Amused

These are pictures of kids on their first Ferris Wheel ride. They loved it. Sadly, Mike was off on a roller coaster so he missed this first. I wanted to wait for him, I really did, but the girls could not take their eyes off this ride and wanted to go on it immediately. And, I am definitely a sucker for these kids!

We had a great time at Elitch Gardens here in Denver. We will definitely need to come better prepared next year (assuming the library foots the bill for half of our party as a reward for reading over the Summer). We really should have packed a cooler and left it in the car. I didn't realize how close the parking area is to the park, but we totally could have packed lunch and saved our money for a funnel cake inside. But the place is perfect for little kids. There were no waits for the little rides. So awesome. I love that we have so many cool places like this so close to where we live. It's been a great Summer of exploring and now we are back in school mode, at least until the weekend!

Happiness is...

bouncing in a new to us inflatable bounce house! Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Another Tri

On Sunday, I had the privilege of joining 2704 women in a Sprint Triathlon to benefit breast cancer research. This was my second year doing this event and I had a fantastic time. It was so fun to push myself beyond the norm and conquer the mental game of a triathlon. Trust me it is all mental. The swim was easy enough, just a little annoying because I was stuck in a pack of swimmers and was being man handled the whole half mile. Thankfully, I am not fearful in shark free water, so I just pushed myself a little harder trying to get away! I think I cut a little over a minute off of last years swim.

I also have a new road bike and it allowed me to increase my pace from 10 miles an hour last year to 15 miles per hour this year. Yay! The run was still painful, but I still managed to shave 2 minutes off of last years time with a pace of 12 minutes 39 seconds per mile. My quads hated me and did not want to move. I was giving my legs a pep talk coming into the last mile. I think I may have told them to suck it up, and get ready to rock. I was on pace for reaching my goal and was not going to let sore quads take that from me. I came in just under 1 hour 55 minutes and felt great! I am thankful that I was introduced to this sport by Mike's cousin, Tanya. It is so fun and rewarding. I really think you should have a Sprint tri on your bucket list. There is time, there was a 71 year old who did the event in under 2 hours! I'm looking forward to next year and hoping to have a few more friends join in the fun.