Saturday, July 9, 2016

The Catch Up - May 2016 - More Horses, Travel and Concerts

I'm back, this time with an update from May.

IHSA Nationals
Erica competed in the Intercollegiate Horse Show National Competition in the “Horse Capital of the US”, aka Lexington, Kentucky, held at the Kentucky Horse Park. The event was held in the Alltech Arena – a world class facility. She hit the big time!

Scenes from Kentucky Horse park, simply idyllic with the gently rolling hills and green pastures, speckled with horses (of course):
My Old Kentucky Home

We made friends with this big boy:
Star Power

Never Met A #Horse She Didnt Like #equestrian #horselover #drafthorse

In this shot of the arena, the course is set up for the jumping events and gives you an idea of how big the place is.

Todays Arena #equestrian #ihsa #nationals

The staging area for the horses looked like a mosh pit of horses...
Pit Crews #ihsa #Horse #nationals

In Competition:
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160505_D600_3676.jpg

While she didn’t place in her event, this experience as a freshman in college means she’s going to work harder to earn another chance to compete at the National level. I am super proud of my horse loving daughter!

Trip to the UK (London and Cardiff)
The day after Nationals, I got on a plane and traveled to the UK to run a training session for work. Highlights – I got to visit with my sister and her family in London and the weather was sunnier than normal.
Family Outing
...so sunny and warm that ice cream with a chocolate flake was in order for the kids. The flake pops out of the top of the ice cream like a straw. I ended up buying a box of it on my way home.

As usual, we made our way down to the Thames.
House Boating

The wisteria was in full bloom, adorning all the doorways.
Seasonal Bloom #wisteria #window

The training session I ran was held in Cardiff, Wales, about a 2 hour train ride to the west. I was able to explore the city of Cardiff, Wales via the lens of daylight (the last time I was there in the perpetual darkness of winter), met some new running friends and ran some cool routes.
UK visit May 2016
Cardiff Castle Along my Run Through Bute Park

UK visit May 2016
The Pierhead Building at Cardiff Bay

UK visit May 2016
Along Waterfront Park

UK visit May 2016
Wales Millennium Center

On the “Dimmer” side, I managed to catch the intestinal bug my sister was harboring and well, that was not fun. Fortunately, the brunt of that hit mid-week; I delegated sections of the training course to my work colleagues and quarantined myself to the hotel room. The hotel was quite accommodating, supplying me with complimentary room service and whatever else I wanted (Yeah, I get that they didn’t want me wandering the halls and spreading this to other guests). I only missed one day of the training and didn’t have any issues traveling back to the US.

May Birthdays
Scott and I celebrated our “last birthday” before the big 5-0. My friend, Jill, had extra tickets to see James Taylor in concert, so I got a special birthday gift from her. It is amazing that he is almost 70 years old, still performing on tour and sounding great.
JT in Concert

49
And I'm 49

The kids officially wrapped up the school year and settled into their summer routines - May was gone in a flash.

2 comments:

  1. You are one year older than my twin sons, Shirley. I can hardly remember being that young! Looks like you've been busy traveling. Love all the pics.

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  2. Happy birthday! 49 looks great on you! I love the picture of the horses in the Kentucky countryside. And that black horse is a beauty! Congrats again to your daughter. And very cool that you got to run in Wales!

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