Fun at the Beach...

We left on Thursday and headed to Matt's parent's condo in Orange Beach. The main reason for going was the Mullet Man Triathlon, but we also enjoyed a few days away at the beach.

The Voss Family (above) met us there...they are our dear friends that moved to Meridian last June. Kristi and Matt both participated in the race...Me, John, and the kiddos were just along for the fun.

Holt's birthday is Tuesday so we took his birthday present to him...a dump truck, which quickly became the favorite toy. This is Holt taking Anna Lauren for a ride.

John David and Holt waiting in line to ride the Farris Wheel at the Wharf...John David rode it the night before but Anna Lauren and Holt choose not to ride. Well, the next night...they were ready to ride...I just knew they would get to the top and get scared...Matt said Anna Lauren was standing up having the time of her life...no fear, as always!

Thanks to the Buddies (Eugene and Jennifer) Anna Lauren had the perfect shirt to wear to her daddy's race. Everyone loved it and kept saying...look at her shirt, look at her shirt...it was fun!

Matt going into the water...he is on the far left / back of the group.

This picture just gives you an idea of how rough the water was...good luck finding Matt...I don't even have a clue where he is, and I was there taking the picture.

Matt coming out of the water and thinking...running through this sand is for the birds...they had to run much further through the sand than anticipated due to where they had to go in / out of the water due to the roughness of the waves.

And if you have looked at Matt's triathlon pictures before, you know, we always get a wave. He always looks for us and makes a point to acknowledge Anna Lauren...this is him waving to her and saying, "hey pretty"...he is the best daddy!

If you look at this picture, he looks comfortable and ready to ride the 17 miles set before him. But...for the first time in his triathlon career, after 9 1/2 miles, he got a flat tire. He had what he needed to change the tire, but his "air" did not cooperate so he could not get the new tire aired up. And instead of getting frustrated, he quickly become the "Good Samaritan" of the race.

A young girl was doing her first triathlon and hit the same hole that Matt hit and got a flat tire as well. She did not have anything to change her tire so she and Matt started walking with him assuring her not to worry...his wife watched the time closely and would come looking for him sooner rather than later if he didn't retun. Then it clicked with him that he blew out his back tire, and she blew out her front tire. So he took his front wheel off his bike and put it on her bike so she could finish the race...he did not want her to miss out on completing her "1st" triathlon. He got a ride back in before I received his phone call and then decided to go ahead and complete the run even though he had been disqualified due to his flat tire / getting a ride back.

I cannot tell you how proud I was of him for helping the girl...her family and friends were so appreciative and told him over and over...thank you. And what makes the story even more fun is that she is a student at Mississippi College and will be doing some of the other races we will be doing around the Jackson area. So we will get to see her again and see how she does as a triathlete.

And...what goes around comes around...so I'm confident Matt will one day be rewarded for this good deed.

This is Matt finishing up the run...considering all he had been through before actually running, he had a great run and his time was much better than he had hoped.

As we were leaving today, I captured this picture of Anna Lauren. We loaded up the cart to carry all of our stuff to the car, and she was determined to push it to the car...and of course, we let her. And then as soon as she got to the car, she grabbed the goldfish off the cart and sat down in the middle of the parking lot and starting eating them. These are the moments you are glad you have your camera close by...the funny things kids do!