Riewerts' Review

A few weeks ago Teresa and I went on a trip to Kauai. A few of our friends from Colorado joined as well and we had a great time. Our itinerary was jammed packed with stuff and I think we are still trying to recoup and catch up on sleep. From an 18 mile sea kayak trip around the Napali coast (Rated #2 of Top 100 things to do in the US by National Geographic), to an 8 mile round trip hike to a 350 foot waterfall, to a 25 foot waterfall with cliff jumping and a rope swing, to a luau, to seeing Waimea Canyon (called the Grand Canyon of Hawaii), to snorkeling, to Queens Bath, to all the shaved ice we could eat (thank you Wishing Well for all the goodness you could offer!) we had the time of our lives...and yes I did manager to throw in 4-6 hours of surfing in each day, my shoulders are now shot. All in all it was a fun time but we are sure glad to be back with Ra-Ra(She stayed with my parents.) Here is a slide show with some pics from our trip...enjoy!

After the race (see below) we joined up with Rachel's Uncle Josh and Aunt T to go walk around the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, or for me limp around. We have always heard about this place but never had the opportunity to visit. Let me just say it was awesome and worth a visit. Not overwhelming like a large city Zoo but just big enough to keep Rachel's attention. Plus for some reason we caught all the animals being very interactive. In fact you can even feed the giraffes, which Rachel loved. The Zoo sits up on Cheyenne Mountain which overlooks Colorado Springs (for you military buffs, Cheyenne Mountain is also home to N.O.R.A.D.). The views are fantastic and the Zoo is well laid out and full of cool animals. Rachel loved the monkeys, giraffes and monkeys the most...did I mention she loved the monkeys the most! The weather was perfect and all in all a great day!

The scarlet letter of running a half marathon over 2 hours has officaly been stripped from my chest. Those that know me know that I am very competitive and after finishing my first Half Marathon in August at 2:03:09 I had mixed emotions. Excited because I ran my first half marathon but upset because I missed sub-2 hours by only 3 min and 10 seconds. So of course I had to run one more...luckly there was one more non-sunday race left in CO and it was the ADT half marathon in Colorado Springs on Labor Day. I felt good on this race and ran very strong. I finished at 1:57:41!!!!. (8:58 per mile pace.) With the majority of the race season now over (one last 5K in Nov) it is on to thinking about next season. 2010 is the year of the Marathon!

The summer isn't over yet...and we still have a few more activites planned. Until then here are some "rachel being cute" photos that we took over the past couple months....enjoy!

So I finally did it, I ran my first Half Marathon. The day before my birthday I got to take an item off my bucket list. It was a great time, there were even 6 people from my Ward that ran as well. It was a little harder than I thought. Especially since we started at 8,000 feet. Granted we finished at 7,000 feet so you would think that going downhill would make you fast but the opposite is true. The declines were very steep and there were a whole bunch of up hills...I mean we are in the Rockies. All in all I am glad I finished it, though I didn't get the sub-2hr time I wanted (2:02) That's ok though as I already signed up for another one on Labor Day. What the heck has gotten into me....

My mom came out for a week in August to visit and hang out with Rachel. Rachel had a great time with Gramsy and loved to show her how she rules this house. Here are some family pics that we took.

We got together with some friends to camp at Wellington Lake in July. I didn't snap too many photos but did get one of Rachel and I hanging out in the lake on my surfboard....I know I know...I just haven't been on my board in 7 months and thought it would be fun to paddle around.