I Want to be That Family

At my first triathlon, I was chatting with a girl. Her and her brother were both racing in the 20-25 age range, and her dad was racing in the 46-50 age range. And they were all awesome. They would drive to a few races each year and I remember her saying how much fun it was to share the experience with her family. I loved everything about it--that they saw fitness as a life-long process and that they got to expeirence a fun challenge together. It just really resonated with me. Now, I in no way want to pressure my kids to do things simply for my gratification. However, if they did fall in love with something that I was already passionate about, it would simply be nice. Which is why I crawl into their room at night and whisper subliminal messages to them in their sleep...."You love to swim, ride your bike, and run"..."Veggies are delicious"...."You dream of growing up and playing volleyball"... "You will still want to hang out with me even when you're old and cool".... you know, just simple things every kid should remember.

So, when they said they were interested in doing the local kids triathlon, I was very excited. It was earlier in the summer this year, so even though we were extra vigilent about getting some good swim time in, they still were more confident with lifejackets on for the 25 yd. swim.

The 6 and under girls went before the boys. Here's Anna all ready for the swim portion. I like this picture because if you look closely, it shows the huge scrape she got on her knee while learning to manuever hills without training wheels. She was super tough about it though, and after walking a ways, she hopped right back on her bike to keep practicing.

She was a little cautious on a downhill turn, but other than that, Anna completely rocked her bike portion! It was so fun to see!

I LOVE this picture of her! She just had so much fun and smiled pretty much the whole time. And I think she looks like a little stud in her Speedo tankini. But still adorably little in her braids.

Afterwards with her medal and powerade. They don't really grasp the idea of placing and earning prizes for winning, but they definitely talk about the awesome Powerades afterwards!

Here's Jakin all ready to swim. Sitting by his buddy Jackson and his other buddy Conner (who ended up winning it all! Way to go Conner!!)

Here's our little fish. I wish this showed his whole face because his smile was HUGE! He just smiled the entire race and had the best time!

The ever-popular "Mr. Scott", one of our elders from church and one of Jakin's favorite people in the whole world, helped fish kiddos out of the pool.

We learned from last year and wore velcro shoes this year. Made the transition MUCH quicker. He was a little biking maniac and passed a few kids on the bike portion simply because he was having so much fun pedaling along.

Then we got to the running part and one of his shoes fell off!! But no worries, he just picked it up, lifted it in the air with a big smile, and kept right on going!! The hilarious thing was that Jackson (who zoomed past him on his little one-shoed jaunt) helped him "train" for the running part. Jackson was pretty intense and pushed Jakin to keep on running during "training", despite Jakin's observation that in REAL triathlons, he was pretty sure people took walking breaks. His carefree attitude is such a breath of fresh air. No worries for this little guy!

And finally, our proud little triathletes with Powerades and medals! Jakin was so excited about his, he wore his medal the entire day, which included a mini-golf birthday party!

And their ever-present fan, Mikaiah, also earned a Powerade from Mr. Scott. I apologize that you can't see Jakin's face, but seriously, he was really proud of that medal. And this was our practice picture for all those years that we are going to race together in the future. :)

Thanks Aunt Corrie, Lala, Darren, Britney, Logan, and Rory for coming out to cheer us on!! And for Daddy, who was such a sweetie about taking the kids swimming and biking a ton during his time off!