Melissa, Ryan, Keira and Soren: Fall is really here, Oldham County Tri

This week had quite a lot going on for being a short week. We didn't do a ton during the week since Ryan was working very long hours, but we had a packed Saturday. The crazy thing is that the temperatures which dropped on Labor Day, stayed cool and a bit gray for most of the week.

On Tuesday, Keira got decked out in fall clothing for school.

I took Soren to the storytime after a short track workout on the treadmill. He is really not liking the fact that he is now one of the older kids at the gym, and has had a major meltdown at least once per day over something. I am hoping this is just a function of his age and he will grow out of it, and that it isn't so much what is going on around him causing it. He did enjoy the storytime, once we got there.

The kids went over to play at Hannah and Sammy's house this afternoon. They had a great time, and I got some cleaning done.

On Wednesday, it was cool and drizzly in the morning. We got Keira ready for school. The bus was super late. We were at the point where we were going to have Sammy's dad drive all the kids and finally, the bus came down. It figures that the cold rainy morning would be the one where the bus is late.

Then I got Soren bundled up for a run. He enjoyed it, and I went really fast. I think it was because the conditions were cooler, much more like the training I did for the martian; gray, cool, and misty. The hills didn't seem to bother me at all with the drop in the temps.

After school, we had Hannah and Sammy over to play. The girls played pretty well with Soren, and enjoyed coloring and watching TV together.

On Thursday, it was picture day. We barely made the bus, and Keira was the only one who rode the bus this morning. Hopefully her school pictures look this cute. She did tell me once she got home that there were people there to help fix her bow before the pictures.

I took Soren to the gym for my long run. We came back and worked on the toilet a bit. I am just not purchasing the correct parts, so it is frustrating. Thankfully, it is in the basement and with the water off now, it is not wasting anymore water running.

That afternoon, Keira was pretty tired, and went to bed early. I attended the parent night at her school where I met with her teacher. Keira is doing great and I was excited to see some of her work. We weren't sure if we were going to send Keira to school the next morning, but got everything ready just in case.

On Friday, Keira woke up easily at 6:30, and wanted to go to school, so I sent her.

Soren and I had a really lazy morning, and didn't do much aside from clean because the Relief Society Presidency was coming over for a visit. Sadly, the visit was cut short when I got a call that Keira needed to be picked up from school. She had a fever and her ears were bothering her. I picked her up and she spent the rest of the evening relaxing on the couch. We realized our old MI insurance is no longer in effect, but our new insurance information has not fully been processed, so we opted to wait and see how Keira is before taking her anywhere. This was rather frustrating. We had another early night for everyone, since the kids were tired and I had a race in the next morning.

I woke up super early on Saturday to be at the Oldham County Mini Triathlon. I was supposed to be there no later than 6:30 based on my start time of 7:46. It was a time trial start, with a 400m pool swim, 10 mile bike, and 3K run. There were several people from our ward competing too, so that was fun. It was actually a huge race weekend, I had friends racing all over the country and world this weekend! I underestimated the difficulty of this course, and since it was a sprint, I was going all out the entire time. With the time trial start, I finished up and wasn't really sure how my time compared. Ryan brought the kids over for the award ceremony, and I was excited to learn that I had won my age group. This was the first time I had ever won my age in a triathlon.

After the tri, the kids played on the playground at the race site. Ryan headed out to go for a ride.

After the kids were done playing, I took them home so I could get cleaned up and then we headed out to the Crestwood Festival while Ryan mowed. They didn't have the mini train like advertised, but more of the children's activties were free than expected. The kids had a great time, and Keira even saw one of her classmates. They had tractors on display, bouncers, and crafts for the kids.

On our way home, we again found ourselves very close to a train. Soren was thrilled.

When we got home, we learned that while mowing, a piece of cable that should have been buried was cut. This meant we had no phone, internet, or TV. The cable company could come out on Sunday, but that wouldn't help for tonight's football. I went out to Radio Shack to pick up a new piece of coax cable and we fixed it ourselves. Then we headed out for dinner at 5 Guys.

On Sunday, it was the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. I was running the line at Wixom Assembly. Willie, one of my line workers had a large radio he always listened to on the line, told me that a plane had struck the towers. I didn't fully get it at first, but after reading stories on the internet, realized what had happened. The plant was shut down early for the day, and I went to the Red Cross to donate blood, where I spent a good chunk of the afternoon, watching footage there as I waited. Once I got home, my neighbors from downstairs made sure I was doing OK and offered me dinner and came with me to the grocery store so I didn't have to be by myself. I was very thankful that all of my family and friends in NYC were safe, but it was still such an upsetting day.