Last week or so in review

Solid foods here we come!

Daisy is well on her way to eating solids. I started giving her some finger foods and within a few days she has started doing a great job feeding herself. She really enjoys being able to do it on her own.

BRACES!

Frances and Gerrilyn were the lucky winners of full sets of braces. The first couple days were quite painful for them but things are getting better. Here are some before and after pictures.

Rock 'n' Roll Seattle

I ran my first ever half marathon on Saturday. I was very nervous leading up to the big day but with a lot of support from Paul and my running club, I was able to relax and enjoy the race. I finished the race in 2:25:17. I was happy with my time and now have a goal of what to beat next time. I did the race barefoot, of course received a lot of comments, but honestly it worked out great for me. 

Stroller Strides running club race morning before we started. 

 Just before I crossed the finish line. Picture was taken by Frances. I was so excited to see Paul and all the girls cheering me on just before I finished. Thank you all!

Picture of my feet just before I cleaned up. Considering they just went 13.1 miles barefoot I am thinking they look pretty good. Some might disagree!

Strawberry Picking

To finish the weekend off we decided to go pick strawberries from a small farm in Carnation on Sunday. Lillian thought picking was fun for a few minutes then she was ready to walk around, find some mud puddles and just hang around. Fortunately Paul, Frances and Gerrilyn were able to do a lot of picking. We came home with 30 pounds of berries. They have all been cleaned and either frozen or turned into Strawberry Jam. Thank you Paul for all your hard work!

Cottage Lake Triathlon

Yesterday Frances, Gerrilyn, Paul and myself did the Cottage Lake Triathlon. This was the girls first true tri, my first since 2006 and of course just another of many for Paul. The tri was held in a small lake quite close to our house, there were about 200 participants and this was a 'super sprint race'. This means it was short - 400 yard swim, 9 mile bike, and 1.6 mile run. Everyone had the option to be part of the elite division which means you do the race one complete time and then you do it all again. Needless to say the girls and I just did the event once, Paul did the Elite race.

Our day started much earlier than the girls were hoping (everyone up by 5:30am), we were all a bit nervous, but with Paul's help and having time to walk through the transitions and parts of the course in the morning we were all feeling pretty good by the time things started (thank you Paul!).

Frances, Gerrilyn and I were entered in the friends and family wave - this meant that we were able to start together. This way if the girls got a bit anxious I would be there with them. Well lets just say I did see glimpses of them during the race but once we all started our swim they were ahead of me, felt confident, and just went on with the race on their own. Paul and I are very proud of them.

Marshall and Jill came to the race to cheer the girls and us on. It was great to have them there cheering and to get updates on how the girls were doing. Another huge bonus is Jill took pictures of all of us - thank you.

Gerrilyn - overall time 1:00.51.5 - swim time 6:25.7 - 10th OVERALL swim! 

 Frances - overall time 1:00.51.7 - swim time 6:46.7 - 15th OVERALL swim!

(the girls crossed the finish line together, Marshall said it was great to see)

Charlotte - overall time 1:04.26.6 

(notice my shoes - or lack there of!)

Paul won the entire race. He was pretty excited because the entire time he thought there was one person in front of him. Come to find out the 'one' person in front of him was actually a relay team.

Cottage Lake hods the same race again in September. I am hoping we can all go back and do it again.