This Time I Mean It!

This is kind of embarrassing. Here I am again, jumpstarting this blog by doing a photo retrospective of the past 3 months. But I'm back for real this time, and here's why: I can't possibly let Leslie out-blog me. Sure, she has a cool business and a great topic (the rehab of an old house in Montford), but that doesn't mean I can't beat her with sheer volume. And thus out-blog her. And I win! [You may be thinking at this point - this is a contest?? And ok, sure, the answer is no. In fact Leslie's about the least competitive person I know - and I have verified proof, having taken a racquetball class with her in 1992. But you've got to take your motivation where you can find it.]

So, I'm back. And this time I mean it!

Without further ado, the last 3 months:

We headed back to the beach - for a triathlon. My first ocean swim. But first we gamboled about as one does at the beach.

Accompanying us to the beach - Leslie! And providing our accommodations - her brother Douglas! (as an aside, I love this picture, because it looks like the ones we used to take when Douglas would come to college and take us out to dinner. So it looks just like those pictures if this is what we looked like in 1991.)

An actual triathlon picture! I haven't managed to do too many of them this year, but this one was fun. My first ocean swim - to say I was a little intimidated when I watched the first wave get swept past the turn buoy by the current would be an understatement. In fact, I started so far up the beach that at least half of my wave was ahead of me when I made the turn - but I by God did not get swept past the buoy! And then I biked surprisingly strongly for me (probably because it's dead flat down there?), and had a much better run than I expected (again, the flat no doubt helped), and ended up 2nd woman overall. To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

A week later, Clark ran the Citizen Times Half Marathon, and Sam as usual helped him celebrate his finish.

Some fishing took place - Shii caught his first fish, with help from my mom. It's a real sign of how much she loves her grandchildren that she's turned into a rather capable fisherwoman.

And some baseball of course. Couldn't let a retrospective go by without at least one baseball pic.

New holiday ornaments! They're hollow - and thus not likely to break your tree branch in half.

We tried out LEAF for the first time. Turns out, it's fabulous. I know everyone says that, but I wasn't sure that 3 straight days of vending was really going to be a blast. But yep, it was.

Aided largely by how much fun Sam had. Here he is trying out the aerial arts.

Also much zip-lining was enjoyed.

And in the midst of all this I've been riding my bike. A lot. Because I've entered this race called the Swank 65, and I'm slightly intimidated by it. (ok, fine, I'm scared sh!tless.) So Kelly and I have been heading to Pisgah and riding. And having fun. (as an aside, what is up with my bike helmet?? It always looks really high and kind of sideways. So I resemble a slightly tipsy miner. May have to do something to remedy that.)

Our reward for all of the Pisgah riding: views like this. We climbed up to the top of Farlow (which is a long, long way in a small, small gear), and every now and then the trees would open up and you could really see where you were. Which was totally worth seeing.

Will report back with more. For real, this time.