Florida 2012 - Part 2

There's no question, William and Jack are very different boys despite being twins.

Florida provided the clearest example to date...the beach.

William did not like the sand, particularly walking on it. He wanted to be held or sit on a towel.

Jack, on the other hand, became 100% crazy as soon as he touched the sand. Non-stop running, pure happiness, bolting into the water, and even shoving his face directly into the sand.

Pure joy on Jack's face; apprehension on William's face.

On the positive side, it was nice just sitting and cuddling with William on the beach.

Jack hit the beach running. The only problem was he didn't stop. His favorite game was to run directly into the ocean, daring you not to grab him. And as soon as you put him back down, he turned around and did it again! Literally non-stop until it was time to go home.

The 3 boy cousins did great together. One of their favorite activities was climbing all over the stroller.

Arizona Trip: Part 3

One night we went to an outdoor mall that had a big screen and dance area. They were playing music videos and the kids went nuts dancing around. It was great. I think Jack had the most fun of everyone.

After 2 months without swimming, Evelyn made up for lost time in Arizona.


One of the highlights of the week was watching Evelyn and Kaylee become great friends. The two girls were side-by-side virtually all week and played extremely well together.

This was at the playground the first morning. Little did we know it was the closest we'd get to a group photo all week.
We spent an hour searching for this (hardly) famous sculpture.

There were plenty of these moments...
Overall it was a terrific week with family and friends!

Camping Weekend

We had an interesting weekend camping at Hungry House campground a few weeks ago. Erin left at 2:30 am Saturday with a very upset stomach. It also rained hard from about that time until noon at Saturday which was a drag.

But...the rest of the weekend was great. The sun came out Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday and we enjoyed some great pool and playground time.

On Sunday morning we cooked just about everything. Options included eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and freshly made donuts. Evie really liked her donut.

Cottage Week

For the first time in 5 years (since graduating from college) I've had enough vacation to take time off for a long cottage weekend. It was awesome. We shared the time with my parents and siblings. We had plenty of time for golf, running, boating, basketball, swimming, walking, and socializing.

Evie loved the water slide. She likes normal playground slides, but really couldn't get enough of sliding into the lake.
Evie proved she's growing up by nicely sitting with her cousins Andrew and Jacob, and her 3rd cousin Esther.

Grandpa E's highlight of the week was tubing with the naughty one.

Always an adventure...

To top the weekend off we celebrated Erin's birthday! My cake this year was another marble creation. I thinned the layers enough to make a quadruple-decker. It didn't look as imposing as previous years, but tasted just right.

2009 Pickerel Lake Triathlon

July 4th marked the 5th annual Pickerel Lake Triathlon. The event is now a firm tradition and we think other cottagers around the lakes are starting to notice us. It was certainly the coldest race we've had to date, but that didn't prevent another strong turnout. A total of 3 relay teams and 21 individuals attempted the race.

We gathered down by the beach at 7:30 with the temperature in the low 60's, clouds, and a light wind. This year I noticed the younger kids really took on the challenge. We had 8 kids under 16 years old line up to attempt a solo finish. Seven of them did it!

Last year I introduced the swimming wetsuit. This year 4 of us were sporting them and I suspect more will join next year. Based on the 2009 gossip it sounded like it would be a 2 man race for 1st. It appeared the real drama was going to be places 3 and on, where a big group of racers would be bottled up. The final results are below.

Place	Name	Overall	Swim	Bike	Run	Bike Pace (mph)	Run Pace (min/mi)
1	Randy Elenbaas	1:21:35	0:09:31	0:31:16	0:40:48	18.23	0:07:51
2	Paul Soper	1:25:08	0:11:56	0:35:11	0:38:01	16.20	0:07:19
3	Jason Schaaf	1:34:45	0:10:21	0:35:12	0:49:12	16.19	0:09:28
4	Darren Schaaf	1:37:49	0:12:13	0:36:54	0:48:42	15.45	0:09:22
5	Eric Plantinga	1:38:36	0:15:02	0:40:01	0:43:33	14.24	0:08:22
6	Mark VanHarn	1:39:31	0:12:45	0:41:30	0:45:16	13.73	0:08:42
7	Sam Lannon	1:39:36	0:13:50	0:42:25	0:43:21	13.44	0:08:20
8	Derek Elenbaas	1:40:32	0:16:27	0:38:16	0:45:49	14.90	0:08:49
9	Steve Elenbaas	1:40:45	0:12:55	0:38:20	0:49:30	4.87	0:09:31
10	Lisa/Erin	1:41:06	0:11:31	0:45:21	0:44:14	12.57	0:08:30
11	Jenny Scott	1:41:17	0:12:54	0:40:25	0:47:58	14.10	0:09:13
12	Dan Wiley	1:44:22	0:12:45	0:38:29	0:53:08	14.81	0:10:13
13	Marv Elenbaas	1:47:15	0:14:50	0:40:25	0:52:00	14.10	0:10:10
14	Seth Kuiper	1:49:11	0:13:10	0:39:43	0:56:18	14.35	0:10:50
15	Claire Steensma	1:49:40	0:15:31	0:45:03	0:49:06	12.65	0:09:27
t16	Elizabeth Soper	1:50:11	0:15:38	0:50:46	0:43:47	11.23	0:08:25
t16	Abby VanHarn	1:50:11	0:09:46	0:56:38	0:43:47	10.05	0:08:25
18	Roger/Carissa	1:51:25	0:16:35	0:40:48	0:54:02	13.97	0:10:23
19	Ben Elenbaas	1:53:22	0:15:40	0:42:15	0:55:27	13.49	0:10:40
20	Lindsay Elenbaas	1:53:41	0:14:50	0:44:38	0:54:13	12.77	0:10:26
21	Haley Elenbaas	2:00:38	0:16:19	0:48:45	0:55:34	<1 .69="" td="">	0:10:41
22	Mike/Grace	2:03:43	0:12:45	0:50:08	1:00:50	11.37	0:11:42
23	Sarah Kuiper	2:09:49	0:17:26	0:52:47	0:59:36	10.80	0:11:28
Partial	Dan Kuiper	N/A	0:14:06	0:38:16	N/A	14.90	N/A
Partial	Lydia Soper	17:56	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

The swim is always tough. Even with hard training it still drains you.

I had a strong swim and was first out of the water at 9:31 but very closely followed by Abby and Jason.

Name	Swim	Swim Pace (min/mi)
Randy Elenbaas	0:09:31	0:28:50
Abby VanHarn	0:09:46	0:29:36
Jason Schaaf	0:10:21	0:31:22
Lisa/Erin	0:11:31	0:34:54
Paul Soper	0:11:56	0:36:10
Darren Schaaf	0:12:13	0:37:01
Mark VanHarn	0:12:45	0:38:38
Dan Wiley	0:12:45	0:38:38
Mike/Grace	0:12:45	0:38:38
Jenny Scott	0:12:54	0:39:05
Steve Elenbaas	0:12:55	0:39:08
Seth Kuiper	0:13:10	0:39:54
Sam Lannon	0:13:50	0:41:55
Dan Kuiper	0:14:06	0:42:44
Marv Elenbaas	0:14:50	0:44:57
Lindsay Elenbaas	0:14:50	0:44:57
Eric Plantinga	0:15:02*	0:45:33
Claire Steensma	0:15:31	0:47:01
Elizabeth Soper	0:15:38	0:47:22
Ben Elenbaas	0:15:40	0:47:28
Haley Elenbaas	0:16:19	0:49:27
Derek Elenbaas	0:16:27	0:49:51
Roger/Carissa	0:16:35	0:50:15
Sarah Kuiper	0:17:26	0:52:50
Lydia Soper	0:17:56	0:54:21

*swim time includes being in the bathroom when the race started

The hilly 9.5 mile bike ride has been the source of many mishaps over the years from getting lost to wiping out to getting flat tires. This year was thankfully almost completely clean. Dan Kuiper had a hard fall that knocked him out of the race. But otherwise there were no flats, no wrong turns, and no other falls.

I had several good training runs in June and knew the bike was my biggest edge. I took advantage and had a sizeable lead going into the run.

Name	Bike	Bike Pace (mph)
Randy Elenbaas	0:31:16	18.23
Paul Soper	0:35:11	16.20
Jason Schaaf	0:35:12	16.19
Darren Schaaf	0:36:54	15.45
Derek Elenbaas	0:38:16	14.90
Dan Kuiper	0:38:16	14.90
Steve Elenbaas	0:38:20	14.87
Dan Wiley	0:38:29	14.81
Seth Kuiper	0:39:43	14.35
Eric Plantinga	0:40:01	14.24
Marv Elenbaas	0:40:25	14.10
Jenny Scott	0:40:25	14.10
Roger/Carissa	0:40:48	13.97
Mark VanHarn	0:41:30	13.73
Ben Elenbaas	0:42:15	13.49
Sam Lannon	0:42:25	13.44
Lindsay Elenbaas	0:44:38	12.77
Claire Steensma	0:45:03	12.65
Lisa/Erin	0:45:21	12.57
Haley Elenbaas	0:48:45	11.69
Mike/Grace	0:50:08	11.37
Elizabeth Soper	0:50:46	11.23
Sarah Kuiper	0:52:47	10.80
Abby VanHarn	0:56:38	10:06

The run is TOUGH and there were a lot of solid times this year. Paul set a new course record with a run of 38:01. I struggled throughout but posted a good enough run to hold on to first.

Name	Run	Run Pace (min/mi)
Paul Soper	0:38:01	0:07:19
Randy Elenbaas	0:40:48	0:07:51
Sam Lannon	0:43:21	0:08:20
Eric Plantinga	0:43:33	0:08:22
Elizabeth Soper	0:43:47	0:08:25
Abby VanHarn	0:43:47	0:08:25
Lisa/Erin	0:44:14	0:08:30
Mark VanHarn	0:45:16	0:08:42
Derek Elenbaas	0:45:49	0:08:49
Jenny Scott	0:47:58	0:09:13
Darren Schaaf	0:48:42	0:09:22
Claire Steensma	0:49:06	0:09:27
Jason Schaaf	0:49:12	0:09:28
Steve Elenbaas	0:49:30	0:09:31
Marv Elenbaas	0:52:00	0:10:00
Dan Wiley	0:53:08	0:10:13
Roger/Carissa	0:54:02	0:10:23
Lindsay Elenbaas	0:54:13	0:10:26
Ben Elenbaas	0:55:27	0:10:40
Haley Elenbaas	0:55:34	0:10:41
Seth Kuiper	0:56:18	0:10:50
Sarah Kuiper	0:59:36	0:11:28
Mike/Grace	1:00:50	0:11:42

Once again we had some major improvements over last year. 10 out of 13 who competed last year bettered their times.

Comparison with Last Year	2007	2008	Time Diff	% Impr
Jenny Scott	1:56:43	1:41:17	0:15:26	15.2%
Ben Elenbaas	2:05:50	1:53:22	0:12:28	11.0%
Dan Wiley	1:51:48	1:14:22	0:07:26	7.1%
Paul Soper	1:30:13	1:25:08	0:05:05	6.0%
Seth Kuiper	1:54:39	1:49:11	0:05:28	5.0%
Marv Elenbaas	1:52:24	1:47:15	0:05:09	4.8%
Derek Elenbaas	1:42:10	1:40:32	0:01:38	1.6%
Randy Elenbaas	1:22:32	1:21:35	0:00:57	1.2%
Steve Elenbaas	1:41:19	1:40:45	0:00:34	0.6%
Mark VanHarn	1:39:52	1:39:31	0:00:21	0.4%

Jason, Paul, Steve, and I all completed our 5th consecutive solo race this year. Darren, Dan Kuiper, Sarah Kuiper, and Mark VanHarn have all participated every year.

The 2009 Racers...plus Evie.

The Elenbaas racers...plus invitees.

It was great to have Erin race again. In 2007 she was the top female finisher. This year she was part of the top relay team with Lisa. Jenny broke the record for the best female time after improving by over 15 minutes this year. It is awesome seeing the progress this race has made. Every year the winning time has improved. Here is a summary of overall race since it's inception.

Year	Best Time	Best Swim	Best Bike	Best Run
2005	1:26:49 (D Rupke)	9:28 (D Kett)	37:01 (D Rupke)	40:06 (D Rupke)
2006	1:23:21 (D Masselink)	10:24 (D Kett)	31:54 (D Schaaf)	38:12 (D Masselink)
2007	1:23:06 (R Elenbaas)	11:16 (J Schaaf)	31:46 (R Elenbaas)	38:50 (R Elenbaas)
2008	1:22:32 (R Elenbaas)	9:41 (R Elenbaas)	33:45 (J Schaaf)	38:57 (R Elenbaas)
2009	1:21:35 (R Elenbaas)	9:31 (R Elenbaas)	31:16 (R Elenbaas)	38:01 (P Soper)