Madison's First Poker Run

This past Sunday we attended the Slow Rollers Bicycle Club's poker run in South Lake Tahoe. It is about an 9.5 mile ride total with 5 stops along the way about every 2 miles or so. You start and finish at the Horizon Casino with stops at Tahoe Hemp Company, Turn 3 Bar, Tudor Pub, and Hot Gossip coffee bar. The money raised is used to buy bikes for less fortunate children.

At the beginning you pay and get a "map" (I use that term loosely) and then at every stop you draw a card. The person with the best hand at the end won a bike. There was also a raffle for a New Belgium Brewing Company bike that we have been drooling over for years.

This is Brent with his own custom designed cruiser with his new iPod speakers. It was pretty cool to have music along the way it added a lot to the already festive atmosphere.

About half way from the start and before the first stop we had to stop for a picture in front of the lake. Madison was so funny since she had no idea what to expect and was anxious asking every time we stopped if this was THE stop.


Our friends the Mosers were there too so it was great to cruise with them and hang out. Our lives have gone in such different directions that we rarely get the chance to do that so it was a special treat. Kristy and Madison had fun too at one point they were cruising along and Madison was looking at Kristy and then looked up and she was headed directly for a pole! Notice the plume of smoke in the background?


That is the Angora fire which started while we were at our first stop of the poker run. We were standing outside (Madison can't go to bars!) the Peanut Bar and it started raining ash on us. Click here for more pictures of the blaze from a local news station.


Madison did real well on the ride and did not get tired until about the third stop, the Tudor Pub. They had a nice grassy area with tables and chairs so we relaxed for a bit. Her skort was too short and so her bare legs were rubbing on her seat. We told her she had monkey butt

.


This is us at the home stretch back to the Horizon for the BBQ. They did the raffle drawing (we did not win) and a slow drag race. Jeff had already loaded he and Kristy's bikes into the truck so he borrowed my Hello Kitty bike and won two flame tires.

It was a great day with beautiful weather (cept the fire) and good friends. We were so proud of Madison for being able to make the entire ride with little complaint and she actually enjoyed herself. We can't wait to do it again!

You can read more at the FBC blog which also has a link to more photos.

Diamond Valley Loop

One of the other things we have been doing with ourselves is playing with our new toys. In February Brent got his road bike and in April I got mine. Oddly enough we rarely get the time to ride together due to logistics of the kids and all that. However, we did get a chance recently to do the Diamond Valley Loop.

The ride can begin in several locations but we chose to start in Genoa at the
Mormon Station park. One of the most beautiful State Park bathrooms I have ever seen. They had HOT water, a stall with hooks on the wall and a bench for changing along with a full length mirror. This is great for after the ride to freshen up before heading to your next destination. Ours just happened to be Costco.

You head south from the park on Foothill Road and follow that along until you hit HWY 88 and cross over to Diamond Valley Road. You take this road around and end up at the Woodfords General Store. This is where you stop and refuel if necessary for the last leg of the journey. From there, you take Carson River Road for a stretch and that connects you back to the start of Diamond Valley Road and you then cross over back on to Foothill Road for your trip back to the start.

It is a beautiful ride with nearly zero traffic once you get on Diamond Valley Road. When you start from Genoa it is about a 45 mile ride in total. There are really no big hills to speak of, one gradual switchback but that is about it making is a pleasant spin.

On Monday after work I did this ride with my friend Kathy who is recovering from knee surgery. Instead of Genoa we parked at Kingsbury and rode to the intersection of Diamond Valley Road and took Carson River Road and then looped back to Diamond Valley road since she is not allowed to climb just yet. That ride was about 31 miles.

Davis World Cup

Those of you wondering what we have been doing with ourselves the past couple of months, soccer!

On Memorial day weekend we traveled to Davis, California the most dog and bike friendly town I have ever seen.

Madison's team the Patriots did great in the tournament especially when you consider that last year we decided at the last minute to pull out of the tournament because the girls were just not up to speed. This year we made it to the quarter finals and played 5 games over 3 days.

We stayed at a KOA in West Sacramento in a camping cabin. On the last day of the tournament before check out we let the "kids" have some fun and rented these recumbent style bikes. Shortly after taking this picture Brent almost lost control and crashed. He used his mad skills and recovered.

The cabins had porch swings so every night after all the soccer and once Madison was safely tucked into her bunk Brent would head up to the campgrounds store and buy us a 4 pack of cheap Sutterhome Chardonnay
(the mini bottles) and we would sit on the swing and unwind.

Chili dog enjoyed the front porch and did a great job of protecting us from bears and stuff. Overall it was a great trip with lots of excitement and not to far from home. Brent and I want to return to Davis just the two of us and take our bikes so we can take advantage of all the bike friendly features that Davis has to offer.

Let Them Eat Cake

It has been a while since I have had the time to make a post so I just wanted to share a happy parenting moment. Not so much to share with the world but more so to document so that I can come back here in those down moments and remember that it is all ok.

Soccer has been literally running us all ragged. We have had back-to-back-to-back tournaments and we are all exhausted and getting cranky. This weekend we had a mini one day tournament in Carson and then on Sunday we had a game in Squaw Valley (where the Olympics were held way back when). After the game yesterday we were famished so we went in search of some food. We ended up in Truckee, Ca. at a brewery called Fifty Fifty that had just opened for business. The beer was great and the food was so-so. Typical brewery fare but sort of bland. Did I mention the beer was good?

Back to my story, while we were eating Madison says to me "mommie, didn't you ever want to just enjoy being a kid?" Anyone who knows me knows what a loaded question that is. So I ask her what was on her mind thinking to myself that something big is about to come out of her mouth like she wants to quit soccer or the like. So she says to me that she is tired of eating granola cereal for breakfast and really thinks she should be able to have Reeses Peanut butter puffs or Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Breakfast Cereal, that is Madison's biggest complaint!

So I ordered chocolate cake for desert....

Drug Holiday is Over

When I was 33, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I will be 36 on Thursday. I started out taking several different drugs with no real relief, each flare coming on worse than the last one until finally, I was unable to get out of bed. That was when I started taking Arava about 2 years ago. I started out with 20mg per day dose and did well for a year. Side effects are not severe other than some intestinal stuff that I won't mention and my hair falling out but I take Folic Acid to counteract that. Since I was doing so well, my rheumotoligist and I decided to lower my does to 10mg that lasted for about a year. That was when I decided I was in remission and did not need meds anymore. I decided this without talking to my rheumatologist of course. That was the beginning of April.

After I made this decision I had a regular follow up appointment with my doctor and told her the news. She was not pleased but asked that I promise to call her when (yes she said when) I had a flare and not let it go untreated as this can cause permanent damage to my joints. She understood my need to prove something to myself I am sure she sees patients like me all the time. My reasons were pretty simple, how would I know if I was in remission if I was on medication? I also am not supposed to drink while taking Arava so I enjoy a glass of wine here and there guilt free, and last but not least I hate needles and when on this drug I have to have my blood checked every 6 weeks. I was tired of all that and wanted to see if it was necessary.

Evidently they taught my rheumatologist a thing or two in medical school and it was necessary. This past Saturday night Brent and I cleaned my car. While he did the outside I did the inside. You would not believe how gross it was but the bottom line was it took a large amount of scrubbing (manual dexterity) on my part. Sunday morning I was in pain and could not open my left hand. It has continued and my left foot among other joints are now bothering me.

I started back on the meds last night. Unfortunately, it takes 6 to 12 weeks for them to kick in....it is going to be a long summer with my old friend RA.

Earth Day 2007

Yesterday, April 22, was the global celebration of Earth Day. As you may have read in my previous post we were very awakened after watching the film An Inconvenient Truth. Then this past Friday Oprah did a show on how each one of us can make little changes in our daily lives that can make a big impact on our planet.

As a family, we already live fairly green. I think one of the guests on Oprah said she was "mint green". We recycle, we ride our bikes as much as possible to work, camp, and school, we use compact fluorescent light bulbs, grow some of our own food. We are aware of our environment and try to make good choices.

After having seen Oprah, Brent and I decided that in honor of Earth Day we would make some of these simple changes in our family's life we encourage you to do the same:

1. Switching from paper to cloth napkins. On average people use 2,200 napkins per person per year. If we all gave up only one napkin a day, we could save a billion pounds of paper waste. Cloth napkins are much nicer to use anyway and can be used multiple times between washings.

2. Not taking a receipt at the ATM. According to the author on the show, if everyone left their receipts in the machine, it would save a roll of paper more than 2 billion feet long—enough to circle the equator more than 15 times.

3. No more bottled water. We buy cases of the stuff for soccer and things of that nature thinking that as long as we recycle the bottles we are not harming anything not stopping to think of the resources required to fill that bottle with basically tap water. From now on we will use our filtered refrigerator water in sports bottles that can be used over and over again.

4. Re-usable grocery bags. Our first stop on Earth Day was to our local Trader Joe's. We were low on wine if you want to know the truth. Anyway, we picked up 5 of these re-usable grocery bags for only .99 cents each!


5. Re-fillable coffee cups for Starbucks runs. Rumor has it they will even give you a .10 cent credit on your drink if you bring your own vessel to drink it from.

6. Ecofriendly cleaning products. As we run out of our toxic cleaning supplies we will replace them with more earth friendly versions.

These are just the things we are going to start right now, I am sure more will follow but for now it is pretty easy to implement these changes. When I told Madison about the changes we were making she said "we are only 4 people Mommie, how can it make a difference at all?" Good question indeed, I simply said that we needed to do our part to save the planet for her children. She just smiled.

My New Road Bike

After many months of waiting, my new road bike is finally here. She is the Terry Isis, named after the Egyptian goddess which is translated to mean queen of the throne.

You can read more about her here at The Facility Bike Club blog.

Eggs with Legs

This past weekend was Easter and our girls were with their other parents, the exes. We assumed that they would be doing the Easter activities while with them on the weekend so we did not plan or prepare for it. Somehow, they did not have the time and both our girls were disappointed.

Since it is spring break I took a couple of days off work to spend with Madison. Monday I headed to Alberstson's to get some eggs and dye kits.

The day after Easter is a great time to buy such things. I got several kits for $1.00 each! I bought each girl and 18 pack of eggs and their own decorating kit.

Last night we finally had the time to decorate and had a blast. Madison's were called Eggs with Legs, Shayna's were princesses, and well mine were Hello Kitty of course. Coloring Easter eggs is a peculiar tradition but does bring joy to our kids and lets them tap into their creative side. And we get egg salad for days to come.

South Park did an episode that you can watch a clip of here last week about the Easter bunny that was quite hilarious. Evidently St. Peter was a rabbit and there was a secret club of men who dress as the Easter bunny of course they were called the Hare Club for Men.

WNCC Soccer Tournament

This past weekend Shayna and I played in a one day soccer tournament that was a fund raiser for the local community college soccer program.

Last November I was playing on a Futsol team when I broke my ankle mountainbiking. I only got to practice for about a month and then play in one scrimmage before my MTB accident. Besides watching my girls, and coaching that is the extent of my soccer experience.

When this tournament came up Coach John asked if Shayna and I wanted to play. I had not run since my accident so last Wednesday I went and got new running shoes and then went for a one hour run to see how my ankle would hold up. It was fine (my muscles were not) so I decided to do the tournament.

Our first game was at 9:00 in the morning followed by one at 10:50, 12:30, and 2:10. Our team was basically the Futsol team with some additions. The ages on our team vary from as old as 40 (not me) to as young as 14. Some of our ladies played in college and one just got a free ride scolorship to college. What we did not know was we would be playing againt all college teams.

In our last game one of the cute little college girls asked if we had won our last game. I just started laughing and said "no sweetie, we are just a bunch of old ladies out here trying to have some fun". After that the word spread and they took it easy on us and started laughing with us when we would miss the shot or fall down.

Needless to say, we lost every single game and I am not sure we even managed to score a goal all day. Our oldest player tried so hard that she had a bruise on her ankle the next day!

Shayna and I had a great time together at the tournament and shared the pain the next day not being able to walk, stand, or climb stairs due to the pain.


We have both decided to play Futsol next season together I am very excited. I am going to get us some Futsol balls so we can practice in the cul-de-sac all summer cos mamma has no foot skills.

Madison's 2nd MTB Ride

Sunday Madison and I went on her second mountain bike ride. This time I took her on another of my lunch rides the V&T or railroad grade. This trail has options to either do technical stuff or not so it was good practice for her and she did not have to do the hard stuff if she did not want to.

Here she is going down the first set of little hills. They seem little to us but to her, it was huge. She was pretty tired from the weekend (basketball and soccer games) and a late night the night before (see previous post) so she was not to hip on the climbing this time. She would hessitate for a few minutes at the top and have this scared look on her face but she would do the downhill.

Here she is at the turn around point of the trail. Taking a breather and being all proud of herself. She is still learning all the technical stuff so I warn her in advance of any obsticles and tell her how to menuver or how to avoid that section. There is one point in the trail that is real narrow and goes around a corner and on the one side is a steep hill. Here is a picture of my buddy Todd falling at that very spot. Ok, there was some snow involved, whatever. So I tell Madison about the turn and that if she gets scared she can just walk that section. I go first and stop to turn and watch her and she practically ran me over she was behind me the whole time and said that it was no big deal.

The other fear that she concured was a steep little hill with lots of loose sand on it. We walked up the hill on the way in and now it was time to go down that hill. She hesitated for quite a while on this one and was truly scared. She would not let me take her bike and have her walk she wanted to do the hill. She finally let it rip and almost lost it in the sand but recovered and made it down. Her poor little face had a look of terror on it as she was coming down but she was so happy afterwards.

She said she prefers the other trail we did but this one was ok and she would do it with me again. She also mentioned more than once that she had fun biking with me so I know it was a good experience for her. We also saw lots of butterflies and a rabbit! She loved that part as well.

St. Patricks Day Party

In celebration of my heritage, we hosted our second annual St. Patrick's Day party. My dad's mom was Irish, her name was Viola May Gallagher. I never had the chance to meet her since she passed away when my dad was only 15 years old. Dad came to the party and brought an old photo of him, his parents, and my aunts.

It was an intimate gathering this year filled with family, friends, bikes, love, laughter, food and drink. We started the evening with a short cruise around the neighborhood to work up our appetites.


After the cruise, we returned to the house for the Ruybalid family tradition of the Irish Car Bomb. Brent was the first to indulge...


Followed by my dad - it was his first one. That is our cousin Robin encouraging him.


Robin and I split one cos they are pretty filling. The Mosers, being purists, just had the straight Guiness in a frosted pint glass.


Brent made his famous corned beef and cabbage and I made Irish Bread Pudding with a Caramel Whiskey Sauce.


The wee ones (Madison & Charlie) had lime aide that Madison made and dyed green. Charlie's parents, The Mosers, are flexitarians so when the meat was brougt out he wispered to his mom that he didn't eat meat. Madison's parents, are also flexitarians, but she proceeded to eat three servings of the beef.

Everyone left at about 9:00 or so but Brent, Madison, and I stayed up until midnight eventually dancing in the living room to Rapper's Delight - the long (and not at all Irish) version. Next year, mommie will have less green wine....

Madison's 1st Mountain Bike Ride

Let me start by saying Madison (9) is a triathlete, soccer and basketball player - she is an athlete and avid bike rider. However, she (until yesterday) would not ride in the dirt. "Too scary" she would say. Being an avid mountain biker myself, this brought me much sadness.

In an effort to get her on the dirt last summer I purchased a used mountain bike from my friend Kathy.
It is a Specialized hard tail that is just her size and her first bike with actual gears and a front suspension. Brent and I took her out about a week after we bought it to the bike path that leads to our lunchtime dirt trails. In all fairness, she was still learning to shift but did try the dirt without much luck. We used the bike all summer to commute to summer camp and work respectively.

A couple of weeks ago Brent ordered her some new tires with better traction thinking that might help her concur her fear of riding in the dirt. Yesterday when she got home from her weekend with her dad I took her over to the bike path after I had already done my 9 mile solo ride so I was in post ride Zen mode - perfect for teaching.

We parked at the entrance to what I call the WNCC Marina and rode to the bike path. She was a bit nervous but excited to be out with me on bikes. She is still at the age where I know more than she does and I don't completely suck to be around. We headed north on the bike path til it ends and then made a left up the Observatory loop. She actually had a great pace going but did want to stop for water breaks. There were options to bail out but she did not take them she wanted to go all the way to the top. The downhill was a bit intimidating for her at first but she was ready to go once I told her I could take a video on my cell phone of her coming down.

My baby girl did the entire loop and did not fall once! She did better than I did the first time I rode that trail and her bike weighs more than mine does. I could not have been more proud of her than I was yesterday. We had a blast and she wants to go again next weekend. I think we will try the V&T.

I am counting the days....

Andy Warhol's Dream Amercia

My dad gave us some free passes to the Nevada Museum of Art. After both girls soccer practices and dropping Shayna at a birthday party/sleepover Brent, Madison, and I headed to the big city to go to the museum.

We really enjoy the museum and love art we just never find the time to drive up to Reno to enjoy it. I especially love the cafe but it was already closed by the time we got up there Saturday night.

The last time we went was on a Sunday in 2003! It was the grand opening of the new building and we saw the works of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The Warhol exhibit was interesting, you always learn so much about the artist by seeing an exhibition of their work. I learned that he sprinkled real diamond dust in his prints before the paint dried. There were also high school artists on display so that was pretty neat. Madison really enjoyed all of the art, it was really cute.

After the museum we decided we needed nourishment and ended up at the El Pollo Loco cos that brings back fond memories of Huntington Beach and we don't have one in our town yet. Another favorite thing to do when we are in the big city is to look for the "hot" sign at the Krispy Kreme. As if the sign being on is a sign that you have to stop. Needless to say, we got a dozen of the originals oh and our free samples of course. We ended the evening at home where we watched The Benchwarmers which Madison and Brent thoroughly enjoyed.

Another well spent Saturday night if you ask me...

Happy Valentines Day

Once again, Valentines day was wonderful for us. The day started out like any other with the exception of a gift left for me in my car. A (PRODUCT) RED 8G iPod Nano loaded with a Valentines playlist of 140 songs lovingly placed in the iPod by Brent. My single cynical office mate Jared especially appreciated the playlist filled with sappy love songs. Knowing that part of my gift was a gift to somebody else made it that much more special. I encourage you to check out the other (PRODUCT) RED products and support this important cause.

When we got home from work there was a gift on the counter from Shayna that said "por mi familia". It was all wrapped in tissue paper and covered with rose petals. Inside was an assortment of heart-shaped chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate peanut clusters. Awwwww.

Brent got each of the girls a cute little heart shaped pillow, a chocolate rose, a peanut butter cup heart and a card.

Brent then opened his gift from me, a Playstation 2 and two games NHL Hockey and Grand Terismo 4. His face lit up like a small child it was classic. You see I get super annoyed with video games mostly because I suck at them but there are always other things that need to get done. It took a lot for me to get him this gift, but I wanted to see that look on his face. His first question was "so you aren't going to yell at me when I play this are you". I laughed and said "just because I bought it for you does not mean I don't get to yell at you" (silly boy). It will be fun for he and the kids to play together once we get some family games.

Brent had also arranged for us and the girls to dine at our favorite restaurant in Virginia City called the Cafe del Rio. (These pictures are just some I found on the internet posted by a random stranger, good shots though.) I can not say enough about this place it is just incredible. Brent had two chicken tacos, I had the blue corn chicken salad, Madison had the fried chicken special, and Shayna had a dang bbq chicken case-a-dilla. Wednesday is fried chicken night and it is so wonderful. They give you three pieces of breaded, seasoned, and fried boneless chicken, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and corn on the cob for $9.50! I think our favorite part of the place is that they remember us when we get there. They always put us at the same table, and know what we want to drink. The service is what some in this day and age of fast food think is slow but it really gives you the time to talk and relax before your meal. They bring your drinks and chips & salsa so it is not like you are going to die before your dinner arrives. Believe me when you taste the food, it is well worth the wait.

After dinner we headed home to put on our PJ's and play some PS2 while we sipped on our favorite Chocolate Amore port while the girls enjoyed some chocolate of tbe non-alcohol variety.

Valentines for us has not so much been about romantic love but has been about spending time as a family and expressing how much we love each other. One of my most favorite days of the year!

She Blinded me with Science

Last week Madison had her 4th grade science fair. She was so excited that day when I picked her up from school as soon as she got into the car she told me she was one of the 3 kids in her entire class to be picked to be judged. Evidently, they take the good projects to the Library for judging and leave the crap in the cafeteria. I wonder who decided what gets to be judged and what does not, is that not a form of judging?

Madison's project was called "Pop Bubbles Pop". She filled three containers with water and then each container with a different additive before adding the foaming soap. She then measured the depth of the foam. She thought of the question herself, and did almost all the work herself. I helped with some of the cutting, and typing but not much really and only helped because she enjoys doing it together.

The judge noted that it was a good project but was lacking a journal. We got the scoring sheet last night and she got 100% - an A!!! Funny thing is that she got 5 points for the journal that she did not have...

Next year, we will invite Kevin over to help - he is an actual real life scientist.

Maggie is a Lover not a Fighter....

Our cousin Robin somehow ended up with a standard poodle. The poodle's owner had died and she was being bounced from house to house so Robin took her in. Her name is Maggie but we call her Magnadoodle.

This is a picture of Robin I just found while looking for a pic of Maggie, I posted this because the have the same look on their face! OMG that is just funny!

Chili dog is a lover, he just wants to make friends where ever he goes. Maggie is a sweet dog, but is super protective of her toys. When she and Chili met for the first time they did fine as long as they were in the back yard far far away from Maggie's HUGE box of toys.

About a week or so ago Chili-dog got a package in the mail from his friend Maggie. Maggie only lives in Reno but with all of our schedules, Robin mails stuff to us.

Here is Chili getting the present out of the box...

And here is what it was, a super cool skull and cross bone toy for him to carry around. It also squeaks. He tried so hard to take it outside but we would not let him.

Here is what the card said on the inside. How freaking cute is that?

Head over Heels

Once again, I have crashed my bike. This time, I am physically in one piece but the bike is not! You can read all about my crash at my lunchtime bike club blog.

Last night I had Brent rub me down with Tiger Balm and I feel a bit better today, my left shoulder is still pretty sore. I felt the best yesterday after my noon ride though so I will be doing that again today - for pain relief of course.

And the Winner Is.....

So last Thursday I get an e-mail from our friend Kevin who needs some pointers on how to make Brent's salsa. I ask him where he is going to get the chili's since that is the key ingredient. His response, Raley's. I say oh no, you should just come for dinner, it's taco night. Then after dinner, you and Brent can make some salsa together.

Kev shows up with some beer and ice tea, always nice. We eat some tacos, have some laughs and then Brent makes him some salsa. Kev has me take some photos of him making the salsa for "evidence" at work.

Here is the e-mail he received at work announcing the winner of the salsa contest:

The Dip Maker Extraordinaire title
and the winner of the $40 is…

(drum roll please)

Mr. Kevin O’Donnell

This is Kevin’s second winning salsa that he has been gracious enough to share with us! Congrats Kevin! Come to the front desk to get your prize money!


The second time????