Sunday, August 23, 2009

MM

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This macro comes with a few extras. On Sunday we took a trip up to Green Bluff, a local farming community to pick peaches. These peaches were so juicy it was hard to stop at one...so we ended up bringing home 40 lbs of them...the bottling and freezing will have to start tomorrow!

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Birthday, A Bike Ride and a Bonus

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Yes...Monday was a busy day. And so I had no Macro Monday post but I have a good excuse.
It was Matt's birthday yesterday.....and not just ANY birthday. He turned 40. The big 4 - 0.
Anyone who knows me well will tell you I am not a very good birthday shopper and I had been wracking my brains for weeks trying to think of what to get him. Anything that he really wants he just goes ahead and buys for himself and so there was nothing that I could think of that he either needed or wanted.

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Now I'm not the melancholy sort but it did strike me that as we get older there is one thing that really is priceless and whether we like to admit it or not is in a diminishing supply....TIME. Time with our spouse, our children, our family, our friends. So Matt and I agreed that for this year no fancy presents...making the most of our time together was the best gift we could give each other.

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With that in mind we headed off yesterday on a bit of a bicycling adventure. We drove across to the Idaho/ Montana border and took on the Hiawatha Trail. It was an old railway line that has been coverted to a beautifully scenic bike trail.

The scenery was just breathtaking!


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We covered about 14.5 miles of the trail. Across old railway bridges and through plenty of long, dark tunnels. And when I say dark I mean pitch black. You can't see your hand in front of your face when you are inside the tunnels so a bike light for each of us was a necessity. Inside the tunnels it was surprisingly cold...and more than a little creepy. All darkness, bare rock walls and the sound of running, dripping water. Still it provided plenty of incentive to pedal like crazy to get through to the other side!




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We were lucky enough to see a moose and her baby grazing..( sorry no pics of that), but we did meet these cute little chipmunks who were looking to share some of the oreos the kids were eating.

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If you look closely to the top right in that picture above you will see one of the old railway bridges we crossed...just spectacular!

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And so that was the birthday and the bike ride....and now for the bonus....for me that is.
I feel very honored to have a received an award from 2 blogging friends...Michelle and Elizabeth. Thank you both so much. I always enjoy visiting your blogs and I'm sure other visitors to my corner of the blogosphere will enjoy a visit there too! Thanks again guys :-)

Monday, August 10, 2009

MM

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Another Macro Monday post.
My neighbor's blackberry bush.
Just starting to ripen.
Black.
Tasty.
Delicious.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Triathlon Weekend - Part 2

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In the spirit of the triathloning frenzy a group of kids in our neighborhood entered the Coeur d'Alene Youth Triathlon that was held on Sunday.
It was broken up into age categories with varying distances depending on the age of the child. But I have to tell you...I think I would have struggled even in the 5 to 6 year old category. These kids REALLY have stamina.



SWIM


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TRANSITION

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BIKE

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RUN

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They all did a great job, had lots of fun and made it across the finish line.

Looks like they'll all be signing up for the triathlon again next year.

Sheesh...I really will have to get serious about this training thing!

Triathlon Weekend - Part 1

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Let me say at the outset...I did not even break a sweat this weekend. But everyone else around me seemed to.

This weekend was the Coeur d'Alene Triathlon on Saturday and on Sunday was the Youth Triathlon. So much triathloning going on I will have to blog about it in a 2 part series {sigh}
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Congratulations firstly go to our neighbor and friend Ken who competed in his first Olympic length triathlon. He was one of 1,500 competitors and we decided to go and cheer him on. So glad we did...it was such a great atmosphere. And he made it to the finish line in one piece. I won't repeat his first words after crossing the finish line. My husband Matt thinks he may have been delirious :-) But suffice it to say Ken has inspired our neighborhood to dust off our running shoes and get out and train for next years triathlon. Well Done Ken! I'm sure Ken's wife Michelle will be blogging some more about the race so head on over to her blog to get the full race rundown.



Part 2 tomorrow - Kids Triathlon

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Brotherly Love

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These are the things that make parenting SO worthwhile. A spontaneous brother hug. My new favorite photo!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Happy Birthday

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Happy Birthday to our newest 9 year old!

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And before you ask.....yes...that chocolate cake was delish!