Weekend without the kids...

We don't get a lot of time away from the kids. So when we do, we seem to try and cram as many activities in as possible. So when j signed up for a triathlon last weekend, we decided to try to make the most of the weekend.

First, of  course, was j's sprint triathlon.

Swim (that's her after being the first to make the turn)

Bike

Run

She finished 2nd in her age group

Then we rented a boat to travel around Kentucky Lake.

I took a dip

j relaxing on the boat

We found the campsite that j's been going to with her parents her whole life

This is Eggner's Ferry Bridge that was famous for getting a span knocked out by a ship carry a rocket for NASA (be sure to check out the 2nd picture in the article). The replacement span is the straight one on the right.

 SCUBA on Sunday. We hadn't been SCUBA diving since before cmb was born, but we were about an hour away from the location where we originally trained, so we included it just to test some new equipment and give ourselves a refresher (we hope to take a real vacation within a year for some serious diving). Things have definitely changed in the 9 years since we've been there last, but we still had fun.

View of Pennyroyal Scuba Center from the office.

Fish in a van.

j says hello

That there is an RV (and me)

We were home by Sunday, and already missed the kids severely. But they didn't seem much to mind.

Finally, I wanted to get a video posted of cmb doing his flip.

Welcome Summer

We've been really busy the last 5 weeks (especially j), so everything's a blur. Hopefully, things will slow down by the end of July. We have a vacation coming where we're going to travel to 3 different cities from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico, so I don't know how relaxing it will be, but it should be fun. So here are some of the things we've been up to so far this summer:

1. Swimming and Diving: cmb loves the water. We took him to a UL Swimming and Diving meet this past season, and he just couldn't get enough of the diving (splashing and jumping are 2 of his favorites, and this combines both). His favorite TV shows were the Splash celebrity diving competition show and the Wipe Out show. So when this summer started with our new membership to a swim club, we used diving as incentive to improve his swimming. He's been close, he just hasn't put it all together yet (I guess he's only 3 and a half). Well here is his first jump off the diving board at Lakeside:

He was definitely a little hesitant at first (I cut out the first attempt where he walk back to land after standing on the edge of the board for a minute). But by his second jump, he did a half a twist and now he's doing rolls (front flips that he doesn't quite finish) into the water. His swimming has improved greatly, but still makes me a little nervous. mab enjoys the water as well:

Get lots of compliments on the sun hat.

New camera takes underwater photos, so we've been testing it out.

2. Playing: Definitely plenty of fun outdoors, picnics, and at cookouts with friends. 

cmb on a Ferris Wheel at a local Catholic Picnic.

mab in a playground tube.

cmb with Papaw on a Merry-Go-Round at Louisville Bats game.

mab trying hats at a friend's party.

She's learned to smile when the camera is out.

3. Visiting Siblings: A few weeks ago we made our first trip to Chicago of the year to visit my brother.

Pre-Shedd Aquarium visit face painting

Nephew z at Shedd

Fish.

Turtle.

cmb next to his cousin n for a lizard demonstration.

Then on the weekend after the Fourth we went to j's sister house for their annual cookout for some delicious food and fun.

mab with Mommy and an inadvertent selfie.

 cmb's now annual jam session.

mab wants to say hello.

4. Cirque du Soleil: My friend cc came in town to visit with us and catch her old teammate's performance in the traveling Cirque du Soleil show 'Quidam.' It was my first Cirque with some really amazing acrobatics and we were able to take cmb to the show. He lasted until the last half hour before he crashed.

j and cc at preshow meal at Harvest (yum).

After the show cc's friend was able to take us backstage to see the costumes, backstage practice area, and meet some of the performers. There were flags hanging from each country that a performer was from (I failed to get a picture but there was something like 15-20). Everyone was very nice and fit, they were working out after the show, many on different apparati than they performed in the show. 

cc's teammate (who's very tall for a gymnast) did a very impressive act on silks. We got to hang out with her some while she was in town and she seemed to have fun even though I was lugging the little ones around with us.

One of the performers and his German Wheel. I had never seen a German Wheel before but his act was awesome and looked like it was a lot of fun. 

5. Fun at LBL: We went down to the Land Between the Lakes for the second straight year for a family reunion. the turnout was a little lighter than last year, but it's always fun to get on the water. I didn't get any photos of it this year, but Calvin spent almost every minute he was awake and on dry land throwing rocks into the lake. It must have been over 12 hours worth all told.

Packed up the car with all of our stuff plus j's sister's kayaks and our bikes.

cmb with Mommy on the speed boat.

cmb jumping off the speed boat.

The next day the family rented a pontoon boat, so we were able to take mab as well.

Captain cmb

cmb jumping off the pontoon boat.

mab lounging in the water.

Another cousin brought his ski boat so we took cmb out on it. He was fine until it got a little rough. Then he wanted off.

He crashed next to another (distant) cousin on the way back to the cabin.

The last morning, j swam around the cove for about 45 minutes. I spotted her in the kayak.

We've had a lot of fun this summer and hope to keep it going for the next few weeks. Then we might need a break from all this summering...

Turn it to 11

j and I were married 11 years ago today. Time flies.

New Hobbie?

Last year when I was driving to West Virginia for the umpteenth time in pursuit of one hobby (black and white stripes on the college pigskin field), I really started considering a new hobby, piloting.

I never did the math on how much it would actually cost, but I'm sure it isn't cost effective, but to me it was more about being time effective. I was driving solo to a lot of these games and had to get up before dawn or travel the night before to reach the field at a decent time (and be well rested). Plus, let's be honest, I thought it would be fun and I'd find excuses to use it in other endeavors (like this summer alone we have 3 trips to the Land Between the Lakes, and that 3+ hour trip is just long enough to make me wonder how much shorter it would be to fly).

So, when a chance to try a Discovery Flight was available on Groupon, I decided I wanted to try. So j and I took a flight in a Piper Warrior down the Ohio River...

He let me do the steering more most of the flight, he controlled the important things like the throttle, gas mixture, the pedals... 

Here's a look down the Ohio River towards downtown from the NE 

Flying by downtown 

The Falls of the Ohio

The Locks

The water tower (more impressive from the ground).

I told j after the flight that I wanted one (a plane/license). So it's not a new hobby yet, but I do admit I am considering it...

Really Late Sugar Bowl Post (keeping with the UL theme)

Most of our vacation/travel in the past few months have been UL related. For basketball we did a road trip to DC (to also visit with t), went to the Big East in NYC, and Atlanta for the Final Four. Before all of that, however, we went to New Orleans to watch UL play in the Sugar Bowl. My parents, oldest brother's family, and our family all were on the same charter to New Orleans a little before New Years Day.

(yes against my usual policy, we are all wearing the same shirt)

Here's mab's first trip in an airplane.

Here's cmb, he's an old pro. Interesting fact, his first trip in a plane was also to New Orleans.

Self photo in a mirror at the hotel.

Here we are with Teddy Bridgewater and Dr. James Ramsey... kinda

We had a few days to run around New Orleans, which is never a bad thing.

If you look in the above picture, cmb really wanted this stuffed alligator when we were walking around the French Quarter. j bought it for him, although I was a little concerned. After all, we were about to play the Florida Gators. Then we sat down for some lunch and this is what he started doing...

Little did we know that this was foreshadowing.

Back at the hotel with cmb and mab.

Day of the game we spent the early afternoon on the Steamboat Natchez. cmb loves water and splashing, so we had to smuggle rocks onto the boat for him to throw into the water. It was a bit cold with the breeze out on the deck, but we had fun.

They had a jazz band on the boat. cmb danced listening to them for a bit.

Messing with my new cameras out panorama feature. Still learning

Oh yeah, we were down here for a game. Thought the Mayhem comments were wishful thinking.

By the time game time rolled around the fans were pretty fired up. Here are the team buses as they're about to leave for the Superdome.

So, unlike our future trip (and previously blogged) trip to the Final Four, we had no expectations for the actual game. We were an inconsistent team in the sub-par Big East playing a team that was legitimately the 2nd or 3rd best team in the best league in the country. I figured due to Coach Strong's previous time working at Florida, the fact that Teddy had established himself as a legitimately great quarterback, and a possible let down by Florida, we might keep it respectable. I think that my text messaging to a Floirda alumni friend were basically of the lien of thinking. Keep it close, maybe sneak something at the end. So we went to the game in good spirits to have a good time.

Arriving at the Superdome

View from our seats, I was pretty shocked we got such great seats.

We had a good view of some friends on the upper level (guy in white was the kidnapee in the previous blog)

Hard to beat Ali (and Tom Jackson) representing your team. 

So if you don't know or don't remember the results of the game, let's just say that the game played out perfectly for UL. On the first play from scrimmage, the Cards got a pick 6, and never really looked back. Teddy was stellar against the top rated defense in NCAA. The defense was more than solid. UL also scored on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. The final score:

and it wasn't that close. UL had their best game of the season when Florida likely had their worst. 

On field celebration

 MVP Teddy Bridgewater

A week or so after, UL had an event at the football stadium where you could get autographs and pictures with Sugar Bowl trophy (I think j posted that on facebook). cmb was just excited to get on the field.

 Touchdown CMB!!!

Sugar Bowl Trophy

All in all, I think we can say it's been a great year to be a UL fan. Glad to be back in town to be a part of it all.