Happy Birthday, Ani!

Here's the birthday girl enjoying free strawberry ice cream after her lunch. She really enjoyed it (although I admit, I did eat most of it!)

It's Been A Whole Year!

Ani is 1 as of 4:01 pm tomorrow.... where did this year go? I still have a vivid memory of hearing the words "it's a girl!" So exciting. Since Monte was in Canada this past weekend on a fishing trip, Ani and I drove down to my parents in Iowa. My mom baked her a birthday cake that Ani was skeptical about at first (mmm... chocolate!) but ended up stuffing it in her face and loving it. 

Exciting Stuff

The 27th Annual Apple Duathlon was held on Saturday, May 23 in Sartell, MN. Dirks Duo competed for the first time together and were happy with our performance. I ran a 5K, Monte biked 30K, then I ran another 5K.

Total Place: 23rd

Division Place: 11th out of 23

1st RUN: 27:30

Transition: 0:29

BIKE: 59:23

2nd RUN: 28:48

Total Time: 1:56:36

Several of our friends participated in the race too (such as Team Vicious and Delicious) and it was a lot of fun for us! Of course a visit to the HOP was in store the night before to carb up. 

I am also an aunt for the 8th time! Luke Jonathon TeStrake was born last Thursday, May 21 weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. Everyone is home now and doing well. My parents drove down to KC and watched big sister Ava while Matt & Kristi were in the hospital. Can't wait to meet the little guy.

Luke with Ava

And last but certainly not least.... another big Ani milestone - she took 4 steps yesterday! We were so proud. I think she may have taken a couple more steps if I hadn't screamed out of excitement and distracted her concentration! Here's a pic of her happy face over the weekend.

MNSCS #1 - Erik's Spring Cup

And the mountain bike season is upon us again! Today was the kickoff of the MNSCS in Inver Grove Heights. Monte took 1st place in his age group in the sport class, and 3rd place overall! 

Sport - Men 35 to 39 

Total Finishers in this class/age group: 27 

 

Monte Dirks 1:01:20.3 1st place

Matthew Johnson 1:01:22.7 2nd place

Reinhart Baumann 1:03:11.1 3rd place.... etc.

Starting line - Monte's in the blue jersey

Mike is in the HOP jersey and Monte is rounding the corner behind him.

Ani tackling Chubbers, the most popular dog at the race.

HOP team

Stand Up

Ani has been making huge strides lately! 

• She now has another bottom tooth coming in
  
• She stands up from sitting with NO help! 
• She has a new smile (see 1st photo below) where she likes to show off her upper gums
• She walks while pushing her basket around (last photo below)
• She also is big enough to wear some of my dresses from when I was a baby that my grandma made! How cool is that. She's wearing one of my pink ones in the 1st and 2nd photos below.  :)

Rain Catcher

We now have a rain catcher that adds beauty to our back yard :) Actually it doesn't look so bad and will be hidden by a bush once the leaves come in completely. Monte built it the other weekend and right now it is about 3/4 full. There is an overflow tube inside the barrel just in case we get a lot of rain, which will then exit out into the green hose as you can see in the photo. We plan on using the rain we "catch" to water our yard and plants.

11 Months

11 months old and counting.... Ani enjoys standing on the chair w/ her bear now. She is also enjoying being outside with this fabulous weather we've had today!

Yesterday, the Bueno's were in town and we all went to lunch at Pepito's. Gage is just about 4 months younger than Ani and Kennedy is 5. It was good to see them!