Hannah and I are back to the full-time school routine. She's back at a wonderful preschool 3 days a week and a really great home day care the other two. I really wish that I could be with her more, but I love what she's getting out of both places.
My big excitement this month - I bought a piano! A real, live, acoustic piano! I feel like such a grownup. Took about 5 months of searching on Craigslist, but I finally settled on a 1989 Everett studio upright. It looks pretty good, has a nice action, and holds a good tune. Hannah got some practice on my digital, so she's been great about playing gently. And she can find all the C's and F's!
For our summer fun, Andy and I got away for 10 days in Hawaii while his wonderful mom stayed here with Hannah. We had a wonderful time in Waikiki and then Kauai. The highlight was Kayaking the entire Napali coast - 18 miles, a headwind and counter current, one poor woman who puked for the first 5 hours (no, not me!), some seriously sunburned hands, sea turtles, dolphins, AMAZING scenery, and one lost wedding band (Andy's). It was fabulous! We have some kayaking and snorkeling photos, but they're not digital yet...
Diamond Head in the background. We had an awesome run out around and up it! Good training for my other summer adventure!
A view down the Kalalau trail, heading out to Hanakapiai falls. A gorgeous hike, but insanely muddy. Not sure I'd to it again!
Hannah modeling her new flower clips from Hawaii. She wears her new Hawaiian dress probably 8 days out of 10.
And now for my big running fun this summer. I joined a team of 10 of the local Louisville runners and raced the Wild West Relay from Ft. Collins to Steamboat Springs. Just under 200 miles through northern Colorado and a little bit of Wyoming - it was a blast!! The real excitement was finding out, just after blowing out my quads on my midnight run, that one of our team mates was going to have to pull out for injury. After the necessary rearranging, I ended up adding 6.5 miles for a total of just under 20 miles in 4 legs. Other than not being able to walk down stairs without cringing, I managed to come out of it okay! It was a wild experience and a great escape from reality - either running or being in a van for 27 1/2 hours. Running in the middle of the night by myself wasn't as scary as I thought, and my 6:30 am run was gorgeous!
Red Hot Solepeppers after our awesome finish - 9th overall and 3rd in our category. I have some fast running friends!
My last leg. Slightly downhill, but really hot and with very unhappy quads. That "one mile left" sign had to have been a lie. Still totally worth it!
