Emily Gymnastics Skills Meet 2009

Tucker's first violin recital

Tuck has been taking violin lessons for about 3 months and today was his first recital. He is naturally shy and overcame mountains of anxiety to perform in front of the crowd. Bravo!

Happy Holidays

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Best fishing day ever

For Tucker's seventh birthday, his Grandma Carol gave him (and me) half day guided fly fishing trip. Our guide, Natalie, took us from neophytes to neophytes catching fish in about 10 minutes. This scenes on this video are from the Crystal River in Carbondale, CO.

Tour De Bonk Postgame

Thanks to everyone who came out for the bonk. Stay tuned for details of next year's TDB.... If you're looking for a good ride this summer, check out Jackson's Ride The Gorge. http://www.jacksonsridethegorge.org/

Here's the TDB movie.

Tour De Bonk May 9

Break out the granny gear, unpack your suitcase of courage and brace yourself for the Tour De Bonk. This is Rob O's annual birthday ride, but since 2009 marks #40, the ride dishes out extra helpings of agony. There are 4 routes, each expanding on the previous. If the full Tour De Bonk seems like too much to digest, you might be interested in one of the other options. Everyone will start together at Healy Heights Park at 0900 on Saturday May 9. The full ride will probably be around 5hrs. There will be a water stop about halfway through and will be available to all but the lite loop.

This is not a an organized ride and is self supported except for the hose in my buddy Tom's back yard to refill your Camelbak. In lieu of a present (which would be too big to put in your cycling jersey anyway, but thanks for the thought) consider a donation to the NW Sarcoma Foundation http://www.nwsarcoma.org/. This is a great organization based right here in Portland that gives direct help to people and families dealing with sarcoma. If you want to make an impact on someone's life who lives in your community, check out the site and toss in a few nickles. Put "Tour De Bonk" in the 'additional comment' section on the donation page so we can see how much we are giving back while having fun ourselves. Feel free to pass this on to your friends. The more the merrier.

Here are the routes

Tour De Bonk

A festival of pain hitting all the high points on Skyline and the some. Old Germantown, Rock Creek, Logie Trail, Springville, Pittock Mansion, Vista/Montgomery to Council Crest are some of the highlights. This route is 65 miles and about 6k of climbing.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/777842701805

Tour De Bonk Varsity

57 miles. 4600 feet of climbing. Excludes Springville, Pittock, Vista.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/736331457569

TDB Junior Varsity

Varsity minus Logie Trail. 44 miles. 3.2 k climbing

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/301030488516

TDB Lite Loop

Junior Varsity minus Rock Creek

26 miles

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/639877783357

The new puppy

Last Saturday we went to the kids' school auction and came home with a dog. We didn't think we were going to come home with a dog, but there he was at the end of the night, sitting in the back seat of our car. The first night was a bit awkward. We arrived home at 10pm completely unprepared for a puppy. I'm not sure who was more in shock, us or him.

We named him Gryffindor after the Harry Potter books but the kids shortened it to Griffin by the next morning, and there it was. Griffin. 

The first few days were a bit rocky. He seemed to prefer pissing inside the house. We played for most of the time outside but he would periodically sneak inside to pee on the floor and come back out to play. By day 3 of this I was at wit's end (to say the least). Things are getting better now as everyone is adjusting and urinating in their assigned locations. 

The kids are stoked beyond belief.

The yellow dog at the end of the video below belongs to our neighbors and was brought in as a sparring partner.