Wasa 2011

I completely slacked on taking pictures at Wasa this year. Luckily, Sherylee and Michelle got some great shots. They also about nailed the analysis of how the holiday went on their respective blogs. Michelle's post was titled "Wasa 2011: the year of the bloodsuckers." The mosquitoes were really bad this year. I always took for granted that there were very few mosquitoes at Wasa Lake, but I found out this year, from talking to the campground host, that they pay a mosquito tax to pay for helicopter delivered larvicide programs. However, this year, something went wrong and the larvicide didn't work.

Also, the weather wasn't ideal this year. It was cool for a couple of days and there was some rain each day, too. However, looking at the forecast in advance, I thought there was no way it would be nice enough to boat on at least 2 days. In reality, though, we got the boat out each day and even on the cool days, it was warm when the sun came out in the afternoon.

Everyone was in good spirits regardless of weather and mosquitoes. In addition to boating, we played lawn darts and made crafts. Granny nailed the food as usual and it was fun just being together.

I really enjoyed biking and running with Sherylee. I also loved how Kayden hung out with the girls and made them feel special. It was really neat that Chad learned to ski and wakeboard and that Keston learned to kneeboard and also got up on the wakeboard. Although I missed it myself, I also heard Tylissa skiied. It was fun to see Alyssa and Kaylene double kneeboard too. Of course there was also lots of tubing, and Monte rocks when it comes to dumping kids off the tube. On one occasion, Alyssa, Kaylene and Keston got dumped in sensational fashion. The tube flipped and they all went tumbling in respective summersaults over top of each other. Alyssa also had a pretty spectacular landing after a slolam ski. Rob was dropping her off at the shore, and apparently she was coming in too hard. She landed on the beach and sommersaulted over her ski. She got pretty bruised up, but miraculously was not badly hurt. Unfortunately, no one recorded it on video for America's Funniest.

We missed those of the family who couldn't be at Wasa this year...it seems the family continues to grow up and spread to the wind. On Tuesday, it turned out Paul had the day off work, so he drove out just for the day with a friend. As he arrived, he ran down to the beach and jumped straight in the water. It was sure nice to have him there, if only for the day. One really nice touch also, was from Kendall who is on a mission in the Phillipines. He wrote individual Wasa letters to everyone in the family. Looking forward to Wasa 2012!

I Swam the Dam, again!

Official results: 16:06 swim (750 m open water), 51:06 bike (26 km) and 26:22 run (5 k), 1:33:35, final, 4/53 women, 21/94 overall. So much fun!

I participated in the Magrath triathlon again today. It was a super fun event! The water was pretty chilly this year in the dam (late run off from the mountains this year). My swim time was almost identical to last year, just over 16 minutes for 750 m. I ran into lots of people this year swimming. I had a tough time with my first transition (swim to bike) as I went down the wrong aisle to find my bike, then was a little dizzy. In spite of that, though, my bike time (which includes both transitions) was much faster than last year at about 51 minutes for 26 km. This is due to having borrowed a good road bike. I also ran faster than last year, 5 km in 26:22. My overall time was about 1:33:30 (waiting for official results). My time put me 5th (I think) for women out of 53. I was super happy with that. For a while I thought I came first in my age group, but it turned out someone else who was faster had a problem with her timing chip. In total my time was about 8 minutes faster than last year.

Below are videos that Austin took of the race.

Young Women's Camp

Hey this is Alyssa. I thought my young women's camp at least deserved a post . On Tuesday morning bright and early at 7:30 we arrived at the stake campground. We ate breakfast and then did our "create" projects I did photograph, here our some of the pictures I took .These our my best friends Karah and Bethany we were in someones back yard. Most girls took pictures of flowers and trees,but I got bored and decided to take pictures of my friends.

later we did different activities I did the waterside, skeet shooting and a treasure hunt. In the evening we did out skits.

The next day we woke up even earlier 6:30 in the morning! we hiked blue mountain it was a fairly easy hike event though going up was steep and straight up hill we trekked through snow and ice and rivers and creeks thank goodness I brought 4 pairs of socks! It was fun especially because we all got to hike with our friends and the top of the mountain was freezing.

The most interesting part was the pranks.....

This morning we woke up and found a decomposing gopher that was infested with maggots in our tent. It was their the whole camp but we didn't know because it was hidden in between someones mat and sheet. We only started looking when it started to stink. I am okay but what I feel most bad about is that the maggots leaked and a girl slept on it . Who said girls camp wasn't rough!

Mark's birthday

Yesterday was Mark's birthday. He turned 10. I made cupcakes and gave him one to do whatever he wanted with. He must have overheard that I forgot the baking powder, because he was not much interested.

Grade 6 Graduation

Yesterday after the triathlon was grade 6 graduation. It was a nice event and quite simple. One of the grade 6 teachers as well as the principal made speeches. They gave 2 awards for every subject in each class and several other awards. Austin was completely thrilled to win an award for science. He also got his report card and even light refreshments. What do you think of his hairdo? It has become a tradition in the last week of school to let him wear a "slowhawk" from Monday to Saturday...and have it cut off so he is appropriate for Sunday.

School triathlon Pt. 2: Austin

This year, Austin was going to be on a team for the triathlon. However, his teammates decided against participating at the last minute. Rob then arranged with the school for Austin to do his own triathlon. Though he is in grade 6, he was allowed to do one length in the pool, one lap on his bike and one lap running. He did the whole thing and had unbelievable support. About 7 kids followed him through the whole thing, cheering him with every step. Later at the Grade 6 graduation, he got a certificate for being a "True Triathlete."

School triathlon Pt. 1 Mark

Yesterday was the Magrath Elementary School triathlon. It works like this. Grade one students swim one width, bike one lap of the track and run one length of the track. Each year the number of laps of each discipline increases by one. In grade 4, students start swimming lengths instead of widths. Students can do the triathlon as a team, with a different person doing each leg, or they can be a "true triathlete" and do all 3.

Mark's educational assistant, Amanda, and I had the idea of helping Mark do the triathlon on a team. She pulled him in the water 4 lengths. Then another special needs student, Marina, who has a bike that someone pushes behind, did 3 biking laps of the track with her EA, Sharee pushing her (since Marina is in Gr. 3). Then, I pushed Mark in a running stroller and ran 4 laps. It was pretty fun and the kids cheered lots for Mark.