Jeff is an IRONMAN!

Jeff achieved a childhood dream of his yesterday, completing the Ironman--swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running a full marathon (26.2 miles).  He not only completed it, but did really well.  The kids and I had alot of fun following him around all day.  In the morning, we were able to find him among the 2500 athletes in the parking lot of the swim start.  Then we arrived at the waterway (canal) just in time to see him swim the final stretch.  He was only about 15 feet away from us and waved to us mid-stroke.  We saw the amazing volunteers take off his wetsuit in about half a second and then saw him leave on his bike.  At mile 90, we went out to the entrance of our neighborhood and saw him pass about 20 minutes later (even though he was about 40 minutes ahead of when he said he would pass).  Then we quickly got in the car and travelled back into The Woodlands and walked to the transition just in time to see him pass on the final stretch of the bike.  After finding a nice shady spot, we were able to see him pass twice on the run (it was a 3 loop course) and then headed to the finish line chute where we were able to see him pass and cross the finish line.  It was a long day starting at 4:30am and ending around 9pm but the kids were great troopers (it was, of course, a much longer day for Jeff).  We're all very proud of Daddy!

Thank you to all of you who provided your support throughout the entire training and event journey!

For a photo journal (with captions) of our day, click on the photo above.

To see the exciting finish, click on the video below.

Ty's First Communion

This past Saturday was a very special one for Tyler as we all got to celebrate his First Communion with him.  After preparing formally for two years, it was neat to see him take this next step in his journey.

Since we had a small group, we got assigned the very front pew which made Ty very happy.  The Mass was very nice and Fr. Tom did a wonderful job connecting with the kids and making it very special for them and their families.  

We weren't able to take pictures during the Mass itself, but did get some before and after.  For more, click on the photo above.

To celebrate his occasion, his journey so far, and the faith of the people that surround him, we made this book for him.  We really look forward to seeing where God takes him from here.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Spring Break 2014

With busy work (and Ironman training) schedules, we weren't sure what we were going to do for spring break and waited until the last minute (we're talking day of) to make any decisions.  It turned out great!

On Tuesday, we stayed in Houston and travelled down to Battleship Texas (which happened to be getting ready for its centennial celebration).  We kept the destination a surprise from the kids and it was a lot of fun to see both of the kids' eyes light up when they saw the battleship.  That afternoon we stopped by the Houston Zoo.

The next morning we got up and decided to drive to Corpus Christi.  When we got there, we went to the Texas State Aquarium which is right on the bay.  The kids enjoyed seeing the dolphins, the bald eagle, the sea turtle, and touching the stingrays and the shark.  The next day we visited the USS Lexington (two warships in 3 days!) and the next day we visited the beach at Mustang Island State Park and had lunch in Port Aransas before we took the ferry across the channel and headed home.  All in all, it was a very fun trip with lots of memories.  For more photos, click on the top photo above.

Megan learns to ride a bike

It's funny how different two kids from the same parents can be.  As you'll hear in the first two videos, Megan shouted at Jeff to "Let go!" (even though it was her first day on this bike after moving up from her balance bike).   We're very proud of her and look forward to many fun family bike rides.  Enjoy the videos.

Christmas 2013

We had a wonderful time in Palatine at Christmas.  We got to spend 6 days having fun with Granny and Grandpa and the Chernesky's and Burke's (and we got to see and play in the SNOW!).  We also enjoyed new traditions (Chippy the giving elf!) getting ready for Christmas and the time off of school and work once we returned from our trip (during which Treehouse Masters became our new favorite show).  For more photos, click on the one below.