The Keene Family

We had such a fun time at the Father's Day barbecue that JT's baseball team got together for. His coach lives on the lake and invited all the families after our games on Sunday - and the weather cooperated. It was 85 degrees and gorgeous all day long. So after two great games (in which JT continues to improve getting his bat on the ball; awesome) we headed to the lake. Everyone signed up to bring a side dish. We brought our boat. We pulled a team full of boys and their siblings and friends around the lake for three hours. It was soooo much fun!

Every year for his birthday, Jim asks for the same thing: skiing and floating. With his wife. :) And anyone else who wants to come. So this year his birthday fell on a Monday (which he has off, and so can I) and we didn't have baseball over the weekend. I booked a surprise trip to Lincoln Rock State Park for just the two of us to ski, float, and relax! But first, his family birthday party... We left Saturday night, late, after cleaning up from the party and packing for the weekend in just two hours flat. Having a camper makes life soooo easy. We drove to North Bend and spent the night in a Travel America parking lot, which was a fun adventure for us. We woke up and made breakfast right in the parking lot! Then we continued on to our final destination and arrived before lunch, and our spot was open. We launched the boat and set to work relaxing. :) We had such a nice evening with yummy burgers and corn, and then sat by the campfire for hours. ...

I've been able to focus more on triathlon training this year since post-surgery recovery, and in January I started getting back into it. Six months of working out consistently totally paid off for my first triathlon of the summer! Jim came along to cheer me on so we got some photos too. Here I am getting ready to head into the water... And here I am, 1:45 later! My time from this course last year was 2:02 - so I finished a whole 17 minutes ahead. It was a pretty amazing feeling! I felt strong during the race, and Jim got me a sensor for my bike for my birthday that really helped me keep my pace and cadence correct. So when I got off the bike and realized I just had to jog a normal 5k run and would finish well before the two hour mark, I was super excited. It turns out, I really enjoy triathlons!