Road Trip!

The family packed up the beach cruisers and hit the road this past week for our now annual trip to Huntington Beach, California for the 4th of July.

Our Aunt Sharon and Uncle Vic live there and always welcome us with open arms.

The kids have a DVD player in the back so they stay entertained with movies on the way down. Here is Madison watching a movie and snacking on organic Valencia oranges from Trader Joe's.

This year Shayna has her permit so she was able to drive us for some of the trip. She drove for about 3 hours so that was good practice for her. She only almost killed us once when she veered off the road because she was reading a beef jerky sign that I pointed out because it said "fresh beef jerky" which to me is an oxymoron.

Since Shayna could drive Brent sat in back with Madison and watched a movie while I co-piloted.





As much as we love to visit Orange County, one thing we do not like is the traffic. For about an hour it is all stop and go and super stressful. I suppose you would grow accustomed to it eventually but I don't necessarily want to find out.

Since we all have beach cruisers we take them with us on vacation to use them for what they were intended for. It is about 3 miles to the beach from Aunt Sharon and Uncle Vics place and super convenient since there is no shortage of bike parking and it is free. Madison did pretty well but actually only rode to the beach one of the 2 days we went. The first part of the ride is uphill and pretty hard for her so that starts her off in a bad mood. We opted to let her catch a ride in the car the remainder of the days.

Another of our favorite places in Huntington Beach is the Huntington Beach Beer Co. so we went to lunch there before going to the beach our first day. Brent had the HB15 commemorating the 15th anniversary of the brewery while I had the blond.

Madison (as usual) was not hungry so she had a half order of salad and Shayna had a tuna pita. Brent and I split a buffalo chicken sandwich before heading to the beach for the day.

Once we hit the beach Madison spent 100% of the time in the water. It was kind of scary because the waves were really powerful while we were there. The lifeguards kept warning swimmers about the riptide and making them stay at waist level. Madison would get pummeled and we would think she was going to get up crying but she would be smiling every time.


Aunt Sharon and Uncle Vic have a ping pong table in their garage so we had lots of action on that all week. Madison even took Aunt Sharon's paddle and wrote her name on it!

Uncle Vic was pretty happy to have a partner to play with they had a great time.






We spent quite a bit of time between activities doing a puzzle that Aunt Sharon and Uncle Vic saved for us to finish from last year. Brent swore up and down that we did not have all the pieces the entire time but we did eventually finish it and they were all there. We also had a puzzle of Niagara Falls to work on but it was just too stinking hard so we gave up.

On the 4th Brent and I rode the cruisers down to the beach while the neighbor offered to give our kids a ride in the car with her kids and get us a spot. It is nice to take the bikes because they close a section of PCH to cars so it is just overtaken by bikes. This year there were some jerks out there but when you get that many people in one place that is bound to happen.

Down at the beach they have all sorts of food booths set up and I had promised Madison a funnel cake since she had never had one. Here is her and her friend Ivy sharing it on the beach. She was in heaven, it is her new favorite thing.

Here are the bikes on the beach just before the fireworks started. It is so moist down there that when you go to sit on your seat, it is all wet. Once the show is over it is pretty tough to work through the crowd to get back to the street but once you do it is nice to know you don't have to fight traffic in the car. We beat the neighbor home by 20 minutes because she was in a car and we were on the bikes.

Here are the kids watching the fireworks. Ivy is 12 and her brother Chris is 15, they live one house down from Uncle Vic and Aunt Sharon so the kids always get together to play when we are down there.

The back patio made for great bike storage while we were there. The gate was padlocked so we did not have to worry about anyone messing with them - other than the raccoons. Brent installed new lights on Uncle Vic and Aunt Sharon's bikes while he was there too.

Our trip home was pretty rough. Normally the drive takes 8 hours but we got to the intersection of 14 and 395 and literally before our eyes they shut down 395 due to a fire burning in Lone Pine, Big Pine, and Independence. We had to back track an hour and then take the 58 to Bakersfield over to Sacramento then 50 to Tahoe and home. This little detour added 4 hours to the drive! The kids were troopers and Brent and I just put some Dwight Yokum on the iPod in honor of our detour through his home town.

The week was filled with fun, great food, and family. Uncle Vic took care of us at the market and got us tons of vegetables and he, Madison, and I even had kimchi hour every night. We went to some great restaurants too. It was a wonderfully relaxing week and we can't wait to do it again next year.

Franktown Loop

Yesterday Brent and I did the Franktown loop in Carson City. It is about a 30 mile loop from our house and it away from traffic and very scenic. I typically do this ride after work about twice per week depending on the wind.

This is Brent at the first climb on the loop called Lakeview. This somewhat short climb is the worst of the entire ride.



Parts of the ride overlook Washoe lake and Lightning W golf course. The homes in the area are all ranches with lots of acreage and livestock, etc. It is strange to leave the city and just a few blocks away you drop into this beautiful farm area.
Here is Brent in front of one of the ranches with roses that cascade over the fence. The tattoo is a nice touch I think. After Franktown road we extend the loop and head past Bower's Mansion and all the way to a green dome in Washoe Valley.

Can you spot the stud in this picture? It is actually kind of sad, my friend Kathy says that after this bull does his business for the season, they segregate him from the other cows so he is all alone in this little pasture.














People drive from Reno, Gardnerville, and surrounding areas to ride this loop. We feel very fortunate to be able to just ride out from our home to such a great area.

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.