Yosemite - Day 1

After the race we headed back to the hotel to pack and take showers.  Then we headed to the Fisherman's Wharf area for lunch.  We enjoyed delicious sourdough bread bowls with soup before walking around a bit and heading to Yosemite.  This was the longest car ride since moving to HI and all 3 kids were asleep within 30 minutes! 

Alcatraz in the background.

Great bread!

When we got into Yosemite valley we stopped to go to the bathroom and play in the river.  The kids enjoyed skipping rocks and I enjoyed listening to the water, sitting in the warm sun, and the beauty around us.

The sky was incredible blue!

We stayed in a little cabin.  It had 2 beds, a dresser, and a bed side table.  We opened the windows and turned on the fan.  We walked to the bath house.  And off our front porch was a great view of a rock cliff with the setting sun shining on the top.  You can just make out the cabin with the light on at the bottom of the picture.

Alcatraz Challenge

Last Saturday morning bright and early we all headed to the airport to fly to San Francisco!!  We had vouchers to use and picked SF.  When I was researching things to do in the city I came across a swim/run race.  I had mentioned to Dad several months (maybe a year) ago that one day I'd like to swim from Alcatraz.  And that's exactly what this race was!  I got Justin to do the running part (7 miles across the Golden Gate Bridge) and I jumped off a ferry boat right next to Alcatraz and swam 2.2 miles back to a beach.  It was also my 37th birthday and Father's Day!!  

The swim was the hardest that I have ever done.  It wasn't physically hard, it was mentally hard.  The water temp was a cool 59* and the chop was about 2-3 feet.  We were swimming with the current so that helped, but there were no bouys in the water to guide us.  We were told which buildings along the shore line to aim for and not to aim for the finish line.  Why?  Because if you did the current would take you under the Golden Gate Bridge!  

I tried putting gym head in the water to swim like I usually do but the waves were so big that when I reached my arm to take a stroke there wasn't anything there!  The water was so cold that I kept my head out of the water and did breaststroke/ back stroke for half the race!  I swallowed LOTS of salt water.  The views were amazing and keeping my head out of the water I enjoyed looking around.  I also heard and saw others getting helped out of the water.  Towards shore the water wasn't as rough, I had gotten a little but used to the cold, and I was able to put my head in and freestyle in to the beach.  It was nice getting out of the water and running up the beach to the transition area to pass the timing chip off to Justin!  He had an awesome run averaging 8:15 per mile!  The kids were cold and sat in the rental car for part of the time Justin was out running.  

Watching the finishers cross and waiting for Dad!

Here he comes!

Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge

Happy but cold kids!  Do you see Alcatraz off Will's shoulder?

Whew!  Done!

Now to tell the story of how this race almost didn't happen!

We got to SF about 7 pm Saturday night.  Got the rental car and headed to our hotel.  After checking in we drove to the race site to see where we were going to need to be bright and early the next morning.  It was so foggy that you couldn't see much.  We got dinner from a place called "Hole in the wall pizza".  It was great!  Then headed back to the hotel for bed.  After setting out clothes for the kids and our gear for the morning we turned the light out at 9:55pm.  Justin had set his alarm for 4:30am (remember there is a 3 hour time difference) so we could get to packet pick-up when it opened at 5 so I could be on my assigned shuttle (to the pier) by 5:30.

I rolled over, looked at the clock and noticed it was 5:55!!  Holy @$%^!!  I think that's what I said anyway!  We all jumped out of bed with me saying there's now way we're going to make it by the time packet pick-up was over at 6:15 and that I missed my shuttle.  While I'm getting my swim stuff on I hear Justin tell Eric to get out of bed now!  I'm sure the poor sleepy kid though there was a fire or something!  We got out of our room (Eric still in jammies, carrying his clothes) and rushed to the race site.  We may have run a few stop signs along the way.  We park, leave the kids in the car, and run over to packet pick-up in time to get our stuff!!  Then Justin drove me to pier 33 so I wouldn't miss the ferry to the start.  I made it and Justin had time to stop at Starbucks on the way back to the race!
That's one way to start your day!!

VBS

A week after school got out the kids went to VBS.  I volunteered at the imagination station and had lots of fun!  The theme was Everest this year and the other ladies that I was with all decorated our room with flags, a tent, and fake campfires for the kids to sit around.  

Eric is right in the middle, singing and dancing away!

Will and Caroline are both in the picture below.  Caroline's head is just to the left of the kid wearing the hat.  And Will is 3 kids to the right of the hat kid.

About 170 kids participated in VBS this year!

Ocean Racing

This morning was my first of 6 ocean races I'm going to do between now and August.  I'm excited about competing again!  Caroline was supposed to race with me.  She and Will both got colds from VBS and aren't feeling well.  Justin and I decided there would be other races she could do with me and to push it when she wasn't feeling well wasn't a great idea.  

I started swimming at Sunset Beach and went 1 mile to end at Pipeline.  It was an amazing location and I saw a baby sea turtle swim under me and lots of fish.  I didn't swallow much water and didn't get caught in any waves!  I'm pretty disappointed in my time (42:09) and place(14/30) in my age group.  But there's more time to practice and more races!

My cheering section!

I'm in the pink suit.

Running up the beach to the finish line!

Sunday afternoon

Now that the waves have settled down we enjoyed a late afternoon, picnic dinner, swimming, rock jumping, sunset watching time at Waimea Bay.  Caroline and I swam some testing out open water swimming and explaining to her how races go (we are racing Saturday!).  Will and Caroline jumped off the big rock MANY times.  And there was a big wave set that came in and it took Eric's bathing suit off!  It was never found.  The ocean has a cute little boy swim suit now!  He just put on his undies and was just fine.

 Caroline practiced her gymnastics!

 Eric loves to just run in the surf!

Another great start to a busy week!

Awards ceremonies and 5th grade graduation

Last week Justin and I attended 2 awards ceremonies and a graduation.  Caroline was honored for being part of the robotics team.

 Tuesday she and Will were honored as being Super Eagles.  It's the school's good citizen award.  They were both chosen from their classes for the 4th quarter!

 Then last Wednesday Caroline graduated from the 5th grade!  She's growing up so fast!

Her teacher, Mrs. Gillam.

Congratulations Caroline and Will!  Now on to middle school!  yikes

Shark Sunday

Sunday after church we packed lunch and beach stuff and headed to Pililaau.  We met 2 other families there and had lots of fun.  The weather didn't start off all that great and it even rained some.  But that did stop us from having fun!  

Justin took 4-5 kids out on the paddle board (he wasn't on the board) and they did flips and jumps off it.

 They kids really enjoyed playing in the surf.

 And building dams to stop the water.

 The picture below shows lots of kids playing in the water but also a boat (sail type without the sail up).  I tried out my new wetsuit by swimming to that boat and back!

 The sun did eventually come out but we had a 2 hour shark delay.  Apparently there was a tiger shark siting and the lifeguards told everyone to get out of the water.  It was a first for us, but as we all know I'm sure we've been at the beach before and there were sharks.  It's the ocean and it's where they live!

We enjoyed the shining sun while having dinner and then back in the water to play more before heading home.  Well, after a quick stop for ice cream!