to ski and lots of us got ejected off the tube. Sarah only got dumped off twice, so maybe next year she can add to her P-U- an N-K. Preston and Hannah, keeping warm in the boat.

Sara kneeboarding. Good job. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of Emma kneeboarding.

The girls on the tube.

Austin, Joe and, is that Sara? on the tube.

Having a camping/boating reunion for my parents and siblings and their families was, I have to admit, my brainchild. The reality of the experience did not correspond very accurately with my vision. My vision included 30 degree Celsius (or 88 F) days spent on the boat or relaxing on the shore. The vision included teaching the kids how to kneeboard and waterski. I pictured going back to our campfire every night tired from all the fun. I imagined a little hiking and fishing on the side, and an evening game of pounce, and a little singing with Sarah's guitar, telling lots of jokes and stories and leaving with sunburns. As it turned out, the weather was cold and rainy most of the time. Several kids were sick, and we were more at risk for hypothermia than sunburn. The mosquitos also were thick enough that we drained several bottles of off.

Still, I have to hand it to you Pretes. You did an amazing job of making lemonade from the lemons. We managed to have quite a bit of fun despite the difficult circumstances. I hope the pictures I post here will help us reimplant in our minds some of the happy memories, lest the final memory of packing up in the rain, after a rainy Sunday, is what sticks in our heads.

Prete Reunion: Holland Falls Hike

The hike to Holland Falls was spectacular and was a highlight of the reunion for those who took the hike. It was about 2 miles each way, the last 1/2 of which was pretty steep uphill. Anna put red licorice in her bottled water, which was completely disgusting...though she said it was pretty tasty. You can see the dried licorice on the side of her mouth.

Some of the views we enjoyed while hiking.

Holland Falls.

Emma at the falls

Mom made it to the top too. Good work, Mom!

The advanced party! These girls were the first to make it to the top of the hike.

Happyland Graduation for Garrett and Pierce

Liz and Christian enjoying happyland graduation

Aly is so cute!

Anna, giving her opening remarks at the Happyland graduation

Emma's speech was classic. Garrett and Pierce need to enjoy their moment on the top before they go to the bottom of the totem pole as the lowest level happyland employees.

"And it was when Garrett and Pierce started coming to happyland that it started being fun for me...and....sob....I'm just really gonna miss those guys..."

Rob enjoying the happyland graduation

The proud parents with the graduates

The happyland executive