A Day in the Life

Andrea and I spent the weekend in Oklahoma City at the Red Man Triathlon.  Since December my Dad has been a workout machine.   He exercises a few hours a day and has since lost a lot of weight.  He is in great shape but wanted some additional motivation to keep going.  He signed up for the Half Aqua Bike event at the Red Man Triathlon.  The Half Aqua Bike consists of a 1.1 mile swim in a lake followed by a 56 mile bike race.  This was his first triathlon event and we are so proud of him for working so hard and accomplishing something so difficult.

The day started out rainy and cold.  The race was delayed about an hour because some of the bike race roads were under water.  Dangerous for road bikes…  We didn’t prepare for cold rainy weather but we did our best.  Notice the baby in a trash bag poncho / blanket in every photo.  We were trying to keep her lips from turning blue.  It rained all day and it turned the whole park into a red mud pit.  Needless to say we were wet, tired, and covered in red mud at the end of the day.

Even though the weather was poor my Dad had a great race.  He took second place in his age group and was 15th overall in his event.  Not too bad for a “Big Guy” (that is what every one called him as he passed, “Good Job Big Guy!”) and for his first triathlon type event. Congratulations Dad, and thanks for inviting us.  Now we just need to get training for the next one!  Maybe I will join you.

The High Chair Toy (not our baby)

One of the things that I love about being a dad is when Adelyn figures something out.  Today I was working from home and Adelyn was sitting in her high chair playing with a toy and keeping herself amused.  I looked over and noticed that she had figured out the toy she was playing with.  She has had this toy for a few months and plays with it every so often.  In the past she has been content with simply smacking the button and listening to the music but today she found out that if she turns the turtle the center of the tree rotates.  She saw me looking at her smiling and she looked back at me with a big smile and one of those looks that said, “Yep Dad, I figured it out!”  It is the little things like this that I love the most about being a dad.  Even when she is being a handful and I get tired of her shenanigans I try to remember times like this when it all seems worth it!