Austin Weekend

As usual, we are way behind in our blog posts and what follows is a weak attempt at catching up...

Me and the girls headed to Austin in early June for cousin Pete's wedding. We made it a long weekend so we could visit with Uncle Dave and hang out with family and friends. It was a full weekend and is amazing to think how much we crammed in: the non-rehearsal rehearsal dinner, a visit with the Marrs family, creek time, Rudy's, the wedding, a hike, Rudy's, park time, and a super fun day at Mike and Laurel's. We had so much fun Madeleine didn't want to leave Texas. Shoot, even the 4 flights to get there and back went well!

I think I took 500+ pics that weekend. Trying to pick out just a few was a pain, but here you go...

Erin & Hadley at the Non-Rehearsal Rehearsal Dinner:



Madeleine & Georgia:



Breakfast at Uncle Dave's. Maybe someday he will have a table to eat on that is intended for something other than coffee (or Natty Lights):



Partaking in Uncle Dave's favorite activity - playing in one of the creeks near his place:



Rocks!:



Pete & Kejda:



Making silly faces with Uncle Dave:



Dancing with Dad:



Madeleine & Dad:



The spectators at Mike and Laurel's:



Owen's first time on skis!:



Mike & Laurel's new place:



Conditions don't get much better than this:



Not even 3 years old and tubing with Dad:



Dad trying to remember how to wakeboard:



Believe it or not, Hadley climbed right on and tried to fire it up!:



Of course, Madeleine had to follow:



Apres (water)ski at Pancho & Lefty's:



This lovely ride was in the parking lot. Replace the Keystone Light with Natty Light and paint it white and it could have been Dave's:



Family pics:



More family pics:



G marking her turf:



Rockstar Madeleine:

Catching Up

I am going to try and post some updates tonight and tomorrow night of our recent good times. I'll start tonight with a few things leading up to this past weekend and save the recent weekend's adventures for tomorrow night.

A couple weekends ago I had a dumpster delivered and ripped the deck and poorly built retaining wall off the back of our house. The deck came down suprisingly quick, thanks in part to my Dad's help shuttling loads to the dumpster. Two Husqvarna chainsaws and 4 chains helped out the process quite a bit too. I ended up using a vacation day on the Monday after just to tidy things up.

I used another vacation day that Wednesday. But this day was for me, not housework, and had me meeting Paul, Bob, and Scott at the 141/44 lot early in the morning (and Kevin at the trailhead) for a full day trip to Council Bluff Lake to ride the Middlefork section of the Ozark Trail. I'm embarassed to admit it, but this was my first trip to the Middlefork. This section of the OT has been receiving a lot of attention from the local mtb scene recently, and while I can't say I have ridden the OT extensively, I can say that I have ridden an extensive number of mountain bike trails throughout the country. That said, the Middlefork was awesome! We left from the boat tramp and accessed the MF via the connector, riding an out-back for a total of 35 miles and over 3000 feet of climbing. Unlike some of the other nearby trails, I couldn't believe the overall condition (great!) of the MF and its lack of rocks. Smooth and fast describe this trail. No doubt I am headed back. Of course, the trail itself was only part of the fun. Taking a vacation day mid-week and spending it with friends was pretty good too. Work has been busy recently, but I think I need more days like this. My college used to have "Wonderful Wednesdays," which originally (pre-me) meant no classes and essentially lots of drinking, but during my time still generally meant music and beer. I'd be fine with having these type of Wednesdays more often, keeping the beer but sub'ing the music for bike riding.

While the Middlefork was great, it wasn't the only riding that week. On Saturday, Erin and I rode from our house over to Grant's Trail, then all the way to the end and back home for just over 20 miles. This was good pre-triathlon training for her, and with 2 kids in a trailer, a pretty good workout for me too. Then on Sunday I followed up the mtb and trailer rides with a road ride, heading west to Wildwood's hills and back for 65 miles. Coincidentally (?), each ride this week was my longest year-to-date for each bike: 35 on the Superfly on Wednesday, 20 on the Karate Monkey with trailer on Saturday, and 65 on the Giant on Sunday. Hopefully these rides will keep me from blowing up at the next mtb race...

Deck before:



Deck during:



Deck after:



Middlefork before... Geezer showing Bob the love:



Middlefork during... break time:



More Middlefork during... Kevin in the burnt out section near the end:



Middlefork after... "Now how do I fit this here?":



Grant's Trail before... well, at the beginning of the trail:



Grant's Trail during... at least they're awake now:



Grant's Trail after... after at least the first half (10+ miles):

This Weekend

I'm enjoying a few minutes downtime while Hadley naps and Madeleine "rests". Summer has definitely arrived and the girls and I have been enjoying it while Jim works on our backyard project. We met my friend and her daughter at the Botanical Gardens yesterday morning. All the girls enjoyed the Children's Garden. Today, we went to the zoo with my mom. Per Madeleine's request we checked out the zebras and giraffes first. Next we rode the train and the carousel. It was a fun morning.

At the Children's Garden... sporting her gold medal from Field Day on Wednesday
All the kiddos... couldn't get everyone looking
Still can't get Hadley to look at me!
On the train at the Zoo
Madeleine petting the "Sea Lions" - we rented a sea lion movie from the library and she was excited to see them.

April Update

April has flown by. We have really enjoyed the mostly nice weather. Madeleine and Hadley are really starting to play together. One of their favorite activities is to walk around the house carrying purses. Madeleine pretends she is going shopping, to kindergarten or a meeting. And Hadley follows her saying "Bye, Bye." Madeleine has also learned how to pedal her tricycle. She can really get it going... not good in our very short driveway! It has been a fun month. Here are some recent pictures.

Easter

Hadley proudly sporting the Jackson Hole " I Love Big Dumps" Onesie
"Bye Bye"
Playing together
Making cupcakes... what Madeleine wanted to do on a rainy Sunday
I finally gave up on putting them back up on the shelf in height order

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning we went to an Easter Egg Hunt with one of Madeleine's friends from school. After lots of anticipation it was over in about 30 seconds. They had fun though and afterwards we enjoyed a walk around the park's lake and the playground.

Getting ready... everyone lined up around the rope and ducked under when they said go.

Madeleine was very upset that her shoes were getting muddy.

Doing the Easter Egg Hunt tiptoe so she doesn't get muddy... this cost her a few eggs.

Fishing, Biking, Hiking, and More

Lots and lots to talk about since the last post. Makes my fingers numb just thinking about it. So I'll get right on to pics. They're more fun anyways.

In February, Hadley discovered a new way to play. And Madeleine followed:



I had an overnight in Columbia in early March and decided to try and take the Katy connector to the Katy and get in some serious mileage. I had the KM with cross tires, lights, a Camelbak and more and was all geeked up for a long and late ride. ~4 miles in I ran into this. I tried riding through some neighborhoods to reconnect 2 bridges later, but got lost. So back to the truck and off to Flat Branch I was:



Tutu's and hiking shoes. A good look for sure:



Fun times at home:



St. Patrick day outfits and pre-school good times:



In early March, we headed to the Mill with Jim, Patty, and Connor. Gracie and Madeleine helped me try and catch fish, but no luck. I wrote it off as a little too early:



Hadley hanging out:



Madeleine giving Patty a good scare:



Connor and Jim checking out the damn:



Hadley's first bike ride ever! Madeleine telling her how much fun she was about to have:



On our way down Grant's Trail:



Mom on her first bike ride... in at least a year!:



Hadley loved the horses:



More horses:



St. Joe's, first MTB race of the season. Having not ridden much and afraid to take on 3 Expert laps, I entered SS class thinking "race to train." This wasn't a bad idea. Conditions sucked. Here's the aftermath:



This past Saturday we decided to head down to the St. Francois river to check out the MO Whitewater Champioships. We decided this was a good idea around 9:00 and were out of the house shortly after. It was a good idea, as the weather south of STL was beautiful.

Getting ready to head down to the river:



On the overlook with Madeleine:



Throwing rocks with Dad, Madeleine's favorite river activity:



Hadley and Mom back at the overlook:



Running back to the car:



Tree hugger: