best surprise visit EVER!

I first have to start by saying thank you to my wonderful husband---it's nice to know someone is proud of you. Ty took 4th in his division, he did awesome. It was a great race and I'm happy I have someone to enjoy them with.

Now back to the surprise visit. My sweet sister-in-law Shante' (my lil bro's wife) made the exciting trip to Missouri to come see us (sorry sisters, shan is now at the top of my list. Come pay me a visit and you can work your way up). I'll have to back the story up a bit to the "surprise".

Last weekend we had an over nighter in St. Louis. We went with a couple other families. Went to a Cardinals game (very fun), ate good food and dessert and enjoyed some family time. Then I got the glorious call from Shan asking me if I could pick her up at the airport. I was so excited, jumping up and down, not quite believing she was serious, and filling Tyler in on the details (he of course had known for weeks). Surprises rule!

Here are a couple pics from the game.
Odee taking it all in.

J is always happy if popcorn is involved.

Shan has a great eye for decorating so she helped me give the kids room a lift.
BEFORE

DURING

AFTER
I'm so happy with it.

One of the days we drove to Jefferson City to watch a stage of the Tour of Missouri. It was awesome.

We spent a lot of time staying in our pj's, eating, exercising to work off all our eating, talking, laughing, crafting and taking family walks. Thanks again Shan for coming out, it was just what I needed. It's not easy to get to our little town, I truly appreciate it. Please come back again.
Love you!

My Wife is Fast

That's right! Aimee won her division at the NEMO Tri, in her triumphant return to triathlon. It's been a couple of years since she has raced (since before she got prego with Odee) so it was nice seeing her back in the habit of winning today. This makes it 3 podium finishes for Aimee and all 3 have been the top step. Actually 4 podium finishes if you count the 3rd place that her relay team took in last years Nemo Tri.
Here she is on the makeshift podium with the 2nd place girl (3rd place was not around for the awards ceremony, too embarrassed by the wooping she got I'm sure).
This is Aim with our friend Valerie who also won her division today. She is in the division just under Aim's so the competition between them is still friendly.....
It was nice racing with Aim again, it has been a while since we had done a race together. The feel of this race was so different from past races. First of all, we are in Missouri (DUH!). Second of all, no family to cheer us on, but plenty of good friends. Third, we didn't have to travel for this one. The tri was at the lake just 10 minutes from our house so it made for a relaxing race. Our friends did us the biggest favor and watched the kids during the race and then we hurried and went and picked them up after we finished and went back for awards (Thanks Warners, we owe you guys. 6:30 a.m. is not the most convenient babysitting time). Fourth, I felt a lil' gay parading around in little spandex in front of a lot of people I know (including classmates). Not sure why that mattered this time but it did. I guess it's just been a while since I squeezed into tri lycra. My cycling lycra is sooo much cooler and leaves more to the imagination.....or does it?

The kids and I didn't come away from this tri empty handed either. Jackson scored a bag of doritos form the post race luncheon, Olivia walked away with Aimee's half-full bike bottle and I came home with fatigue and sunburned "power allies". We're all winners. Congrats Aims.....you are an incredible mommy, wife and triathlete!