4th / 5th Grade Summer Fair...

Ashlynn anxiously awaited the day when she’d be the big kid running a booth at the school’s Summer Fair. She wasn’t initially thrilled when she heard that the theme would be Fairy Tales, but she Masha, Sara and Zoe managed to put together a cute obstacle course called the Walk in the Creepy Woods. I helped prepare lunch for the kids, then worked the strawberries & cream booth. It was fun checking on Ashlynn and seeing her direct and time the younger students through the course. It was quite hot, so Ashlynn saw an opportunity to raise some extra money by charging for a cooling blast from her water spray bottle. Overall, the event raised over €3,000 for a kindergarten in Romania--not bad considering most of the booths only charged €0.10 each.

Our Smiling Girl...

Veronica had to do a quick dry off, put on her running shoes, grab her helmet and race number and walk her bike to the start of the 14K cycle route. As we hung out at the transition area, we didn’t actually see her on that portion of the race. But we did get to see her several times during the 2.5K run as she had to do three loops (which led to major confusion for several of the runners). She was all smiles as she came into the finish line in 58:31. She came in 5th out of the 12-14 year old girls. It was very exciting that her buddy David came in 3rd in the 12-14 year old boys, Max came in 2nd in the 15-16 year old boys and the school team came in 1st. She said she’d gladly do another triathlon, but unfortunately this is the only mini-sprint in Holland. We went out afterwards with a big group for pizza to celebrate.

Our Pink Girl...

When Jimmy was in Cary, he stopped at the tri-store and picked up quick-tie laces and a swimming cap. What luck that she was the only pink cap in a sea of blue. While it had threatened rain earlier in the day, the weather was perfect for a race. The water temp had even heated up, so a wetsuit wasn’t necessary. The swim was 250 meters (half of a sprint triathlon) and she did breast stroke with her head out most of the way.

Our Tri-Girl...

When I got the notice that the school was starting a Triathlon Training Club for the upcoming children’s triathlon in Holland, I suggested to Veronica that she sign up. She wasn’t really interested, but after some gentle persuasion, she agreed to try it. She was the only girl amongst 12 boys and she really liked it (and not just because she was surrounded by boys). It was too cold to actually train in the lake, so they concentrated on the bike, run and transitions for the six weeks. Veronica was very excited and a bit nervous when we arrived to check in for the race on June 11th, she got her number and entered the heat.

Suiting Up for the Lake..

After our return from our fun Austrian adventure, we got together with Sally and the boys to take the kids swimming at the Vlietland, a lake in Voorschoten, in preparation for the upcoming triathlon for Veronica and David. Sally was sweet enough to drive us to Rotterdam to hit a sale on wetsuits. Jimmy came along for a training swim; Ashlynn and Andrew came along to play in the water. At first it seemed kind of silly to buy wetsuits, but then we realized they’d come handy in our cold pool as well.

I Take Thee...

On our drive back to the airport, we stopped by the lake town of Mondsee to see our final Sound of Music site. This lovely church is where the fictional Georg and Maria married; the real ones are reported to have married in Nonnberg Nunnery. It looked different to us because the metal gates at the back separating the nuns were just there temporarily for filming. A nice ending for a great trip. Too bad that we waited until Betsy was about to move to Houston to discover that we make good travelling companions.

Hellbrunn Castle...

On our final day, we stopped at Hellbrunn Castle to see the Sound of Music pavilion, which was at a different castle for filming, but had been relocated since. Our timing was perfect as we got to watch a procession of vintage race cars. Since we had some time to kill, we took an audio tour of the castle, built in 1615 as a Summer Palace for Archbishop Markus Sittikus.
Afterwards, we took a guided tour of the gardens. We had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised and amazed by the trick fountains, all built without electricity. Apparently the Archbishop liked to invite his guests to sit around this table. He always sat at the head of the table, the only spot that stayed dry when he pushed the button to start the fountains. The guide had fun trying to get us wet at the different hidden fountains throughout the immense garden. Definitely a castle worth visiting.