Lesson 434: Special Olympics

Holy Hot Weekend, Readers!

Eloise is melting.

All this heat has been having an adverse effect on my brain.

I could be posting interesting photos like this one,

look closely,

but because of my heat induced absent mindedness,

I'll have to post some of these.

I forgot my camera while headed to the Challenge Erie 7 Finale,

the summer wellness program I've participated in for the last 4 summers.

I was charging both of them for Saturday morning's Color Run,

which will probably be renamed 

The Color Wash

as some much needed rain is on the radar.

It's inevitable that when I forget my cameras,

I see the most spectacular things.

I dropped Sam off at his friend's house to swim on the way to the CE7 event,

and I found 10 little boy heads, bobbing up and down in an above ground pool.

Here they are!

On the way in 12th Street across from Baumann Brothers Carpetowne,

I saw a mother deer and a fawn walking near a fence,

right in the middle of the city.

How precious!

When I got to Union Station for the CE7 event,

many little kids were cooling off in the city fountain.

Adorable!

I didn't win this year,

but these people did!

Don't they look fabulous?!

 I still was able to improve my wellness quotient though--

which is a measure to rank your overall health based on many factors.

I have one of the highest WQ's I've had in awhile.

The best part was I improved my strength considerably

(for me, at least)

just by doing about a half an hour of high intensity cardio

and body weight exercises suggested as part of the program.

Due to a very busy home schedule,

I was unable to attend the Team Adrenaline workouts 

as often as I am used to,

but I still managed to hold my own,

and even improve some.

There will be a fall challenge of some sort.

Contact Eloise when you are interested.

Here is my phone number:

An Olympics of a special sort is underway on the beaches of Erie,

not Rio.

My team is prepping for the Barber Beast on the Bay,

Erie's premier obstacle course race on Presque Isle.

We'll be Beast Hunting every Saturday up until September 10th.

We haven't found him yet.

Come join the fun,

and get healthy in the process.

And, if you miss us and decide to go for a jog around the park instead,

I'll find you and take your picture anyway.

We checked out the shores of a lake south-west of the Lamp Post last weekend--

Pymatuning Lake sure is pretty.

 If you make the trip, 

be sure to stop here:

So many interesting things to observe!

You can rent bikes or kayaks, too.

The sun is setting on the softball and baseball season,

The girls are pulling out the golf clubs,

Sam is buffing up his football.

If he keeps wearing this,

Little Gridders are going to demand a birth certificate.

He's 9--here's the proof:

Natalie got a second Olympic Sized bee sting.

This time, on the back of the leg.

Bees are good for the environment, Natalie!

Just stand still, they won't bother you.

Glad Grandma was well prepared with these commemorative band aids 

from the 1996 Summer Games.

Nothing some After Bite,

a penny,

and some time at the beach can't cure.

It's the nicest,

cleanest beach

we've seen in years!

I know I go a little crazy with the Olympic themes--

but it's such a nice break to watch so much good, healthy competition.

I love all of the back stories of the athletes.

My parents have a cool Team USA flag.

Eloise made an Olympic event of a runaway beach ball chase.

Louie in a kayak

vs

Ellen on foot

Ellen won!

My friends humor me because I keep bringing flags to workouts.

Eloise likes captions.

Some, in Portuguese.

Sam is probably the biggest Olympic fan ever.

Every day he planned an event for us to compete in

and made medals for the top three finishers.

We got to pick out countries.

I called first dibs on USA.

Sam whined, "Noooooooo!  You stink!"

Eloise--USA

Sam-Canada

Louie-Spain

Ellen-Italy

Natalie--Djibouti

Here we are lined up for the sprints.

They don't call me Bolt for nothin'

but I took the Firman Road world by surprise and did not medal in this event.

I did manage to surprise the world with a silver in gymnastics.

My trampoline routine was worthy of second place.

Like I said,

it is the Special Olympics at the Lamp Post

He looks like a Minion,

but my boy is lots and lots of fun.

Favorite of the week:
Katie Ledecky as a baby,

on the Today Show!

Click Here

Enjoy your weekend, Readers.

I'm headed back to Rio for tonight.

ELOISE