First Day of School!

The girls started 5th and 2nd grade today. Anna tried to be brave, but when she got there she teared up. She will miss her1st grade teacher terribly. She will be a hard act to follow.

I think summer was just long enough. The girls did everything they wanted to, and were ready to go back today. Of course new shoes, and back packs help with that.

Mikaela and Derek still have 2 more weeks of summer, but sports practices start sooner, so really it's over for them too.

Congratulations to my sister for giving birth to twins, but only in one body! Benton Garrett Lefgren came into the world today. He weighed 11 lbs, 1 oz, and was 22 inches long. Yea they have the football scouts already looking at him.

Derek and David came home from their High Adventure camp to Maroon Bells and Snow Mass. The 14'er was a tricky one with very treacherous rocks to scale across. They made it as far as they dared go which was nearly to the top. Here's a picture of the beauty. And another of a horizontal rainbow, not something you see every day.

Toothless

Anna was one happy girl when she finally pulled her first top tooth. It has been a year since the bottom ones came out, so the toothfairy hadn't been here in a long time. This picture showed how excited she was about it.

Now she will have something to share when she starts 2nd grade on Monday. Our 5 weeks of summer are coming to an end. We are sad and happy about it. The girl's are really excited for their teachers next year, and they like getting all of the new school supplies, but I am sure the enthusiasm will wear off after a few days. This week is all about finishing summer with a bang though. Today we did slip and slide, tonight they are having a sleep over.

Summer swim team ended last Saturday with Kamryn getting an All-Star time in her back stroke. All season long she had done better in her breast stroke, and was very close to an All-Star time in that, but at the Prelim meet she didn't do well. I think she got too nervous. She qualified in Back and IM barely in the 16th and last spot. At the Divisional meet she dropped her time enough to get 7th place from 16th in back and she got the All-Star time. So she was pretty happy about that. We don't know what place she got in the IM because we had to leave after being at that meet for 7 hours in 98 degree heat, it kind of reminded me of swim meets in Houston.

Now we are changing gears to soccer season. Kamryn has already started her season with one soccer tournament, and Derek starts doing his pre-season camps with high school next week.

We got Mikaela's senior pictures back, and they were SO cute! She had so many good ones, I don't know how I am going to narrow it down. If you would like to see them, email me and I will send you the link. The photographer is a niece of my friend Shauna, she is from Phoenix, but came here to do the shoot. Her website is http://www.kellyphotoart.com/ .

David and I are doing okay on our marathon training. I did 12 miles last week, and this week I go for 14 or 15. David has already done 18. He is busily preparing to go on a high adventure camp this weekend with Derek. They are going to one of the most beautiful places in Colorado I have heard. Maroon Bells and Snow Mass Mountain. They hike in 8 miles, and the next morning they climb Snow Mass a 14,000 foot mountain, and then come down the next day. David is kind of nervous, not about climbing that high of a mountain, but about having no toilets :-) It sounds very fun to me, I wish I was going.

Tootles!

Aging Gracefully

I have to say that having a 41 year old woman not only qualify for the Olympics in swimming, but beating all of the other "girls" in the pool was very helpful to me this week as I turned 41. I did not feel so old! I don't think I will be qualifying for the olympics, but I can swim, bike, and run and beat a few 20 something year olds while I am at it. It does make me feel better about my age.

Since my last post I competed in my first Olympic Distance Triathlon, the Loveland Lake 2 Lake. I felt pretty good about how I did, but realized I should have done a few things differently. Namely, get in a lake and swim a few times with my wet suit this year. I have swam in a lake with a wet suit a few times before, just not this year, and I panicked a little bit. After the swim the bike was a lot of fun. I hadn't raced on my bike for 30 miles before either, and there were some speedy bikers with no fear of going fast downhill. Another thing I need to work on. The run used to be the hardest part for me, and I am pleased with my progress. I didn't need to walk at all in the run, and I actually got faster after I my legs adjusted to the new exercise they were doing. I was glad to finally finish this distance, but I don't know how soon I will be trying it again. Now it is on to the next goal.... the marathon.

David and I are week 4 in our training programs already, but after being on vacation last week, we are a little behind in conditioning. I have given up trying to keep up with David now. I knew as soon as he got in shape he would leave me in the dust, and sure enough he has. So now Shauna and I are going to pull each other through this race.

Here's to healthy feet and deep muscles massages! Go 40 somethings!