Triathlete

 So Tom has been training to do a half-triathlon next weekend.  It has included lots of running, biking (including a 100 mile ride two weeks ago) and swimming.  The swim is the hardest for him so he has been training at the Y with a swim coach who has helped him with form.  Trouble is, in the pool he can see where he's going.  In the lake, where the swim takes place, he can't see.

He decided to do a Sprint Triathlon on Saturday as a warm-up.  It was a 300 yard swim, 12 mile bike ride and finish up with a 3 mile run.  He also did one in the Fall in this same place.  A gorgeous development with beautiful homes, lakes and....well, if we could afford to get a place there....I'd love it.

 They jump in one at a time, every 3 seconds.

 He got off track right off the dock (there's a tendency to pull to the right if you're right-handed)

 They swim outside the buoys then up to the trail into the transition area.....

 Quick change into the biking shirt, sock and shoes......

 Bring the bike back, take off for the run......

 Rounding the corner towards the finish line.....

 Finishes 2nd in his age category!  Yippee!  See more race photos below.

We were invited to a Boot Camp cook out at Chris Day's house.  It was great to see people in "normal" clothes and meet their kids and spouses.  Turkey dogs, venison, chicken breasts and lots of fruit and veggies.  I took baked sweet potato fries (a Weight Watcher recipe) to play into the healthy theme. But trust me, there was plenty of non-healthy food as well including brownies, tiramisu and cheesecake!

Our fearless leader, Chris

John Boone, Lora lee and Kathy

 Tom and Mike who also did the 100 mile bike race.

Baby Love

 So, yes I'm very jealous of the family members in Utah who are having the opportunity to love on that newest addition.. Mr. Nixon Cameron Miller.  However, since Tom's class has a record amount of babies, I got to meet up with Bonnie and baby Caleb for a couple of hours of chatting and darling baby holding myself!

Farewell Florida

 Before we left for church on Sunday I decided to get some quick pix of Linda's gardens and pool.  I had to fly out very early Monday morning to I decided to have her take me to Orlando on Sunday night rather than having to get up at 3:30 AM on Monday.

See the pretty orange butterfly?

Helping Linda set up the communion table

The church Linda attends is new and very small so they are meeting in the chapel of a funeral home.  Got to see some of the same people I met on Thursday night but their service was much warmer and more to my liking than the smaller group activity.

We had already loaded the car with art materials and Linda's paintings to go to Giverny Art In The Garden back at Gateway.  It was the opening of the indoor art exhibit and they had invited anyone who wanted to participate in the garden part by showing and selling their paintings while working in the outdoors.  We were late getting there so we set up close to the parking lot and hence, the entrance so the few people that came through at least got to see Linda's stuff.  I worked on my watercolor (see below) which clearly looks like a 4th grader did it, but it was fun and I would still love to take some classes.  The weather got a little dicey so after a couple of hours we loaded up and headed back to the house.

Yes, I will be painting this someday.

 Finished packing then headed toward Orlando but stopped for dinner in Heathrow at The Stonewood Grill.  We shared a wonderful smoked salmon appetizer that we both decided would have been ample for our meal.  I ordered a chicken pot pie that was HUGE so Linda ended up taking half of it home with her for leftovers.  We finished our drive to see what lovely hotel Hotwire had booked for me and I was pleasantly surprised.  Free hotel shuttle at 5 AM, quiet, nice bed and safe. That's all I cared about...and all for under $50.  A great vacation comes to an end as I'm not counting the cab ride once I landed in Birmingham that took me to the Greyhound station where I got to enjoy a microwaved breakfast biscuit while I read for several hours before catching the bus to Montgomery.  However, my handsome husband was there waiting for me after his class so all was well.  It was a wonderful week doing all my favorite things with a great friend but as always, I'm glad to be home.

Festivals

 Saturday morning we headed back to the Gateway for the Farmer's Market.  Tons of fresh fruit and vegetables at incredibly LOW prices (cantaloupe $1/ watermelon $4) plus all kinds of crafts and fresh baked goods.  Also a stand with fresh lemonade that given the temp was somewhere in the 90's was heaven sent.  There was also a gentleman with a booth who was selling different types of llama products as he and his wife raise them.  He highly recommended his llama poop compost to mix in the soil so I promptly purchased a bag for Linda (because nothing says "thank you" like a hostess gift of llama poop) and her garden.

 I also took a few minutes to go in and visit with the folks taking a pottery class that's in a small separate building from the rest of the art center.  Great little set up and they have classes every Saturday morning.

 After we dropped perishable goodies off at the house we drove to Sanford and the St. John's River Festival of the Arts.

 The streets were lined with art and live music with a little food and drink thrown in.  Plenty to look at...photography, oils, jewelry, sculpture and multi-medium pieces.  Of course, now that I'm somewhat of a watercolor expert I had plenty to critique in some of the pieces I saw.  It was miserably warm and we were losing steam quickly so we made our rounds then headed back home to the pool and air conditioning.  Linda finished up some brownies she was taking to church the next day plus, the pastor was speaking on the Ethiopian Enuch (Acts 8:27-31) and Linda was to bring communion.  I suggested some sort of flat bread or something "ethiopian" in nature.  Turns out their bread is something like a crepe so she made little crepes for communion.

This gentleman was giving out the awards at the art festival

Now I feel compelled to photograph things that will be pretty to watercolor.

Our evening was spent at this cute little community theatre in Lake Helen seeing a production of The Dining Room.  Some good performances and a great way to top off a very busy day!

Daytona Beach

 Friday, after Linda got home from school we headed for Daytona Beach.  It's a short 30 minute drive but with the top down, the wind in our hair and the sun on our shoulders, it was awesome!

We passed the International Speedway on the way into town.  Not a race fan but pretty cool to see it!

Just that sign makes me happy!

 Before heading to the beach we took some photos downtown and I introduced Linda to the "pile some stuff on your frozen yogurt then pay what it weighs" concept at a cute little place we found called Rhokkoh's.  Very pet friendly with a sort of South Beach dog theme goin' on.

We spent several hours just sitting on the beach, playing in the water and with a little bit of overcast, not realizing how much sun we were getting.  Hmmm, THAT'S never happened before.  Anyway, it was a glorious day of sun and sand!

We did swing by the school in Deltona where she teaches as one of her students was playing in a state baseball championship game.  We watched several innings but as "our" team, The Trinity Christian Academy Eagles were soundly beating their opponents, we left a tad early to head home.

Took a dip in her pool (as long as we were in our swimsuits) then crashed in front of the tv set for some semi-watching and lots of hacking!

Home sweet home with some red shoulders.