Super Mantei's

Blake and I took another trip to see Cindy, Ken and Syd. We flew out of Boise (because it was the cheapest way!) and landed in South Bend, IN on August 1st and returned home on August 6th.

We flew through Minneapolis, Blake thought this bear was funny.

After we ate ate Silver Beach Pizza (the best pizza ever), we went to the beach so Syd and Ken could swim. Blake and Cindy took a little walk on the beach.

Then they threw a football for a little while.

We went to a Dutch Village in Holland, MI. Ken and Syd got to try out some wooden shoes. Look what the stork brought! The lawns and gardens were beautiful.

We went to Windmill Island, there was an authentic working windmill from Holland.

We did some experiments with Mentos and Coke. The Diet Coke with the Mentos taped together made the biggest geyser.

 We went and picked blackberries, because the blueberries and raspberries were all gone. Blake discovered that he liked blackberries!

We were there to celebrate Syd's 11th birthday.

The main reason we chose to go to Michigan when we did was because the Mantei's were participating as a team in a triathalon. The race was a quarter-mile lake swim, a 12.4-mile bike and a 3.4-mile run. The course began in Soldiers Memorial Park at the Stone Lake Beach House and wound through scenic La Porte County, IN. Syd did the swimming, Ken the biking and Cindy the running.

The Super Mantei's before the race.

Super Cheerleaders and picture takers ready for the race!

Top Left, Ken is giving Syd some last minute encouragement. She swam really fast, then hurried out of the water and ran to meet Ken so he could take off on the bike.

I couldn't get any pictures of the biking. This picture of Ken handing off the timing chip to Cindy so she can start running.

And she's off! She had to run around the lake, if we would have had some binoculars, we might have been able to see her on the other side of the lake. Ken tracked her with their IPhones and told us when she would be appearing around the bend. The bottom right picture is after she finished!

After the race, they all did really well and they are all still smiling!

Now, they are really smiling! They got 2nd place in the team division! Way to go Mantei's!

We went to Chicago because Syd wanted to spend her birthday money at the American Girl Store. She even had her doll's hair done. Then we went on a boat tour of the city.

It was a very fun trip and we loved being with Cindy, Ken and Syd. We watched a lot of Olympics with them. Thanks for such a good visit!