Wednesday, June 28, 2006

We had Ryan over last night and we took a trip to the Topeka Police Station. It just so happens that we know a detective that works there and he showed us around. Ryan wants to be a policeman when he grows up. 

Me and Ryan in the back of the Detective's police car. 

We like to wrap Noelle up real tight in her bath towel to dry her off. We think she looks kind of like Mother Mary in this picture. 

Noelle, Grandpa, and cousin Ryan. If you look real close it looks like Noelle is giving a shaka with her left hand. 

Noelle playing with her cousins, Ryan & Tanner. 

Noelle playing with her toy in her car seat. 

Saturday, June 24, 2006

This is Noelle drying off after swimming with her dad. 

Oreo accidentally fell in the pool today and ended up spending some time with my dad sitting on the steps. 

At our company picnic we were able to relax poolside with co-workers and their families. And it turns out that Noelle and Emily got to visit too. Emily is just starting to walk, and much to our delight she meandered over to us to say hello to Noelle. 

Emily and Noelle became fast friends! 

Our company picnic last night included a horseshoe tournament. We were matched up in the first round against my co-workers Dean & Jeff. This is our pre-game photo. We got off to a good start and were winning at first. But they managed to throw a couple of ringers, and it was all down hill after that.  

Nicole's graceful throwing motion.  

Noelle practicing her back float with her Mommy. 

Noelle modeling her bikini before we go outside for a swim. 

Our friends the Lingenbrinks came to town last week for a visit. Their daughter Julia is about a month and a half younger than Noelle and has 10 times as much hair!! They are already planning on being roomates at BYU. 

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Mike's Father's Day Gift: The Topeka Tin Man

That's right Nicole let me run in the Topeka Tin Man which was the Saturday before Father's Day, an Olympic length triathlon (3/4 mile swim, 20 mile bike ride, and 7 mile run). I have been preparing for it for the last couple of months, although my training took I dive probably 2 1/2 weeks ago. If I would have kept it up I might have fared better. I am not sure what my time was, but I think it was somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 hours. It was actually pretty fun, we will see if I do it again next year.

Last night we got everything ready so we could just wake up and leave. There was a 5:30am check in time that I had to be at. We got to the point where it was finally time to go to bed, which meant putting Noelle down for the night. She has slept through the night for the last 2 weeks, but for some reason she wanted to stay up and play last night. Every time that we put her down she would start freaking out. So Nicole, being the good wife that she is, told me that she would take care of it. So I went to bed and fell asleep. Well, it turns out that Noelle really wanted to play with her Mommy so they didn't get to bed till late, and they both fell asleep in the living room. What a good wife, sacrificing a night's sleep in her comfy bed to take care of her baby and make sure I got a good night's sleep for the Tin Man! I love her so much, I am lucky to have her.

The next morning we got up and dropped her and Noelle off at my parent's house while I checked in. Nicole and Noelle came to the Triathlon with my dad, who was a trooper and carried the diaper bag the entire time (talk about an endurance challenge). They sat at Tin Man Circle at Lake Shawnee and cheered me on as I came and went. I think they are posting the results soon on the Tin Man website, then I'll know how I stacked up against other people. I think for my first triathlon it was a success. I had fun and I lived to tell the tale.

This is me before the triathlon started wondering what I had gotten myself into. 

This is what I look like after swim 3/4 of a mile. The water actually felt pretty good, I thought it was going to be colder. The biggest challenge was avoiding other athletes whilst swimming. I kept kicking people and getting kicked. 

Putting my shoes on for the bike ride. My arms felt a little heavy after the swim, so I kind of took my time here in order to catch my breathe and let me body recover. 

Leaving the staging area for the bike portion of the triathlon. 

Finishing up the 20 mile bike ride. I was absolutely amazed at how fast the other athletes could get going and that they could just keep going at that rate. At this point in the race I was feeling pretty good, definitely tired, but still had some energy left for the run. The transistion into the run wasn't too awkward. When I first started training I would get off the bike and start my run and my legs would feel like lead and it was hard to get going, but I felt at this point things were going pretty good, I was having fun. 

The run went great for the first 5 miles, but then I just hit a wall and couldn't get my momentum going again. The last 2 miles was more of a walk/run, I think by this time I was worn out physically and psychlogically. I was ready to be done! 

Getting ready to (finally) cross the finish line. The best part of finishing, other than the triathlon being over, was we got all of the Domino's pizza we could eat, and I was starving! Maybe that's why I ran out of gas the last 2 miles! 

Family picture after it was all over. At this point I was ready to go home, shower, and sleep for the rest of the day. 

Noelle was worn out by just watching, she started her nap at the course. 

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Hey everyone! I love to play in my Exer-saucer. My little legs are so strong now!