The Summer Fun Has Begun...

The day after school got out, we drove to Spokane to start our vacation with my family. The trip was inspired by my new Uncle Craig participating in the IRONMAN in Coeurd'alene, ID. We all went to support him and cheer him on...

SUNDAY:

IRONMAN and Father's Day!

My mom made our bright yellow shirts to stand out and Craig was able to see and hear us when he passed by! The shirts did their job!
The race started at 7:00am so we all had to wake up early because we were camping in Spokane (about 1 hour drive). Craig started in Lake Coeurd'alene. We were on shore yelling for him. There were tons of people there and loud music playing. Go Craig Go! I think Sophia was in ahhh of how many people were out in the water...

The day was chilly and the water was choppy. The competitors had to swim 2.4 miles. Craig finished the swim with time to spare. The swimmers with the red caps were amateurs and the swimmers with white caps were the professionals. Craig told us later that the swimming was the scariest part because people got rough out there. He got popped in the eye and almost lost his goggles. Way to hang in there!

He finished his swim a little over an hour and he was off to bike. The bike ride was 112 miles! My aunt knew his estimated times and knew the course so we knew where to be to watch him go by. They also had chips connected to them so that we could track him over the Internet.

My mom gets a little crazy, oops I mean excited, so she had the kids make flags to wave. Sophia's said, "Put a little power to it" and you can check out the visor on my niece too! Craig couldn't miss us!

So after the swim, there were helpers to rip off their wetsuits and then guided the competitors to their bag. From there they changed and hopped on their bikes. Here is just a section of bikes parked. About 2 thousand bikes!

Look at that form! Here he was about 111 miles and almost done with the biking. And look he still has a smile on his face!

Biking done...off to run. The run was a full marathon! He even had enough energy to wave!

This was the most exciting moment. I still get chills thinking about it and I wasn't even the one competing. Craig is at his final stretch about to cross the finish line! He finished about 8:40pm and had till midnight so I find that quite impressive. Overall, he completed the IRONMAN a little over 13 hours!!! GOOD JOB CRAIG!

After the race we had a chance to talk with him when really I think all he wanted to do was get warm and get to his hotel. He said that the thing that helped him through his run was chicken broth and Coke...yummy combination! He also said that he could do without having Gatorade or protein gels for awhile. We were all truly impressed with his determination, motivation, and hard work. He inspired me to get my booty moving (maybe to do a tri-atholon one day) and now TJ wants to do the IRONMAN in 2 years...large goal! After all that's said and done: CRAIG SIGNED UP FOR THE IRONMAN AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!

MONDAY:

After the Ironman we all laid low and hung around the camp site. We went on a bike ride around the lake and Sophia got to try out her new seat. She loved it, especially because she could stay up with everyone. I think she's the cutest one wearing a helmet.

TUESDAY:

We went to Silverwood Theme Park and did the rides. They have a new roller coaster called the "After Shock" that is pretty intense and highly recommended! All my niece and nephews (except Nolan because he was too small..even though he would have) rode on a BIG roller coaster! I was very proud of them. Sophia stuck to the smaller ones.

She loved the scrambler...

The merry-go-round

The Elephant ride

The car ride...Ethan did a good job driving us around. Later she drove and TJ was not allowed to touch the steering wheel..."me do it.." so it was a bumpy ride!

They have a Garfield play land with a large tree house so we took a break from all the rides to play...peekaboo

Sophia loved the train roller coaster. When we got off she said, "more!" That's my girl!

WEDNESDAY:

We did Silverwood in 2 days, but the second day we played at the water park. Everyone loved her swim suit...thank you Costco. Sophia was a little nervous about all the water stuff at first but then warmed up. She liked the lazy river sitting on my lap, but then she took a 3 hour nap in her stroller, so I got a nice sunburn waiting for her to wake-up!

THURSDAY:

Kick, kick, kick...yah she is turning into a water baby (with a little force, haha). Daddy and I had fun throwing her back and forth. She even got dunked and didn't even cry.

We also went kayaking and saw turtles, beavers, deer, herons, ducks, and geese.

We were told there was a moose out there too, but we didn't see him. Yummy S'mores! Once again Sophia wanted to do it by herself. Thank goodness no marshmallows on fire went flying.

FRIDAY:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TJ! I can't believe he's 28! We started dating when he was 18...10 years...WOW! TJ wanted to just hang out at the campsite, so we did more swimming, kayaking, golfing, ping pong and pool playing, etc. After Sophia and I, baseball is TJ's next love, so we got him the Ken Burns baseball documentary that he has been wanting. He is very excited, but I don't think I am (boring..haha)...

And another love of TJ's is HOT DOGS. He would eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if he could, so I made him the best birthday cake ever! It was absolutely perfect for him!!! Can you tell I am quite proud of myself?

And he never just eats 1 hot dog, so I had to make him 2 hot dog cakes!

SATURDAY:

We all packed up and drove home! THANK YOU MOM AND DAD FOR A SUPER FUN TRIP!!!! We wish we could go back already;)!