Triathlon 2009

CARB/PROTEIN - LOADING the night before the big race : ) spaghetti and chicken! Mom and dad had to carb-load with us... they had a lot of work to do the next day!!!

This is what you get when you wake Kyra up at 430am.... either super cranky and still sleeping OR just plain delerious. Well, this morning happened to be the delerious and just plain weird Kyra. Mom woke up to me doing the breast-stroke in the living room. I was just mentally and physically preparing!

Bikes on the rack, food in our stomachs, got mom out of bed.... we are ready to go!

Here we are- still smiling (pre race) in the transition area
The triathlon was in Columbia, South Carolina (approx 75 miles south of Charlotte) and it was 103 degrees and humid (heat index off the charts...) Hot hot hot!


Ma and Pa Kingsley were saints for cheering us on and standing out in the hot/humid weather for hours! Thanks so much guys!

We were beginners and it showed.... this guy was nice enough to show us how to rack our bikes, set up our transition area, how to wear our numbers, etc. There are so many ways to get penalized in these triathlons- good thing we had him (Even though he kicked our butts in the race- haha)!

Good luck kiss before we begin the first part of the triathlon.... the swim

Erik (in the background) and I focusing before we started our very first triathlon

Yep, I'm still posing for pictures... just seconds before I started my swim, with the other "Novice" ladies in my group (beginner group)

THERE WE ARE! CAN YOU SEE US?!? I think this is my group - silver swim caps. Erik got to wear a neon green swim cap... it was great!

YEP there's the green swim cap- love it! Sexy spandies honey! Erik's swim was probably the best part of his race... he is such a good swimmer! Long arms, strong heart and some previous high school practice helped him finish at the front of his group.

Still smiling.... the water felt great, even a little too warm! I wanted to do the swim again and just skip some of the other parts! : )

I wasn't the QUICKEST at the transition... took a seat to put my shoes on, dried off a little, had a little chat with my ma and pa. haha- ooops!

And off I go on my bike.... not to be seen again for many many long minutes to come....

Go Erik Go!

My mom doing what she does best- although it was a little harder to pull out a smile for the camera in these circumstances!

Erik starting the last leg of the race... the 5k run!



Almost there, honey! (How does he make it look so easy?!?! I need to learn that trick)


This was the best part of the entire triathlon.... getting sprayed by some random guy and his hose. It felt SO GOOD and came at just the right time.

This is in the first few minutes of the run for me:

Dad- "Come on Ky, you can do it- you can't stop now!" He's right... he knew how I felt- he'd been there through 7 marathons!

Mom thinking... "Ummm is she going to make it? I'll just smile for her"

This picture is hard to see, but dad ran the last 1/4 mile with me (just like I used to do with him in his marathons!) It was cute- he was a great inspiration!

ALMOST DONE- hence the half smile!

We did it! We finished! The guy in the middle is someone I work with at Maersk... he also kicked our butts! Ha!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooh such a good stretch!

Hi Grandma Chubby (talking to her right after the race... I think we were both in tears)


CHAMPION DAD OF THE YEAR!

Moral of the story... we had fun, it was a good experience and challenge, AND we finished without needing the ambulance!

Cool dry-fit triathlon shirt we got... little too big for me. Al and Erik will wear the shirts with pride!

COULD NOT BE HAPPIER! (post triathlon and nap)

Life is good again.

More pictures/updates to come from when Dana and Al were here visiting. We had such a great time! : )

Meg, Joe and Ella come to Charlotte!

Little Miss Ella taking a bite from my BEAUTIFUL and VERY VERY VERY TASTY fruit bouquet from my family (for the big 25 bday)
We celebrated Ella's bday a little early too... this ridiculous cow chair was part of that celebration... looks great in the middle of living rooms- your welcome Meg and Joe! : )

Muffin Topth?

Meg and Rykers at Salsas- yummmm!

The margaritas were good.... but Ella won!!! We stole sips every second that we could : )

I woke up on my birthday morning to find the apartment decorated with streamers, balloons and a "Bratz" Happy Birthday banner- LOVED IT (and so did Ella!)

This was the first minute of our first morning at the pool... Erik already got the beach ball stuck in the tree! Doesn't surprise me one bit!

"Daddy go high!!" -elle

Sibling love and total relaxation

"Daddy go under" These two were so entertaining in the pool! Ella was definitely at her happiest in the zero-depth pool!

Cheers to our "Flirtinis" - bday night : )

LOVE this girl's curls.... natural... beautiful and curlier than ever in this humidity!

Love you darlin!

I tried so hard to get a picture of Ella in her new Pawleys Island dress that we gave her... but she was so dang active and too fast for me, so this is the best I could do at dinner - such a pretty girl!

Joey loves me... he just likes to PICK on me. For instance:

(Kyra opening her bday cards):

Kyra: "Ohhh what a sweet card from Trudy about her favorite daughter-in-law... in fact, the best she could ever ask for."

Joe: "Oh that's funny because Trudy just gets me SON cards... doesn't even bother with the in law part"

Yep. he wins. again.


Fun in the pool with Aunt Kyra and Uncle Erik (I think I am being a shark???)

"Birdies eat it" LOL (Everytime Ella would get out of the pool and water would drip from her diaper, she would be fascinated with it, watch it drip, and then look at us and say "birdies eat it" and then walk away. We have no idea where she got it from either!)

MR. FREEZIES!!!

Elle-Belle grabbing treats out of her matching cow bag (to go with her cow chair)... again YOUR WELCOME, meg and joe : ) MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

ORANGE GIRLS! (and cookie monster on the diaper)

Elle in her adorable new dress from Aunt Mary

The orange clan (plus Erik) : )

The white and brown clan! (Aunt Mary stopped by for the evening to play with us- she had business in Colombia, SC, the next day so it worked out GREAT!)

Why have one big pool when you can have TWO??? This was Ella's back-up pool on our deck. She loved it and so did we!

We had such a great time with J, M and E.... please come back anytime! We really didn't mind our place looking like it was robbed- : ) Love you guys!

Next blog this weekend.... MA and PA KINGSLEY come visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(and cheer us on in our first ever triathlon)

Pawleys Island.... again : )

So yeah, we kinda like spending our weekends at Pawleys Island. Not only do we get to have the great company of Aunt Mary and Uncle Kevin, but we get beautiful scenery and an amazing getaway. Not that we enjoy driving 8hrs (round trip) on our weekend... but on our Sunday evening drives back, we always say that it was DEFINITELY worth the drive!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera for the highlight of the weekend: THE MULLETS! After a nice dinner at Mary and Kev's, we walked to "The Pit" - a cool outdoor restaurant/bar/performance area. There was a tiki bar and a tiki hut with a sunset/ocean backdrop for live music. Well, the Mullets (the fish, not the hair as I learned) managed to entertain us from 930pm- 130am on Saturday night!!! They played great music and had their own personal dancer.... a 65-70yr old marine biologist named "Hutch" who wore a tye-dyed shirt and danced every minute of every song. Words can't express how great it was- really wish I had my camera.... ssssssssssssssssorry!

Boat cruise on the creek with captain Erik driving the boat! I honestly think this was the happiest he has been all year!!!

Aunt Mary lookin beautiful and Luc is manning the front of the boat

Both the creek and ocean were so calm this weekend- it was gorgeous!

Michael, Darlene and Gilligan (dog) were out on their dock so we stopped and talked to them for a bit on our boat cruise. Darlene gave us fresh squash from her garden... we had it with other veggies on the grill for dinner! Yum!

The white house used to be Mary and Kevin's.... it has a view of both the ocean and the creek! It got to be too busy for them too. Their place now is so peaceful and private!

Erik never ceases to amaze me... he went to the gas station to get a 6 pack of beer and comes back with a giant can of Mike's "HARDER" Lemonade for us. WOW. Thing is, it was pretty tasty!

Luc and I were having a moment... he decided he was a lap dog and cuddled right on and laid on his back and said "scratch me Kyra!"

Erik and Mary after dinner... Mary made delicious crab cakes!

Sunday morning beach time... so beautiful- perfect day for the beach! Darlene and Mary going in to cool off.

On the way home, we stopped in Columbia and found our Triathlon site (on June 20th). It is a really nice area and the lake looked pretty! We went for a little jog so we could get a feel for the area. We really enjoyed the scenery... but the jog about killed us because it was 90 degrees and pretty humid. However, we managed to go exactly 3.2 miles (which is the distance we have to run in our triathlon).

More blogs to come... Meg, Joe and Ella come to visit this weekend and I know you all can't get enough Ella pics ; ) And Ma and Pa Kingsley come to visit in three weekends! YEAAAA

LOVE TO ALL!