Swim Lessons

Saturday morning, Ron and I got up early and headed out to  Cypress Lake so that he could attend the Swim Clinic offered by the River Cities Triathlon group.  At his suggestion, I brought Emmi along.

While Ron listened and learned,

Emmi and I wandered about.


We were the only ones at the beach that early, so we picked a prime picnic table and set up our stuff.


Ron swam.


I read a book, and spotted a few bluebirds flitting about. (I love bluebirds)!!

Emmi and I sat, enjoying the picnic spot, which was gradually becoming more crowded with families.

Later, after lunch, we decided to give Emmi her first swim lesson.  She'd never been in the water before and was not at all sure she liked it as we waded in chest-deep.

But she can swim!

As she frantically swam to each of us and scrambled up as far out of the water as possible, we realized that she might never "love" the water, but at least she would be able to save herself if she fell off a kayak.


Back at home, we were so tired from getting up early and being in the sun all day that we took a nap before going out to eat to celebrate our "dating anniversary" at Oyster Bar and Grille.   WOW!  What a difference a year makes!   Our first "official date" was July 13 of last year and this year we're married! It's been a very good year!

Zippin' By

This past weekend, Ron, Tyler and I began Saturday morning with "brunch" at Krispy Kreme.  I can't even remember the last time I had a donut, but these were wonderful!  We lingered over our food as we visited and watched them make more and more donuts.



After running a few errands around town, we headed to the "Outdoor Show" at the Century Link Center.  Now, 6 months ago if you told me I would be attending an Outdoor Show, I probably wouldn't have believed you.  And if you told me that I would enjoy it, I probably would have believed that even less.  I love the outdoors and wildlife and flora, etc. but guns and hunting?  Not so much!  But it was lots of fun.  Mixed in with all the hunting stuff were some good outdoor foods, a dog show and some beautiful wild raptors.

Ron and Tyler decided to try out the Zip Line across the top of Century Link, and since I'd brought my camera, I volunteered to capture the fun.   After getting suited up,





there was a little cutting up---I mean, what a great opportunity to embarass your son, right?!?!  (I think Tyler's face says it all).







Thanks guys, for at least one good picture!!



Up, up, up they went.



Tyler went first---he zipped across the line until they realized that the guys had sent him across without having the platform ready to catch him!  He had to just hang around for a while until they got things together.  Thank goodness he is not really afraid of heights.





Next up was Ron.  Now Ron is afraid of heights, so this activity challenged his fear a bit.  But, he did great, too and it was fun to watch.  It actually looked like lots of fun and after talking to the group, Ron and I decided that it might be a really fun Fall activity--to zip through the forests of East Texas.










There were also a few wild animals.  First there were the creepy variety --- and stinky:





And then the beautiful type.  The handlers had to put the falcon back in his cage before I could get a good picture because each time someone zipped by on the line overhead, he wanted to go after them!









Would you take a look at those talons?!?!

Rest and Relaxation

Despite the fact that I'm a teacher, I work most of the summer.  Since it's different work for the summer, it's not so bad, but the past couple of days of being "off work" have reminded me of how great it is to have completely unstructured time during the summer.  Ron started his vacation time Thursday, so we headed to Cypress Lake with Tyler.     After setting up "camp" at one of the tables,



Ron practiced the open water swim that he'll be doing in the River Cities Triathlon Sunday morning.



While he did that, Tyler and I played ball!






We stopped for a lunch break of chicken caesar sandwiches and fruit----picnic food always tastes way better than it would in my kitchen!!






The weather was amazing---breezy and hardly a cloud in the sky.  And there were bluebirds EVERYwhere!!









All in all, it had all the makings of a perfect day---good food, rest, relaxation and special people to share it with!

Meet the Family, Part One

Yesterday evening, Ron finally got a chance to meet Callie and I had a chance to meet his youngest son, Tyler.   Fortunately, nothing as dramatic as you see in the movies occurred, and instead we had a easy, comfortable time while visiting the movie set yet again (it's kind of addicting to see what's happening next).

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There were no explosions this time, but we did see/hear lots of machine gun attacks.





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It was hot, though, and since we couldn't get very close, we eventually left the small crowd that was gathered and headed to Johnny's for pizza and then home to watch the Olympics.

Sorry for the blurriness of this first one :
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Stayed tuned for part two, where I meet the Tyler's siblings and their families in the next couple of weeks.