Birthday Chatter

Caitin's been anticipating her birthday now for more than a month. The excitement began to build when she went to a friend's birthday party earlier this summer. She has been pretending to wrap presents for about three weeks. She'll put some of her toys in a box and bring them to us so we can give them to her as presents. It has been the focus of almost every conversation she has for the past two weeks. Last night Aunt Tracy called and talked to Caitin, and here is a little snippet (with liberty, cause we were laughing too much to hear all of Tracy's words):

T: "Happy Birthday!"
C: "Thanks"
T: "Did you have a good birthday?"
C: "Yes, we went out for dinner. We went to Red Robin! I'm going to have a party. We'd like to invite you to my party on Saturday. Will you come to my party?"
T: "It's a long ways...I can't..."
C: "I'm sure you can make it. I'm sure you can make it to my party."
T: "Maybe you could come to my house. Why don't you ask your parents if you can come to my house and visit?"
C: "Yeah, but it would be a looooong drive in the car!"

Thanks for calling Tracy!

After the phone call, Caitin told us we need to drive to Aunt Tracy's house to give her an invitation. Well, better get moving...

A Dollar-Store Special

Who would dare wrestle those things off of her for bed-time?

Face Painting

At a block party on our street last month, some girls were doing face paintings, and Caitin wanted one. After all we do to tell them not to get paint or markers or anything on them, we allowed this, and look how Jamie reacted...

But everything Caitin does, Jamie does too! She sat sooooo still and just looked straight forward the whole time.
After the party Sarah gave them a quick moment to admire the artwork before she gave each a thorough scrubbing with a washcloth. But don't think Sarah's mean. It was bed time. I mean, what would you do?

6:26:26

The Tour des Lacs was this weekend. It was a sweet ride. Ryan drove up from Boise to do it with me. Good company.

About 10 minutes into the ride I thought to myself, "I should tell Ryan I plan to complete this 100 mile ride under 6 hours and 30 minutes." But alas he was nowhere to be seen, let alone talked to, as we climbed Spokane's 'South Hill'. So I kept climbing. I passed no less than 50 people up that hill. I wasn't racing...I just felt great! (Although I did receive insidious pleasure in overtaking each and every person who appeared to be suffering). I waited for Ryan at the top and we rode on. That became the pattern for the day.

You see, Ryan started training in July. I started training in February. It makes a difference. Two years ago we did this ride together, and he was in better fitness than I was. He dropped me on the hills. I never felt anymosity...I promise!

Did I ever tell him I wanted to finish in less than 6 1/2 hours? Not until about mile 60. What I DID tell him (more than once) was, "Sorry about pushing the pace there. We'll take it easy on the next leg." It seemed like every time we slowed to what felt reasonable I would slowly (and unintentionally) bring the pace back up.

At least one time I could blame Ryan, though, because he was telling a story about how much he loves his boss...and his emotions played into his legs pushing those pedals. We were really cruising over that section!

After mile 60 I felt fatigued, but certainly not cooked. It's a good thing, because that is where the biggest climb is. We hit the bottom of that hill with some trepidation but Ryan said, "See you at the top," and off I went without him...in my lowest gear. Holding 10 mph I looked back once to see Ryan about 50 yards back and about 3 other riders in various stages of passing him. I expected to be overtaken at any moment. I pedaled sitting for as long as I could stand it, then standing for as long as I could handle it, and then sitting for as long as I could push it...back and forth. About 150 yards from the top a fellow finally passed me and said "Way to go!" He pulled in front of me and let me hang in his slipstream until I cracked. I slogged the last bit to the top and barely caught my breath before Ryan pulled up.

As we came into Couer d'Alene I was watching my odometer waiting for it to roll over to 100 miles and fretting that I might have to ride a little farther. (There is no way I was going to ride ALMOST 100 miles.) Sarah and the girls drove over to pick us up, and she couldn't have planned it better...as I pulled into the parking lot I was at 99.95 miles. I watched it tick up until I reached the truck where it hit 100.00 exactly. My saddle time was 6 hours 26 minutes and 26 seconds. Sweet!

The girls were all cheering as we pulled in and it was a glorious moment! Seriously, what a great feeling! We loaded the bikes and got in the truck just as it started to downpour. Like I said, good planning. When I put my helment and shoes in the back of the truck, Sarah pointed out that they would get wet. I said, "That doesn't matter, I'm done for the year." Which is mostly true, but not really.

Movin' up!

Alright, since we've successfully made the cousins want one soooooo bad...here's some pics/vids of Caitin's early B-day present:
Jamie isn't the biggest fan, but she had to try it out:



And here's one of Caitin.

(I don't know why my archiving site doesn't give the emedment code sometimes.)

Ni-Nah!

Cycling Achievements

This year I started cycling in February for these reasons:

1. I wanted to alleviate various aches and pains in my knees by strengthening them.
2. I wanted to do a long ride or two.
3. I wanted to feel more healthy.
4. I wanted to commute to work by bike.

So far, here are the results of these goals:

1. My knees gained strength within about a month. Little to no knee pain now.
2. I have already ridden one century ride, and look forward to the Tour des Lacs later this month. The initial goal was to do the Seattle to Portland ride, but my riding partner who lives in another state came into some conflicts, so...based on us both being only partially committed to the ride anyway...we dropped out. BUT the Tour des Lacs starts right here in Spokane, and is a better fit for everyone involved. (Because a big ride definitely involves more very strong people -namely our wives- than just the riders themselves...on more than just the day of the ride!)
3. Coming out of the winter holidays I was easily holding 215 pounds, and I just felt gross. I impulsively ate whatever was presented, and I snacked hourly...it seemed. When I first began riding I gained a greater appetite, but soon I realized that I would not fully benefit from the early morning rides unless I gained control of my eating habits. I stopped negating the workout benefit, and within a couple of months, I was down to 200 pounds. That's when we began summer gardening and home projects, and my cycling cut back a bit, but I continued to drop to 190 pounds, and have hovered between 190 and 195 all summer.
Now I'm ramping back up for the next big ride. I'm again having to cut back those eating impulses, and I'm putting more time in the saddle. I love it. It takes some planning to put in longer rides, but I feel amazing during and after the rides.
4. Here's my commute history: In April I commuted 1 day. In May-11 days; June-13 days; and July-10 days. This was fairly good success, but I couldn't manage to ride a full week straight. BUT in AUGUST, I commuted by bike every day I worked! (I just looked at the record, and it's amazing to me that I only worked 16 days in August.) I've had occasional mechanical problems on my bikes, but the key was having multiple bikes (see honey, I do need them all!). September is shaping up pretty well also.

One final benefit of cycling: When I flex my quads, my kneecap and interior quad muscle make a crease as they fight for space, which looks really cool!

Oh yeah, there has been one con from all this: I've had to purchase more cycling clothing to cut down on laundering. (But maybe that's not a con!)