Alaska....Here I Come!

Our TNT team will depart Atlanta tomorrow am at the unearthly hour of 6:05am. After a 2.5 hour flight to Minneapolis, we will take another 6 hour flight to Alaska. Then we get to hang out in Alaska on Friday, run our race on Saturday morning, hang out on Sunday and take the red-eye flight late that night.
This summer has been so packed that I am just starting to get excited as I pack for the event. Now I am really looking forward to this race and only wish that my family was going to be there too. I promise many gorgeous pictures upon my return!

It's How He Rolls

Actual Conversation: Sunday, February 15th 1:30pm

Mom: OK, kids time for a nap.

Ava: No nap, no nap, no nap!

Kate: Awwwwwwwwww!!!!!

Jackson: Mom, I don't take naps. It's how I roll...

What?

Barracuda Swim Season

You know that I have been busy because we have already had our 3rd swim meet and I haven't posted a single picture yet. I figured that I'd better get to it before the season ended!

Jackson is doing a great job on his backstroke, freestyle and butterfly. He has also been competing in the IM races this year. The IM (individual medley) is a length each of backstroke, butterfly, breastroke and freestyle. It is painful to watch (Jackson says it's more painful to do) but he has gotten first for the last 2 meets and beat his best time by 23 seconds during the last one! We are so proud of him!

Kate is also a super duper backstroker, coming in first or second each meet. She swims freestyle too and is really getting her breathing down. She cut all of her times in half from last season to this one. What an amazing change in one year!

Peachtree City Youth Triathlon

Jackson had so much fun at the triathlon last year he wanted to participate again. He swam 100 meters in a pool, followed by a 5K bike ride and finished up with a 1/2 mile run. Jackson definitely exceled in the running, finishing 2nd with a pace of 7:42. Not too shabby, eh? (I am quite sure that I would have been hard pressed to keep up with him!)

There is another youth triathlon in July at Six Flags and he is trying to convince us to go to that one, too. (I am sure that is has nothing to do with a secret hope that we'll stay at Six Flags for the day.)

As I watched Jackson particpate, I felt a pang of sadness that Jason and I wouldn't be competing in the Peachtree City triathlon together this year. We had a great time doing that last year but I'll have to just cheer him on from the sidelines this time. I leave for Alaska on Thursday and it will be my last race until this little one arrives. So that I don't go crazy during the last half of my pregnancy, I have begun planning my races for next year. It will be here before I know it!

Good-Bye Palmers

One of the very sad things about living in a college town is that we have to say good-bye to friends each year. Today was a sad one for the Hansen family as we said goodbye to the Palmer family. This picture was taken today as they loaded up into the moving truck and headed out for Connecticut. They are driving on to a new adventure and we are missing them already!

Here are just a few things that I will miss about our friends:

1) Running at Stone Mountain with Clairon. How many other friends would put up with increasing their mileage from 5 to 10 miles because I was training! She was pure motivation for me and I loved our talks while we ran.

2) Seeing her sweet boys at Primary and having them give me hugs.

3) Having a friend for Jason that enjoyed talking science with him. Trust me, those are rare and Jason will surely miss Matt!

4) Knowing that Ava was always loved and taken care of while I was at the hospital with Kate. Clairon has taken her nearly each visit since Kate's diagnosis.

5) Having Clairon there at book group. I really appreciated her perspective on nearly everything.

6) Christmas Caroling Party at their home each holiday season.

7) Easter dinner with them - kind of became a tradition for the past 3 years.

8) Friends to call on and count on. It's pretty neat to have someone that you know you can count on and vice-versa.

Good luck Palmers!

12/11/2008

It's true... :)

Ava's 3!

Between Kate and Ava's back-to-back birthdays our family has had enough cake to last for the year! We had barely put away the wrapping paper from Kate's gifts before we had to bust it out again for Ava. I am so very glad that the next celebration won't be until October!

We had a really fun day and enjoyed celebrating Ava's birthday as a family. Mostly to appease Ava, the entire family had a special lunch date with Jason at our favorite Mellow Mushroom pizza joint. Ava's repeated questioning of, "We go party now?" and "I have party, ok?" precipitated that idea. We thought we could hold her off until evening if she had a lunch out with Daddy. It worked - well, partially the lunch and largely letting her open one present while we were there. Ava really got that she was 3 years old today and understood that that accomplishment necessitated presents and cake.

I think that we lived up to her 3 year old expectations and threw her a wild family party complete with dancing to Mylie Cyrus. In Kate's words, "it was rockin'." Ava loves her talking/moving baby doll and Winnie the Pooh telephone (thanks Aunt Shauna!) and we love our 3 year old big girl!

These are a few videos from the party. The first is of us talking to Ava and the second is singing Happy Birthday to her. They are too cute!