The Big Eye!

EYE SEE YOU!

I don't know what it is, but I just love giant sculpture thingys. Earlier I posted the Big Thumb in Paris, well now I have the Big Eye in Seattle. I have a super special one for another post.

The Triathlete

I heard about this small triathlon that is held on Labor Day in Murray Park. I thought, WOW I want to do that, it sounds like so much FUN. Never mind that I am deathly afraid of deep water and I don't really swim. I took a couple of lessons and thought I can do this. On the big day I placed myself near the end of the que for the swim portion. I slid into the deep end and held on, the the big word came. GO! I pushed off and swam, I was really doing it, I was breathing and everything. I came to the end and duct under the rope to the next lane. I pushed off and got half way down the lane to the deep end and just ran out of breath and steam. Swimming is hard work. I held onto the rope and they asked if I was ok. I just kept pulling myself along the rope until I was at last done with the swimming portion. Dallas met me with a towel and I started walking to the staging area to prepare for the bike ride. Dallas asked me if I shouldn't be running to the staging area. I said, " Oh ya." Geez, I couldn't get my breath and he wanted me to hurray. I threw on my clothes and took off on my bike. This is my best activity out of the three. I made good time, re-racked my bike and started the mile plus run to the finish. I ran about a quarter mile and took it down to a fast walk which sometimes is as fast as my run. My lungs felt like they were going to burst. I managed to run the last half mile to the finish. I did better than expected. My goal was under an hour with hopes of doing it in 45 minutes. I completed it in 45 minutes. It felt very good. Next year - I work on that swim!

I placed 3rd in my age division.

Fog In The Bog

I love this time of year. Some days are hot and others cool. The weather can be a bit wacky some days. The kids go back to school and things seem to settle back into the rut. The other morning I got up at 6:30 to run. This time of year the sun is just rising, and it is still cool. Juno and I set off down the path toward Winchester Park, it felt great. We ran past the grass and parking lot, and up the hill to the long flat section toward the freeway. It is here that the fog often collects, mostly in the winter, but it was there that morning. It was floating on the river and hanging over the ground ever so slight. I haven't seen it since May. It is a sign that with the cooler mornings and a later sunrise, Autumn is approaching. Aaaahhh!

And The Winner Is....

Finally the big day arrived for our float and we won two awards. It was so exciting. One of the biggest awards is the People's Choice Award. I'm so glad that this church calling is done.

The Really Excellent Float

So I guess that summer has arrived since it was been like 92 degrees the other day. With summer comes Parade Season. Why am I so focused on Parade Season this year? Because I am working on yet another float. I really hope that this is my last float for a long time and that they don't have float building in heaven.

The Float Committee has been working on this float for about 11 months now, but I keep telling myself that another month and it will almost be done. Don't get me wrong I enjoy a good parade and I really don't mind working on a float I just don't want to be so consummed with a float. It will be fun to be at the Float Preview Party at SouthTowne Convention Center on July 19th and 20th (hint, hint) and show off out hard work and it will be really fun to walk the parade route with the float on the 24th but it will be great when July 30th comes and the committee is done.

The float will be a great float with Seagull and Crickets. More pictures to follow when the float is completed and hopefully some awards.

The Really Big Thumb!

I don't know why but I just really like this giant thumb. It really makes some kind of statement. Not sure what that statement is but it made a big print on my brain.

The Shortened Extended Vacation

So, Dallas and I left for Paris on April 11th. We were to spend 5-6 days in Paris and then fly to Prague on the 17th and stay in an apartment with Warburtons. Well, you know how our vacations sometimes go awry. This one went way off course. On April 14th some volcano that nobody can pronounce in Iceland blew in a very big way. All the ash was carried over northern Europe and they shut down all air travel. When the time came to leave and get to Prague it was a no go. Warburtons never made it out of New York so they came back home. Dallas and I continued to see Paris and ended up in an apartment with two ladies from Tennessee. It was wonderful. We had a great time. We had spare time now because we had hurried to see everything in the 5 days, we decided to go to church Sunday morning. We met other stranded Americans there and one American that works in Paris approached us and gave us his card and invited us to stay with him and his wife. We had to be out of the apartment by Tuesday because the Annelise and Susan (the two ladies from Tennessee) where headed for Nice. We called and stayed one night before we where able to fly home. There were also two girls from Utah staying the night. We decided to come home while we could. It was very uncertain if the volcano would erupt again.

Our New Tennessee Friends, Annelise and Susan.

Our new church friends, Melissa, Kari and Elaine.

We never made it to Prague but I guess that is for another trip. In spite of everything we had a really fun trip. What an adventure.