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Luke successfully completed his first year of pre-school, Ben turned two years old, Anna and I did a sprint triathlon, and a cool party with some friends.

Luke was in an excellent pre-school program with excellent teachers. We had two parent-teacher conferences--one at each "semester." The progress made between them was truly remarkable, and we are really proud of our burgeoning boy.

Speaking of burgeoning, Ben turned two years old on June 30th. Compared with Luke at his age, he has many advanced interests. He's basically into whatever Luke is into. He's skipped some of the infant games and TV shows. Because they're a little beyond his comprehension at times, we get some really good humor out of him. He's still the cuddliest, cute little neo-person, but he's about to make that transition to little boy. We'll see if it lasts.

We were fortunate to be able to spend Ben's birthday in Phoenix with Grandma Kari, Aunt Kristin, and Uncle Garret. We had a great time in spite of temperatures consistently above 100 degrees. Lots of time at the pool, golfing one day, and generally relaxing. We stopped by Travis & Jodi McMaster's place when we arrived. Their kids--Lucas and Ella--are similarly aged/spaced to Luke and Ben. They had a great time, and we were inspired by Travis' recent completion of Ironman Couer d'Alene where he placed 153rd out of something like 2500 in his first tri of that distance. He is a good friend of Garret's who also completed the race on his first tri try at that length. Amazing!

My USAFA roommate, Korey Amundson, came golfing and to the rockin' 2-yr old b-day party. Ben's Great Great Great Uncle Carl Halloch also got to attend the party. He made a heck of an effort in the heat to get there, which was really nice. A long-time family friend, Debbie Polson, also came to the party. The guests made it an extra-special event, and we loved it.

Libby's sister, Anna, is staying with us and, as a recent Georgia Tech grad, looking for a job in pharmaceutical sales. She was a 4-yr swimmer at GT. Having the fitness and youth of a 22-yr old Division I athlete, she talked me into doing a triathlon the weekend after we returned from AZ. I wasn't "prepared"; she didn't need to be. With a 3-minute delay between my swim start and hers, she almost beat me out of the water. After running through a bunch of mud in the transition area, I was unable to clip my shoes into the pedals. After a couple miles of trying, I thought I'd just tough it out for the remainder of the 15-mile bike. At about 10 miles, my back hurt bad from crooked pedalling. I had to stop, chip out the mud, and try again. It worked, but I think the damage was done.

Somehow, I held Anna off through the bike. She came prancing by early in the 5-mile run. I kept her in sight for about four miles until...hamstring cramp. Immediately, I pictured a piercing, tentacled spider latched on to the back of my leg. That made me laugh and also stop running. I had to stretch/walk it out--also a first. Boo. I managed to finish decently but not great. Anna, on the other hand, won her age group in her second-ever triathlon! Really cool.

Finally, Jeff and Laurie Zahr invited us out to their place in central Massachussetts for a pool party. They have a great place with room for both a large pool and a large yard. Their kids--Ryan and Abby--are also closely matched to Luke and Ben. They had a blast. All kinds of games and toys. It was a real, late-night party, and I'm still trying to recover the lost sleep. Nevertheless, a great party!