Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre is a group of 5 little seaside villages on the Italian Riviera. Connecting each of the 5 towns are hiking trails. The first day we were there we hiked from Vernazza, where we stayed, to Monterosso. The hike took about 2 hours and there were LOTS of stairs! The second day we were there we hiked from Vernazza south to Corniglia, then on to Manarola, and finally to Riomaggiorno. The towns were cute and picturesque. I love the pastel colors of all the buildings.

We grabbed another gelato on our hike out to Monterosso. Craig had set a goal of two gelatos per day.

A nice view of Vernazza.

Monterosso in the background.

The second day. Here I am eating my breakfast of juice and a brioche out on some steps.

Italian Riviera.

Manarolla. Look close and you can see the Europeans on the "beach".

We've arrived... in Venice!

Our trip started on August 15th, my 30th birthday. Craig received a complementary upgrade to first class on our way to New York and since it was my birthday he gave it to me. So sweet! But the real birthday present came later when we both got upgraded to first class on the flight to Venice! It was fantastic with so much leg room I didn't know what to do and I was even served a hot towelette before my 3 course meal. Did I mention how the chairs reclined to pretty much 180 degrees? I don't think I can ever fly coach again!

Posing on the Rialto Bridge.

We spotted Brad Pitt. He's got to support all those kids somehow!

St. Mark's square

Mmmmm... gelato!

Next stop... Vernazza, one of the towns in the Cinque Terre.

The Savannah and Justin Show

Justin is crawling and climbing up on everything. Even to watch his sister take a bath!

Happy siblings - every morning they drink their milk together in bed then snuggle and watch the Disney Channel.

Savannah and Blake jumping on the tramp with the sprinkler underneath.

Savannah's all love for JZ....usually.

Savannah the super goalie.

Savannah and Austin Hoaldridge who came to visit. She was quick to get him playing dress up!

Savannah showing her stuff with "So you think you can dance". She's got promise!

Kristi's Half Marathon - 13.1 miles

Kristi in pain, and waiting her turn for the restroom.

Kristi and her friend, neighbor, and runningn partner, Carina. Happy to be done!

Kristi is my new athletic hero! I am so proud of her for all she has done over the past several months in her efforts to run 4 or 5 times a week. She has been so diligent with this and has really gotten in herself in great shape. (Not to mention she is lean and mean and looking hot!) Today she reached to pinnacle of her training by completing in the Provo River Trail Half Marathon. Yes, that's 13 miles of running!! She is a superior athlete to me by far....about 7 miles to be exact! (Since my longest run is a 10K). She had to get up this morning at 4:00am to get herself ready to go. After meeting in the parking area of the Riverwoods Mall, she was bussed to the top of South Fork Canyon where after an hour wait in the morning cold, she began the race at around 7:00am. Her goal was to finish the race in approx. 2 1/2 hours and she came in right around this time. What's more, she never walked....she ran the entire thing. Needless to say, she's been exhausted ever since and her knees are pretty sore from pounding the pavement for so long. But hey, she's happy to have met her goal of completing the half marathon and I couldn't be more proud. Kristi, how does the full marathon sound?? :)

Craig's Tour de Park City - 108 miles

The Crew at the top of Bald Mountain Pass. Aah, 10,759 ft. elevation!!

Me wanting to puke at the top of the mountain.

Me and Chad making good time around mile 70.


At the finish line with with a happy Justin!

Who would have thought that Kristi and I would be spending our weekends doing triathlons, bike rides, and running events?? Somehow we have each caught the bug to participate in these things and over the past two weekends we've had some big events.

On Aug. 2 I participated in a cycling event called the Tour de Park City. It was my very first "Century Tour" or 100 mile ride. The course started on the east side of Park City near the Outlet malls, and from there went up past Jordanelle Resevoir, on through Kamas and Francis, and then up the Mirror Lake Hwy to a peak called the Bald Mountain Pass before turning around and heading back to Park City. Most of the first 54 miles was uphill....either slight uphill or a serious climb. Miles 40 - 54 were the most intense as we made our way up the canyon to the Bald Mtn Pass at 10,759 feet elevation. We started at 6,300 feet, so we definitely did our best Tour de France imitation. It was absolutely an intense climb. Even though we had practiced this climb before, we had not done it after having already ridden 40 miles. So, it was quite the challenge and there were times when I didn't know if I could make it without stopping to rest. But, I held out strong, made it to the top, then laid right down on the asphault!!

On the way back to Park City we were unpleasantly surprised with two more huge climbs that happened to be with a stiff 25mph wind in our face. These climbs happened at miles 91-95 then again at miles 98-100. They really wanted us to earn our racing stripes! All in all, we completed 108 miles and did 9,000 feet worth of climbing.

Now then, I've been saying "we" because I did not do this alone. I had the great opportunity of doing this with my two brothers, Chad and Dan, and also a great friend from work, Steve Dalton. It has been so fun training with these guys. We've done several rides of 50+ miles together and I can't remember a time that I've had more fun with my brothers. Dan is moving to Minneapolis soon and I'm really going to miss him. I'm glad we were able to conquer the century tour before the summer was over.

Thanks to Kristi and the kids, my mom and dad, and Kirsti, Blake, and Luke for waiting out in the hot sun for 2 1/2 hours to watch us finish!