I can't believe it's almost MAY!

Well, the boys and I had a really fun Saturday. (but Shey took the camera with him to Cohutta, so no pics)



Tristan emailed to say he was heading down to pre-ride Yargo on Saturday. It was really nice to catch up with him and we all had a great time playing in the dirt. We hope to head up to Brevard to hit some trails with Tristan and his buddies soon.

Tristan winning collegiate xc. He works hard and has so much talent. Just a great all around guy for our boys to hang around.




The extra mile of trail that the Yargo guys added is great. Lots of fun twists and dips. They keep the trail very well maintained, for sure.



Jansen and I had a little wind added in to our commute this past week. It wasn't bad until we had already hit the library and were on our way to Conte's. Then I was blown around the whole way home. It is so defeating to know you are two miles from home, but the wind keeps you on the road far longer than you anticipated. When I finally made it back home, I just sat on the front walk for a good fifteen minutes. It was a great workout, though.


Lunch at the library before Jansen heads into work. Yes, our bags are mostly filled with his food.....

Finally made it to the shop.

The garden is growing like crazy! This is a rock that my mom painted as a turtle for my garden.

Snow Peas and Lettuce

Blueberries

The apple trees are doing great.

Shey left on Friday to race the Cohutta 100. He said he had a good race. Then he spent Sunday at a local race with his Cycle Youth Devo kids.

The boys and I spent Sunday trying to replace their shower fixtures, staining the deck and working on various house maintenance. We accidentally broke a pipe and now get to come up with a plan to replace the pipe......

Here are Shey's pictures from the weekend. Adam scoring Cohutta. LOVE the beard!!

Cool John scores Cohutta, while his better half (John P.) scores Twilight in Athens.

Family Visits

We see my family often, but they travel this way and stay with us every other year.

Dad helps me with a ton of work that needs to be done on the house and yard each visit.

And Mom and I get to drink Kahlua and shop at the local nurseries.

This time we are working on the garden (irrigation system, raised beds and new fence), repairing holes in our walls (all dad's work), finishing the chicken coop, replacing the gutters and roof and so much more.

Raised beds with an irrigation system.

My garden frog.

This is the coolest thing ever! Dad added a faucet to the base of the irrigation system, so I can connect a water hose for hand watering the lower beds. It took me over an hour to hand water the garden last year. It will probably take about 15 to 20 minutes to water it this year. Love it!!!

Indy is always right by my side to help with the work.

But, it wasn't all work.

Easter fun.

We visited the Oakhurst community garden. (the boys and I love to stop by there)

Mom and I took a trip to the Monastery to pick up some herbs for the garden. Yum!!

Mom and Dad loved the chickens! Oh, and we got ducklings, which our guests and two sons got to share a bathroom with! I will take pictures of them soon. They are growing much faster than the chicks did.

Georgia wildlife.

Beer and a basket full of seeds. Life is good.

Jansen's Birthday

Jansen is 14!! Can't believe it!

He started racing the full length beginner races when he was 9 and seems like a 40 year old man in a teenager's body.

His calm, wisdom and clarity amaze me.

We had a long talk last night about college, life and longevity of his athletic endeavors. We were up until midnight. That is not unusual. He's just the kind of guy that you can hang out with for hours.

His grandparents were here for his Birthday, which is very cool. So, we headed into Southern Sweets to pick up his Oreo Cheesecake.

We had a great lunch at the Flying Biscuit.....our favorite restaurant.

His Highness sits at his "special spot" where he can survey his domain. No one is allowed to sit in his spot at the table. It disturbs him greatly to have someone sit at his throne.

His gifts were: a chisel and wood carving knife set by two cherries, mallet, super cool vest, his favorite book on bladesmith work (making knives) and, of course, cash.

He has worked with wood since a very young age and is anxious to use his new tools to create his pieces.

We grew him a cat.......

Good Vibes in March

Lots of great stuff happening around here.

First, the ING Marathon was awesome, again, this year! Leslie does an excellent job of coordinating the wheelchair escorts.



It was cold again this year at 6am, but it was dry, so we were happy. We had a great time riding with the wheelers and I had a female for the first time.



(here come the wheelchair athletes)


Maggie was a college chica and she was amazing. Mags cruised up the climbs and passed the boys! Good stuff! The two of us had a blast and she sprinted (and dropped) a guy down the home stretch.

(me and maggie, pic taken by another cyclist)




The boys had fun, too. Everett's guy ran into a curb as he took the turns so fast.



Of course we didn't have all the parts for our lights, so we had to dip into the first aid kit for some tape.....



Big Ben liked his whistle a little too much.....



Runners by GA Tech



We didn't eat here.




AND the Sorella Kits came in last week! Yeah! They look great and fit well.






Kindle will kill me for this one...

AND.....the BANFF Film Festival was AWESOME!! The very first film was a trials rider. He was balancing his bike on some totally crazy stuff....."The Sharp End" and "The Red Helmet" were tw of my favorites. Jansen came in to work with me and had lunch with his coach. That was a good day.

AND Little Ethan kicked some serious booty at the PanAm games recently. At 18 years old he placed 12th, in his first year as a pro!! Very cool and we can't wait to head up to Brevard to ride with Tristan and Ethan this fall!