NHS

L1 was inducted into NHS tonight. I was so proud of him. It is a very high honor, especially in Kingwood, where competition is so high. His father is out of town on business, so I went with camera in hand to represent! Just as he was being escorted to the stage I turned on the camera and....nothing, nada, dead. I suddenly notice that it feels kind of light. I turn it over and open the door...no batteries. L2 had taken a bunch of pictures of the dogs, the fence, himself, etc. over the weekend and he ran the batteries down. He took them out to recharge them and I never noticed when I picked the camera up. ARRGGGHHHHH! So, after the induction ceremony there was a little reception. I frantically searched around for another parent I knew and upon finding one, begged for a couple of batteries so I could at least get a few shots of my charming son and his certificate to commemorate the evening. Who am I kidding? I totally wanted them for my blog and here they are:

L1 and his spiffy certificate.


L1 and proud mama.


L1 and girlfriend S, who was also inducted into NHS.


Aren't they so cute?

So, that was my evening and now, I am ready to watch some Dancing with the Stars!

Peace Out!
Tri-Vet

Just lounging around...

Kings on their thrones...


Dudley and Huck...otherwise known as me and medium me!

Lonestar Sprint Triathlon '09

My first triathlon of the season was today. It was the Lonestar triathlon in Galveston. Our friends, Kim and Jon, decided a few months ago to do it with me. This was their first sprint tri ever! Since they live closer to Galveston, I stayed all night at their house last night so we could get to the race early to pick up our packets and set up this morning. Usually, the night before a race I am a nervous wreck and I don't sleep very well, especially away from home. I don't know if it was because I was thinking more about helping them with their first race than being worried about my own, but I slept like a baby and I wasn't a nervous wreck before the race either. Anyway, we were up at 4:15 AM!!! We were at the race site by 5:50 am. Oh my, I really wish just once they held these later in the day for us night owls! The water temperature was announced as a "balmy 65 degrees"! Um, yeah, thank goodness for wet suits. The weather was great for the race, although the wind was brutal on the bike portion along the sea wall. I actually saw a lady get knocked completely over on her bike by a wind gust! Anyhow, I had a pretty good swim and was second out of the water in my division. On the bike, I was doing pretty well, and I was in second place in my division and coming back into the home stretch when I hit a pothole and dropped my Garmin (GPS/heart monitor). Since they cost a couple hundred bucks, I decided that I would have to sacrifice a better finish and go back and pick it up. So, I stopped, unclipped, ran back to get it out of the road, dodged a couple of bikers and got back on and clipped in. I don't know how much time that cost me and then to top it off, my run was not as good as last year. Gosh, if only I could run..."I could be a contender"! Anyway, I ended up with third place and a trophy! I lost 2nd place by 1 min and 10 secs.! Hmmm, wonder what would have happened if I hadn't dropped my Garmin? I was only out of 1st place by 2 mins. So, I guess overall, I am happy with my race, but I am definitely going to work harder on my running! Ugh! So, here are some pics of the day.

Melanie, Jon and Kim ready to race.



The happy "first timers" couple! Great finish you two!!

Me with my lonestar trophy!

I am off to bed now. I have a long bike ride to do tomorrow. I still have to get in the mileage to prepare for the MS 150 coming up in 2 weeks. I may sound like I am complaining...but really, I love it!!

Peace Out!
Tri-Vet

Hello again, Hello!

Wow, has this been a crazy couple of weeks. My sister and niece came last Thursday to do some college visits with L1 and I. We went to UofH on Friday and then Sam Houston State on Saturday. My niece is a senior and she has been accepted at both of those schools. None of us were pleased with U of H (sorry if you are a student/alum). The buildings seemed old and in need of repair. The dorm courtyards had debris all over the ground, as if the hurricane just happened, not over 6 months ago! It just isn't a very attractive campus at all.

All of us liked SHSU. It is in Huntsville and very close to the state park and forest land. The buildings all seemed very nice and so did all the students we met. Some of the dorms were older but in good repair and others seemed brand new almost. The professors seemed very fun and excited about their classes. My niece, who is from a small high school, liked it very much. It is one of the top two on her short list. L1 liked it, but since it has no swim team at all, he likely will not put it on his list.

Saturday afternoon, my dad and his wife Sandy arrived from Indiana. It was good to see them after 18 months! They spent 4 days here. We watched movies, went for a long hike, played games with the kids and ate. Dad and Sandy went to visit Moody Mansion in Galveston on Monday while the rest of us were at work/school. They said the island is getting pretty cleaned up but lots of businesses are still closed from Hurricane Ike. The mansion was in pretty good shape and only suffered some flooding on the basement level. They said all the businesses they did visit were very grateful for the business. Tuesday was their 30 year anniversary so we took them out to dinner to celebrate. Wednesday they headed up to my sisters house, east of Dallas, to visit for 4 days before heading back home. Here are a few pictures from their visit.






Dudley and I started puppy classes today! He is very good at the sit and the come, but kind of freaks out about the down. Here are some pictures of him on the way to class. By the way, he is 50.2 lbs. at 3 months old! OMG!! Huck wasn't over 50# till 4 1/2 months old!




And here is a picture of Huck. He is getting to be a big boy! He is such a good brother too! He is doing OK with his leg. He tries to put more weight on the good leg and his hock on the good leg has some swelling, but he still gets around pretty well.



I'm off to bed now. I have a busy day tomorrow before I head down to stay with my friends for my first triathlon of the season on Saturday. More about that tomorrow.

Peace Out!
Tri-Vet

Back but busy!

Well, we got back from Colorado on Sunday and I just have to jump right back into things with both feet. I got in a 45 mile bike ride after we got home to get some time in the saddle. The MS 150 is creeping up on me fast and I AM NOT PREPARED! 45 miles is the most I have ridden at one time and the ride is over 150 miles and in less than a month! YIKES!!! I got up at 5:30 am this morning because Huck would not stop pacing around the bedroom. Turns out he peed all over the room and who knows why. He doesn't have a UTI, so I don't know if he drank too much water yesterday or what, but I am praying he doesn't have any more of those episodes tonight. Do you know how big the bladder is on a 120 lb. horse??? Quite large!! It takes many many towels to clean it all up!! He does have an ear infection which I am treating so that he will stop shaking his head and flapping his big ole' ears all night too!! Geesh, leave him in a kennel for a week and he falls apart. Poor boy! Frankie was fine, just FAT!! Dudley is fast catching up to Huck and will likely pass him in the next few months. I weighed him today and he was 44 lbs. at only 13 weeks!! I will have a pony and a small draft horse soon! LOL

I am working this week, trying to get in more training, getting ready for family visitors later in the week and getting ready to take L1 to visit some colleges on Friday and Saturday, along with my sister and niece. So....all that to say, I may not post for a couple of days. I should be in bed over an hour ago as it is....life, it hits you hard! Isn't that some commercial line or something?

Peace Out!
Tri-Vet

Lions and Tigers and Bears , oh my!

Yesterday we went to the Denver Zoo. The weather was really warm and it was a LOT of walking. I was exhausted by the time it was over. I prefer to see the zoo from one of those trams that drives you to each enclosure and then the guide tells you some interesting information about the animal and then you move on. Unfortunately, we just had to trudge along walk. Anyway, the animals at the Denver Zoo are really close and there were lots of them that were very active, so I got quite a few good pictures.






















Somehow, I just don't think that the zoo had the same effect on the kids as Boondocks, just look at these faces!


I guess we should have done the zoo first!




Dudley stayed with G&G and played with his cousin dogs. Here is a video of them.


Untitled from Melanie Kerschbaum on Vimeo.

This morning, L2 wanted to go fishing down at the lake in Evergreen, so hubby and I hopped in the car and took him down and I ran the trail around the lake while they fished. I am hoping that this high altitude training is going to help me in my race in two weeks. All this pain and hard work HAS to pay off in some way!! I ran around the lake 3 times and it was a 4.3 mile run, which is the closest thing I have had to my normal training routine all week! L2 was successful and he caught two rainbow trout. He brought them home and grilled them and shared them with Grampa and G (son 3) for lunch. Here he is with his first catch.





Gramma, my SIL, Linda, my SIL (to be), MaryJean and I all went out for a girls day out of lunch and boutique shopping. We went to Bear Creek Inn in Kittredge for lunch. It is a really rustic little place right on the bend of Bear Creek and we sat right at the windows where we could see out while we dined.


Here is a picture of us. (me, MJ, Linda, Gramma from left clockwise)




So, our week has come to an end here in Colorado. It's time to head back to the flatlands. We are going to be leaving in the morning, so I won't be posting till next week probably since it is a 2 day drive. Hope all of you have had a terrific week, and if you haven't, then my hope for you is that next week will be better!

Peace Out!
Tri-Vet

It IS a Revolt!

Yesterday morning I woke up and I couldn't move my neck. I couldn't tilt my head back without supporting it because my neck muscles felt like I had a severe case of whiplash. Today, I woke up and not only is my neck hurting, but other muscles that I never knew I had are in revolt! We are trying to decide what to do today, either the zoo or hiking and I am thinking I need to decide between a deep tissue massage or the hospital!

Yesterday morning, G&G had a project to be done. They needed a rotten deck torn out so that a concrete one can be poured in its place, so L2, being the hard worker that he is decided he would go tackle it.




My hubby and father-in-law went to help. They quickly got it all done. Here is a three generation picture of my FIL, hubby and L2 working hard.




Anyway, yesterday early afternoon my SIL and dogs and I did a brisk 2 mile walk (pain or not I still have a triathlon in 2 weeks) and then hubby and I took the boys to a family fun center called Boondocks, north of Denver. For those of you from the Houston area, it is kind of like Mountasia only way bigger. From 4-10 pm you could get an unlimited ticket and play as much miniature golf, go-carts, laser tag, and bumper boats as you want. It also came with a bunch of tokens for the arcade games inside. The boys had a total blast! They played several rounds of golf, rode the go-carts too many times to count, and won so many tickets, particularly L2 on the games, that they each came away with several of those cheap cheesy prizes. Hubby and I just watched and took pictures. I did ride the roller coaster simulator with L1 though. It wasn't NEARLY as exciting as the real thing, although it also did not hurt my neck like the real ones, so that was a plus. I LOVE roller coasters!! Anyway, I digress, here are some pictures of the evening.














My in-laws all think Dudley has grown just since we have been here. He did graduate to a bigger collar yesterday. Look at the size of his paw in my hand and he is just 12 weeks old.



Here he is sleeping.


Is he the cutest thing ever or what?!

So, it's time for me to decide what to do now. I am really voting for the massage, but hubby and the boys are going for the zoo. More on our adventures later.

Peace out!
Tri-Vet