Very Vayden
Vayden continues to evolve as quite a little character. She likes to get on all fours and eat dog food out of Roxy’s dish with Roxy which see demonstrated in Petsmart recently and created quite a crowd. Vayden went through a bought of diarrhea that kept us washing sheets, bedding and George the Monkey over and over again for about a week. She would let loose usually about 3 o’clock in the morning. She now says lots of words. A few recent additions are "Watch". She says this as she hands one of her favorite videos to you. She also wakes up and the first things she says is "Remote". She wants her cartoons on as soon as she wakes up.
Completely Christian
Christian is now officially an IRONKID. Karl and Christian went to San Diego where Christian competed in the International IRONKIDS series. Christian’s race took place in Mission Bay which is the birthplace of triathlon. In the early 1970’s members of the San Diego Track Club were looking for ways to challenge themselves and invented the triathlon. The first official race was held in Mission Bay on September 25, (Vayden’s birthday) in 1974 with 46 participants. Christian thought it was cool that he got to compete on a course right where triathlon was born. Christian did his first beach start. This is where all the participants start in a corral and when the gun goes off, they make a mad dash for the water. The race was extremely well organized and well run. There are some serious young athletes competing. Christian did very well. Christian liked the special treatment he got as an athlete at the sponsoring resort. He was particularly jazzed by the IRONKIDS announcer who would announce his name and made a comment about how Christian already looks like a professional triathlete. Christian wears his glasses and unzips the front of his suit on the run just like the pros do. The announcer made mention of Christian and how he looked like a pro when he ran by. Christian placed 8th in his age division. Be sure to Check out Photo Addendum 2 for all the pictures of Christian competing in IRONKIDS.Sooooo Shelby
Shelby will be coming to Arizona this coming week to visit for the summer.
Family Stories
Olympic Training Center
While in San Diego, Karl and Christian participated in a 5k race that took place on the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista California. One of the benefits of signing up for the race was that Karl and Christian got to run with Olympic athletes through the Olympic Training Center. Part of the course was a lap on the Olympic track. Karl and Christian got to run by fields where athletes were practicing soccer and field hockey. Running through the Training Center was a memorable experience. The run itself was pretty tough due to lots of steep hills.
San Francisco
The whole family loved San Francisco. We had tons of fun. We stayed at two different hotels in Fisherman’s Warf where we ate fish and chips, calamari, shrimp, and Boudin’s Bakery’s famous sour dough bread. We toured Ghiradelli Square and Karl ate so much chocolate it put him into a sugar coma. We went to Pier 39. Vayden was mesmerized by the sea lions. We visited Chrissy Field and East Beach. We walked the Golden Gate Bridge, and toured Golden Gate Park. We went into the Japanese Tea Gardens there. Lori loved the Tea Gardens. Karl and Christian went swimming in the Aquatic Park. Very, very briefly as it was COLD! We went to Union square and ate downtown. We walked through China town and Little Italy. On one of our walks we walked right past Lombard Street. We went through the Ashbury district. We also took an open top tour bus all around the city. The sun was warm and the wind was cold. We loved the change of pace from the weather in Arizona. We absolutely loved San Francisco. Lori already wants to go back. We didn’t get to tour Alcatraz as it was completely booked for the holiday weekend. Karl was able to get a one way ticket to Alcatraz. (see below) Be sure to Check out Photo Addendum 3 to see pictures of San Francisco.
In San Francisco they have a chain of diners. As the sign says, they are a San Francisco tradition. We ate there for dinner once. Lori was particularly fond of the place for some reason.
Karl had previously signed up to do the Alcatraz Challenge while we were in San Francisco. Alcatraz is an island in San Francisco Bay that was supposed to be inescapable. Part of the reason escape was deemed to be impossible is that it was believed no one could survive a swim to shore because of factors like very cold water, currents and sharks. Karl trained for months to be ready for the distance. He has competed in several cold water swimming races held in local lakes during the winter in Arizona to get used to cold water swimming. A little less than a month prior to Alcatraz Karl dislocated his finger in one of those races in Saguaro Lake. Karl and a local physical therapist created a brace he could continue to train and swim with while doing the Alcatraz swim. Christian and Karl went down to the Aquatic Park to swim and test the water temperature the day before the race. Karl and Christian both experienced immediate shooting pains in their legs and arms and couldn’t breathe it because the cold water took their breath away. Neither Karl nor Christian spent more than a 15 second in the water.
Karl attended a mandatory meeting the day before to learn about the currents and how to sight to fixtures on land. Swimming Alcatraz is like swimming in a river due to the strong currents. Karl was pretty nervous for this race and didn’t sleep much the night before. Once on the barge that takes the competitors out to Alcatraz, Karl could see that there were a lot of other people who were doing it were doing it for the first time and they all looked pretty nervous too. There was a lot to concentrate on with the currents and sighting. The plan is to jump off and swim as hard as you can through what they call the washing machine for the first 10-15 minutes to get on the left side of the mound before the current sweeps you to the right of the mound. The mound was created many years ago when for years they dumped debris in the bay just this side of Alcatraz. The huge mound splits the current like an island would split a river. The goal is to make it past the mound or you will have a much more difficult swim. The washing machine is a very choppy area with big waves. Karl swallowed a lot of water before he adjusted and learned to breathe only from his left side to avoid the waves in the washing machine. Karl did make it past the mound. The washing machine was definitely the toughest part of the swim. Luckily, you don’t have time to think about the cold or sharks or whether or not you are going to make it. So much of your concentration is focused on the difficult sighting you have to do to successfully negotiate the different currents. 
Karl made it to East Beach and was happy to get to shore where Lori and the kids were waiting. It is not an easy swim. There were a few people who didn’t make it and one guy who left in an ambulance. Nobody has died doing it since 2007. It was a great experience that Karl will always remember. Karl finished 6th in his age group and is now one of a small number of human beings who can say that they have escaped Alcatraz.
If you look in the top in the top left corner of this picture below you will see the ambulance. The guy who was ambulanced was one of 14 people who attempted to do it without a wetsuit.
Havasupai
One morning Karl was swimming Alcatraz. The next morning he and Christian hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon where they stayed in the Havasupai Indian village and enjoyed the beautiful Havasu Falls. The falls are fantastic. Karl and Christian spent an entire day there. Christian is on his way to being a man. He is ten years old and hiked 24 miles with a pack and no complaining. Karl and Christian really enjoyed the trip and would love to go again and take anybody who is interested.
This is Christian:
Note from the Editors
Be sure to check out the Photo Addendums. There are three separate photo addendums for volume 39. There are so many pictures, that when you get ot the end of the blog you will have to click on OLDER POSTS to see the rest of the Photo Addendums. Next volume we will include Lori's photography of the Janpanese Te Gardens in Golden Gate Park.
