We Are in the Presence of a Real "Ironman" (Ironwoman!)

On June 28th, this happened.

 

Melissa Meyer, a friend Michele has known since her early days of high school ministry (nearly 20 years) - successfully completed the IRONMAN.  She battled the highest temps ever in an Ironman competition (106 degrees), with the temperatures soaring all the way to 140 degrees when pounding the hot pavement.  It had the highest fall-out rate of any IRONMAN with 21% unable to finish because of the conditions.  

But, Melissa persevered,  2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles biking, and 26.2 miles running.  She is a ROCKSTAR!!  And what makes it even more awesome, is just the kind of person Melissa is.  Off the charts humble, funny, chill, sweet....I mean, the smiles that girl had every portion of the way of the race were remarkable and inspiring.  

So, now that that's over, and her life is now her own again - Melissa decided a trip to her home of Oregon (from Austin, Texas, where she normally lives) - was due.  Michele thought a day on the boat would be a good way to celebrate, so we spent the day with Melissa yesterday out at Cottage Grove Lake with the Schillings and Whites.

Our high temp was about 100 degrees yesterday - so there was lots of time spent doing this yesterday.  As you can tell - Whitley was ONE HAPPY CAMPER!!!!!!!!  She lives to spend time in the water.  And to be able to do it with her "Everybody" - oh, even better!!!!!

Of course, it took no time at all for Melissa to be considered one of her "favorite people".  

After Michele did her best with the choppy water for a run of slalom skiing, Traig showed us how its supposed to be done wake surfing.  What a stud.  He made it looks so easy, and fun.  

Travis took his turn next - he's still trying to figure out how to stay in that sweet spot (as are the rest of us adults) - but, definitely had a lot of fun!

Then, Melissa gave it a try - and of course, with her athleticism, she was a pro from the start.    Nati tried it after that - she managed to get up, but the size of the wave was a little intimidating to her to keep going. 

After another swim session,  (what's up with that wig it looks like I'm wearing?)

I took a turn at surfing.  It has been since the first time we got the board that I had tried it, so I figure it was time to get past the intimidation factor and play.  OMIGOODNESS....so much fun.  I feel like we've all placed such a priority on getting to a place where we can drop the rope and surf on our own, but on the final run I took, I held on to it and just played and maneuvered along the wake - trying to just get a feel for all you could do.  Yup, that's the way to go....

 

 

Then, Michael took a turn and had a blast as well....

More swim time.  

Lovely ladies...

It was a long, hot day - so there was some of this going on too.

Gotta make a pic like this happen about every other trip we got out. 

Uncle Michael is the best. =)

And, then, finally (as far as the girls and Brayden were concerned), the tubes got blown up.  As you can imagine, Whitley felt pretty special to be included this time. 

A few more random glimpses of the day, courtesy of Michele's cell phone.  

With Melissa's birthday on the 11th, ours on the 22nd, and Travis' on the 24th - we kind of billed this as a birthday boat run.  With Red Robin Take-Out to complete the day for dinner, it was definitely a day well celebrated!