With all the new restrictions with COVID I decided it was best to not take Madeline back to ballet. I knew that she still needed a fun activity to participate in so I signed her up for private swim lessons at PPA. Her instructor, Carolyn, is simply the best. She is so good with Madeline. Madeline has improved so quickly. She can lay on her back and float without any problems, kick with straight legs, blow bubbles in the water, put her face sideways in the water, go under the water, and can scale across the wall on the side of the pool. She loves her new purple goggles and she can put them on all by herself. When we get to her lessons, she is like a maniac trying to get her clothes off so fast so that she can go swim. She looks forward to her lessons every week. I'm so excited that we found something that Madeline absolutely loves. I hope she will continue to love swim like her older siblings do. 

​Since our race at XTERRA Beaver Creek was still a go in June, Mike and I spent a lot of time working hard and putting in the time to bike, swim and run. We often had to double up 2-3 days a week in order to fit it all in but we both enjoyed being able to bike and swim together. Some of our favorite rides this month were biking at Rampart Reservoir and Staunton State Park. We even fit in some Red Rock rides and some road biking on the Cottonwood Creek trail and up into Cordera and Wolf Ranch. We felt blessed to be able to swim at Flying Horse 2-3 days a week and really enjoyed our mornings swimming together. The only thing we didn’t do together was run. I ran mostly with Dionne and Caryn and we followed many of the Striders workouts. I ran at Garden of the Gods, Barr Trail, Bear Creek Park, High Drive, and Black Forest Section 16. I didn’t get in as many runs as I would have liked since my foot was still healing but I got in enough hard runs keep up my endurance. It was a really great month of training!
 

​With our XTERRA Beaver Creek triathlon only two months away and still scheduled to happen both Mike and I spent a great deal of time this month getting in our biking, swimming, and running. Luckily Flying Horse opened up their swim lanes by reservation only on May 11th. We swam three days, biked twice and ran 3-4 times every week. We had fun swimming together and biking at Red Rocks, Stratton Open Space, Black Forest Section 16 and the occasional road bike on the Cottonwood Creek Trail. It has been nice to have a race to work towards, even though in the back of our minds we know at any time it could be cancelled. What’s even better is that we have been able to train together. I’m so glad Mike and I like doing the same things! 

​Mike and I decided last minute that it would be a nice thing for me to fly out and visit Andrew at college for a few days. I flew into SLC and rented an SUV and drove the 3 ½ hours to Rexburg. I got in @ 6:00pm and checked into my hotel. Then I stopped by Andrew’s apartment and picked him up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had shaved but his hair was oh so long. It was probably the longest and most unruly hair I had ever seen on him. I guess he wouldn't be a college student if he weren't a little disheveled. I took him to Idaho Falls so that we could enjoy a nice meal at the Copper Rill. Our dinner was outstanding. We were so full that we didn’t even get dessert which is crazy because we both love dessert. 

​Bear Lake is a lot bigger than I had expected. We were so excited to spend the morning playing at the lake. We headed over first with our kids and got the sunshade set up, so we had a cool place to sit while the kids played in the water. We brought the three kayaks that were sitting in the garage of the big house and the kids all took turns going out exploring in them. Mike headed over with Peter and rented a jet ski and each of the kids took turns going for a ride. It was hilarious watching the girls bob up and down as Mike did donuts in the water. I wasn’t sure if they would love it or freak out. They love it and asked to go again and again. I must admit that I was a little freaked out when we got going above 40 miles/hour but boy was it a rush. Eventually everyone else from the house showed up at the lake for some fun. Everyone took turns on the kayaks but only our kids ended up wanting to go on the jet ski. 

​We all love swimming at Flying Horse in the summertime. It is hardly ever crowded and there are lots of fun things for the kids to do. With two different pools, a waterslide, a kid’s water playground, and a sand volleyball court, the kids are never board when we go there to swim. Madeline loved walking around the water playground and although she wasn’t really into climbing up the stairs and getting sprayed in the face with water, she did love the various waterspouts spraying straight up out of the water. She did go down the slide a few times, but the slide was so fast that she just flew off the end of the slide and it hurt her little bottom. She did, however, go down the big kid waterslide with Emma and Peter a few times. She did love that but her favorite thing was actually just sitting and laying in the shallow water or having someone hold her in the big pool.