We got up at 4am last Saturday to head down to the Tritonman Triathlon at Mission Bay in San Diego. The caravan met at the Lindahl’s at 4:30 and we were “off to the races” as they say. Ciara Lindahl’s fiancee, Ted Bell, came into town and the whole Nielson crew came to the race to support Dave.
My two biggest fans came to support me. Lindsey took all of the pictures so she’s not in any of them (plus she’s become very camera shy during her pregnancy). But Skilly was wide awake and ready for a picture:
The race venue is a nice flat and easy course. Although it is an ocean swim, the bay is completely protected from waves. The water wasn’t too cold for this time of year, about 65 degrees, but that brought in the jellyfish. We swam through hundreds of them. At one point I thought that I got kicked in the face, but when I looked up there was nobody near me. This meant two things: 1. I had been stung by a jellyfish on my cheek. 2. I was way off course. What’s new?
Kirk couldn’t breathe in his new wetsuit and thought that he might be having a heart attack. But he finished the swim and rode hard on the bike.
The bike course was a flat three loops around Fiesta Island. The only thing we had to deal with was a strong headwind on the back side of the loop.
Everybody was happy with their finishing times. Kirk gutted out the run, and we all did our part to help him in. Everybody cheered along the course, Devin and I ran with him for the last half mile, and as he approached the finish line, we heard Lindsey’s voice booming over the PA system, “Here comes Kirk Lindahl, bringing up the rear in style. The only guy to take a potty break during the race. Whooooooo!” Classic Lindsey.
Hover the mouse cursor over a thumbnail to display or click thumbnail to hold
Calin and Skylar had spring break this last week, so one day we headed down to Main Beach in Laguna Beach. We stopped at Johnny Rockets for shakes, and then set up a blanket and hung out for a couple of hours. The weather was perfect, and the waves were the biggest they have been in years. They were so big, there was not even one person in the water. We had a great time!
The other night, we dyed easter eggs. We ended up having a contest to see who dyed the best one, and the entries were from Me, Micah, Calin, Skylar and Bryan Thacker. (He was over watching a movie with Micah and joined in on the fun.)
I had the winning egg with my “golden delight” glitter covered egg at first. Then everyone stole my method, which bumped me to third place. But in the end, Bryan Thacker took first place with his “Endless Summer” egg. It was pretty awesome, but I will take credit for giving him the idea. He dyed the egg, and it looked pretty cool, but certainly was not worth a spot in the competition. Then I casually walked by and mentioned that the colors looked like the background of the Endless Summer poster. Next thing you know, he free handed a surfer on the front and took first prize. Congrats B. Tacky! But the funniest part was when my mom judged the eggs and Tacky got first place, Micah took his last place egg and free handed a surfer on it. He thought it might get him a bump up in the ranks, but he stayed in dead last. You can’t really see it in the picture, but his is the blue egg on the right side AKA last place!
Last night, there was quite a bit of commotion in the Ure household! We keep our back door open for Woody (the dog) to go out and use the restroom. Well, a little creature got inside, and Micah and Woody were chasing it all over the place. In the meantime, Trilby got up on a three foot ledge to protect herself! After the entire ordeal was over — thanks to Woody — we were all celebrating and clapping. Micah and I were in the other room when we heard…thunk…..”Oh crap!” We started to laugh, because obviously Trilby had taken a little trip.
Well, the real story is, as she was stepping off of the ledge, she didn’t judge it correctly and came up short. When I found her she was sprawled across three slate stairs that are anything but cushioned.
At first I heard a gurgling noise, and thought she was joking. Then when I realized she wasn’t I knew we could be in some serious trouble. I ran and turned her over. She was completely passed out, and her lips were turning blue. Her face was moist with perspiration, and she jerked her body a few times. (Which I thought may have been a seizure.) I told Micah to call 911, and I just kept trying to get her to answer some questions and respond. The only good news was that I felt under her nose, and knew she was breathing. Micah was on the phone with the operator and stayed very calm.
After about 5 straight minutes of nothing, she finally said my name, which I knew was a good sign. She then started to shake because she was freezing and started to complain of her toe, shoulder and finger. The ambulance arrived and took her vitals which were good. In the meantime, Alicia (the housekeeper) came home and thought all of the craziness was me having the baby! (I only wish!) They then packed her up and took her to the hospital. But before she left, she asked if someone was going to also go. I volunteered, but then my mom said she would go and I should stay with the little girls. When Trilby heard this, she said, “Mom can come, but you have to too, Lindsey. Mom isn’t very good in these situations!”
After a long time at the hospital, (until about midnight) the verdict was she had a torn rotator cuff, a broken big toe and her finger was sprained. Pretty good news considering what it could have been! She also mentioned that as she was passed out, she could hear me asking all of my questions, and just wanted me to be quiet! How Rude!
The amazing part to all of this — right now at 9:20 am the next morning — she sits at her desk at work, all ready for a new day.
***The moral of this story is — I told Micah we both need to learn CPR (which I have learned about 100 times), or at least refresh up on it, because craziness is just one trip away!***
Summer Thacker threw me the greatest baby shower. She themed it as “Lindsey’s got a bun in the oven, and we have the burgers on the grill.” The invitations were darling, and the whole party was a great success and followed the theme beautifully.
We all started out with individual In-N-Out bags that contained our burger, fries and a drink. We then played a fun drawing game (thanks to Juenny Tucker) where we put a plate on top of our heads and had to draw a baby. I picked the winners, and congratulations go to Tristen and Auntie Gail!
Afterwards, I opened amazing presents! Darling clothes, blankets, and burp clothes, and practical stuff like baby monitors, a bouncy seat and a Baby Bjorn! I loved all of my gifts, and feel SO prepared for numero uno!
I had a great turnout. A ton of family showed up from both sides including Brett with seven week old Grant from Vegas, Ashley and Tristen in from Utah, Bree was here from Bakersfield, etc… My long lost friends showed up, including Sarah Steed from Huntington Beach and Britni Samuelian down from Utah! Overall, it was a very fun time….and serious acknowledgement goes out to the one and only SUMMER THACKER!
BHTri7Results
For BH Tri #6 we had to jump the pool gate because the guard hadn’t unlocked it yet. This time they kept us out by shutting off the plumbing. However, thanks to some great work by the Hemeon’s (and others), we were able to resurrect the course around the Marina Hills pool.
The swim was the same 800 meters, then we biked two loops around Chapparosa Park for a total of 8.77 miles, and finished with a 2.4-mile hill run around Parc Vista Drive. As always, it was awesome.
Some highlights include:
- Everybody pitching in to find and set up a new venue at the last minute
- Dave making up 5 spots on the bike leg while riding a mountain bike
- Mark and Tarah becoming the first husband-wife tandem to finish the race together (we’ve had five other husband-wife teams commit to race and fall out at the last minute)
- Seth completing the race in 6th place with a blood-soaked shirt and a leaf in his hands for mental support (what?)–this guy has 5 boys under the age of six and does not train
- Bree ripping the run in 17 minutes and change
- Kirk running his laps in the pool because the water was so shallow
- Brian skipping work and overcoming two dropped chains to finish with a smile
- and the ultimate–coming back to my car to find 7 missed calls from Summer.
Mom, Dad, and Lindsey came to lend support. Lindsey timed the splits and counted laps, Mom set up the aid station with Gatorade, water, bananas, and bagels, and Dad rode the course looking for stranded riders and struggling runners.
We probably won’t go back because the pool Nazi and his minions ran us off the front lawn before we could enjoy our post-race snacks, but it was a great course with some awesome competitors. We’ll be back at the Beacon Hill pool for #8.
This past weekend, I had quite a bit if family come in town. Ashley was here with her two boys. Tristen flew in. Seth and brett came with their five boys. And finally, Megan came up from San Diego. In honor of having everyone around, and school still being in session…..we all decided to go to Disneyland! We figured it wouldn’t be crowded, so we got reservations for 17 people at Club 33. (The secret restaurant in Disneyland that allows you to pass up the admission if you eat there.) Well, in a nutshell, I don’t remember Disneyland ever being as crowded as March 23, 2007! I think the most rides award went to Megan and her kids, and they got in about 9 rides for the whole day until midnight.
The restaurant didn’t quite know what had hit them! Out of the 17 people, 11 were age 12 or younger! Just about every one of us ordered chauteubriand, and the food was delicious! The appetizers and desserts are buffet style, and Trey must have hit the chocolate covered strawberry stand at least 15 times. Every time he would come back with only one dipped strawberry. When we told him he could get more than one, he decided to put 5+ on a stick! Both he and Gabe thought they were in heaven with as much chocolate as they wanted!
The night before, I had a baby shower thrown for me by Diane Nielsen and Janet Lindahl. It was a great success, and I received great words of advice about the upcoming baby. but the best advice of the night was when Janet heard we were going to Disneyland the next day, she said you better get a wheelchair. So thanks to Kirk Lindahl, who sells medical supplies, Micah had to wheel me around all day long in a wheelchair! The beauty of it, was my whole family got on Pirates of the Carribean in about 15 minutes, when the lines was over an hour long. The downside was never getting out of the wheelchair due to the fact that expectant mothers don’t get to do ANYTHING at Disneyland!
We had a great time being with eachother, and even though it wasn’t my ideal Disneyland trip, I wouldn’t want to have been anywhere else. It was fun to have everyone in town, and it is boring at the house without all of the little kids running, screaming and going crazy!
Seth and Brett brought their boys down two weekends ago. On Saturday morning, we headed down to Three Arch Bay to collect shells and hang out at the beach for a bit. We had a great time, and Gabe and Spank found some really cool shells. Micah is usually the ringleader in climbing all over the rocks, but as you can see, he was put on baby duty with Grant. Obviously he is getting ready for our little one (with the potential of bright red hair and freckles) as he shades Grant from the sun.
Micah and I headed up to Solvang, Ca two weeks ago so he could compete in his first century ride. For those of you who are non-bike riders, that means he rode a 100 mile race. He has trained for it for a while, and was pretty prepared by the time he got there. We went with his parents, and met others up there as well. He started out at some rediculous time of the morning, and he didn’t finish until about 2:30 in the afternoon.
I thought all must be going well throughout the morning until I got Micah’s call from approximately mile 25. I answered, and happily asked how everything was going. All I heard was, “This race is horrible. My body isn’t even working today. I am over this! We have 50 mph winds in our face no matter what direction we are going in. ” Not knowing what to say since he had 75 miles left, I asked how his dad was doing. His reply was, “He is WORKING me. It’s not even hard for him.” At this point, I wanted to point out that not only was it his choice to ride, but he even paid a good chunk of money to do it. But instead, I just said, “Well, have a good attitude. Bye!”
Well, at the end of the race, I was there to cheer him in. He said the race got better when he ate at mile 70 or so. (Apparently the guy didn’t think breakfast was necessary?) But in support of his call, everyone we knew that rode that day, said it was the hardest century ride of their life. I guess the winds were terrible and really fatigued the riders. And as far as his dad goes, he said that he did think it was hard, but didn’t want to say anything because Micah was looking so strong. How classic!
Calin and Skylar, my two nieces, can’t wait to baby sit the new baby! Skylar says she will do it every day for free. Calin says if I am lucky, she is only ten dollars an hour. I think we will be using Skylar!
| DESIGN BY