Front tooth number 2!

Now try to whistle!
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Pickle time!

We are visiting the new burger joint in Duvall today for lunch. The girls are already big fans of the milkshakes! The place is packed and the reviews are solid so we are expecting great things!
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SnowDog!

A couple of weeks back, on the 2nd of December to be exact, we had some snow. Wet soggy, mucky cold snow (of course I went for a mountain bike ride in it, but thats not the point) When the girls got up and saw the magical white stuff on the ground (even though in this case it was mostly a soggy wet mess and not very magical at all) they scooted into their gear and headed outside for an hour of play. They could have stayed out longer if they had wetsuits on instead of snowsuits.

Regardless of the type of snow - Lucy was in heaven! A very very happy snow dog.

My favorite food

I love food, all kinds of food, but if you forced me to pick a favorite? Cold roastbeef, cheddar, horseraddish and romaine on old fashioned white bread. Not deli roastbeef either, thick slabs of leftover potroast. I love the sandwich, the blend of flavors and textures, the handy packaging, the creativity. So tasty!

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End of an era

Kati's Christmas program is tonight
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After Santa comes icecream

Olivia: cotton candy with gummy bears and koolaide crunchies

Kati: sweet cream with white chocolate chips and sprinkles

Daddy: dark chocolate peppermint in a creation called "after dinner mint" I'm sure its calorie free!
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In line to see Santa!

Olivia wants a Password Journal

Kati is going back and forth between Highschool Musical figures and an Island Princess dress.

We'll see what Santa has to say!
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Flubbers!!!

I was printing some pictures from the past year and ran across these few video gems shot this past summer. We were in Lewiston along with the Lunds and apparently got into a bit of a flubber competition - the results are included for your enjoyment!

Around the lake? its 35 degrees!

So, I nearly froze myself riding home with my buddy Steve last Monday after work. The ride in is the easy part - the bus does the heavy lifting - all I have to do is mange to get from the stadium to the office without getting any grease on my pants. Easier said than done if you chat with my wife. At a quarter to four Steve and I donned our gear, fired up our headlights and headed north to grab the trail in Freemont. I had my gloves, jacket, booties and tights - the only thing I was missing was a headband for my ears, but at 40 degrees I was just fine. Unfortunately the sun goes down quickly in Seattle in December AND apparently the great glowing orb still heats the earth, even this time of year. At 5:10 Steve pulled off at Wayne golf course and I was left to forge on alone the remaining 10 miles. I was starting to lag a bit but didn't give it much thought, Steve rides every day so I really shouldn't be able to keep up with him. Well, the lagging turned quickly into sagging and blossomed into a full fledged delirium filled bonk. I was smoked, and beginning to realize that being soaked to the core with sweat when its 35 degrees out isn't too bad when your rolling along and generating more heat - its a different thing entirely when you can't keep up a pace. I was getting colder, slower and fuzzier as each mile passed. Not a good situation - a real smart guy would have strolled into the first Starbucks available (there are dozens just off the trail) called his wife and accepted his fate. If you're reading this blog however, you would never mistake me for a smart guy. I have ridden those 10 miles dozens and dozens of times, so to keep my mind occupied I set little goals for myself; make it to the park, make it to the brewery, make it to the bridge. Roughly an hour later I rolled in to the parking lot chilled to bone and thankful I didn't have to ride any further. When I arrived home Audra said I was still blue - and thats after 30minutes of driving with the heat on full blast. She plied me with tea, the girls gave me blankets and slowly (45 minutes for my fingers 90 minutes for my toes) the tingling began.

What did I learn from all this - well nothing I didn't know before really but failed miserably in following. Dress warm, dress in layers, wear a hat on your bald head and for pete's sake, wear a shell the breathes! Oh - eat something before hand and always always have a snack in your backpack for those bonking emergencies. If you don't, you may find yourself alone in the dark, getting colder, getting slower and wishing you had done all of the above.


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All I want for Christmas

Is my one front tooth! Olivia lost a front tooth last week and is wiggling the other. For those of you keeping track, the tooth fairy drops a fiver now a days (at least when she remembers, but that's another story)
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Halloween Fun

Thing 1 and Thing 2 were loose on Halloween here in Duvall.
The Cat did make sure those things were nice things.


Thing 1 and Thing 2 were a great hit.

Wunc upon a time

Olivia got an idea for a story last night, grabbed pencil and paper and went to town. I gave you a taste with the title of this post - but you're going to need to turn on your phonetics. I'm going to copy this story exactly as Olivia wrote it - if you can't figure it out, perhaps you need to find a first grader and spend some quality time with their homework. Enjoy

Wunc upon a time thar was a prinsses and her name was Liliy. She was not like uthr prinssesy. Some prinsses are, shud i say, propr. But not Lily, she loved the outdoors. Liliy did not like frily lase dressis or sporckly dressis. She liketd plan dressis. Liliy was a kind prinsses and she was a jenris prinsses.

Own day a prins came too see Liliy. Wen he go thar Liliy was tocking too her frend Miyu. Miyu is a blue bird Liliy's pet. Lilliy seide, I wte too be frey. I wish I ckud fly seide Liliy. The prinssis name was Tommy. Alot of pepul calld him just Tom. His mom and dad wr queen and kiing. Tom calld them mom and dad.

Liliy and Tommy did not no echuthr becus tha levd acros the oshin but Liliys and Tommys parints wr closfrens. Liliy olso had a step mothr thet tuck car ov Liliy. Own day Liliy and Tommy wr wocking tha wr not looking war tha wr going and tha bumt in too echuthr. Sory tha sed at the same time. Liliy laft and sed wut is your name. Mi name is Tommy wut is your name set Tom with a smill. My name is Liliy. Prity name sed Tommy, thak you sed Liliy. Liliys step mthr wus waching Liliy from her windo. Her stepmuthrs name is Windy. Windy sed she is with a boy and he is a prins, sed Windy. O she is grawndid oll rit. and so wt on and on. And soon tha stortid dading and tha wr owt in the cort yord and Tom gav Liliy a ring. He ast ker to mary him and Liliy sed YES! id love too. Tom sed haw ubat next weck sed tom. OK sed Liliy. Afr he left Liliy sed YES YES YES I am going to mary a prins. So it went on and on until Wensday cam Liliy wus in her dres wen Tom got thar. he sed you look butfull thack you sed Liliy. so then tha maryd. and then Liliy had chilldrin. She had a boy that they named Jim and a girl named Carullin and tha wr tins. So than wr onw two and three foru and five and than tha wr both six and the famlly livd happly evr aftr.


the end.

shoot me an email if you need some translation...

Cowgirl Kati

For the "harvest festival" the kids get to dress up like cowboys and cowgirls, and for some reason when Kati puts on the boots her toes get to tappin. Enjoy the show!

Rain Rain Go Away

Fall has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. It began raining yesterday evening and rained all day today. The forecast doesn't look much better until Thursday when, theoretically, the great glowing orb of life may show itself. I am packing up my rain gear for tomorrow and plan on commuting home from work, rain or shine. I didn't ride on Friday and was pretty disappointed in myself. I had no good reason, but I invented enough. I'll make it up to myself this week by stepping my training back up to where it was the week prior. Get a couple of good rides in and make sure to do my cyclo-core training as well. My folks are coming over on Thursday to see one of Olivia's soccer games and to give Audra and I a chance to spend the night in the City sans kids. I made a reservation downtown at the Renaissance and picked up some tickets to a show at the Triple Door. Its our 14th wedding anniversary tomorrow and we'll celebrate it in style next Saturday. Good times.

GOOOOOOOALLLLLL!

Your going to have to trust me that the grinning, bouncy blond pony tail that scores in the video below is Olivia. Olivia scored twice this evening! The kids were a bit more focused tonight, they lost interest (and the game) toward the end but for a little while they were into it - literally and figuratively. I was much happier with the focus and the effort tonight. It was nice that the rain stayed away as well.

Olivia took the ball along the outside, kicked it to free space and used her wheels to chase it down and drive it home. Later in the game (and me without the camera ready) she took the ball in traffic, dribbled it around the corner and stayed strong through a couple of defenders and scored again. It was pretty to watch.

Austin takes Olivia & Kati for a spin

This past August we had the good fortune to go over to Billings to celebrate my Grandmother's 85th birthday. The girls loved it, especially the part where they got to spend time with their cousin Austin. Its now a month later but they both talk about it like it was yesterday. Olivia even plans on learning how to ski this year so we can go to Reno and ski with Austin. Good stuff.

Kati's first day of School Interview

Kati has a lot to say -

The Diet

I'm getting a bit discouraged. Today I did my Cyclo-Core workout and it was actually more difficult to complete than last week. Here I am thinking I'm getting stronger and that doesn't appear to be the case. Also, my weight has been holding steady at 200lbs - my calories in still appear to be be less than my calories out but that doesn't appear to be affecting the bottom line. I'm going to review my calculator and lower the amount of basal calories I burn. I think I'm going to lay off the heavy meals on days that I ride as well. We'll see how that works over the next week.

Do you commute?

MY COMMUTE

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Mountain bikers are a friendly bunch. When you see someone on a trail
you generally say hello, and perhaps even stop to chat a while, "What
trials have you been on?", "Have you been here before?", "Have a great
ride!" On the road I find it to be a much different story. I commute
from downtown to Redmond once or twice a week and have been conducting
a bit of an experiment. I wave to everyone I pass - nothing fancy, no
cheer squad or fan fare, just the basic, hey how ya doing, head not
and fingers lift off the handlebar. And 9 times out of 10 I get
nothing back. Nothing, nada, zippo - now I don't think I'm doing a
"crazy guy" wave (and I'm not using any specific fingers - although I
may want to read the Larry Craig story more carefully) just a casual
greeting among cyclists. Yesterday was a GORGEOUS day to be commuting
by bicycle, yet damn near all the folks I met didn't appear to be
enjoying it even slightly. So, when YOU'RE on the road do you wave
back?

Soccer

The kids got thumped last night, and it didn't bother them one bit. I asked Olivia about it after the game, her face wrinkled up and she said "Daddy, soccer is just for fun" So I asked her if she had fun? Her face resumed its characteristic grin and said "oh YEAH, I love to play" Makes me wonder - when, where and how do we get our competitive edge? Why do some folks, like me, hate to lose, while other folks (my mom, my wife, my daughter) just seem to be happy playing? I can't remember ever having my Dad harp on me about winning, or doing my best - in my memory it was the opposite as I would fall into a serious funk if our team had lost a game. It was best just to leave me alone for a while so I could cool down and get some perspective. My folks attempted to get me to understand that doing your best was the ultimate prize, and if you won the game.. all the better. Clean solid effort. We learn late that there is always going to be someone faster, stronger, quicker, smarter than ourselves so a kid I thought I should win every game. We didn't and I burned many a weekend sulking. If last night is any indication, I don't think Olivia is going to have that problem. I'm proud of that.

The diet

I want to be faster on my bike. I want to be stronger. I want to be thinner. Not really thin, because that wouldn't be me. I've been called a lot of things in my life but thin has never been one of them. Thinner. Just drop a few pounds the old fashioned way - eat fewer calories than I burn. I'm doing this by taking a more concerted effort to exercise, commuting on my Surly and hitting the trails on one of my mountain bikes as well as doing my cyclo-core workouts. Cyclo-Core is a combination of body weight training and yoga that has been tailored to improve posture, speed and strength for cycling. The three sessions absolutely kill me - and I love it. I'm also counting calories at Fit Day - I got the information on this website from the Fat Cyclist. I started 2 weeks ago at 206 and weighed in Monday morning at 199. My goal is still 15 lbs away - but I don't plan on getting there until the first of the year.

Hike to Lake Dorothy

Back when the weather was still good and hot, I took Olivia and Kati out on a little local hike. We headed up highway 2 to Money Creek Campground and then proceeded to drive a few more miles to the trailhead for Lake Dorothy. The valley we hiked up is Camp Robber Valley, and I think the falls we ended up lunching at, and turning around, were on the aforementioned Money Creek. In any event, the girls decided to explore a bit and Olivia wanted to take the camera. The results are provided below.

Goin to the river!

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