Maple Grove Triathlon

Amanda and I ran a sprint Triathlon on Saturday August 23rd. (Happy Birthday Mom!).
It was awesome.  We had trained so hard this summer together.  We lifted weights, ran, biked, and sort of swam.  But we were ready.
The day of the race was perfect.  It was overcast but not rainy and rather cool.  Amanda decided to start with her age group and they were the second group to start.  She placed 2nd in her age group.  Isn't that awesome.
I started with my age group so of course, I was a little bit later.  The great thing was that I didn't die at the end.  I was able to run the 5K without dying and it felt good at the finish.
What a great day!  Good way to finish the summer.

Selfie before the race

Getting her 2nd place trophy

After the Race, showing off our numbers and medal

I have such a sweet daughter!!

School needs to start

It has been a crazy 2 days filled with new adventures and new ideas.  Karyna has really bonded with Amanda.  I think she can relate better to someone her own age.  Amanda picked her up Monday night and they shared pictures and stories etc.  Adri adores her and Josh just wants to make sure that he doesn't lose my attention.  Ukranian chocolate is amazing and I need to hide it so I don't eat it all at once.  The weather hear has already started to change a bit.  Cooler in the evenings which is great for am runs.  I am running a 10K on Sept 18th so I need to train.
We found out today that Adri is ready for braces.  She is so excited.  I've never seen someone get so excited about braces, but she is.  She wants them on yesterday because she says she doesn't like her smile.  I love her smile.
Adri and Josh have their teachers for School.  We are going to meet them Wednesday night at the school.  I think Josh is excited, but Adri doesn't want to start school.
Amanda is in the middle of Link Crew which is a group that helps to welcome the new Sophomores and follow them throughout the school year to make sure they are welcome.  She is also trying out for the play which is Cinderella this year.
Hoping Karyna is doing ok.  She wasn't very talkative tonight.  I think she was so tired from the last two days of adventures.  They have visited the State Capitol, the Uof M, and the State Fair.  There is more to come. I will post a picture of her when I get one.

We have a new family member for 4 weeks

Alright, so I haven't written for 2 years or so, but we have a new story to tell.  We have a foreign exchange student who is staying with us for 3 1/2 weeks.  She is from Ukraine and her name is Karyna.  She is here on a Civic/Government learning experience.  All of the students are staying with host families and will get to do various activities while they are here.
Karyna is 16 and is so sweet and looks terrified.  I hope that after a good nights sleep she will feel more at home.  She brought us some delicious chocolate and a beautiful runner that she stitched herself.  It took her 7 months.  It is amazing.  So the adventure begins.  The kids are excited even though they don't know what to do with her.  We also found out that she is vegetarian tonight so we will have an adventure altering our diet a little for the next few weeks.