Chasing Clouds Triathlon

One of our favorite places in town is Prophetstown State Park.  Celebrating its twelfth year in existence, a kids triathlon was created for kids ages 6-12.  After hearing the course, I talked to the kids about it and they were intrigued.  We also got Kari's good friend, Madison, on board for the race too.

 Gathering for their pre-race instructions.  This was incredibly well organized for a first time event.

 The first portion of the tri is the swim.  Actually, the very first part was a trip down the water slide.  Next, everyone swam the lazy river.

 Not knowing how they'd be released down the waterslide, I thought I would likely have some time in between Kari and Bryce's swim portion so that I'd be able to help each of them in the transition tent.  Unfortunately, Bryce came down the slide right after Kari, so the transition was a bit hectic.  Kari didn't need much help, but in the chaos of it all, I wasn't able to get any pictures.  The bike portion was two miles.

 The run portion was 0.8 miles.  Perfect for first time triathletes!

Coming into the finish!

 Finishers!  They're already talking about participating next year.

First Day of Summer

It didn't take long to strike out to our favorite location today.  This time, though, we invited two of Kari's best friends from school.  Yay for the farm at Prophetstown!

This was Madison and Avery's first time to the Farm, so we were excited to break in some newbies! We did our usual routine of visiting the farmhouse and then seeing all the animals and farm equipment before having a picnic lunch out at the playground.

Back Home in Indiana

June has certainly been different than the first 5 months of this year for all of us. The standard routine
typically includes waking up earlier than any of us want, oatmeal pancakes for breakfast, Kevin taking B to school, Holly staying home to get K and N on the bus and then off to work for both of us. The afternoons and evenings are filled with playing, dinner, some schoolwork/learning opportunities (you can guess who obliges with the two), showers and a little TV/movie time before bed.

Well, the Ragnar road trip started the month off with new adventures. Both kids spent four days in Glen
Ellyn with Grandmo and Grandpo while we ran. They had lots of fun, as usual, but the most talked about portion of the trip was getting to see a raccoon. It was near the garage then in and out from underneath the deck with four babies.  Eeek!

New pink cowboy boots that light up!

Visiting Amy's girls

When that weekend ended, B returned home for two weeks of being an only child, while K stayed in
Chicago. This was actually a fun time for all involved. B got the chance to get lots of our attention and
we thoroughly enjoyed that. He actually behaves better when the focus is on him, plus he’s less wound
up. K got to spend more time in Glen Ellyn playing with the neighbor kids Travis and Elanor. She also
attended a camp at the Morton Arboretum with Travis.

Travis had his birthday party at the bowling alley

Day camps at the Arboretum.  Kari and Travis were happy to have each other there.

For a couple nights she ventured off to Riverside for some time with Grammy Pammy. This is always
exciting as K loves to see Samuel the cat, even though it sounds like he wasn’t himself on this particular
visit.

Spending time at our favorite place, Prophetstown

While it was a lot of fun for K to be away, I can honestly say it was much tougher on me than I thought. This is bar none the longest I’ve gone without seeing my little girl since she came into our lives roughly 6.5 years ago. Thankfully we were able to stay in touch via e-mail.  I’ve been traveling back and forth to North Carolina the past two weeks for work, too, so I would shoot fun messages and sometimes even pictures to Kari (through Grandmo’s email). K is an excellent reader so I enjoyed being able to write her knowing she could sit at the computer and read most of everything I would write.

More Good Times at The Farm

We have had some absolutely fantastic experiences at Prophetstown lately.  I'm not sure if it's because there's been a push to develop some loosely organized programming for visitors or if Kari and Bryce are just at a better age to get involved, but we got to engage in some more 1920's daily life again on Saturday.

Prophetstown owns a working 1920's electric washing machine.  We learned that most washing machines at this time were not electric, so this made it quite unique, but what made the machine ahead of its time is that it actually had a spin cycle!  No need for a dangerous wringer!  Simply amazing.

A few weeks ago we Kari and I also had a chance to milk one of the cows.  I didn't have my camera with me but another local family was nice enough to snap a couple shots and email the pictures.  I couldn't resist when I was offered the chance to give it a try.  It certainly gives you a greater appreciation for where our milk comes from!

And of course it wouldn't be a visit to the Farm without saying hello to the Belgian draft horses.  Several of the horses were working in the fields harvesting and baling hay.

Piano Recital

Kari's first piano recital was Friday.  Gran and Beep Beep joined us to see the event.  Kari played Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Kari has really enjoyed lessons and sincerely likes her teacher, Ms. Mandy.  We continue to look forward to more songs and hopefully more recitals.

Saturday, I took the kids to the Lafayette Farmers Market and then on to one of our favorite hangouts- Prophetstown Farm and State Park.  It was so good to be back there again, like a long lost friend, and then in some ways it felt like we were going there for the first time.  We got to take part in a butter-making demonstration!  Bryce, in all of his two year old gloriousness, could not stay out of the poor woman's personal space.

 New animals graced the property-ducks and more surprisingly, two peacocks!  Fascinating.

We rounded out our visit by having a picnic lunch at the playground at the campsite portion of the park.  Even though our friend Megan doesn't work there anymore, we still had a great time.  Can't wait to go back again!

Random Pictures

Since it's been quite a while since we've been able to post substantial pictures for all of you to see, this is going to serve as more of a short story accompanied with the Best In Pictures over the past couple of weeks.

Kari and Grand-po sporting their new hardware!

We're gearing up for a visit from the Colorado Crew (Uncle Jason, Aunt Amy and cousins Keira and Audra). We're all VERY excited for their appearance in West Lafayette, as we have plenty of exciting Fall activities planned - most notably Halloween! Now we're just hoping this amazing Indian Summer weather continues.

Bryce rode up front with Kari and Megan this time. We were happy to see Megan again.

We've recently had our Homecoming Tailgate in which many friends showed up and the kids had a wonderful time. Also was a quick visit from Grand-mo and Grand-po, as well as repeat trips to Prophetstown. This past week there was a party at the Clawsons house where the kids made some crafts and got to play together.

Holly with Nicole and Lisa- former pharmacy students.

Kari and Nolan- best buds.

Bryce and Taylor- not too sure about their headgear.

There will be a big update to come after the gang leaves next weekend.
This week Kari will be delivering her Mummy crafts to her classmates and teachers. She signed her name on the back of the tags.