Maine Reflections

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Caroline turns 11!

For Caroline's 11 Birthday, Laura, Kat, and the Bullochs came to dinner (BBQ chicken, pasta salad and corn on the cob).

This bird you see before your eyes was not always a pinata. It was once a paper mache globe made by Sam. Caroline rescued the Earth from the garbage and added her own creativity to come up with a little guy almost too cute to destroy.

Levi giving it his best shot

Our First Offical Teenager!

Look at this beautiful girl...er... young lady! We love our Natalie Wots and Wots and Wots!!

For her 13th birthday, we enjoyed a chocolate (made from scratch) hummingbird cake. A Ruby Throated Hummingbird to be excact.

Oh, yes and the flower is modeled after the morning glories that Natalie grew in the garden this Summer. She planted them at the base of some sunflowers and they grew right up the stalks.

For the girl's birthday this year, Dad made a way-cool double desk for them. Basically it is a frankinsteinish combinaton of a bookcase and a table. Dad put cork on the backs of alternating shelves, so each girl would have a bullitin board right above her desk.

Is tree climbing an Olympic Sport?

It makes a mother nervous to see her babies entirely too high for their own good.

White pines are not the prettiest trees around, but they are sure good for climbing. Biggest hazard: sap. Sam is sitting in an old tree house made by Aiden Worth circa 2006.

Fourth of July-2010

A couple of Natives showed up to help us celebrate. These fierce Penobscot warriors pose with traditional weaponry. "Sticks" is a favorite game among these tribesmen, much to the dismay of the "old ones", who still cling to the belief that the fun ends once someone gets poked in the eye??!!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Triathlon

About a year after starting my professional career, I realized that I was spending most of my time sitting at a desk and that I needed to become more physically active. So I got a gym membership and started working out during my lunch breaks. I soon realized that I really enjoy my workouts and I especially enjoy going for a run, swim, bike, hike etc. outside.

Three years ago I was approached by some friends Gary and Bridgett Saunders who asked if I would be interested in participating in a sprint triathlon they were putting together. I was a little nervious, but decided to give it a shot. Thus, I was part of the second running of the Inaugeral Saunder's Triathlon in 2007 (they did the triathlon twice in 2007 because everyone wasn't available for the first triathlon date). It was a great experience and I was surprised and pleased with how well I did (second place).

Anyway, in 2008 I did it again and this time Annie participated as well. I did great again and Annie had a pretty good experience, although she got lost on the bike portion of the route and lost some time. So we decided to do it again this year.

The triathlon consists of a 1/2 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike and 3 mile run. This year it was held on July 18th and ended up being a rainy and relatively cool day.

Here's the group just before the start of the race.

The swim was a little longer this year. It is an open water swim along the shore of Brewer Lake in Orrington, Maine.

Here we are beginning the swim.

Middle of the swim.

And finally coming out of the water. This is always my favorite time because I think the swim is the hardest part.

Here's Annie finishing the swim.

From the swim we go to the bike. Annie did a lot better this year! It really helps to not get lost! I was a little disappointed in my bike time this year which was about a minute slower than my time last year (same route).

Here's Annie finishing the bike.

Annie during the transition to the run.

And finally the run. Which for some reason seemed especially long to me this year. I just felt I didn't have any kind of kick left. So I guess there's room for improvement next year.