{ parks, parks and more parks }

It often seems like groundhog day in our house. After having breakfast, we head off to the park almost every morning. And in the afternoon post naps, usually a short trek to the park up the road from our house. Minneapolis has amazing parks and it is a favorite outing for both Oliver and Stella. In fact, one day we didn't make it to a park in the morning or afternoon and Stella at bedtime said to me "But mommy, I can't go to bed. We didn't even get to go to a park today."

Here are few pics from some of our favorites.......

A morning riding bikes at Lake Harriet, feeding the ducks, and then hitting up the new park by the Harriet bandshell.

A park with a giant zip line. Say what?! Yup, Kenwood Park in Minneapolis.

 Oliver taking a break at our favorite neighborhood park, Fuller.

So this one isn't technically local/Minneapolis but we ventured to downtown Stillwater early one Sunday morning to check out Teddy Bear Park.

Clearly Oliver loved the jumping.

Down the road from our house at Lynnhurst Park. I think whoever invented this playground contraption was trying to give moms and dads a heart attack.

Stella also recently mastered a new move here.

Double swinging with twin friends Audrey and McKenna at Pearl Park.

Other favorite parks in Minneapolis that aren't above include Lake Hiawatha, Linden Hills and Lyndale Farmstead.

We did take one morning off from the parks to head downtown. The adventure included a ride on the lightrail, flowers at the farmers market, and lunch with daddy.

And lollipops on the ride home to keep them happy. If this isn't true love, I don't know what is!

And lastly, this past weekend O & S were spoiled when Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for two nights. Chop was away at a golf outing and we hit up the park (go figure!), farmers market, and had a lot of playtime with "my cousins" (as O & S refer to them). A fun day of playing and grilling out was capped with a trip to the Malt Shop for ice cream cones. Life doesn't get much better than this!

And my highlight - a trek out to Afton to ride the country roads, rolling hills and take in the scenery!

{ graniteman big lake }

A few weekends ago I completed tri 4 of 5 for the summer. It was a gorgeous morning - cool, sunny, and calm. Perfect racing conditions!

The race itself was a good one for many reasons. As usual, the swim was fairly uneventful for me. I managed to stay calm in the semi-chilly water and steer clear of the men that were also in my wave. They tend to flail around in the water and go out fast, only to burn out and slow down. I maintained a steady pace and came out of the water in decent time.

The bike course was fast and fun!! Very flat and limited turns. I pased a handful of women in my wave and was passed by one. After finishing, my time recorded that it was a 21 mph average speed which far exceeded any of my past races.

And the run.....after two bad runs in the last two races, it was back! I fell into my groove right at the start and felt comfortable the entire 5k. I was back to 7:20/mile splits and it felt great! Whew.

Finishing the race I had no idea where I was at in my age group. It was a PR race for me, taking 11 minutes off my Lifetime time and 8 minutes off Graniteman St. Cloud. I had 3rd and 1st place finishes in those races but even with my PR times at this one, I was knocked off the podium and took 4th place. But no disappointments as it was my best race yet - just tougher competition this time around!

Lastly, I wanted to share this photo with all of you. It is a blind man who completed the full swim/bike/run with the help of a "guide". Now if that isn't inspiring, I don't know what is! A great reminder to make the best of whatever challenges you face in life.

{ three year stats }

To make things official and keep track of stats, here we go:

Oliver
Weight: 35 pounds (75 percentile)
Height: 39 1/8 (75-90 percentile)

Stella
Weight: 33 pounds (75 percentile)
Height: 38 1/2 (75-90 percentile)

They passed everything with flying colors and unlike check-ups when they were little, we had very few questions for the doctor. The only one - how do we get them to poop on the potty?!? Yes, they continue to still ask for a diaper to poop and refuse to go anywhere near the potty for it. The doctor laughed and told us that if he had the answer to that, he would be on a yacht and not working anymore. So while it is common, it is still frustrating (and tiring to still be cleaning dirty diapers even though they have been pee trained for months!). But if that is our biggest worry, we are doing pretty good!