Fun Rides!

Jansen is off to xc camp with his buddies, so it's just the three of us here for the week. He flatted today and blew out his spare tube, as well. He called to say he is in search of Stans at the moment.

Everett and I had a great ride and run with some friends this weekend. We saw Jason and the whole crew from Cohutta. (we will work on Jason's fashion sense asap! Crazy purple shorts!)

These girlies started the badlass craziness. Wanna do a 24 hour race? Sure! Adventure race? Xterra? XC? Why not?!?

Shey raced Racoon Mt and said that Thomas was racing after shoulder surgery. Hope the shoulder is feeling well.

Early mornings.....

Gotta love those early mornings...heading out to the races....

That freakin' bird that wakes up at 4am and insists on chirping at full volume....
4 bikes, 4 racers, 2 dogs and a ton of food!

This guy is usually sleeping while I drive, but I couldn't find any of those funny pictures where he is snoozing with his mouth wide open. Still looking........

Going Home

When the boys were small, I would visit our family in Texas every two or three months, because I knew that would not be possible when they were teenagers.

Well, the three of us don't get to go back as often as we used to, but it is still so much fun to see our family during the summer break.

It's really nice that Shey and I grew up together, so all our family lives in the same area. The boys get to see all their grandparents and most of their aunts, uncles and cousins, in one weekend.

The people in the Texas hill country enjoy their families and they enjoy their life too much to rush through it.

The town, where we grew up, moves at a slower pace. The kids still play washers and horse shoes and the men start barbequing at about 3 or 4 in the morning. You can earn a reputation by your brisket or pinto beans. And the food this weekend was out of sight!

They have THE BEST 4th of July parade AND they still throw CANDY!!

The boys are very lucky to have extremely cool grandparents on both sides of the family. Their aunts, uncles and cousins are awesome and lots of fun, too.

Donnie and Amber built a cool "party barn" and all of my mother-in-law's grandchildren were there for Cary's graduation party, so we grabbed the chance to get pictures.

Cary, Trae, Savanna, Courtney, Everett and Jansen. All very cool kids.

Brittany and her son, Cary, Trae, Savanna, Courtney, KC (Shey's younger sister), Jansen, Amber (Shey's older sister) and Everett.

You never know what we are going to bring back from the ranch or shopping at the Mexican Marketplace.

All that work!

We had an awesome trip to TX this past weekend to visit our family. When we got home, the garden was in pretty bad shape from being negleted for 4 days. It was a little upsetting.

This was 5 days before we left.

This was what the three of us found when we got back.

The boys and I worked pretty hard on the garden this spring, so I spent a few hours trying to salvage what plants I could. I got a few green beans, but the blooms on most of the plants looked like they did not set, so there won't be much to freeze, unfortunately.

Shey told me, over the phone, that it looked bad, but I guess if it's not a bike..........

Next year, we will set up a sprinkler system and ask our friends/neighbors to water the garden for us when we are gone. I'm sure I can bribe Kindle with some "two buck chuck" wine!

Brother Sacrifices for State Title

While Shey was racing in Ohio the boys and I headed to the GA State RR Championship race in Union City. I didn't want to miss the boys' start, which was at a different point than the other races, so I skipped this one and had a great time supporting.

Whoa, what a stressful morning ....long story short. Jansen's back wheel would not stay in during his warm-up 10 minutes before the race and he endo'd. Everett offered his bike to Jansen, since he has a state jersey from last year and has not been training as hard, and I let them decide what to do. (my bike does not have junior gearing and the guys tried to block it out, but it wasn't possible) Jansen raced Everett's bike and won.

We were up and running very early to make the 8 am start time.....Huge thanks to Eric for putting this race on for our juniors! I must say this was our very favorite race, ever, on the road, as the juniors had their own start and official and these guys knew the route and were very organized. Eric did a great job of organizing this and if weren't for him and the other parents there would not have been a state race for these guys.

BIG THANKS TO EVERETT FOR GIVING UP HIS RACE FOR HIS BROTHER. That was a tough one, because part of racing is caring for your bike and if there is a problem...well, it's your mechanical issue and no one else's. Everett was extremely bummed that he did not get to race, but was very happy for his brother and was very cool about it.

Registration was the same old chaos with incorrect numbering and no information on the start. We had to force the issue of a state jersey that was promised, but then they didn't get state jerseys after all....they got series jerseys or something like that. Nothing new.

Fulton Flyers had a great time on the podium and had a blast racing together. Congrats to everyone!!

We have pre-teen chickens, now.

The chicks are living in the hen house, now. It needs a roof, some more windows and a fenced yard.




The chickens love to play outside.

School is out and it's time for.......

Blacksmithing at night!

The boys found a stronger fan to hook up to the furnace and ended up melting their cast iron pot and the bottom of a terra cotta pot.

Everett removed the tire from an old lawn mower wheel and used the rim to condense the heat. It worked very well.....it was HOT!

This Week's Injuries

Shey hit a tree pretty hard and I didn't get a picture of his toe until some of the swelling had gone down. It was awesome looking. Huge! He should put some windex......

His shoulder looked pretty bad, too, but he wasn't feeling up for more photo ops, so.....

Jansen was just chillin' on the deck with the guys while I was working on the hen house. A GIANT ALIEN insect (or wasp) attacked him and he barely escaped with his life!

Pre-ride and Race at Heritage

Jansen had a strong race and got to hang out with a bunch of his buddies. Zach, Jaimie, Seth, Andy, Wes and a bunch of other guys were out there. Shey took Jansen to the race, so Everett and I could stay home and work on the hen house (which is taking FOREVER to build). We missed everybody, but got a lot of work done. Zach plans to be at the xc camp, which is very cool.

The pre-ride at Heritage was a blast. When you drive up and see the field, you are thinking, "great, another flat course, ugh". However, as soon as you hit the woods, it's roots, turns, rutted out downhills, creek crossings and tons of fun! Very mountain bikey.