Eclipse Trip

"That was the coolest thing I ever saw!"

"It almost made me cry!"

That's what Austin and Karissa said right after we saw the total eclipse on Monday. I have to agree with both of them. I did almost cry watching that amazing phenomenon that we were so lucky to witness! It really was about the coolest thing I ever saw. I couldn't fall asleep that night, I kept picturing the "diamond ring" right before the total eclipse and right after.

It was in that amazing moment that I knew it was totally worth the effort to go. The cheering, the excitement of our kids and everyone around us, the darkness in the middle of the day, the 360 degree horizon that looked like the sun was setting, the crickets, the planet we saw (probably Venus), and the shadow snakes just before totality.

Honestly, watching the whole process, it's those last few minutes that really make it so extraordinary. There wasn't much difference between 70%, let's say, and 95%, except a little more of the sun was covered. It's the last minute before totality and of course during it, that really made it.

We had to miss many events over the weekend to be there. A bestie birthday party, cheer showcase, first football game to cheer at, library program party, and ward camp out. We will have another eclipse in 7 years and Toledo Ohio is one of the places to see the full, though who knows where Victoria will be then. We have invited everyone to come visit us then, but hopefully it won't be cloudy! Being in April, and in Toledo, it could be. We were very blessed to have been able to see this one without cloud cover (there was some off and on before the totality) and we had a perfect place that wasn't too crowded to view it. We did take about twice as long to get back to our campground afterwards, but like I said, it was totally worth it!!

Mammoth Caves, a couple of days before the eclipse.

"Fat man's misery"

This is not even the most narrow part of "Fat man's misery".

Pool at the campground.

Playing "Cover Your Assets", our favorite game lately. 

At the park where we saw the eclipse.

Playing in between peeks at the eclipse during the initial phases.

Playing catch during a cloudy part.

Starting to get exciting!

The horizon during the eclipse. This is from my phone, which I learned doesn't take the good pictures that Jason's does. My flash was on here, so it doesn't look as dark as it was. 

Horizon on the other side.

Eclipse from Jason's phone, mine just looked like the sun shining, even still no pictures or videos from us can do it justice!

Park sign as we left.

Lake Michigan

We made our annual trip to Lake Michigan last weekend. This time we stayed at PJ Hoffmaster. We had stayed there when Karissa was about 8 months old and Victoria not quite 3. I guess that would have been the summer we moved to this house. This time we stayed on the side with the campers. We got there late Friday night and so started our late schedule for the weekend, but it made it worth it for the highlight of the trip.

10 years ago at the same beach with Karissa in the backpack!

Watching Victoria play in the inlet.

Here's 2-year-old Victoria by the campfire!

We awoke late Saturday to the rain, but still were able to make our pancake breakfast. It cleared up but there was a red flag up for swimming in the lake, which meant no swimming due to dangerous currents. We hiked over to the beach to play on the dunes and noticed a fair amount of people in the water, despite the red flag. After running up and down some the dunes, we went to visit Hyubin (Logan's mom) and her family. They bought a house over Christmas and had a baby 6 weeks ago. The kids had fun playing with Logan and we ate pizza and visited with Hyubin, AJ, Jaden (the older brother) and baby Elliot. After a nice long visit, we brought Logan back with us to the campsite for some camping fun.

Red Flag

Dune fun

Trying not to get wet...

Running down the dunes

Inlet, facing the other way towards Lake Michigan is where those pics from 10 years ago were taken. 

Hiking up dune.

Victoria and baby Elliot.

 Jason prepared the dutch oven chili while I took the kids back to the lake. We did end up going in the water for a bit and everyone remained safe, but the water was freezing! The kids did some "cliff" jumping off the small dunes onto the sand and some dunes exploring. When it looked like the sun was about to set soon, I ran back to get our chili and chips and we watched the sun set over Lake Michigan while we ate our chili dinner. That was the highlight of the trip! (Also the fact that we were eating around 8:30 and the kids were so hungry, they ate so well, something that is rare in my family!)

Playing tag with Logan.

Living on the edge

"cliff" jumping

Sun starting to set

Got to have a dabber!

Sun getting lower.

Almost gone

The boys and Logan read books in bed, after roasting marshmallows and getting cleaned up. They read and then talked until after 11! On Sunday we awoke late again and headed over to a different part of the dunes after breakfast. Of course it was a green flag that morning, but we didn't plan on swimming. After packing up, we took Logan back to his house and said our farewells to everyone.

Late night readers

Calm Sunday water

Lake Michigan is amazing!

Another Triathlon

A couple of weeks before Jason's and my triathlon, we discovered a tri for kids that Karissa's friend, Olivia, was training for. Since we were at the peak of training for ours, the girls thought it would be fun to do this particular one with Karissa's friend. It would be doable for them and I was happy that they wanted to try it. Karissa was in a club called Girls on the Run in the spring and she spent over a month running and training at school two days per week. It also included character building mini lessons and was a great program. It concluded with a race on Sunday, which we chose not to participate in. I wanted her to have the opportunity to experience a race.

This was back in May when the Girls on the Run got together to do some landscaping at the school. For some reason, Karissa's final Girls on the Run pic with her certificate and medal won't download from my phone. They are still on there,along with some of Victoria's dance pics and haven't ever downloaded in all the times I've done it since then! Go figure.

 When we signed them up for the tri, there would only be about 3 weeks of training for them, but I knew it would be fine and even preferred it that way. I knew they wouldn't train a ton, nor did they need to, and that they would just lose interest if it was too long of a process. All I wanted them to do was try the swim a couple times (200 meters), the bike one time followed by a run, and a couple of runs. The bike was only 3.5 miles and the run 1.5 miles. I had fun "coaching" them and they even let me do it!

We had a good pep talk the day of and we were ready! It was the perfect race for kids. It was small and the second annual. The swim was in a pool,which was even better for them, as opposed to a lake. There is a shorter race for younger kids, which Austin wants to do next year. The girls were entered in the age 10-14 age group.

Victoria, Olivia, Karissa (Erik's head)

Most of the racers.

After the adult group started. My girls are to the left of the boy in the orange bathing suit. They both have blue on.

Victoria is the second yellow head back, going to the left.

Karissa doing the back stroke at the second to last lap. 

Victoria finishing the bike.

Starting on the run.

Karissa finishing the bike.

Karissa finishing the run.

Happy finisher!

Looking good!

Victoria looked pretty good during the swim and Karissa, who was the smallest by far (besides Olivia) remembered everything I told her, she didn't give up! She did some freestyle, took a couple of small breaks, and did backstroke the rest of the way and just kept going!

4th place!!

The bike ride was easy for them and they did well. After Karissa got off, though, she said her legs were tired. I told her to take it easy and walk a little if she needed (which she did a little of in every practice run of ours). Victoria came back from the run in a sprint and ended up taking 4th place for the girls! I was surprised because they started one a time in the pool, so I couldn't tell by when they came in. She came in later because she started later. We were very proud of her efforts! When Karissa came in not long after Victoria, I was very surprised. She hadn't walked at all! They both felt great after wards and had such a positive experience! I'm so happy they did

The boys were great supporters!