Michigan Vacation

Early in June we took a vacation to Harbor Country Michigan.  It was a fabulous trip.  We cooked out, enjoyed fires, sat on the beach, hiked the dunes, canoed, rode bikes, golfed, and tasted wine.  There was so much to do and we are looking forward to going back.

Below are some pictures of our canoe trip.  It was an experience to say the least.  We took Callie with us and that added a whole new dimension to the trip.  She was attacked by horseflies and then preceded to tip our canoe not once, not twice, but three times!  Justin was my hero as he mustered up so much strength to empty our canoe.  I forgot how heavy those things can get!

At the beginning of our trip.  Notice, no water in the canoe!!

It was very picturesque.  We were the only people on the river.

I love this picture!!

This is the most hilarious look...It says so much.  We had tipped two times by this picture and you can tell Callie was over the adventure!

YUCK

This was taken at Tabor Hill Winery.  We got the best truffles there.  They were mini works of art.  

Playing hide and seek in pjs

My boy Ashton.

Uncle Justin teasing the tyke.

Splash park fun

He wasn't totally sure about this thing.

This isn't a very good picture of Cameron, but I had to include him. Love you Cam!

Tri-Shark Triathlon Classic

This Saturday Justin participated in his third triathlon.  He has recently took up this sport, competing in his first triathlon two years ago.  

Since the first competition, he has purchased a tri bike and wet suit and has been actively training to improve his times.  

It has paid off because this weekend he placed FIRST in his age group and 11th overall. It was fun watching him transition from one sport to the next.  He was just behind all of the elite competitors and looked great the entire time.

Here are his stats:

His total time was: 1 hour six minutes and 33 seconds

His swim time (600 yds)  10:13.7

First Transition time  1:23.1

Bike Time (13 miles) 35:18.0

Second Transition time 0:54.5

Run Time (5K) 18:44.5

Here are some of his quotes about the race:

"The swim was crazy, I was getting kicked and people were swimming on top of me" - It was a cool 66 degrees in the water.  Some people swam in only bathing suits!  Justin was happy to have his wet suit only he missed the wet suit "stripping" station and had to ask someone to unzip him :)

"I lost my shoe on the bike part!  I had to go back and get it because I didn't want to get disqualified.  Some guy tossed it to me, that saved me some time."  - He has worked hard to get his feet out of his shoes while riding his bike.  I guess one shoe got caught on the road and came unclipped.

I am very proud of my triathlete!  He is really enjoying this sport and the events are lots of fun to watch.  It's unlike a race because you can sit right by the transition area and see the athletes 6 times!  His enthusiasm is contagious as I think it would be fun to try a triathlon one day.  The open water swim is a little intimidating for me right now, I need to find time to practice and become comfortable in the water.

Justin has a race in July and one in August - July is an olympic distance triathlon and August is a half iron man in Cedar Rapids.

GO JUSTIN!!!!!

Transition to the bike part.  Justin is in the way back, he is bending down.  He has red on his shirt.

Coming in from the bike portion.  He is in the back part of the picture.  I took the picture a bit early, I knew he was going to be going FAST so I was anxious on the button.

Going out on the run, he was really running fast here.  Determination.

Here is a picture of his award.