First Triathlon of the Season

It was maybe Wednesday last week when McKinley was just dying to put on Robbie's goggles. I was pretty sure she was ready for the triathlon, but was Robbie?

Well, Saturday came and we found out that .... Yes he was! This time he opted to do the sprint distance. That consists of a 1/2 mile swim, about 12 mile bike ride and a 5k at the end. McKinley and I were able to see him for a second as he passed us for each part of the race. I even remembered the camera this year, so I actually got some pictures!

This is his age group, just hanging out, waiting for their turn to swim and then taking off. Robbie got kicked in the face, but we've heard of people having dislocated shoulders and stuff, so a little kick to the face is no big deal!

We also saw him after the swim running to his bike, saw him hop on his bike and ride away. Then we hung out and were able to see him bike in to start the run as well.

After this we only saw him just before the finish line. I couldn't believe it, because after all the swimming and biking he still ran an 8 minute mile pace. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that with fresh legs! When he ran past us near the finish McKinley got a little confused. "Where my daddy goin?" "I want Daddy". I was glad we could go find him after that so she could see her daddy.

He seemed to have a great experience and was pleased with how he finished. Only two more triathlons to go this summer. Way to go Robbie!

Enjoying the Weather

We've been having a lot of fun with McKinley outside ever since it decided to warm up just a little. I thought I would share some of the pictures we've taken. We did take them with the phone though, so the quality isn't that awesome.
When it was rainy, McKinley stomped in all of the puddles outside. She came in soaking wet!

On a less rainy, but still chilly day, we went to the park and she worked on her jumping:

On a sunny warm day we headed to the park and she went down the slides, she loves the slides and can see them out our back door!

This is what happened when Robbie told her to smile:

We're looking forward to more warm weather!

Our Sweet Little Girl Turned Two!!

I can't believe McKinley is two. Two years went by so fast! We had some family over for a party and she was a little bit shy at first, but warmed up when her little cousins got there and she could eat dinner with them at their own special table. We had some of her favorites for dinner, rolls, broccoli and stroganoff.

After dinner, we started off the fun with a Tinkerbell pinata. Robbie and I have a little fire bat, so we let the little girls take swings-and yes, Great Grandpa got hit in the knee with the bat which I can only imagine hurt really bad, but he just laughed it off...thanks Grandpa, I hope there isn't permanent damage. Calista preferred to watch while McKinley and Abi seemed to love hitting it. When they weren't getting through the pinata with the bat, we let them just pull the strings off the bottom and it opened a little "trap door" and all the candy come out.

McKinley has been loving Tinkerbell since about February when got a cool Tinkerbell bracelet from my Grandma. So, after the pinata we pulled out her Tinkerbell birthday cake:

Blowing out the candle with Daddy.

She ate her cake like such a big girl, I couldn't believe it. Although, she does love to use her shirt as a napkin....as you will see in the present opening pictures where there is chocolate all over her clothes!

We saved the presents for last and she had a great time opening and got some really fun stuff from everybody.

It was really funny when she opened clothes, because she would just throw them to the side and keep looking in the box for a toy or something!

Her birthday was great and ever since then we can't get out of the house without coloring, playing in her tent and having a tea party! Thanks everyone for coming and making it such a special and fun day!

Robbie is the Master

...of Health Administration! That's right...he graduated! Hooray! His graduation was on Friday and it was so great. McKinley would randomly point down at Robbie in the crowd, wave and say "hi daddy" all through the graduation. When they called his name and he was walking across the floor to be hooded by his professors she kept yelling over and over and over "That's my daddy!", pointing and smiling and making sure everyone in ear shot knew who he was. I'm not sure who was more proud, her or me!

McKinley and I are really proud of Robbie, it's a big accomplishment to be done with his Master's Degree and we're really excited. McKinley had become really good at saying "my daddy at school", so it will be nice to have him home more.

After graduation we went out to dinner at Olive Garden, the wait was crazy since we had a party of 15, but the food was delicious and they gave us four appetizers for free, so Robbie was loving it.

Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated and thanks for the congratulations of those who couldn't be there. It was a great day!

Easter

Easter was a lot of fun at our house. We dyed eggs the day before and McKinley had a great time. It was funny to watch her throw the eggs into the cup of dye instead of place them nicely, good thing we were prepared with covering over the table. The Easter bunny came and hid the eggs and McKinley did a really good job of finding them. We went to another Easter Egg Hunt later that day at Grandma's house. I think McKinley still wishes there were Easter Egg Hunts every day!

Here she is in her Easter Dress with her basket from Nana and Papa. She loves that basket and we still have it out to play with now!

Dying Easter Eggs:

Hunting for the eggs:

Hating her new swimsuit:

My Easter Bunny cupcakes:

Bunny ears and an Easter Basked from Uncle Matt and Aunt Leslie:

Egg Hunt at Grandma's:

First Real Easter Egg Hunt

I call it the first real Easter Egg Hunt, because last year we hid some eggs in the living room for McKinley and although she found them, this year she was much more excited. McKinley was invited to her first Easter Egg hunt early this month. Cooper had McKinley and Ruby over to play with toys, eat lunch and find eggs! Lunch was pizza, so McKinley loved it. Here is a picture of the little crew before lunch, this is where I discovered that it is ridiculous to expect three toddlers to look at the camera at the same time:

The hunt is on. McKinley was so excited when she saw the eggs, she started running to get them. She also found bubble and a chalk egg:

Thanks Cooper for having us over, it was a blast!