Chlorine. It’s what’s for breakfast.

4:15 – (yes a.m.) my gentle alarm wakes me up and I pretend not to hear it

 

4:18 – I pull my head off the pillow and head downstairs to fix Mike’s sandwich (the rest of his lunch was packed the night before); oh yeah and I fed the dog who was THRILLED to get her breakfast early

 

4:25 – I make protein shakes for post workout.

 

4:32 – I head back upstairs to get my swimmie on, brush my teeth and put my contacts in

 

4:44 – I head back downstairs, grabbing goggles, swim cap, water, watch and all the energy I can muster

 

4:45 – We leave the house

 

5:00 – Practice starts and the water feels cold! 

 

5:36 – I look for a little pick-me-up and find none other than my finely sculpted hubs swimming in the lane next to me… looking way better than this guy!

 

6:00 – Finished approximately 1.35 miles in the pool, a few gulps of the best chlorine energy drink ever, leaving only sweat behind and a little less water

 

Chlorine; it’s what’s for breakfast.

everything in bloom

I hope you are having a very happy Thursday. 

Below are a few pictures of the latest to bloom around the house.  Gladiolas.  They are really pretty this year in yellows, pinks, reds and purples.  We’re also harvesting raspberries and blackberries.  There aren’t a ton but I enjoy them as a little garden treat.  We’re even going to expand our berry patch to two new boxes for next years growth.

In further news: We have our Mini-Sprint Triathlon coming up July 9th.  The hub’s brother, Brad, is coming down to race with us joined by his biggest fan, Bethany!  Looking forward to a wonderful weekend with the both of them.

AND, not to mention, JULY 4TH is this Weekend!!! Hope you have something fun planned.  We’ll pull out our camping chairs and sit on the driveway and watch little bits of different shows all over the night sky and relish the fact that we don’t have to fight traffic on the way home.

lots to celebrate!!

 

 

1.  Hannah Joy Griz made a special appearance into this world yesterday!  Congratulations Derek and Jess!

 

 

 

2.  We have a new roof!!  The crew arrived at 6:15 or so on Friday to start reroofing out house! They did an awesome job and finished by 7:00 or so that night.  We were able to “test it out” this weekend with the severe storms we had and its working great!

 

3.  We purchased a computer last night!  BBR (the homestead) has had a fighting battle for the last few weeks between our two computers.  We are running a different operating system on the little one now and its been working well… until we came home from work the other day to find a lovely message on the screen of the big laptop that said:

Operating System not found

… Yeah… so after many hours of the Hubs working on restoring it (which he did successfully twice!), we decided for our marriage sake that buying a new one would be our best choice!  So it will be making its debut in the not so distant future.

 

4.  Our windows and siding should be going in next week!  So excited to be this close to having a repaired house.  And we’ll have a sliding back door! yessssssssssssss

 

 

5.  Our Triathlon training is going well.  We are enrolled in this Olympic Distance Training Class that meets twice a week to train.  I’m a bit nervous, but with 12 weeks of direction and guidance, completion should (hopefully) not be an issue.  I hope to even be able to set a time goal for myself =).  The Tri we’re training for is called Storm the Form and is 1.5 K Swim, 40K Bike and 10K Run (translation: 0.9 mi swim; 25 mi bike; 6.2 mi run).  I’m still working up to the run distance. 

 

6.  Again, the hubs to the rescue!  We have a new sink sprayer!  I was dutifully washing dishes the other night and the hose that comes out to the sink sprayer began squirting water all over me.  I realized there was a crack in the hose.  Only 2 trips to Home Depot and about 1 hour of under the sink, around the pipes plumbing work (I guess it was leaking for longer than I knew), the hubs got the new sprayer up and running.  I’m super impressed with his diverse skill set. 

 

I’m sure there’s more to report, but I thought I would update you with what I had on the top of my mind right now.  Hope yall are having a wonderful day.

 

PS:  I thought of a No. 7.  We have raspberries!  Not a ton yet, as none have made it back up to the house from the garden, but enough to enjoy their yummyness!!  May this lovely picture inspire you to happy summer eating.

fun weekend in North Carolina

The first weekend in June, Mike and I, along with my sister and her hubs were able to drive over to NC to see the family!  We had a great time with Mom and Rob eating dinner together, buying a grill for our grandparents and going to the Haw river to do some hiking rock hopping.  The Dotson clan made it out without any wet feet which is typically a Pelon tradition.  The other few weren’t so lucky.  We all brought our dogs out there (Nikki, Grace, Avi and the newest addition, Becky) and they absolutely had a blast traversing the river, rocks and smelling everything in sight!  Needless to say, they were dog tired by the end of our adventure.  Here are a few pictures =)

Haw River Adventures VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

At the end, we decided to get in the river a bit and cool off.  The boys went body surfing down this little area of “white water.”  The funny part is Mom’s dog Nikki would do it too!  She would go to the top of the little rapid area and get it and surf down and get out and do it again!  It was the funniest thing!

Here are a few of the videos as proof =): Video 1; Video 2; Video 3

We had a really fun day. I promise Mike isn’t flexing for the picture.  He had to run over to where we all were standing once he set the timer on the camera and it wasn’t the easiest. 

Later, Mike and I went out and played some putt-putt with Megan and Justin!  It was hot, so we enjoyed a nice ice cream treat afterwards.  AND!! My best friend is getting married in a few months!!! YEAHH!

Also, we got to hang out with Jenny, my college roommate, for a little while and catch up as well as spend some quality time with Aunt Donna and Grammie at lunch on Sunday.

All in all, a very wonderful weekend =)

permission to be a kid again

I don’t remember the last day this spring/summer that it has rained.  The newspaper says that there has only been 0.64 inches of rain in the last 14 days! And we haven’t had a day under 92 since May 29th.

So, as I sit at my desk and look out the window, I am pleased to announce the arrival of the first few raindrops (as well as thunder) in what seems like forever.  We serve a gracious God.

 

Therefore, I am giving you full permission to pull out your fun colored rain boots, go jump in a puddle and be a kid again.  While you do, pray that the rain sticks around for a little while.