Fall

Last weekend Dan headed up North for what could easily be considered the final outdoor sporting event of the season - the Iceman Cometh Challenge. I would say that I've been dormant since September, but Dan has been out on his mountain bike a fair amount in the past couple months. Now, there have been years past where Dan has spent more time training, but I would say he still got in a good amount of riding this year. This "Iceman" is a 28-mile mountain bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City. For those of you not familiar with Michigan, this is North of us about 3 hours - usually a little cooler than here at any time of the year. So, the race is appropriately named "iceman" (Dan just chimed in saying that he thought I was being misleading, but I attempted - yes, ATTEMPTED - this race ONE TIME and it was ICE and SNOW and MISERY!!) Anyhow, he did great - finished in 2 hours and 23 minutes. I believe he would even agree that he did well...and had plenty of brew to celebrate the fact which returned him home in a worthless state...but, I'm happy he did well and had a great time :)

So, now I would say we are both in a dormant state... I think it's appropriate for the winter season. Our weather here has finally turned. I did appreciate the late tease of 70 degree weather last week, however, I think that was truly the last of the 'nice' weather for quite awhile. Today was still nice enough to bundle up Addison and walk to the Wilcox Park where Ruby could play fetch and Addison could giggle on the swing. It seems like the swings are currently her favorite playground activity. I usually try to encourage her to be social and play in the little fort-type play area with the slides etc, but tonight she took one ride down the slide and left me for the swings. Luckily for me, she still needs a push!

Autumn Adventure

September.

Well, it has been busy as usual! There has been a lot to blog about since our last post. Dan didn't mention that I turned 30 this July. I’m not sure whether I should view it as thoughtfulness or maybe that was just so that I wouldn't mention that he turned 39 in August! It shouldn't really bother him though, he ages well and you'd never guess he was 39 by the way he acts. I'm dreading the day we meet new friends and, when finding out that we're 9 years apart, they assume I'm the older of the two. (I know it will happen some day) For now, I'll say that 30 is just fine ;)

Addison is busy, busy, busy - she's running and climbing on everything. She's got quite the vocabulary - some of it we understand and some of it is still baffling. I know there are definitely words she says for some things but whatever her word is for it, it isn't the same as mine! I’m wondering if I’ll ever acquire that mommy trait of toddler translation.

We had some visitors in September - my parents and my younger sister, Emily, visited. They were here for about 10 days and it was great to have them around! We managed to get out (in between days of rain...) and took Addison to the zoo for her first time. She just LOVED the penguins. She squealed and giggled watching them swim around and dive under the water. She liked them so much; she kept trying to pull herself over the wall into the tank! She's quite strong for being only 24 lbs.
We also made a trip to Robinette’s apple orchards. We took a walk through the orchards there and stopped inside for some cider and doughnuts.

Also, Emily joined Dan and I in doing the Reed's Lake Triathlon this year - it was her first triathlon and she did great! In fact, we all did quite well. I was so excited to have her there - I thought it was a lot of fun, I hope she did too, despite being exhausted later that day ;) This was Dan's 10th consecutive year doing the triathlon - a goal he set a long time ago....good job, honey!

Other than these items, we have been busy fixing up our rental house. We are fairly certain we'll be selling it soon, even though it's a lovely little home. Dan spent a good amount of time fixing, painting and cleaning the house to get it ready to sell. We have some friends moving into it this weekend - they sold their home a couple months ago and have not yet found their new residence, so it works well to have them move in for awhile. Plus, it will be nice for us to have friends next door (again) and Addison will have some playmates! We’ll have to wait and see if Ruby enjoys the new neighbors…but I think she’ll have fun playing with the girls too.

It's been a busy Summer

I just noticed that it’s been a month since we made an entry. Man how time flies by. In the past month Michelle and I were both busy with helping organize on Millennium Triathlon on August 9th. I was the Run course coordinator and she managed registration pick up and coordinated volunteers. All of the proceeds are going to charity. The books have yet to be balanced, so I can't officially say how much is going to charity but I'm sure there will be some checks written and they should make a difference. An announcement should be on the website in the next couple weeks.

This past weekend I took part in the Pando 6/12 hour challenge. It’s a mountain bike race at Pando Ski Resort in located in Rockford, MI. There were two events, a 6 hour race and a 12 hour race. Participants can sign up as a 4 person relay team, a 2 person relay team or as a solo. My friend Jim and I registered into the 6 hour event as a 2 person team. We were satisfied with our results: we got forth out of five teams in our category, which does not seem that great, but we were less than 15 minutes behind first place after six hours, and only 2.5 minutes behind third place which would have gotten us on the podium, so we were happy with that considering that we did not train for the event (heck, Jim had not been on his mountain bike since last November, and I have only been on mine a hand full of times this year). It was hard, I can't imagine how it would be for solo rider. Some people just amaze me.

Addison is just so much fun these days. She going everywhere and getting into everything. She says “hi” to everyone, and lately she’s been saying “dank coo” quite frequently, which means thank you. There are a bunch of photos on the camera waiting to be uploaded to flickr, so hopefully we get to that this weekend, but with a church group meeting on Friday, a pool party on Saturday, a house warming party on Saturday evening, and a possible triathlon on Sunday I’m not making any promises.

The big ONE!

It is simply unreal to me that Addison is 1 already. Yet, looking back, it's also unreal to think about the leaps and bounds she has made in one short year. We love our little "peanut" or, (as Dan sometimes calls her) "peanut cake" - because she outgrew peanut status so fast and was more like a pound cake ;)

Addison was quite the trooper on her birthday. She napped before the party and woke up just as guests were beginning to arrive - she was her giddy, rambunctious self for most of the afternoon.

She got to play with her little boyfriend, Finnegan, and although she wasn't quite into the opening of gifts, she sure loves them all now! And, of course, there was cake...and ice cream.

We have some more pictures of her 1st birthday in the flickr account, please check them out.

Look out World, here comes Addison

11-1/2 months and walking. She started last Wednesday, July 2nd. She probably be running two weeks from now on her birthday.

Up into Thin Air

We're back from the family reunion in Colorado. Michelle’s mother’s side of family gathered in Estes Park Colorado last week. The attendance was perfect. Michelle’s grandma, all of her children and there spouses, all of the grand children and their spouses, and all of the great grand children made it to the family gathering for photo’s and a few BBQ’s the week of June 15th through the 21st. (Not everyone was there every day but they were all there at some time or another and everyone was there for photos on Tuesday the 17th).

We drove from Michigan; we left home around 9a.m. on Saturday the 14th. Since there was a 10+ month child in the car we attempted to not set any big goals for making good time on the road. Which worked out well since interstate 80 was closed due to flooding near Cedar Rapids Iowa. We decided to take the Iowa Department of Transportation recommended 120 mile detour rather than risk the outcome of trying to find our own way through the country-side. Needless to say this was a set back, but we still made it to Des Moines Iowa around 8 p.m. Saturday. We felt that was pretty good considering we had to stop for gas, diaper changes, a couple meals, and time let the tot get out and about.

Sunday Morning Addison woke up bright and early (as always) and we packed the car back up, had breakfast and were on the rode again at 7 a.m. local time. We stopped a few times in Nebraska that after noon, had a 2+ hour stop at a Ruby Tuesday’s (service was horrible – maybe because it was fathers day, I don’t know) but from there we put on the push and made it to Boulder around 8 p.m.

I got up early Monday morning and found a car wash to wash the bugs off the car. When I got back we had breakfast then loaded Addison into the chariot and towed her behind our bikes around Boulder. We Went to Performance Bike , REI , Boulder Running Company , Playfair Toys , and then we went to Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli for some lunch. After lunch went next door to Farfel's Farm and then we wandered over to University Bikes to see what they had. Once we were all packed up and ready to head out of town we found a few more minutes to go to Folsom Street Coffee and acquire a couple beverages for the road. It was right about then that Michelle’s parents and sister Emily came into Boulder from California and we followed them into Estes Park to the Condo.

We unpacked Monday night Tuesday was family photos and a cook out.

Not much happened on Wednesday, then on Thursday I hit the road early on my bike and rode into Rocky Mountain National Park. I rode up Trail Ridge road for a little over an hour then turned and headed back to the condo, the ride back only took about 25 minutes since it was all down hill, and I had time to stop and take a couple photos like this, this,and this. I was back in time for Breakfast (French toast). Then we all packed in the cars and headed back into the park for some hiking (click here for another photo of the girls hiking) and a little picnic. Then Michelle’s dad, brother-in-law and nephew did some fishing. After that Michelle, her sister Emily, and their dad hopped onto their bikes and rode back to the condo while the rest of us drove back in the cars.

Friday morning Michelle’s parents wanted some time with their grand daughter, so we took advantage of the opportunity to take on a little adventure ourselves. We had Michelle's sister Emily drop us off at the bottom of Old Fall River Road Old Fall River Road. We rode our bikes to the Alpine Visitior’s center and then rode Trail ridge Road back to the Condo in Estes Park . I’ve completed several 35-40 mile bike rides before but this one was definitely the toughest to date. We got a few good photos though. Bighorn Sheep view from about 1/3 the way up At the visitors center Michelle in the snow.

Saturday and Sunday we traveled home. Addison was a good little traveler, she had some fussy phases. I think she was running low on patience the last few hours. She was essentially hysterical the last 20 minutes of the trip, but a big smile appeared on her face when we pulled into the driveway. I was surprised she could recognize that we were home.

Oh, and for the record, Addison is not walking yet. I think she can walk, but she doesn’t know that she can. She always wants the stability of holding onto something. It will just happen when she’s not expecting it.