Albers Family Vacation

Well Hello everyone, Hope everyone is enjoying this very sultry weather!  I am not really sure how much I like it.  It is not to bad right now, I am sitting on the patio with a DC typing this and uploading photos while the kids play in their swimming pool!  We have been busy with our vacation up to the cabin last week, working, covered bridge fest, a triathlon and making sure scott has time to get all of homework done for school! 

Well Last week we left on Monday evening to head to the cabin until thursday.  we had a great time, the weather was nto jsut too bad for us but it was muddy everywhere from all of the rain that we have gotten in the month of June, so it was hard to let the kids out to play without them getting terribly dirty!  But henry got to go fishing which he loved!  He continues to ask when we can go to the cabin again!  Scott also got a few chances to go fishing which was good for him, as he needed a break from work and school!  And I got in a few runs/walks and bike rides with the kids!  The only bad part was that Henry came home with a cough, runny nose and a fever.  But that has since slightly improved, thankfully! 

On Saturday I took the kids to my cousin Lauras graduation party in Eau Claire and thank goodness they were good riders! We got to see some of my cousins and aunts and uncles so that was nice!  Then Saturday night we  got back home right in time for the Covered Bridge Fest Parade, which was lovely!  henry loved it. He was pretending he was a band conductor, it was too cute everytime a band marched by! 

Then on Sunday I did my first ever triathlon, which I was SO nervous about!  I had NO idea if I would be able to finish or not, as I had never swam before, other than taking the kids to the pool, etc!  So…I was really questioning what in the world I was doing at a triathlon on saturday morning, I wanted to turn around and go home a few times…especially when you see how fancy some peoples equipment is compared to mine!  So my swam began at about 830 I think…and it was a quarter of a mile, which really isnt THAT far, but at the same time….it was a long ways to swim!  So…my goal was to get under 20 minutes!  When my wave of people all start swimming I thought I might die, or have a panic attack because there were SO many people all around me, splashing me, making me swallow water…well…I survived!  I just kept taking it one stroke at a time, trying to do my best!  After the race a lady that swam by me for a little while at the end asked me if I saw all the sea weed in the water? I replied, “heck no, i did not even put my head in the water!” she was like what?!?! how did you not get your head in the water…I truly tried to keep my head out so I could see who was all around me and where I was going!  I ended up placing 8th in my division in the swim!?!?!? what?~?~ for a girl who had never swam before this?!?!  wow!  I was shocked!  I got out in 8:50!  Darn impressive!  Then came the biking, and it started to rain/sprinkle, and it was much hillier than i was expecting.  but I biked my 10 miles in 35:00 which was fine with me, I was hoping for 30:00, but I cant be too disappointed, was still impressive considering the fact thaty i have a pretty average bike, it is a hybrid so it does go a bit faster than a normal mountain bike, but many people had racing bikes….and it biking i dont remember my place, i want to say i was 8th again in my division, but that could be wrong!  then came the running, my strong suit!  it was a 5k and I ran quite comfortably I thought, I really booked it at the end and ended up finishing my run in 21:30 so i was quite impressed with that as well, overall in my age group i finished 4th!!!!  for a first triathlon, AWESOME!!!!!  I am still so pround of myself, it you want to see results or photos….go to onlineraceresults.com and minnefotomoments.com and it was the rochesterfest tiathlon 2010.

well that is all for now, i will post photos later! have a great night, katie

Beginning of Summer…

Hey All,

Summer is here…already!  it just does not seem possible!  Well we have been having lots of fun enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having.  We got the little kiddie pool out last week on one of our hot, steamy days and the kids have just LOVED it!  For 10 dollars it was so worth it!  Over Memorial Day Weekend we did nothing but work, because that is SO much fun!  We also did have Sean Gill’s Graduation, which for those of you that remember….I babysat those six boys when I was in HS and College, I am just totally shocked that he is already graduating and that most of the boys are taller than me!  (for those of you that care, he is going to Creighton in Omaha in the fall for pre-law.)  Then this past week we took the camper out for a trial night just to see how it all went and to see how much important things we forgot at home!  Surprisingly we really did not forget too much!  We went to Baker Park Reserve in Maple Plain, MN…neither of us had ever heard of it.  But, it is part of the Three Rivers Park District in the metro and it was wonderful! We left on Wednesday morning and go up there in time to set the camper up and make some lunch for the kids!  The campground was getting its roads paved while we were there, so henry was in heaven from the time we pulled in until we left as there were so many BIG trucks, rollers, dump trucks that he loved it!  Because of the construction they were not taking online reservations, so we were one of only three other campers in the entire campground!  AWESOME!! But while Scott and I set up the camper H and O played in the lovely Volleyball sandbox!  And it only took us twenty minutes to set up the camper so that was great!  I was thinking that it would have taken us a bit longer!  After the kids ate their lunch we headed out on our bikes to tour the campground which has about 200 campsites that are all just beautiful! There are just so many nice mature trees to provide shade that it was just wonderful!  And the bathrooms, were almost brand new and were lovely…. unlike many campgrounds that I have been to!  They even had a dish washing area, which two double sinks, and a drying area and a garbage!  I thought this was such a great idea! On our bike ride around the camground we saw that they had two nice swimming beaches, a boat and paddleboat rental, fishing pier, a great park for the kids, more volleyball courts, as well as many horseshoe pits!  After that we headed out onto the main bike trail there which makes a loop around a wildlife/nature preserve and it was beautiful!  We ended up going about 20 miles or so!  The kids napped most of the time, but on the way back we saw a few turtles and we thought Henry just had to see them, so we did wake him up to see them….he thought they were pretty cool….the turtles did not think we were pretty cool!  Then when we got back to the campground and changed into our swimming stuff and headed to one of the beaches.  The water was surprisingly warm and the kids both loved it.  They both had a little floating toy to sit on in the water and they just loved it!  We had also brought along their sand toys and they both loved that too!  I am almost certain that they both cried when we said we needed to go so we could make supper!  And after supper we of course had to roast marshmallows, because sticky marshmallows = sticks hands, faces, hair, clothes and that = lots of fun!  But the kids did go to bed surprisingly well!  And then scott and I just got to enjoy the fire all by ourselves, it was fantastic!  No neighbors …. just peace and quiet!  LOVED IT!  On Thursday we were planning to stay a bit later but Henry was just kind of crabby and Scott had homework to do so we just went to the park int the morning and then left to go home so that the kids could take a nap in their own beds!  But before we could leave, Henry needed to go fishing!  And that ended up being so much fun.  We could truly just hang our line right over the dock and see the sunnies nibble on it and take a bite!  it was just awesome!  henry even touched the fish it was great!  That was one thing that I still really do not like to do, so I would love it if he learned how to touch fish. Then someday just he and I can go fishing! But we had a fabulous time on our first camping adventure!  Now we just need to talk some of our other family members into camping and then it would really be a lot of fun! 

Then today, I went on the Tour de Pepin Bike ride with scotts mom and the skies were looking a bit ominous this morning, so i was a bit worried that it was going to be raining for the ride, as it has the last two years for her!  But, it was just beautiful! We did have a few sprinkles here and there but nothing too much and the rain really felt lovely!  We rode from Lake City to wabasha to pepin and then to stockholm.  We left LC at about 7 or 730ish and we got to Stockholm too early for the ferry to take us back across so then we decided to go on a bit more of a bike ride instead of just sitting there waiting so we headed toward Maiden Rock.  It was just great, there was really no breeze to speak of!  So we ended up logging 40 miles!  And I am really not sore at all, i was not sure if I would be or not as I do not really ride bike that far because of the kids!  So maybe next year if Pauline asks me again….I would do the 72 miler that goes from LC to stockholm and then to Hager City over the Red Wing and back to Lake City!  I think we could have done it today, but I think we were both glad we stopped when we did because the sky was go grey and getting darker just by the minute! and it ended up raining pretty much the rest of the day today!  so maybe next year! 

Well, this upcoming week looks kind of rainy again, which is okay with me. I actually just work Monday day and then have a class on tuesday for 4 hours but then I work the weekend, so I am hoping it rains all weekend long….for me….not for everyone else!  I work sunday night, get home on monday morning and pack up everything for the cabin, because then we will leave when scott gets home on Monday night i think and head on up until Thursday!  Then it is covered bridge fest in Zumbrota , my Cousin Lauras Grad party, and a triathlon…..should be interesting! I think we have a busy few weeks….so….

Hope you all have a great Start to the Summer of 2010

~Katie