We spent last weekend in Michigan with our friends the
Dublins. Rick and Matt competed in an
Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Benton Harbor. At the end of the day we all felt like we'd completed one. Matt was going to finish about an hour ahead of Rick and Lisa wanted to get there early to make sure she didn't miss his finish. So we all went early and ended up spending more than three hours waiting for Rick and Matt to finish.
On our
walk from the car to the race site a couple walked past me holding Katie and
Ceci's hands with Ella and Sophia trailing behind, did a double take, looked at me and said "Good luck with...that." Then we passed a boy selling lemonade with a sign on his table that said "It's a
loooong walk". At that point I wondered what I was thinking bringing everyone to this circus.
They did a great job on the walk and actually were quite good until the winds picked up and it started pouring rain. We ran into a shelter and crowded in with hundreds of spectators. The wind was really whipping and the rain was blowing sideways into the shelter. Sophia said "I see a tornado" and all of a sudden I thought the roof was going to fly off...how can I get all four girls to safety. Rick said he was on the run at this point and picked up the pace imagining me and the girls in the monsoon waiting for him.
Ceci was chanting "Go Daddy! Go Daddy!" over and over driving the people around us crazy. All of a sudden I realized that it was 2:00pm and we hadn't had lunch. There really wasn't much to eat there so I dragged everyone to the snack station where we had pop-tarts, trail mix and granola bars. They finished off the snacks in about five minutes. I was pouring trail mix into their hands like a mommy bird. They just stood there with their hands in the air and I kept pouring.
There weren't a lot of young children at this race which made perfect sense once I saw what it was like waiting and waiting. I kept repeating in my head and probably out loud "never again...never again...never again."
I don't have any pictures since I left the camera bag in the car. At first I was upset that I'd left it behind but once we got there I was so thankful that I wasn't carrying that all afternoon. We didn't even see Rick cross the finish line since it was pouring rain and we didn't know within an hour what time he'd finish.
When the guys finished they were
exhilarated to have completed the day-long race and I think Lisa and I were even more excited to see them. We were all proud of Rick and hope this satisfies his need to do a distance triathlon.
Here are some pictures from the beach in Michigan. This was the fun part of the weekend. All the girls love the water:
Here's Ella leading the pack while they terrorized the sea gulls....Katie called them "beach birds":
Lots of beach time:
The seagull patrol was in full effect:
Here's one of Rick's candids of the group:
and a couple more from the evening:
Sophia and her bff Maddy:
We attempted to take a Christmas card photo on the front deck that was less than successful:
We spent a morning at Captain Mike's go-carts/miniature golf/arcade. They had something for everyone. This was our first time golfing and I was pleased that no one got a putter in the face. Katie kept yelling "I WIN! I WIN!" every time she got the ball in the hole.
Captain Mike is in the back super-sanitizing those balls after each use, right?
Sophia and Ella drove the junior go-carts:
And Katie and Ceci seemed to get over not being old enough when they saw the big plastic horse that rocks:
