Every summer, our nieces and nephews all gather up in the Pocono's for a week with their grandparents. They've been doing it since they were all really young, so it's something we always look forward to. Unfortunately, Doug and I can't be there all week to hang out, but we always catch the tail end for the weekend. Now the kids are 7, 10, 10 & 12, so they can actually play all day without napping, without getting too grumpy and are super competitive with all things sporty, so it's always a great time!
Since it was hot as balls out, we stuck as near water as possible. Our house doesn't have AC because it usually stays about 10-15 degrees colder up in the mountains than in the city. Unfortunately, it didn't work like that this weekend...it was still 102! Definitely not fun for sleeping.
We did log quite a few hours on our paddle boards and taught the whole fam dam how to do it.
Doug's sis & her hubby
Anna (7). Already asked for a paddle board for her 8th birthday:)
Jami (10) & David (12) cruising along
Becca must have been too fast on the board, because I didn't get a pic...
Even Doug's 70 year old mom got in on the action and loved it!
We enjoyed lovely dinners by the lake as we planned cousin's camp next year that is happening in Kauai in celebration of the in-laws 50 anniversary!!!
A couple of weeks ago my friend emailed me asking about an Olympic dist. triathlon she found up by our lake house. I hadn't ever heard of it, but figured since it was within an hour drive of the house and in a beautiful area, we should support the local race. So, on Saturday afternoon our friends came to our house and we took them paddle boarding for a couple hours and then did a swim in the lake as a warm up for the morning. Since the race was an hour from the house and started at 7am, we were up at a ridiculous time.
Every race I ever sign up for, I dread on race morning. Maybe it's just because I'm not a morning person, but I seriously hate life while I'm still laying in bed at 4:15 on a Sunday morning knowing that I'm going to jump in a cold lake and work my ass off for a few hours. Ughh, I wish I could wake up excited, but I never do, no matter how excited I am the night before. It did help a little knowing that Doug and our friends were all going through the same thing...misery loves company I suppose.
Once we made our way to the race site, my whole attitude changed. Check out the sunrise with the mist on the lake, how can you have stank face in this place?
This dude with the medal detector was up to his neck in the water searching for gems.
See, the smiles started peeking through
Kind of...
The race itself was a bear. If they could have made the swim uphill, I'm sure they would have. The swim was really nice and the water temp was a surprisingly toasty 77 degrees, I actually got warm, which never happens to me in the swim!
Next up, the bike. At mile 3 in the bike we hit a 10% grade that lasted just over 2 miles...really good way to start. I was feeling pretty crappy the whole way up with all kinds of stomach problems. Luckily I started feeling better about halfway through the bike so I was able to take some gels and pick up a little energy. The rest of the bike was rolling hills with a few big ones in the middle. My legs were pretty pooped at the end of the bike which leads me to believe that I think I need to pace myself a bit more instead of just ride balls out.
The run had the allure of being a beautiful, flat, fast run but that notion quickly deteriorated. After running on a perfectly tree-covered trail for the first couple of miles at a pretty good clip, I was rudely surprised when I turned a corner, hit a paved road (in hot sun) that went straight up for 1 mile. For pride's sake I didn't let myself walk, but I'm pretty sure I could have walked it faster than I was chugging...it was ugly. The turn around point finally came and then it was a downhill bomb that was a little too steep to actually enjoy and then we hit the trail again for the final few miles of the race. I soon figured out why I was feeling so great the first couple of miles into the run, it was a slight downhill the whole time...which meant it was a slight uphill the whole way back. I totally bonked at about 4.5 miles and then just tried to drag my sorry ass to the finish without walking.
I made it to the finish and immediately laid down on the cement for a good 5 minutes to recover...I was spent. The rest of our crew did great. It was the first tri for one of our friends and the other scored a 3rd place AG finish! Dougie finished as well, but didn't feel so hot. I think he'll use it as good motivation to get into shape for the NYC Tri we have in a few weeks.
I ended up first in my age group and got a sweet piece of coal as the prize! I mean, it was the "Antracite" Triathlon, so it was only appropriate!
I always like a challenge, but this might be one that I only do once:)
My lovely friends, Clayton and Renee, invited us to their beach house in Cape San Blas, Fl for the 4th of July this year. They were married there last year and wanted to do a reunion of sorts with some of the guests that were at the wedding. They rallied the troops, which were all former UK swimmers and divers (and spouses) and planned a weekend of festivities for us.
My best friend from growing up lives in Valdosta, GA, so I decided to fly down a couple days early to hang out with her and her baby, which I try to do anytime I'm near that area. When I flew in Wednesday morning, Lindsey and Hadley picked me up and we headed down to the beach a couple days early for a mini girls trip! Hadley is 19 months old and had never been to the beach, so we had a lot of fun picking up shells, playing in the water and building sand castles (well, Lindsey and I built them and Hadley smashed them up).
This little lady could be in magazines...so beautiful!
On Thursday afternoon, Doug flew in and crashed the girl party, but we were happy to see him. Thursday night we did a big dinner with Clayton and Renee and Carrie and Whit, who had just gotten into town. We kicked the weekend off in style with some fancy tex-mex, mariachi band included!
Friday morning we headed over to the Moss Haus for some pool and beach time before Lindsey and Hadley had to leave.
Clayton and Renee are both triathletes (Clayton a multiple time IM finisher), so when they built the house, they put in a lap pool in their backyard so that they could train whenever they wanted to (yeah, it's sweet)!
Later in the day I started to notice that I was getting really burned, I mean like really burned. My hands, toes, shoulders, chest were nearly purple. I had been diligent about putting on sunblock and had only been in the sun for a couple of hours. I know I'm a ginger, but I don't usually burn like that. Then it hit me...I was on 3 different medications for a cut on my foot that got infected (I sliced my foot open while paddleboarding a few weeks ago in Jersey and after a couple weeks of walking on it in the NYC streets, it got really infected). Apparently one of the medications makes a person taking it much more sensitive to the light. Add that to pale skin and I was doomed. Later that night, I ended up going to the ER because I was blistering and was in a lot of pain. The doc basically said, stop taking the meds and stay out of the sun for 2-3 days. CRAP...this is supposed to be a beach vacation! (yes, even my lips blistered)
So, the next day, I hung out in the Moss Haus (which isn't a bad place to be if you have to be inside) and read my book. Later on, some thunderstorms rolled in, so I took the opportunity to go for a swim in the lap pool. Take that doc...you can't keep me inside.
The next couple of days were filled with sleeping in, hanging on the Moss deck, sitting under the shade of a beach umbrella and lighting fires on the beach after the sun went down. After a couple of days, I was able to hit the beach and play with everyone else. We went paddleboarding, fishing, swimming and kayaking. When I was out in the water I wore a long sleeve white shirt, just like the ones you always see the chubby white kids wearing at the beach...it was pretty sexy. Good thing I bought that cute new bikini before the trip;)
Walk way from the Moss Haus right to the beach...ahhhh.
Cray-cray and her husband Whit
Cody was really proud of the dead fish he caught:)
4th of July fire - started with lighter fluid and a visor
C-Moss at sunset
Our amazing hosts, Clayton and Renee (and Tabitha...1 of 3 furry kids)
Of course I love vacationing with just my hubby, but vacationing with your friends and your hubby is awesome! Thanks again Moss's for such a great weekend!
