The Keene Family

I got an Instant Pot for my birthday. I love it. Pressure cooking, it turns out, is really efficient and easy. I love that it cooks simple things I use often really well, like brown rice and quinoa, but it also does a great job with meats, chicken, fish, and stews. I haven't tried yogurt or applesauce yet, but it does an amazing job on hard boiled eggs! I realized that there are so many recipe pages out there and I really just wanted to get tips from my friends, because I know so many ladies with Instant Pots now. I started a page on Facebook called Friends of Instant Pot and invited ten friends to join in, post recipes, and share ideas. Suddenly people kept "like" ing my page, and now I'm over 100 followers and my posts are seen by over 200 people. It's kind of funny!

It's a tradition! We love spending a day at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup every September. We haven't missed a year since JT was born. First stop: scones. The kids wanted to ride some things, so we picked out bumper cars to do first. JT and Jim were wearing their matching hats, thanks to Preston, who gave JT his hat that was just a bit too small. Haley and I rode the octopus. I felt a little queasy, I'll be honest. I think I may have to give up spinning rides (roller coasters, however, are just fine!). Then we met the Bonnells - yay! - at the draft horse show and walked around together for a few hours... Timber Gulch was a good find. It is way over by the green gate. It has hands-on activities for the kids like making butter, drilling holes, sawing wood, sifting wheat, grinding flour, and more. The kids had a great time pretending "Little House on the Prairie." Then scones, part two. After turkey legs and ice...

School started for JT on September 7th, but Haley had to wait all the way until September 12th. Brutal! I am so excited for JT's year. He has two awesome , job sharing teachers - and his morning teacher was a good friend of mine starting in about fifth grade. You know, 25 years ago. So that's super fun. His teachers are organized, cheerful, and experienced. He knows all but three kids in his class (who are new to the school) and has a couple of good friends in his class as well. He got off the bus on his first day and proclaimed, "I have the best teachers ever!" Haley had her kindergarten camp in August, orientation and assessment during the first week of school, and finally her first day. She has a teacher who is new to the school, so we don't know much about her but her resume is impeccable. I'm sure it will be a great year for Haley too! (Notice the new sidewalk in between JT's photo and Haley's photo? So fun!) I drove them both ...

I have no pictures to record it, but Jim completed the Black Diamond 70.3 long course triathlon on Saturday! (The kids and I were home for JT's first soccer game, so we missed it - sad.) That's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. Ouch! We are so proud of him and his hard work to make such a thing possible. Then on Sunday, I completed my first triathlon. It started nine months ago when I started swimming because I couldn't run anymore. I started feeling really comfortable swimming, and I swam with a pull buoy because I couldn't kick. Jim mentioned that was good for triathlons because it saves your legs for the bike and the run. Hm. In May, I was cleared to stationary bike. We have a trainer for our road bikes, so I could pedal for 15-30 minutes in the garage while I watched part of a movie or something. Then, in June, I was cleared to ride on the road, with hills. When I started doing that, I was only riding 5-6 miles at a time. But I started thinking.....

We've been a little busy not being busy! Last week, the kids and I checked all sorts of things off my summer bucket list. First, we went biking in Jackson Park. It turned out, JT loved the bike jumps and had a great time. We also enjoyed playing "Follow the Leader" through the forest - even tackling obstacles like downed trees in our way. Then we picked blueberries at our local produce stand. We picked over three pounds in about half an hour! Haley started gymnastics. She's in level one and she's working pretty hard in class. Her coach is awesome and we love that she's learning to be strong and poised (if she wasn't already). JT started soccer. I made a little joke that this is what I look like as a soccer mom. And football mom. And baseball mom. (The other sports are indoor.) I've been practicing for my triathalon. My first triathalon. I did a practice group open water swim last week and had a great time. I hope the real swim ...