Sophie's 2nd Birthday

Our little baby is two years old..

a few highlight pictures from her birthday party

Sophie and Momma


Chasing Ayla for the shot


Blowing out Candles


I think she likes her presents


Where's Daddy? Taking the pictures


Vincent showed us that he is part fish






Sophie and Daddy


The cool girl


Ayla abusing Andy and his daughter Justin(the girls regular babysitter)


Uncle J and the V dog


Ayla showing us some Balloon Sha Fu


see the rest here

Month of Transitions

August has always been a month of change and this month in 2009 seems to be out most challenging yet! Where shall I start.....?

1. Jeremy has decided to leave Whirlpool, for a variety of reasons, but is quite looking forward to getting back on the road with Best Service Company out of Denver. I figure its a good thing when the boss man says he likes "the warm fuzzies" and doesn't like his guys to work longer than 8-9 hours. So, fingers crossed that all goes well!

2. Ayla starts school this month! All this past week, she spent the days at her school for Summer Camp - which she LOVED! She was overwhelmed a bit, but really grew into her own independence quickly. I was SO proud of her when she hung her backpack up, gave me a hug, and happily called out "bye mom" as she ran into her class. Sob.... Anyways, the next few weeks will be filled with orientations, open houses, meeting teachers, registration, getting supplies, paying tuition, phase-in day, and finally FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL on Aug 18!!! WOW!

3. Our lease is up on our current rotten apartment so after much thought, we have decided to give up house hunting and find a new rental. And we found a GREAT one! Quiet, semi-secluded, and huge - a town home about 5-10 minutes down the road from where we currently live. :) Moving is set for the weekend of the 15th of this month! Geez - as if I didn't already have enough on my plate! Again, wish us luck ... that I get out of August with a still somewhat sane mind. Haha!

4. Sophie has her birthday on the 10th, too! You, of course, are all invited to her cupcake social by the pool on the 9th. :) Just something simple with lots of sugar. I don't even know what I am getting her yet.... bleh! She has a whole closet of clothes arriving soon from a friend of mine, so she is not in need of anymore. I think I might be getting her some Lego's or something... But, my sweet baby is turning 2!! She is talking constantly (although, it is still words that only mama and Ayla can understand). She didn't quite know what to do with herself while Ayla was in summer camp. The first day we dropped A off, Sophie flipped out on the way back to the car, screaming and looking back for "OOoooooola!!!!!" Poor thing. She settled in quite well and was a model child when Ayla wasn't home. HAhahaha!

5. My little knitting/design biz has slowed down a bit with orders, but it has given me more time to get design work done. I have lofty goals of getting a sock design book ready for publishing by next year, so that has sort of consumed me lately. I also have a big themed stocking with my TLC group set for Aug 18 that I have been getting ready for - I've made felted bowls, baby socks, a lace scarf pattern, a tee pattern for kids with hearts on it, and I will be stocking some sock spots. Here's what my to-do list looks like for today (just with my biz) - sew heart tee, felt bowl set, finish writing scarf pattern, sketch out design for skull tank top, and finish knitting my "Bitches" sock for book.

Ok, I think that is the gist of everything major. LOL Keep an eye out for an email/snail mail address change note. :) We love you all!

First day of summer camp....

Summiting a 14er

Well, I cheated. Yesterday I took Ayla and Sophie and drove the highest road in America, the Mt Evans Scenic Tollway. Tabetha was out of town for a Yoga retreat and I had the little ones. I considered taking the singlespeed, putting the girls in the trailer and try dragging and yanking them up the mountain. Thing is though Ayla has just about outgrown our trailer, the girls squabble alot in the trailer, and I just felt like being a lazy goat this weekend so I left the bike alone.



My Sweet Sophie at Lube's Bar-B-Q the day before.



Ayla playing in one of the few snow patches remaining on Mt Evans. Funny thing while only a few patches remain here at 14,000 ft...there are still plenty of mountains below 12,000 ft that have snow cornices over 10 ft tall.



From the tippity top. The top of Mt Evans is somewhere around 130 feet higher then the parking area and 1/4 mile up. I strapped Sophie to my back and Ayla refused to budge saying she'd rather ride my shoulders. I don't think either one enjoyed this as much as I did.



That is until the mountain goats started showing themselves.







Looking West towards Guanella Pass

Just as we were getting ready to leave I saw a familar face, Eddie Odea ride up on his bike being led by his teammate, Yuki Saito. Eddie is an old friend from the east coast and he still lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife, Namrita. Both of us were blown away by the chance encouter and quickly made plans to meet at a local Microbrew near Denver to catch up.



After leaving Mt Evans I made the drive over to the base of Jones Pass to do some scouting for the big ride next weekend. The view of the top of the pass did not look very promising with what appeared to be 10 ft snow cornices hanging from the ridge but seems JJonas was up there the day before doing a scouting mission of his own and says it should be good to go.


Photo by Jim Jonas...Top of Jones Pass. Jim rode to the top of Jones Pass, Made his way down Herman Gulch and tried to Summit Grey's Peak only to be turned around by a no bikes sign...Good thing my route takes us away from Grey's onto the legal Bard's Creek.

Father's Day

Morning over Lakewood


Sunday, Tabetha and the girls took me to Glenwood Springs for Father's Day. The drive through Glenwood Canyon is always a treat.

We drove around the Springs for a bit and stopped at a park to let the girls stretch their legs and get out some restless energy







Then we headed to the walking district and found a cool little Cafe to have a early lunch that I guess you would call a brunch since we all had breakfast foods.

A short drive later and we were hiking up the mountain



to see Doc Holiday's Grave



seems this is just a marker in the graveyard. All the locals agree he is buried here, just where, is unknown



Back to Glenwood Canyon to hike Hanging Lake Trail



the trail started out easy enough



But soon it turned into its kamikaze evil cousin



the girls were troopers though



and the views were worth the effort





Ayla boulder hopping



Alya and Alvin....notice the Chipmunk?





We ended up stopping short of Hanging Lake. It was getting late and I think the ladies had enough adventure for one day. I hope all you fathers out there enjoyed your day as much I did.

The Month of May

Wow! Where did the past two months go of no posting? Tabetha and I have been so busy with the girls, each other, and starting our new blogs that we've neglected this one horribly.

Tabetha's new sock knitting business has taken off quite well and she has been working on several of her own designs. Check out her new blog for all the latest and greatest in the sock world.
I've had many Mountain bike adventures and decided to start my own blog chronicling them.

Look close and you'll see me on the right




For Mother's day I gave Tabetha a treat that she has been wishing for....A night away from the girls. I put her up in the Table Mountain Inn, got a babysitter for the girls and met her for dinner and a stroll around Golden. Then I went back home to the girls and she got to a have a peaceful night on her own and sleep in on Sunday. Sunday the girls and I met her for Lunch and then we went to Hertitage Square.









Last weekend we took the girls to Georgetown, Colorado for Trains Day and a ride on the Historical narrow gauge railroad



Sophie and Momma in a moment of saying "Cheese".



from 100 ft above Clear Creek


My friend Kevin rides under the spot from where the photo above was taken..Georgetown just happens to have some great mountain biking as well.



On my birthday...Ayla and I went for a 10 mile spin at Bear Creek Lake Park. I believe this is her longest ride yet





Then the whole family along with Jennifer and Vincent took me to Beaujo's Pizza in Idaho Springs











Dodging storms during yesterday's ride



We'll try to be better about posting for the month of June.