Happy Birthday, Melanie

I hope seven is a day at the beach.
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It's going to be a ball.
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... and here's a snapshot of the Facebook love:
"Happy Birthday, Melanie" was posted Friday, October 28, 2011

Challenged Athletes Foundation Triathlon Challenge

Or, "How I spent my Sunday".

Aspen Medical Products San Diego Triathlon Challenge (SDTC) unique event boasting an all new "challenge distance" triathlon course consisting of a 1 mile swim, 44 mile bike and 10 mile run on one of the most breathtaking courses in the country. This one-of-a-kind event will change your life as athletes compete side by side with Ironman® champions, world-class challenged athletes, celebrities and other enthusiasts while raising important funds for the Challenged Athletes Foundation®(CAF). Money raised will help CAF provide individuals with physical challenges with the tools necessary to find success in sports — and in life.

Waiting for our wave to start, with some of the twenty-five or so Active.com employees who did the race - either individually or as part of a relay team. 294094_2523798255670_1274773042_2889652_985598854_n


Coming out of the water after the ~35minute, 1 mile swim. Photo courtesy of Fran Preisman, who was good enough to come cheer me on early in the morning.
FWD:


Ready to ride!
FWD:Looks great!!!


A few hours later, waiting at the finish line...
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And here I come, round the last corner and into the finish chute.
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Success! Across the line and back with my girls, as evidenced by the medal that Jenna has already taken from me.
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UPDATE: Official results are in. 05:56:02.3.


"Challenged Athletes Foundation Triathlon Challenge" was posted Sunday, October 23, 2011

Pumpkin Patch

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Jenna's class took a field trip to the Bates Nut Farm on Tuesday.

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I love this photo below. The juxtaposition of her hair against the straw and corn husks... that's art, folks!

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"Pumpkin Patch" was posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Technical Difficulties



UPDATE: Sun, Oct 9, 6:56am.  And we're back.  For future reference, in Blogger "update" means change, not save.



In trying to make an update to the site, I seem to have lost the blog template altogether.  My apologies.  Hopefully we'll be back up and running with the real Surrounded by Girls soon.
"Technical Difficulties" was posted Friday, October 07, 2011

Old Mother Goose


Old Mother Goose, when
She wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.

Mother Goose came home with Jenna yesterday. Any child in Mrs. McCormick's class can take her home after they've memorized and recited ten nursery rhymes. Then the kids (well, the parents... or in our case, Laura) fill in a journal with stories and pictures of Mother Goose's time with them.

Here are the pictures that made our pages:

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"Old Mother Goose" was posted Thursday, October 06, 2011

Rocktoberfest

Last night we were guests of friends at Scripps Ranch Swim & Raquet Club's annual Oktoberfest.  There was a rock climbing wall and the girls spent all night climbing and racing back into line to do it again.  They got pretty good at it too!

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 Jenna got about 2/3 of the way...

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...and eventually Melanie got to the very top!

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"Rocktoberfest" was posted Sunday, October 02, 2011