Key West Vacation

Travis and I traveled to Key West, Florida with his entire family, and we really enjoyed our week long vacation together! Not only did we get to hang out with Shane, Kelly, Grandma and Grandpa, Diane and Ted, Catherine, Jerry, and Hilary, but we also got to see our cute baby niece and nephew! Carson and Avery are nine months old now and are so cute and adorable! They are crawling around on the floor and really enjoyed their trip to Florida, especially the part where they got to eat sand at the beach. :-)

We had a blast in Florida. We went sailing and "snuba" diving (where we saw sting rays and Travis caught some lobsters with his bare hands), rode on a glass bottom boat through some coral reefs, shopped all over Key West, played on the beach, and enjoyed the beautiful house the family had rented. Travis had a chance to play golf (where he accidentally hit an iguana in the leg with the golfball) and go fishing for sharks. We enjoyed playing with the babies when they were awake and lots of fun family time with everyone else.

A few photos to share:

The beautiful view and backyard of the house we rented for the week in Key West

Uncle Travis and Auntie JJ swimming with the babies in the pool

At Mallory Square in Key West for the Sunset Festival, a nightly event which celebrates the sunsets, vendors, and performers, all original to Key West; these pirates were posing for pictures with anyone who wanted one!

One of my favorite views that we saw...

Our group (Ted, Travis, Diane, me, Catherine, and Kelly) on our snuba diving, snorkeling, and sailing adventure. The couple in charge of our trip lived on the boat with their cat, and we had a great time hanging out with them for the afternoon.

One of the things Key West is known for is being the "end of the road",

so here's the sign to prove it! :-)

Travis and I at the end of the southernmost pier in Key West.

It was soooooo beautiful!!

Tri-It in Spanish Triathlon

Another successful triathlon!! Here are the results from my previous triathlon to compare.

We were racing in Martindale, Texas, an area just outside of San Marcos. We started off with a lake swim in some muddy water. Luckily, this time, the water was about 85 degrees, so it wasn't so shocking to jump in! I started towards the middle of the group and swam 300 meters in the lake. My time was 5:59 (which also included the short 30 second run from the lake back to the transition area), and I was the second person in my age group to finish the swim.

My transition time from swim to bike, which is improving, took only 2 minutes and 40 seconds!! Hopefully, I can get this going faster... We hopped on the bikes and started the 12 mile out and back. Within about 5 minutes of starting the biking portion, we had to go over a HUGE, steep hill. The rest of the course wasn't too bad; just gentle rolling hills. My time for the biking portion was 45:36, and I was the fifth person in my age group to finish the biking.

My last transition took only 41 seconds. It could have been faster, but I went back for my water bottle. It was so hot, and I was sweating profusely! I drank the entire thing on the 2.1 mile run, so I was glad to have it. The first half mile was extremely tough for me, as my legs were cramping pretty badly from the biking. (I guess I need to work more on going quickly from biking to running...) After about five minutes, my legs loosened up and I could go a little faster. I finished the run in 22:01, placing third in my age group for the run portion.

Overall, I placed fourth out of nine people in my age group!! The time difference between 3rd and 4th place was ONE second; between 2nd and 4th place was TWO seconds. I was SOOO close to being in the top three!! Pretty awesome! I almost got a medal!! (They only award the top three finishers.)

This event was really fun, too, because I had a cheering section at the transition area. My mom, dad, sister, Travis, and my friend Sarah came to watch and cheer me on! My friend Kristy also came and participated in the race with me. Her husband was there to cheer her on too! And, crazily enough, Travis ran into a friend from high school who was there cheering on her boyfriend as he raced. It's a small world! :-)

At the end of the race, the event organizers had a huge picnic set up under the shade of pecan trees along the river, so we all sat and enjoyed the food and shade while we waited for everyone to finish and the results to be posted. Then, we went tubing down the river again and had a great dinner at the Gristmill. Another fun and successful day!!

Another Triathlon

Here's the next triathlon I am planning to do:

http://www.redemptionrp.com/SpanishTri2010

I signed up yesterday! The event is on June 20th at the River Ranch, just north of New Braunfels and east of Canyon Lake. My friend Kristy will be participating in it with me, and my friends Sarah and Marc from Austin are not only letting us stay at their house, but they are also going to come that morning to cheer us on!

The course is pretty much the same as the last one, just in a different location. The distances are the same - 300 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3.2 mile run. This race is sponsored by the same company who did the last event, so I know it will be a good one!

Only 12 days to go...I'd better hit the gym! :-)

Five Years!

They handed out awards for years of service today at the high school on our last day of teacher in-services for the year. We applauded and gave a small token of appreciation to those teachers who have worked at the school for five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, and even thirty-five years!! I've only worked at the high school here for one year, so I wasn't included in the awards, but it made me want to reflect on my own service.

I have officially finished five years of teaching!

Year one - three: Middle school in Austin (2006 - 2008)

Highlights:

• Teaching 7th grade Math (Advanced and grade level)
• Coaching 7th grade volleyball, A and B team
• Coached soccer (2 years) and hurdles in track (1 year)
• Club volleyball for 12 year olds
• CDL certified to drive a school bus

Year four: Middle school in Austin (2009)

Highlights:

• Teaching 8th grade Math (Algebra and grade level)
• Coaching 8th grade volleyball team that won District Champions!
• Coached track and had some hurdlers place in district and break a school record
• Club volleyball for 14 year olds
• Re-certified to drive a school bus :-)
• Tested for my high school certification and got it!
• Travis proposed in my classroom at the end of the year :-)

Year five: High school in Del Rio (2010)

Highlights:

• First year of teaching Math in high school!
• Teaching Geometry Pre-AP and Math Models to over 150 students
• 68% of my students passed the TAKS test!
• Completed the last of my 150 hours of inservice training and renewed my teaching certificate for the next five years
• Started my Master's degree in Education

A lot of hard work, time, and effort have gone into these past five years of teaching. I am proud of my career and my service in teaching and look forward to more in the future!

Weekend Adventures

On Thursday night, I went out to dinner with a group of friends and then had a birthday celebration with another! (Travis was working late, so the timing worked out great!)

Outside the Applebee's in the mall...

At a yummy hangout restaurant called TBs...

On Friday, my parents came to visit, and we took them to the base for a ride in the flight simulator. It was really cool! My mom and dad had a chance to (virtually) fly the T-6 all around Del Rio!

On Saturday, we spent the entire day at the lake. It's getting really hot here now, so the water feels great! We wore the dogs out to the point that they were sound asleep for most of the afternoon and barely moved at all once we got home. Rio and Percy love to swim!! Travis did some wakeboarding, and I skied, and everyone had a great time.

Driving out to the coves...

Percy swimming and fetching the tennis ball!

Wondering why mommy is in the water and they can't go...

Rio absolutely loves the water and will fetch anything we throw out there.

Travis on his new wakeboard...

Hanging out on the boat

At the end of the day :-) (Percy was so sound asleep he was snoring!!)

Sunday, Travis and I cleaned out the garage. Travis built some new shelves for us to hang our lake stuff on, as well as for some extra storage space. We cleaned everything else out and got rid of a lot of junk! Then, I went to the pool to hang out with some friends and then to dinner at another friend's house. Travis stayed home and worked on his papers.

The new shelf that Travis built! :-)

Newly organized and cleaned out garage

Now summer is officially here for me, so I am starting to get work done at home and catching up on my online master's classes. Laundry, errands, papers, cleaning....all sorts of fun things that I finally have time to do now! :-)

Memorial Day Activities

After we came back from the wedding in Austin, we had a great day in Del Rio!

We planted some new trees/plants in our front yard, sprucing up the lawn a little bit for summer:

When we first moved in.... We took out the dead bush on the left hand side of the house and moved the little saigo palm on the right hand side to replace the dead saigo on the far, far left of the house. The dead saigo was HUGE, and we ended up having to use Travis' truck and a large chain in order to get it out of the ground. It was fun! :-)

After our planting efforts. The two little palm looking trees are new, as well as the two little bushes in front of them. Also, note the new lights that Travis put in a few weeks ago.

It looks a lot better in real life!

Then, we went out on the lake again to test out our new skis and wakeboard. It was such a beautiful day, and surprisingly, we had the lake almost completely to ourselves!! (We'll have to get some other people on the boat with us to take more pictures...it's hard to take pics of Travis wakeboarding while I am driving the boat!!)

Captain Travis A. Daniels

Travis has officially been promoted to Captain!!

As you can see, not much has changed except his ranking on his uniform. :-) Travis says he doesn't feel any different, but this is an important milestone in his Air Force career, and I am really proud of him!!