the long family: June 2011

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Joshua's First Triathlon

Yep..we were at it again today.

Joshua had the chance to compete in his very first (we think of many) triathlons. He just loved it and had such a great attitude.

Here is his first official racing bib--personalized and all.

Here he is getting ready to head on over to transition..he walked his bike and carried all his own gear.

Ready at transition...towel laid out...running shoes ready...helmet in place...cap and goggles on!

Getting ready for the start in the lake.

Daddy preps him with some pre-race advise.

Nanna moves in for a hug before the start.

Here is Joshua coming out of the water

Leading his bike out of a very fun looking transition filled with lots of little kids and lots of mommies and daddies helping their kids! (because we know they all cannot tie shoes!!)

Rounding the corner on his first turn..he was really getting his legs moving at this point.

The final push to the finish.

Grandpa and Nanna so proud of their little triathlete.

Oh Ya ,Brett and I raced earlier in the morning too and to my surprise (after a fall that has left me with some scrapes and bruises) I place pretty well and have my first real medal to prove it!)

Brett did great also and we really had a fun time and we are so thankful for the Burr family coming to cheer us on...look for pictures of Madison in her first Tri in August!!!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Summer has finally arrived when we can go and pick sweet juicy strawberries. Last week I picked Josh up from school and headed out to our favorite picking farm and introduced Natasha and Zubair and kids to some local farm life (they don't get to do these things in India).

There we were headed out on the tractor to the fields.

Sophia so sweetly tasting one of many berries that day

Brenna and I busy picking - we ended up with about 14 quarts in a really short time

Rayhaan showing off his treasures

Matthew and Joshua full of berry juice

Brenna and Sophia talking about something to each other...how cure

All finished

We went back home and the next day I started making jam. I tried 2 different kinds this year and they all have been delish! Yesterday Megan and I took the kids again with Nathan and then I showed Megan how to make jam/jelly and I think yesterdays batches were even better. Then Natasha came over and showed us how to make strawberry sorbet--it is so so good. And today I made strawberry breads and still have berries left over...I can hear the fields calling though because there are more berries to be picked so I think there is at least one more day of picking in store for us.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Another Race

Hey does this post look familiar? Even some clothing is the same. Yes, it was River Run 5K time again today. Joshua and Brett had a beautiful morning for a run and he did just great. 2nd place this year and he earned it. Look at the intensity on this little face. He was determined to give it a good push to the end.

Here are Brenna and Sophia waiting to cheer on Josh and Daddy as they passed.

All smiles

Matthew holding up "his" medal that he won after jumping in the race towards the end and beating Daddy into the finish.

Thanks to Natasha we got have some pictures from the event this morning and also thanks to all our cheerers!!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

First Triathlon Down

Yeah! Our first Triathlon has been completed and we loved it. Brett and I competed in the Keuka Lake Triathlon this morning. The weather was just perfect, the roads were nice and hilly and the lake was well....cold at 65 degrees! We were really prepared except for the fact that when you submerse yourself in freezing water you kinda cannot take a deep breath but beyond that things were great. It was so much fun to really ride our new bikes and attack some hills and we were thrilled on how the bikes preformed. It was just a lot of fun about 850 people competed (see the transition area behind us in this photo). We are looking forward to our next one in a few weeks where Joshua will join us for his first Kids Tri!