Mulch time!!

10 yards delivered!

 Only took us  a few days to get it done!  A little at a time (between workouts & work)

 Ahh, it looks nice!  Hopefully fewer weeds this year for me to pull!

 Chris still busy in the back yard - this monster was dead, but wow did it land loudly!!

 Still a few more trees to be removed.  The back yard will be a work in process for a while.

 I mean, sometimes, we need to relax ;)

Painting Project

I've been busy with my #1 committee - East Bay Sailing Foundation, so I haven't helped out much on the House Committee.  So, when they needed help painting, I volunteered (Chris too!)

The yacht club's outside heads are very plain & get a lot of use.  So we are giving them a little face lift (not enough $$ in the budget for a full re-do, which is what they really need)

 4 heads painted in 3 hours!!

 The yellow paint picked out by the project manager makes our white fixtures look much better!

Can't wait to see the final project next weekend at Commissioning!

Working in the back yard

 Our back yard is pretty small since we have an easement.  It' s a 'pond' that is wet in the winter & spring & dry in the summer and fall :)  There are many many weeds that surround this lovely 'pond'  This winter we had so much snow, that it smashed the weeds and we saw what the backyard would look like if we got rid of them.
So we did!

 It won't really make our backyard more usable, since the easement is still there.  But it will make it look bigger.

 We think it looks great!  Even with all the leaves :)

 Wow - that area with the brown (leaves) used to be all weeds.  They were 'cool' weeds, but weeds none the less.  And now they are gone.  Yeah!!  Thanks Chris!!

We will probably have some dirt brought in to help flatten the slopes.  I'll keep you posted!

Sold!

 We've owned this car for over 10 years.  But we don't drive it much, so we decided it needed a better home.

 A great car and we will miss it!

 But it's going to a good home (looks like Santa, doesn't he ;))

Ironman 70.3 Galveston, TX

1st triathlon of 2013 & 1st triathlon in TX - done!

We traveled to Galveston, TX.  Not because we really wanted to visit, but because the race fit our schedule & timing.

Galveston was ok.  A little seedy, but ok.

 The race venue at Moody Gardens was pretty cool.

 And the race itself was great!  So we would definitely come back, if we need another early season half ironman.  Here is Chris at the Race Expo.  Weather was good - 70's

 On our Friday, easy bike ride :)

 We rode along the coast & down to the boardwalk, which was pretty cool.

 Then I wanted to do some 'photos' of me and my bike :)

 Chris was a gracious photographer.

 If I can't race like a pro - then I'll have photos like them!  Ha! :)

 We went to the Strand for dinner on Friday night.  A neat area

 On Saturday, we did the bike drop.  Big races want you to drop your bike off the day before, so it's not so crazy on race morning.  There were a lot of bikes!  3,500!

 The race was great!  Chris & I both PR'd  Chris by 10 minutes & me by 13!  The swim was in the ocean - but a protected bay.  So you had the awesome salt water without the waves!    The bike was flat and along the coast, so there was plenty of wind.  But it was still a good smooth ride.  Roads were pretty smooth too.  The run was 3 loops with a lot of turns.  I always look forward to the run.  It means the end is near!  The run is always hard though.  Wow, when you see mile marker #1, and you have 12.1 miles left - it hurts!  But we had some pro friends on the course cheering us on.  Tim & Cait Snow had already finished, so we were lucky to see them on each lap.  And they are the best cheerleaders!!

 My wave went off about 20 minutes before Chris'.  He was slowly gaining on me throughout the entire race.  I saw him on the run a number of times - telling him to 'catch me'.  He almost did!  He finished just a few minutes after me

 These big races make me nervous, but I love the way I feel when I finish them strong!  This race was a 1.2 mile swim.  56 mile bike.  13.1 mile run.

 A war wound.  This blister baby started bothering me at mile 3 of the run.  Ouch!  I kept trucking though.

 Houston!

 Our trip was short, but good.  I plan a lot of trips, so many of them are short, so we can get to a lot of places.  And I usually wish I had planned to stay for more days.  No exception this time either.  Oh well, back to the grind!
Chris was so awesome!  He had a business trip in Vegas.  But instead of making it easy on himself & just fly from Houston to Vegas - he flew back to Boston with me, so I wouldn't have to deal with the 2 bike boxes by myself!    Then the following day, he flew to Vegas.

 Oh, and while we were in the Bay area of Texas, we did some sailboat shopping.

We had seen this one on yacht world, so we set up an appointment to view it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't very well maintained by the owner, so we're passing on it.  If it was closer, we would probably make an offer - but to have to truck it half way across the country  - nah, it's not worth it.