Yesterday afternoon we all met in Asheville, NC for the weekend. Tom is racing in the Asheville Triathlon on Sunday morning so we decided to make a weekend out of it. I drove up with the kids from Charlotte and Tom drove down from Roanoke. We met at the Western NC Nature Center in Asheville. The center had black bears, wolves, otters, foxes, bobcats, cougars, raccoons and birds. I have to say that the enclosures for the animals were large and the animals were the healthiest I think I have ever seen in a zoo setting. I was impressed. We could also see the animals very close up. Of course, with small children we still didn’t stay very long. As with any small nature center, we were in and out within an hour, but it was worth the trip.

Coincidentally, it was my good friend, Sidney Youngs’ birthday yesterday. Tom gave me the ok to go out with her, Bobby, and other friends last night. It seems that I have made many of Sidney’s birthday celebrations over the last six years. Last night we ate at Salsas and hopped around town. Asheville is so full of culture and hippies. I love it. Sidney is a great friend and I am glad that I was able to share another birthday with her. She turned 36.

This is the first time that the kids have ever stayed in a hotel. Faith keeps calling the room “the apartment” and I feel sorry for the people that are next to us and under us. We had to make the rule very quickly of “no jumping off the bed”. There is a great outdoor pool here. We swam in it yesterday and will go there again today.

Sunday morning is the big race! Tom has been training for months and is very excited. I am proud of the progress he has made and am excited to see how he does. I did a triathlon ten years ago and my goal was just to finish. His goal is to place as high in the rankings as possible. He has already gone to the course to scope it out. We will be up at 6:00am tomorrow morning to go help him set up and cheer him on. Go Tom!