Yes, I am still alive!!

There is no place like.... Hawaii! Yes, I know, I did not keep up my end of the deal with this blogging thing. I have left everyone hanging for the last two months. I definitely will not recap the last two months, but I will share with you our family get-a-way that was well worth the time, energy, and $$ to get there. We did not actually think we were going to pull this trip off. This has been the worst year ever for Shawn and his employment in the Heli-Logging Industry. We had purchased the plane tickets last fall with airmiles prior to the great depression of '09 hitting us hard, but managed to find last minute cheep accommodations, and ate out at a restaurant like only four times, cooked all our meals in the condo, and shopped locally at the farmer's markets! That was my kind of holiday. There were no big tours with fancy tour companies. Just plain old fun in the sun. Oh, and yeah, I did the Hawaii 1/2 Ironman. Just a little 40th b-day present to me. Yes, some of you could think of 40 other things you would rather do for your 40th, but for me, that was just the icing on the cake. Loved, loved, loved the race! I recommend it to everyone. If you would like a little taste of what it is like racing in Kohala Coast where the magical Ironman World Championships take place and are like me, that can't get a "Kona" slot to attend the event. You can sign up for the 70.3 and feel half of what they feel on race day. My goodness, I have never raced in such extreme heat before. Even the locals were saying it was hot for them.

My view of the ocean, putting my feet up days before the race. The kids loved coming to boogie board here.

My Pro friend Bree Wee after she gave a group of us a little pre-race buoy swim practice session, some ocean water racing tips, and some great draft practice. Man that girl can swim. She wasn't feeling the greatest prior to the race, but you would never know it. That girl just gives her 100%, even when she is not feeling it, I so need to get me some of that attitude! I'm trying.

Coming out of the ocean pre-race warm up. This had to be the best swim I have ever had. No, it was not my fastest, but it was warm, clear, congested, and I loved every minute of it. Because it is a mass start, if you cannot get into a pack of fast swimmers fast before the first buoy turn, you will be stuck with around 500 other swimmers going at the exact same pace. I could not move forward, backward, sideways, or under. I just had to ride the masses and hope that we were all swimming at a fairly decent pace. Shawn thinks he saw 33 mins on the clock when I came in. It was a super long transition from swim to bike. My new Blue Seventy Speed suit was the funnest suit to swim in. I so do not want to get back into the choking feeling of the full wetsuit for the Victoria 1/2 this weekend.

Post race prune feet. They don't look as bad as they did in real life. I thought for sure while I was running, that the entire bottom of my feet were coming off. It was so hot and humid, I spent probably 15 mins of my 1/2 marathon time just trying to keep myself cool through the aide stations. The volunteers had 2 Litre soda bottles with the top cut off full of ice water and would pour a full one over your head for you while you 'walked' through. Then, I would get two cups of ice. One to pour over my head and one to pour down my bra top. No, there was no frost bite, but I made a lot of noise running with the ice sloshing in my top, my shoes full of water and my salts taps rattling in my back pocket. I was quite the site. One of my favourite parts of the race was the post race grilled Mahi Mahi fish burger. After the nausea subsided and I was able to make room for something more appealing than gels, salts, and gatoraide, I gulped down the burger and beers that were given to us. Yes, 3 beers to be exact. Nice! Shawn says all races should have beer tickets, as I can only have one sip and I'm done. So needless to say, the Stella's went down mighty fine for him.

Just one of the many shopping trips to the farmers market one block from our condo!

Yes, I take my recovery days very seriously! While the boys played in the waves, I put my feet up.

One of our favourite spots. Black sand beach at the north end of the island. If you have a copy of the new Runner's World Mag, Bree Wee is running up the trail we took to get to this amazing spot.

The boys voted this the best spot on the Island. Killer size snow cones. Actually, they had the smalls. The large were as big as footballs and you could get them with ice cream inside.

Another great spot for body surfing and boogie boarding.

"Magic Sands" beach. Otherwise known as "Disappearing Sands" beach, or "White Sands" beach. During the low tides you have some great white sand and great waves to play on. When the tides are up and the surf is up, the beach just gets hit hard with the waves and you loose the beach. This beach was just 2 miles from our condo and voted best place to hang out for our boys. The last day they were there, the waves were so big, the lifeguards would not let our guys in the water. The locals wait for sometimes weeks at a time for the surf to come up, so they were packed in on their boards and had no mercy for the visitor's getting in their way.

A Lava Tube off the main highway.

While you are in Hawaii, you have to go jump off the lava cliffs! We drove two hours to the "southern most tip of the US", "South Point". We met some locals that took us under their wing and showed us some sweet spots to cliff jump, swim in sea caves, and climb up blow holes safely. They were awesome people! The boys could not get enough of the cliff jumping thing. Very freaky! Yes, their mom had to jump too. I was a cliff jumper too back in the days of Shuswap lake. Mom's no chicken!

Brady's leep of faith! He was so brave!

Another highlight of my trip, was the hike from the South Point cliffs to the "Green Sand Beach"... Our local friends told us to pack a lot of water and expect to walk for 3 miles. They said it was well worth the journey. The boys were so good. It took us exactly 1 hour to hike to this special place and was well worth the trip. There are so many magical places to explore on the big Island. And, I know, if you were to hook up with some locals, they could probably show you even more secret spots that they don't like the outsider's knowing about. I could go on and on, but I must close for now. Enjoy the pic's we took tons. Unfortunately, my new underwater camera was not as shockproof and waterproof as they said it would be and filled with water the first time we used it. Have to send it back for an exchange. I am racing in Victoria this weekend with my two yummy mommies, Trish and Sandy who are doing their first 1/2 ironman!!!! I will keep you posted on the weekends festivities! Cheers!