Anna turns 7 and Happy July 4th!

June 17th Anna turned a big 7 years old on Father's Day!  Tim says Anna is the best Father's Day gift he could wish for! It's hard to believe Anna will be in 2nd grade this year!  Wow! 

Anna and Momma had nice day at the spa with patriotic pedicures and manicures! 

We celebrated the 4th of July at a Fun Run...probably the shortest one Anna has ever done.  It took less than a minute!!  Of course, we went in full costume!  Happy Independence Day everyone!  Thank God for the freedoms we are blessed with! 

Triathlon, Dance Recital, Ice Skating Competion...whew!

As the old saying goes, when it rains it pours!  The past week has been filled with activities!  Anna had her second triathlon of the season.  She placed 5th over-all in the 6-8 year old girls division and had the #1 fastest bike time of all the all the 6-8 year old girls....and boys!  She did great in her dance rectital for Ballet and Tap.  We celebrated good math and reading scores with her first ever chocolate dipped cone...she ate the whole thing!  Then, to top it all off she did 2 routines in an ice skating competition this morning.  She placed 1st in both routines...but there was noone else in her division!  Still, she was thrilled to get two blue ribbons and we are all thrilled that summer vacation has finally begun!  Whew!!

Triathlon season is off and running!!

Today was "Tri the Rock" the first triathlon of the year for Anna and the Kids that TRI team. It was awesome to watch them challenge themselves after a full winter of training and conditioning! This will probably be one of Anna's toughest triathlons this year. Even though she is still 6 she has to compete with the 7-8 year olds because she will be 7 at the cut-off date for this season. The course was very tough. She swam 2 lengths of the pool (in freezing cold water), biked a very hilly 2.5 miles and ran 1K (about 2/3 of a mile). Wow! I know I couldn't have done it!! But, she did! So well in fact, that out of 62 girls in the 7-8 year old division she placed 4th! The entire Kids that TRI team made a great showing and we were proud of all of them!!

Praise Awards for 1st grade!

We only have one more week of 1st grade.  The year has gone very quickly! Anna's reading has improved tremendously.  She started the year at a level 6 and is now at a level 16!  She recieved a special "fitness" award during the Praise Awards ceremony.  We have been very blessed by Anna's two amazing teachers and her friends at school...thanks for a making 1st grade grrrreaaattttt! 

Field Trip!

Anna's first grade class took a field trip to the Butterfly Pavillion.  Yes, there were beautiful butterflies from all around the world, but the highlight of the day was getting to hold "Rosie" the tarantula!

Spartan Race - Lots of Mud!

So our latest family adventure was the Spartan Race.  Tim joined a team of friends and did the 5 mile run with Military Style obstacles and says it's one of his toughest physical challenges ever!  A normal 5 mile run takes him a little under 40 minutes...this took an hour and a half.  Maybe getting one of his shoes stuck in the mud and having to dig it out slowed him down a little!  Anna did the Jr. Spartan Race - 1/2 mile with "kid-sized" obstacles.  I made the costumes with some help from my friend and super-seamstress Lyssa.  Thankfully, I was able to avoid most of the mud!  The toughest part of whole day was the clean-up afterward!  I think they still have mud in their ears...oh well!