Kyle is off to RUSSIA!

Breakfast at the Lake Placid truck stop...don't forget where you come from!

Kyle left yesterday, Monday, for Paris where he had an 8 hour layover before his flight to St. Petersburg, Russia. His neurotic mother has been on-line "confirming" flight departures and arrivals and he has just arrived in St. Petersburg 2 1/2 hours ago. He went with a group of 3 adults and 5 teenagers. The program he is participating in is to promote theatrical/artistic studies within other cultures. Kyle does not tend to fall in this category, but the opportunity seemed to great to miss out on. Kyle is friends with all but one of the kids from school and the mother of one of the boys is heading the team up and will surely be a "mom" to all. The group will be returning on August 13, Kenny's 40th birthday! Please keep Kyle, the adults in charge of them and the rest of the children (Dylan, Gentry, Kevin, Paulina) in your prayers for safety, health and open hearts and minds to new cultures, people, architecture, food, etc. And maybe for his mom, who can't believe she agreed to send her son half way across the world for two weeks....

Our Summer Family Relocation (substituted for vacation)

Here's the first snapshot of our vacation, about an hour an a half into it......the language goes something like this:

Ken: " Yes, we called a towtruck, it's coming from Apopka, an hour away."

Police: "that's unacceptable, you have a mile and a half of traffic backed up behind you."

Therefore, the officer called the local towing company to move the RV across the street, for a mere $500. Hopefully the AAA of RV breakdowns will reimburse. It took50 minutes for this local truck to come, and the truck to tow us to the nearest repair center in Orlando came a few minutes later...

We are now on our way to Orlando instead of Ocala....

We arrived at the infirmary of large vehicles, Disney busses, firetrucks, etc. We were sure it was just a "loose wire", why else would this large machine shut down out of the blue and force us to "coast" to a standstill....

We actually arrived here about 11:00 p.m., where this "infirmary" is accustomed to "fully loaded" RVs arriving (referring to the inhabitants of said camper) so we were able to plug in to electricity and water and go to sleep. As we were towed into this facility Chase exclaimed, "This does not look like a campground to me!" Did the tow truck not clue him in that our plans had changed?!..... The next morning we left the camper early so the mechanics could look at the RV, which of course now starts. We are sure about the simple solution, a loose wire, so we hang around at nearby places awaiting our call at any minute to return and get back on the road....

Our first stop is a playground....but the heat got to us....Our next stop was "Outdoor World", it's air conditioned and has fish to stare at....

Next stop, Old Navy.....and they don't know what's wrong with the camper that runs fine....

Our final destination is a book store......and they've given us the gate code so we can get back into our "campground" for the night, they'll keep looking for the mystery problem tomorrow. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack", we were told....

Note the empty shelves behing Chelsea....

Here ends my post of our first day, except to mention a great pizza in a fun house for dinner, at Ricky (Kenny's brother) and Ruth's home in Orlando...being stuck in Orlando is not so bad.....

Kyle's Great Day!

Today was the Heartland Kids Triathlon. The race was a 200 yd. swim, 6 miles biking and a 1 mile run. Kyle has been on the summer swim team for Lake Placid, runs like a gazelle and owns a bike. Perfect combination for entering a triathlon! "Kyle, we signed you up....", we exclaimed to him a few months back. His swimming has built endurance and muscle and his Uncle Jimmy lent him a great bike to train with, you can pick it up with a couple of fingers! Kyle trained hard this past week getting the combination 6 mile biking and 1 mile run under his belt. All he had to do today was throw in a 200 yard swim in front! Kyle finished fourth overall, and 2nd in his age division! His official time is not on-line yet but we think it was about 31 minutes. The race started later than expected, not until after 11:30, and the final leg, the run, was completed close to 12:00 noon, in scorching hot 95 degree weather! We were quickly withering away just watching, I was amazed at the stamina of these athletic kids completing the course. I admire your diligence and success, Kyle, what a great role model for all of the LeBlanc household! We look forward to screaming, "Go Kyle!", many more times!

We did it!

The day I turned 40 I started gaining weight, a shocking realization that I am getting older. A realization that I need to take care of myself. Tony Caruso has a bumper sticker on his car that reads, "If you ignore your health it will go away...". O.K., fine. This led to walking/ jogging which led to Kenny walking/ running with me, which added a competitive aspect. We decided to train for a 5K a few months away, on July 4th. Our training got us up to running 7 minutes and walking 2 minutes alternating for the 3.2 mile distance. I was disappointed that I wasn't running the whole thing by race day, but Kenny kept telling me we'd be able to do it on race day, that it was a "mind thing". So we started running, I had a little faster pace than Kenny, and I had my stopwatch with me. At 7 minutes I yelled back, "time to start walking...", "not yet" was the response. Every few minutes I 'd yell back, "can we walk now?, "No", was the response from behind." My pace than had me quite a distance ahead so I couldn't yell to him that I wanted to walk, so I just started walking. As Kenny approached me he said, "start running, you can do it, don't walk!" I told myself I'd start when I got to the next tree...I than passed him up and beat him by 20 seconds! Our times were 31:22 and 31: 42. I know I would have walked much more if Kenny hadn't been there to encourage me, thank you, Kenny, and I'm sorry, but I just had to beat you:)

Chase's Big Day!

The day finally came for Chase's "belt test". His teacher had sustained a bad injury to his back and needed emergency surgery in Orlando, so the much anticipated event was postponed until last week...Great job Chase, we are proud of you!

The Case of the Missing Tiger: Chloe sleeps with a little tiger she chose from the zoo in Moncton, Canada last summer, 2006. We usually take painstaking care to make sure the tiger is promptly returned to Chloe's crib if we ever see it out and about. Tiger snuck out one evening and made it to The Golden Corral for dinner. Tiger didn't make it home. We went back to the restaurant, went through the insides of our car (ewwww), back to the playground we had visited after dinner....no tiger. That night and for the next three nights we had a hard time getting Chloe settled for bed....."Where my tiger go?" was her heart-breaking question every night and before naps. After three days and nights I e-mailed Kenny's cousin in Canada with a picture of the beloved tiger. Cheryl's husband used a day off of work to go tiger-hunting and found many siblings in a basket in the zoo gift shop! For the next week we told Chloe tiger was on an airplane and would be home soon. These pictures are of Chloe's re-uniting with her beloved tiger. Now, all airplanes in the sky, in books, on t.v. remind Chloe of tiger's experience and we have to tell the story to her again, and again, and again..... and Chase wants to know why the tiger is so clean now. Thank you Cheryl and Daniel for make bedtime a happy time!

Claire's Donation

As soon as school let out Claire and I were off to the hair salon for a much needed "trim". Not only were we trimming, but Claire has planned since last summer to donate 10 inches to "Locks of Love". No, those were not tears of joy. I guess change is hard....