School is in session. (YAY!)

Ready to roll for a new year

Hattie

The last one (Abe) gets on the bus

The celebration will now begin!

Hattie and Abe started school yesterday. Hattie is in 3rd grade and Abe in 1st. I tried to refrain from doing cartwheels and fist pumps until the bus was out of sight.

Tri-ing To Help

The crew with their prized medals

Phew! She made it! (45 min. later)

Lena, enjoying life on the bike

Abe was next

Hattie's big finish

Last Saturday, our family competed in a sprint distance triathlon locally that raises money for a different cause each year. This year's recipient was a teenage girl with cancer. Sprint distance is the shortest of the triathlons. This one was a 400m swim, 12.43 mile bike ride and a 3.1 mile run. Now...before you go getting impressed, remember that this is a means of staying in shape and we are definitely "completers" not "competers". Shannon and I participated in the regular tri along with my sister, Renee and her son Lucas and my sister-in-law Bethany. Poor Lucas had tire problems at the beginning of the bike ride and had to do his race out of order while someone repaired the tire. My bike broke at mile 10 of the bike ride, so in order to finish, I had to run the remainder of the bike route and then complete the running route. Not exactly how I had envisioned it, but God knows best and at least I was able to finish. After the regular race, there is a Kids Triathlon, which all 3 of our kids did. That was most definitely the highlight of the day!! Even Lena insisted on doing it all "herself". Parents can get in the water with their kids and run alongside them, etc. The course includes a 100m swim, 1 mile bike ride and 1/2 mile run. Much to our surprise, Hattie smoked through the whole thing (this is the girl that acts like cleaning up her room is way beyond her physical ability), Abe did great, and Lena was thoroughly enjoying herself as she took her sweet time and sang the Hannah Montana theme song on her bike ride. They all got medals (Shannon and I did not :)) and we had such a great time as a family. There are so many spiritual lessons to be learned as you push yourself harder than perhaps you thought possible and remind yourself that you don't have to finish the whole thing, just the next few steps, and then the next few steps after that. I pray often throughout the race and praise God for the ability and desire to be out there. We are already planning to do it all again next year. Enjoy the pics.

Camping at the Lake of the Ozarks....aaaahhhhh

Abe, mid-twist, jumping into the pool.

Play Doh is great for camping.

(I'm not sure what Lena is making.)

Hiking the trails - they actually had some fairly difficult inclines and the kids were real troopers!

Celebrating my birthday (August 7)

Enjoying the campground pool

We had initially planned to have a "stay-cation" last week for our family, but finally decided it would be helpful to get a little further away to relax. We used Dad & Mom Haerr's big camper (complete with AC, aaahhhh) and headed to the Ozarks on Wed. When we pulled into the camp ground, one of the kids said, "This is a dream come true." or something to that effect. It's nice to know that they are still easily impressed! It was a very nice campground (Majestic Oaks Campground) and it was a perfect little get-a-way for our family, even with the very high heat. We swam, hiked trails, played shuffleboard/checkers/Sorry, told stories around the campfire and attended the church service there at the campground before heading home Sunday morning. My birthday (36, yay!) was on Friday, so Shannon gave me some time off and swam with the kids while I went shopping in Osage Beach. I honestly did not expect a camping trip to be all that relaxing, but it really was. Our meals were simple and we hardly ever looked at the clock. Now that is a true vacation!!! We even got our school shopping done and the kids start back next Tuesday, August 18. I have to admit, I will miss them, but I am looking forward to it.

"Don't Bother Me"

What is Six Flags w/o turkey legs and pickles on a stick?!!

We had my niece, Abigail (Nelson & Mary), come stay with us last week while Abe spent some time at their place. On Wed. night, Hattie's friend, Mallory, also came home with us after church for a sleepover. Hattie and Abigail had been shopping at Claire's earlier in the day and found some much-needed sleep masks. On Thurs. morning, we found them asleep in one bed with Mallory and Abigail right up against Hattie - who had on her new sleep mask "Don't bother me".

We headed to Six Flags with the ranch staff that Friday and Abe was NOT pleased to hear that he had missed it!! I tried to console him by reminding him that he got to go to the fair in Pekin EVERY day while he was with the Koch's. He very indignantly replied, "Yeah! We went to the sheep show and it gave me a headache!!" (Please take special note of Abigail's sultry pose in the group photo from Six Flags! I think she gets it from Mary.)

( I am getting thoroughly annoyed with either Blogger's flaws or my own stupidity/inability to get the pictures to end up where I want them in the text. Thankfully I have only intelligent followers, so they can match them up :). )