It's Raining...It's Pouring...

So, we are day 200 of rain...no seriously, I think its day 10, its terrible! Our lawn, a.k.a "weeds" are taller than our dog, and Izzy FINALLY just came out from under the bed (because of the thunder), good thing it is SATURDAY! :) Eric just got back from a short trip to Chicago, which he loved, and just informed me, "wouldn't mind living there", interesting! I hope he has that same response when he gets back from his next trip which is PARIS, FRANCE! Yes ladies and gentlemen, you heard me right! Lucky dog, eh? I'm still a little bitter and angry. Especially when he was asking me how to say "hello, what is your name?" in French... Unfortunately, I do not get to put my four years of French into action, instead he gets to go to the "City of Love" with a bunch of Rednecks from Roadtec! :)

Last weekend, we went to Knoxville for the 1st annual Volunteer Sprint Triathlon! Woo hoo! I survived another one! I even made a new friend, and finished before her! Of course I should mention, that this was her first tri, and she has only been training for three weeks, because she just got back into her exercises since she had her 2nd child in two years, a mere 10 weeks ago....

It was a 300 meter pool swim, 7 mile bike, and 3 mile run. I got to run right by Neyland Stadium, which was pretty awesome, but very hilly! It was a good race. I finished my swim in 8 minutes, my bike took around 30 min. and my run was about 33 minutes I think. Overall, I was pretty happy with it. Even though my times weren't great, I felt better about it than I did my first one. Hopefully they will get better as I do more. I have decided that the sprint tri's may be as good as it gets for me, but I'm okay with that. Its more than I was doing last year at this time! Maybe I'll be inspired to do more after we watch Coon do his Ironman Wisconsin next September...I doubt it, but maybe! :)

Other than my tri and Eric's traveling, things are pretty boring around here. Work is going good for Eric, obviously, he's going to Paris tomorrow...and school is going great for me. I have a great class that reminds me everyday why I am a teacher, so thats pretty awesome! I hope everyone has a great weekend and week ahead! Here are some pictures from my race!

On the bike

With my furry cheerleader :)

Sunday Fun-day!

Well, I don't know how fun my Sunday will be, but I thought the title had a nice ring to it! :) We arrived safely on Monday night from our trip to Florida to find our pup safe, sound, and happy as a clam with her grandpa. Our trip was fabulous, but it was nice to be back home. Well for a little while....Tuesday my dad went back home :( and then I had planning until 5:30 Wednesday night, got home about 6:30, Math Night Thursday night, and got home around 8:30, THEN dinner with my Brown Academy Ladies on Friday night, got home about 9:30...WHEW! It was a good thing I went to the beach :)

I can also proudly say that I did two training swims this week after being at work for 12 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday and I even swam farther than I will be swimming next weekend! I'm headed off for a bike ride this afternoon. Sound like a Sunday Fun-day yet? ;)

Eric is at a golf outing today, so Izzy and I are hanging out, she's sleeping, and I am doing school stuff. The weather couldn't be better today, it is sunny, with a cool breeze, and only about 80 degrees. The heat/air natzi is thoroughly enjoying having my windows OPEN and my air OFF today! :) Sorry for the boring post, I'll end with some pictures of my pooch looking out over Chattanooga from her new favorite walking spot. Have a great week everyone!

Our new favorite vacation spot!

So, here I am. Sitting on my hotel room bed, Eric is running 12 miles on the beach, Ryan is doing some weird roll-y thing to help his knees, and Sarah and I are watching the Today Show: What.A.Life :)

From my bed, I can see the ocean, the beach, and can hear the waves with our sliding door open. Where am I you ask? We are in Destin, FL, which is our new favorite beach vacation place, it is AWESOME! On one side of our hotel is the beautiful ocean that we are literally steps away from, and on the other side of our hotel is a golf course, with a pedestrian walkway that we can run endlessly on!

We arrived a little after midnight on Friday night and have enjoyed every minute! Saturday morning we got up, hit up the Outlet Mall and a GREAT breakfast place called "The Donut Hole". Did ya'll know that the mullet is still alive and well in Florida? Well, it is! No worries, we not only have pictures, but C0on has also been taking video coverage! After some great food and shopping we headed down to the beach, got ourselves an umbrella and some chairs and RELAXED! After reading books and drinking frozen tasties, we ventured out to dinner and then quickly to bed. Vacationing is exhausting!

Sarah and I on our balcony

Yesterday we woke up early, Eric, Coon, and I went for our scheduled training runs and then headed to "Another Broken Egg" for another amazing breakfast! Then back to the beach for another afternoon of fun in the sun. Sarah and I have made some great progress in our books and Coon and Eric worked on their football skills in the ocean. We ended our night with a wild dinner at the "Crazy Lobster" and then a riviting game of Putt Putt and a dangerous Go Cart Race! Overall, it was probably our best "Coon-Baker Vaca" yet. We all love Destin and can't wait to come back! As I look around the room this morning, Coon complaining about what he doesnt want to eat this morning, and Sarah is packing up, I can't help but feel so lucky to have such great friends. Friends that can share a hotel room and spend morning, noon, and night with you, and STILL want to see you again :) Thanks ya'll for a great trip!

The view from our balcony

Last but not least, I really have to thank my wonderful dad for taking care of our "babies" for the weekend so that we could take our annual "Coon-Baker Vaca". He has missed the Iowa game, gotten soaked golfing, and had to go on a cannon search soaking wet this weekend. Dad, we really appreciate you and could not have done this without you. Thank you so much, I know that Izzy and Wrigley had a great time and will probably not want all of us to come back because you've been so good to them! Love you!