A trip back to the old stomping ground...

This is one of those days where I really don't know where to begin on posts, because we had such a ball this weekend. It was seriously just such a great weekend. So, in an effort to be organized with this, I shall start at the beginning...


Early Saturday morning my brother-in-law was flying in from London so that him, Dan, and Derek could do the Lausanne Triathalon on Sunday. The boys wanted to spend the day in Lausanne picking up their packets and checking out the course, so Kim and I decided to hang back and do something we hadn't done in many months: Ferney-Voltaire Saturday market! We hopped on our bikes through the early morning Dracula fog and began the 9 mile bike ride to one of the larger markets in France...


[Dracula fog and the Headless Horseman-lady...]


The route we rode on took us through Meyrin, Suisse, and on the ride we noticed someone's very witty, er, organic art...


There were happy faces...


There were sad faces...


There were mischievious faces....


And so Kim decided to make her own.....


Not quite done yet...


DRACULA FACE! (It was only fitting considering the Dracula fog...)
Needless to say, all of these Jack O'Lantern-esque faces got me even more pumped for Fall and Halloween...


From there it was on to Ferney. The 9 mile ride wasn't as bad as I had originally worried myself over, but maybe it's because I'm just getting used to being here and getting places by walking/running/biking.


And of course our first stop was to go see our old friend, Monsieur Vin Chaud, who was serving up some wonderfully refreshing sparkling rosé this summery sunny day...





After we picked up some goodies like white truffle oil, olives from our olive guy, caperberries, yaourt, artichaut, figs and mirabelles, it was time to hit the rode for our 9 mile ride back to Thoiry. That last hill was tiring, but I think we did pretty good considering it was about 90 degrees at this point of the afternoon. As if that wasn't enough, we dropped our goodies off, and took a 3 mile walk to the Migros because there was a red and white polka dot tea set that I just couldn't live without. (Funny how motivated I can be when red and white polka dots are inovlved...) The boys got home shortly after our adventurous day, and we prepped for the race with some snacks and trial runs with the hooking bikes up to our newly co-purchased roof bike rack...

Cue the foreshadowing...
To be continued...

Kiwis and crepes...

Happy Friday everyone! We're busy here gearing up for a big weekend - the arrival of my brother-in-law, a full triathalon for the boys, a picnic in Lausanne post-triathalon (if the boys are still physically functioning), a girls day shopping at the Ferney market (oooh it's been so long since I've had my olives!), and some BBQ-ing if the weather holds up...visitors and markets and races OH MY!


I leave you with the deliciousness that was our breakfast this AM - kiwis, espresso and crepes with banana and Nutella...it took me a few tries, but I think I've finally mastered the crepe flipping method and am quite proud of myself for it!

It's the little things...

I've been doing so much in the way of running for my marathon training and biking for my errands lately, that I realized recently that I haven't been taking as many walks as I used to. This made me a little sad, and I decided that I needed to slow down a bit. So yesterday, on my way back from picking up some vin rouge, fromage, and pain at the magasin, I took extra time walking around the neighborhood. It was on this meandering that a wonderful french woman who was working in her garden stopped to talk to me, and I was excited to have a very mini (tres mini mini mini petit mini) conversation with her, using about all 10 french words that I know. At the end of our little conversation she offered me a tomato from what she had been picking, and it absolutely made my day. It is absolutely the little things...


[Shine on little tomate, shine on...]

A special big get well virtual hug and virtual hot tea for a good friend of mine who is feeling under the weather today. Get better soon!!!

Allez allez allez!!!

Yesterday began a two week stint of Suisse triathalon and triathalon related activties for the Duggan's and Strom's with The Triathalon International de Genève, which was held at the Bains des Pâquis bright and early yesterday morning. Dan and Derek competed in the Sprint Triathalon (500 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run) category to prepare for next week's classic triathalon (1500 m swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run) in Lausanne. Despite it being nearly the middle of August, Kim and I, the avid supporters that we are, froze our tootsies off despite being dressed in hoodies, scarves and jackets, but a little rain and cold wasn't enough to force us into a cafe with hot, delicious cafe and macaroons....instead we shivered and yelled "Allez allez allez!!!" ("Go go GOOOO!!!") with the rest of the spectators to cheer on our boys.


Thanks to the 56 bus driver who turned the other way when we brought the bikes on board the bus...which is typically frowned upon. Maybe he took pity on us because of the early morning hour (notice it's still pitch black outside)...


[Early morning Genève...]



[My partner in crime...]





[Tired. Cold. No coffee.]


[The sun tried to come out...I personally think it was a half-hearted attempt...]


[Dan reppin' the 6-0-9...]


[Quick fire challenge: Spot the two Americans lining up to set up in the transition era...ready...allez!]


[Cue pre-race pretty picture intermission...]


[Baby ducky...]






[Dan is in that mess of swimmers somewhere...]


[Dan's swim group...]


[And the Dracula crowds rolled in...]


[...as Dan got out of the water...]


[Derek on his bike...]


[Dan on his bike...]


[Mid-race pretty picture interlude...]


[Big ups to Kim for remembering rain clothes and an umbrella, because rain it did...]



[Racers running...]



[Weird guy in purple and pink girl outfit interlude....]


[Yes, I'm devoting two pictures to this man because it was just such a fabulously creepy outfit...]


[Dan and Derek at the finish line sharing a post-race orange juice...]


[Team Strom post-race...]



[Jet d'Eau...]

And to end this post with, in my opinion, a culmination of superb athletics, we bring in the big finish...

SWAN ACROBATICS!


[He's up...]


[He's down....]


[He's upside down! What a perfect head stand from Monsieur Swan!]

Congrats again to Dan and Derek for superb performances at the Triathalon International de Genève yesterday. So proud of youse and can't wait to watch again this weekend in Lausanne!