It is not very often that you watch something that you know is historic.
Political beliefs and differences aside, you have to admit that Tuesday was pretty unbelievable.
Seeing the unthinkable number of people gathered to rally around a new president was amazing.
We were encouraged to watch the inauguration with our class if we wanted to.
I remember sitting in elementary school watching Clinton's inauguration, and that wasn't even "historic."
I'm not sure how much my Kindergarteners would get out of watching the inauguration, but I was sure I didn't want to miss it, so I found a way to watch it. Google came through for me with a Barack Obama coloring sheet to keep my kids busy with during the show. I told them they could either sit at their seats and color, or they could pull some chairs up to the TV and watch the inauguration. Either way, they needed to be aware of what was happening, what the big hooplah was all about.
About half chose to color, the other half chose to watch. I could've predicted who would've done what and I would've been right. Even at five, you can tell the kids that have a sense of life outside of themselves, and those that don't. I sat with the kids watching the TV and nearly fell out of the chair laughing from a few of their comments. The adult world of politics collided with my crazy world of five years olds. When you spend all day with them, you start to think of them as adultish. When you bring in something new and different, you really see how truly LITTLE they are.
For example...
1) I was trying to explain what a president does and why this particular president is important. I told them there has never been a girl president, then I asked if any of them would ever want to be president. About five of them raised their hands, many of them girls. I said "wow, maybe you might be our first girl president! You better invite me to your inauguration if you become president" to one of my little girls and she lit up. Suddenly she looked really excited and exclamed "I'M GOING TO WEAR MY HANNAH MONTANA DRESS!" She was thrilled that she has already figured out her inauguration attire.
2) When Aretha Franklin sang, one little girl leaned over and whispered in my ear "Is she married to Obama?" and I laughed and said no, she's just a famous singer. She thought for a minute and leaned over and asked "Are they at least friends?" Haha. Many made comments about her big hat.
3) A group of three girls were sitting next to each other when one of them suggested they play "mom". The other two looked confused and the first clarified: "I'm going to be Michelle Obama, you two can be the daughters" which then set off an argument that consisted of "I want to be Michelle Obama" "No I want to be Michelle Obama" "No I do"...
4) I got into a more indepth conversation with my little Hannah Montana dress wearing future president. I asked her why she wanted to be president. This was her honest response: "The president gets to live in the White House. Only you have to be careful when you go there, you can't break nothing." Haha. Both literally and theoretically true!
5) One kid turned to me at some point and said "Why does everyone cheering for him look so sad?" I then tried to explain that sometimes people cry when they are happy. He simply looked at me like I was nuts, rolled his eyes, and turned back to the TV.
6) One less interested kid turned to me during one of the more borring parts and asked if there were cartoons coming. Ha.
7) Everytime they would show Obama on the TV the kids were cheer and scream. It was as if they were seeing the Beatles. Many of the coloring pages turned out pretty good. Others had Obama wearing pink eye makeup and lipstick. Not exactly "patriotic" but pretty funny nonetheless. Chris had to remind me that they ARE five.
8) Later in the afternoon, way after the inauguration was over, we were working on a writing prompt that had to be done by the next morning. It was about what they do on a snowy day or something. Of course the vice principal chose this time to come do an informal evaluation. I thought all went ok. Later I got his notes from his visit. One of the observations was "4 or 5 kids were having a discussion about whether Obama is black or brown." Clearly not what they should've been doing at that time, but I think that's a pretty good conversation for Kindergarteners. I don't think the VP was amused. I was.
It was a pretty hillarious experience that I will never forget. I'm glad I got to share such a historic moment with the true youth of America. These are the kids that will be most affected by decisions made by this and coming administrations. I can only believe they will be treated with the respect they deserve.
Perhaps in 30 years we'll see my little one in a Hannah Montana dress becoming the first hispanic woman president... and the world will marvel at her awesome fashion sense.
Here's to a bright future.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Find that smile
This week was long.
Despite it only being a four-day workweek, and an entire morning of one of those days was spent watching the inauguration, it felt long. The kids were a bit crazed, and with the weather so outstanding, it was hard to spend all day inside working. I'm sure they felt the same way about spending all day in school learning. I had my mid-year evaluation scheduled for Thursday afternoon, requiring me to put together my professional portfolio for the year. That got postponed to Friday morning. Friday morning, it got postponed to Monday. Which is fine, but I am one to worry and stress about these things until they are over. I also started my grad class Thursday night, and despite getting out an hour and a half early from a three hour class, that made Thursday very long too.
I tried to get out when I could. Chris joined me on a very refreshing ride home from work on Tuesday. Spending an hour and a half on the bike to get home is much better than 45 minutes in traffic and then an hour on the blasted trainer. I got to class early on Thursday and sat outside before class, watching the sunset, and feeling horribly out of place on a college campus. Seriously, it hasn't been THAT long since my good old college days, but being back to the world of smoking and texting made me feel really old. I found myself slinking back into my old shell, wishing I had a book to read or something to ease the awkwardness of just sitting.
I had a great night with my friends last night in Ft. Collins, eating some interesting food and watching a pretty terrible movie. But it's always fun to get out with them and laughs were in abundance as usual.
Today I slept in. A lot. Then went about my day walking the dog and then going on a ride... the actual purpose of this post. The weather was nearly perfect. Somewhere along the path I noticed that I was smiling. The stupid uncontrollable kind of smile that finds its way onto your face without noticeable provocation. It felt so good to be out, doing something I know how to do, working hard, listening to some tunes, enjoying the day.
It felt good.
I rode about ten miles, racing the the batteries on my GPS, before stopping for a mid-ride snack. I sat by College Pond, ate some delicious peanut butter pretzel MoJo bar, and took some pictures of my pretty bike.
And one of me. Not a good one, but does show off the fact that my new Melenzana hat that I won in the snow race makes an awesome under-helmet hat.
Before Chris left for Camp Lynda this weekend, he put on my new present. Pink seatpost clamp!! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET.
Trucky The Ducky wanted to go swim in the pond, but she had to settle for the shoreline instead.
After relaxing for a bit, enjoying the sunshine while the Camp Lynda-ers were fighting the rain and mud, I headed back onto the path and rode the 10ish miles home. I rode hard most of the ride and it felt good to shake some cobwebs out of my legs.
Random thoughts from my ride:
* I LOVE the new shiny pink stuff on my bike. It makes it fun and girly. However, I think the beauty might be attracting the prairie dogs and mesmerizing them with awesomeness, because I nearly ran over several that were just sitting there staring up at me with awe.
* I need to find a way to get a new ipod. Somehow the "sing-along-relaxing-songs" that are on my ghetto shuffle to get me through the drive home from work do not work well for bike rides.
* It's fun to pass decked out roadies on my fat-tired single speed. I smile. They sneer.
* Frisbee golf looks fun, I'd be terrible, but I should try it sometime.
Tomorrow is supposed to snow a bit, so the plan is to do homework, catch up on housework that has slipped without a house-husband around to take care of everything, and hopefully make some fudge then proceed to try my hardest not to eat the entire thing alone. Yum.
Happy weekend to everyone! I hope you find your smile somewhere this weekend.
Despite it only being a four-day workweek, and an entire morning of one of those days was spent watching the inauguration, it felt long. The kids were a bit crazed, and with the weather so outstanding, it was hard to spend all day inside working. I'm sure they felt the same way about spending all day in school learning. I had my mid-year evaluation scheduled for Thursday afternoon, requiring me to put together my professional portfolio for the year. That got postponed to Friday morning. Friday morning, it got postponed to Monday. Which is fine, but I am one to worry and stress about these things until they are over. I also started my grad class Thursday night, and despite getting out an hour and a half early from a three hour class, that made Thursday very long too.
I tried to get out when I could. Chris joined me on a very refreshing ride home from work on Tuesday. Spending an hour and a half on the bike to get home is much better than 45 minutes in traffic and then an hour on the blasted trainer. I got to class early on Thursday and sat outside before class, watching the sunset, and feeling horribly out of place on a college campus. Seriously, it hasn't been THAT long since my good old college days, but being back to the world of smoking and texting made me feel really old. I found myself slinking back into my old shell, wishing I had a book to read or something to ease the awkwardness of just sitting.
I had a great night with my friends last night in Ft. Collins, eating some interesting food and watching a pretty terrible movie. But it's always fun to get out with them and laughs were in abundance as usual.
Today I slept in. A lot. Then went about my day walking the dog and then going on a ride... the actual purpose of this post. The weather was nearly perfect. Somewhere along the path I noticed that I was smiling. The stupid uncontrollable kind of smile that finds its way onto your face without noticeable provocation. It felt so good to be out, doing something I know how to do, working hard, listening to some tunes, enjoying the day.
It felt good.
I rode about ten miles, racing the the batteries on my GPS, before stopping for a mid-ride snack. I sat by College Pond, ate some delicious peanut butter pretzel MoJo bar, and took some pictures of my pretty bike.And one of me. Not a good one, but does show off the fact that my new Melenzana hat that I won in the snow race makes an awesome under-helmet hat.
Before Chris left for Camp Lynda this weekend, he put on my new present. Pink seatpost clamp!! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET.
Trucky The Ducky wanted to go swim in the pond, but she had to settle for the shoreline instead.
After relaxing for a bit, enjoying the sunshine while the Camp Lynda-ers were fighting the rain and mud, I headed back onto the path and rode the 10ish miles home. I rode hard most of the ride and it felt good to shake some cobwebs out of my legs.Random thoughts from my ride:
* I LOVE the new shiny pink stuff on my bike. It makes it fun and girly. However, I think the beauty might be attracting the prairie dogs and mesmerizing them with awesomeness, because I nearly ran over several that were just sitting there staring up at me with awe.
* I need to find a way to get a new ipod. Somehow the "sing-along-relaxing-songs" that are on my ghetto shuffle to get me through the drive home from work do not work well for bike rides.
* It's fun to pass decked out roadies on my fat-tired single speed. I smile. They sneer.
* Frisbee golf looks fun, I'd be terrible, but I should try it sometime.
Tomorrow is supposed to snow a bit, so the plan is to do homework, catch up on housework that has slipped without a house-husband around to take care of everything, and hopefully make some fudge then proceed to try my hardest not to eat the entire thing alone. Yum.
Happy weekend to everyone! I hope you find your smile somewhere this weekend.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Spy
What does one do with 65 degree weather and MLK day off of work?
Climb The Spy in Boulder!
The Flatirons were looking as beautiful as ever when Chris and I arrived at the parking lot around 10:30 am. Last night involved a bit of, well, drinking with the girls, so that combined with tired legs from Saturday's race meant the morning hike was not the most pleasant hike of my life. As we got going though, I looked forward to another Flatirons climbing adventure. The Spy is a little finger-like structure that juts out to the north of the First Flatiron and the Flatironette. At only a 5.4 rating, and an estimated two pitches, we planned for a quick climb.
On the hike up, we saw this tree growing out of the middle of a rock. Now that's perseverance.
Chris led up the climb looking as cute as always. He made it to the first belay station just as the rope ran out, and I followed up the first pitch a bit tentatively. I've made good progress in the gym, but climbing outside always seems to freak me out and slow me down. There wasn't many good hand holds, and I like hand holds, so that made things a little tricky. I got stuck in a few trees on the way up... seemingly a retarded predicament in the middle of a huge rock slab.
Once at the first belay station, Chris kept going up the second pitch. He was nearly giddy with the fun climbing that came in that pitch. At some point you climb on top of this huge block and continue climbing on it where it gets pretty narrow with exposure on each side. The holds there were great and I enjoyed this pitch as well.
Once at the top of the fun second pitch, we had some lunch and Chris tried to keep me positive about the upcoming section and subsequent JUMP from the top.
Yes.
Jump.
White Marni's DON'T jump.
Ever.
But to get off The Spy, I HAD to jump from a tall rock, to a slanty rock, with a nice drop down a gully in between. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.
This is the jump. You step down from the top rock to the middle rock, and then the rock at the very bottom is where you land, and it's at a good angle. Basically you just jump forward and hope your feet stick to the slanty rock in front of you. Chris made it look easy and graceful. I sat, paralyzed and freaking out for several minutes before jumping to the rock like an elephant. It was neither easy nor graceful on my part. But I didn't fall (after Chris gave me a safety line to hold on to, and as he stood there holding me into the rock so I wouldn't fall back). I basically hit the rock, hugged it, and then proceeded to cry. You'd think I had just jumped from a burning building.
Jumping?
I = not a fan.
Chris now says he's going to incorporate jumping off stuff into my training plan. We are starting with the couch. :)
This face makes me smile:
The Spy was fun. It took a bit longer than I anticipated, but at least the weather was perfect. After a hike back down to the car, we drove to Pearl Street and celebrated another successful climb with HUGE sundaes from Ben & Jerry's. YUM!
It was a pretty good MLK day for me and Chris. It felt like summer... warm, leisurely, low-stress. Makes me long for... well... at least Spring Break.
Climb The Spy in Boulder!
The Flatirons were looking as beautiful as ever when Chris and I arrived at the parking lot around 10:30 am. Last night involved a bit of, well, drinking with the girls, so that combined with tired legs from Saturday's race meant the morning hike was not the most pleasant hike of my life. As we got going though, I looked forward to another Flatirons climbing adventure. The Spy is a little finger-like structure that juts out to the north of the First Flatiron and the Flatironette. At only a 5.4 rating, and an estimated two pitches, we planned for a quick climb.
On the hike up, we saw this tree growing out of the middle of a rock. Now that's perseverance.
Chris led up the climb looking as cute as always. He made it to the first belay station just as the rope ran out, and I followed up the first pitch a bit tentatively. I've made good progress in the gym, but climbing outside always seems to freak me out and slow me down. There wasn't many good hand holds, and I like hand holds, so that made things a little tricky. I got stuck in a few trees on the way up... seemingly a retarded predicament in the middle of a huge rock slab. 
Once at the first belay station, Chris kept going up the second pitch. He was nearly giddy with the fun climbing that came in that pitch. At some point you climb on top of this huge block and continue climbing on it where it gets pretty narrow with exposure on each side. The holds there were great and I enjoyed this pitch as well. Once at the top of the fun second pitch, we had some lunch and Chris tried to keep me positive about the upcoming section and subsequent JUMP from the top.
Yes.
Jump.
White Marni's DON'T jump.
Ever.
But to get off The Spy, I HAD to jump from a tall rock, to a slanty rock, with a nice drop down a gully in between. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.
This is the jump. You step down from the top rock to the middle rock, and then the rock at the very bottom is where you land, and it's at a good angle. Basically you just jump forward and hope your feet stick to the slanty rock in front of you. Chris made it look easy and graceful. I sat, paralyzed and freaking out for several minutes before jumping to the rock like an elephant. It was neither easy nor graceful on my part. But I didn't fall (after Chris gave me a safety line to hold on to, and as he stood there holding me into the rock so I wouldn't fall back). I basically hit the rock, hugged it, and then proceeded to cry. You'd think I had just jumped from a burning building. Jumping?
I = not a fan.
Chris now says he's going to incorporate jumping off stuff into my training plan. We are starting with the couch. :)
This face makes me smile:
The Spy was fun. It took a bit longer than I anticipated, but at least the weather was perfect. After a hike back down to the car, we drove to Pearl Street and celebrated another successful climb with HUGE sundaes from Ben & Jerry's. YUM! It was a pretty good MLK day for me and Chris. It felt like summer... warm, leisurely, low-stress. Makes me long for... well... at least Spring Break.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Herd of Turtles
Yesterday was Leadville Winter Race #1, thus ushering in the 2009 race season... like a herd of turtles.
Early morning ski traffic left us wondering if we'd even make the race. With some skillful driving by Chris, we did make it -- with five minutes to spare. I quickly scanned the scene to see if any girls were there this time (last year, I was the only girl to race the one that I did). I was happy to see one other girl, complete with pink helmet and gears. At least I had someone to worry about during the race, which is totally necessary when one is slogging through the snow pushing a bike.
Before we knew it, someone said "go" and we were off.
I let most of the pack of boys go first, as I'd lined up at the back and knew my single speed would limit my ability to push up the gigantic hill at the very start. I quickly passed the other girl and headed up the hill, leading another guy on a single speed and a guy with gears. Pretty soon we all hopped off around a soft corner and started pushing. At this point the single speed guy hiked past me, the guy with gears started cursing the creaking noises coming from his cranks, and I couldn't see the girl any more behind me. I hiked a few feet and hopped back on the bike to wind through a trail leading to the massive 3.5 mile climb up a snowy road. I was happy to stay at a steady distance behind the single speed guy the whole climb, as we quickly dropped anyone behind us. I was breathing hard, but overall felt pretty good climbing the hill. The cold air and being at 10,000+ feet was making my lungs burn and feel like they were cramping. That wasn't a good feeling. I finally convinced myself that lungs probably can't actually cramp, and that I was most likely fine. We were climbing up to around 11,000 feet and the scenery was well worth the burn. Chris had tried to convince me to take the camera along to capture some of the beauty, but with as many times as I could foresee myself falling into massive snow drifts, I didn't think I'd risk ruining our one remaining portable camera.
Pretty soon the road turned onto a great trail, and I had to get off to hike -- losing sight of the other single speed guy. Being at the back of a pack of 30 riders leaves a nasty chopped up trail on any type of climb. I was fine with walking some of it, and kept a solid 2.5-3 mph hiking pace to keep me going. I'd hop on and ride anytime I could find a solid line, but I hiked A LOT of the middle section of the course. I kept glancing behind me to see if the other girl or gear guy were catching me, but I couldn't see anyone behind me or ahead of me. Finally, at some point, I stopped to pee and took a nice look around at the scenery. There were beautiful hills draped with clear, untracked snow, and I thought of a fancy wedding cake with fondant on top. I believe it was at this point that I realized just how hungry I was, and everything soon resembled food. This made me laugh. A lot.
The race was fairly non-eventful for me. I walked and pushed my bike a lot, and I rode most of the downhills. Often I would do a nice little left-foot-dabbing-skateboard-style-push down the hills just to keep my bike moving in the chopped up snow. There were a few downhills that were fast and sweet to ride on. I tried to let go of the brakes, as those just caused some serious fishtail action, but I never could get into much of a fast groove. I never did fall into the snowbanks, which was good and also a bit disappointing :)
Around mile 8 (of the supposed 12 mile course), I was getting ready to be done. I was pretty tired, hungry, and had a massive snow clown foot going in my bootie (I forgot to wear the booties that don't have holes cut into them for my cleats -- as I rode flat pedals yesterday -- so the snow built up in that hole, shoved on top of my toes, and made me look like I had clown shoes on). The clown foot was funny looking and I really wanted to ride it in to the finish to get a picture; however, one steep uphill hike left my toes numb when my shoes shoved through the cleat hole and had some serious circulation issues like that. I took a few minutes, sat down, and cleared out the booties before heading to the finish.
I still didn't see anyone behind me, and a quick cheer from Chris at the final road crossing left me motivated to keep moving... until I hit a downhill that I had to walk because of the choppy, soft snow. Walking downhill is a bit aggravating. The final downhill to the finish was fun and rideable (yay!) and I was soon across the finish line.
I couldn't wait to hear how Chris had done, and I had been kicking myself for the final few miles that I didn't ask as I passed by him on the road. Turns out he won! I am very proud of him for sticking out the race and working hard to beat some very fast guys.
It might not have been super speedy, but I won too. The other girl and the gear guy came through the finish line a few minutes after me. Good thing I didn't piddle away more time than I already did between the peeing, sight seeing, and bootie cleaning. For my first single speed race, and only my second snow race/ride, I'm pretty pleased with my results, and very pleased to beat a girl that had gears. My goal was ride the course in 2 hours, and I ended up coming in around 2:20, so I probably could've and should've gone faster. I rode 99% of the uphills on the road, without too much trouble on the single speed, so I'm happy about that. The trails were difficult when they were soft, but fun nonetheless. The location for this race is unbeatable. The peaceful feeling that comes along with the silent snow-covered mountains was much needed. I got to get away from everything, everyone, all stresses, worries, disappointments for a few hours. My mind needed the release, silence, and solitude.
We had a great time before and after the race with Brett, Bill, and a few new friends.
I spent the rest of the night trying my hardest to stay awake past 6:00.
I'm so excited for race #2 -- the night race -- coming up in a few weeks. That'll be a chilly one!!!
(Hubby has his own race report up, full of great pictures -- check it out!)
Early morning ski traffic left us wondering if we'd even make the race. With some skillful driving by Chris, we did make it -- with five minutes to spare. I quickly scanned the scene to see if any girls were there this time (last year, I was the only girl to race the one that I did). I was happy to see one other girl, complete with pink helmet and gears. At least I had someone to worry about during the race, which is totally necessary when one is slogging through the snow pushing a bike.
Before we knew it, someone said "go" and we were off.
I let most of the pack of boys go first, as I'd lined up at the back and knew my single speed would limit my ability to push up the gigantic hill at the very start. I quickly passed the other girl and headed up the hill, leading another guy on a single speed and a guy with gears. Pretty soon we all hopped off around a soft corner and started pushing. At this point the single speed guy hiked past me, the guy with gears started cursing the creaking noises coming from his cranks, and I couldn't see the girl any more behind me. I hiked a few feet and hopped back on the bike to wind through a trail leading to the massive 3.5 mile climb up a snowy road. I was happy to stay at a steady distance behind the single speed guy the whole climb, as we quickly dropped anyone behind us. I was breathing hard, but overall felt pretty good climbing the hill. The cold air and being at 10,000+ feet was making my lungs burn and feel like they were cramping. That wasn't a good feeling. I finally convinced myself that lungs probably can't actually cramp, and that I was most likely fine. We were climbing up to around 11,000 feet and the scenery was well worth the burn. Chris had tried to convince me to take the camera along to capture some of the beauty, but with as many times as I could foresee myself falling into massive snow drifts, I didn't think I'd risk ruining our one remaining portable camera.
Pretty soon the road turned onto a great trail, and I had to get off to hike -- losing sight of the other single speed guy. Being at the back of a pack of 30 riders leaves a nasty chopped up trail on any type of climb. I was fine with walking some of it, and kept a solid 2.5-3 mph hiking pace to keep me going. I'd hop on and ride anytime I could find a solid line, but I hiked A LOT of the middle section of the course. I kept glancing behind me to see if the other girl or gear guy were catching me, but I couldn't see anyone behind me or ahead of me. Finally, at some point, I stopped to pee and took a nice look around at the scenery. There were beautiful hills draped with clear, untracked snow, and I thought of a fancy wedding cake with fondant on top. I believe it was at this point that I realized just how hungry I was, and everything soon resembled food. This made me laugh. A lot.
The race was fairly non-eventful for me. I walked and pushed my bike a lot, and I rode most of the downhills. Often I would do a nice little left-foot-dabbing-skateboard-style-push down the hills just to keep my bike moving in the chopped up snow. There were a few downhills that were fast and sweet to ride on. I tried to let go of the brakes, as those just caused some serious fishtail action, but I never could get into much of a fast groove. I never did fall into the snowbanks, which was good and also a bit disappointing :)
Around mile 8 (of the supposed 12 mile course), I was getting ready to be done. I was pretty tired, hungry, and had a massive snow clown foot going in my bootie (I forgot to wear the booties that don't have holes cut into them for my cleats -- as I rode flat pedals yesterday -- so the snow built up in that hole, shoved on top of my toes, and made me look like I had clown shoes on). The clown foot was funny looking and I really wanted to ride it in to the finish to get a picture; however, one steep uphill hike left my toes numb when my shoes shoved through the cleat hole and had some serious circulation issues like that. I took a few minutes, sat down, and cleared out the booties before heading to the finish.
I still didn't see anyone behind me, and a quick cheer from Chris at the final road crossing left me motivated to keep moving... until I hit a downhill that I had to walk because of the choppy, soft snow. Walking downhill is a bit aggravating. The final downhill to the finish was fun and rideable (yay!) and I was soon across the finish line.
I couldn't wait to hear how Chris had done, and I had been kicking myself for the final few miles that I didn't ask as I passed by him on the road. Turns out he won! I am very proud of him for sticking out the race and working hard to beat some very fast guys.
It might not have been super speedy, but I won too. The other girl and the gear guy came through the finish line a few minutes after me. Good thing I didn't piddle away more time than I already did between the peeing, sight seeing, and bootie cleaning. For my first single speed race, and only my second snow race/ride, I'm pretty pleased with my results, and very pleased to beat a girl that had gears. My goal was ride the course in 2 hours, and I ended up coming in around 2:20, so I probably could've and should've gone faster. I rode 99% of the uphills on the road, without too much trouble on the single speed, so I'm happy about that. The trails were difficult when they were soft, but fun nonetheless. The location for this race is unbeatable. The peaceful feeling that comes along with the silent snow-covered mountains was much needed. I got to get away from everything, everyone, all stresses, worries, disappointments for a few hours. My mind needed the release, silence, and solitude.
We had a great time before and after the race with Brett, Bill, and a few new friends.
I spent the rest of the night trying my hardest to stay awake past 6:00.
I'm so excited for race #2 -- the night race -- coming up in a few weeks. That'll be a chilly one!!!
(Hubby has his own race report up, full of great pictures -- check it out!)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Gravity Shmavity
So, I rode my bike today.
Outside.
Finally.
Too bad the "calm" wind was actually a crazy wind where I went. Anytime you stand up and pedal like crazy to go 5 mph DOWNHILL and then get blown at 15-20 mph UPHILL, something is wrong with the world.
Just to prove I'm not a big whiny baby (at least when it comes to the wind), I took this picture:
Isn't water supposed to go down when you pour it?
It turned out to be a fun little ride -- maybe not all I intended it to be -- but at least I got out. And I got to see my new pink stuff in action!
In other news, I survived my first week back with kids after winter break. They were pretty good, and all very excited to tell me about what santa brought them. I got a new student this week, who is has a lot of special needs. I'm very proud of my kids for welcoming her with open arms and being so sweet and helpful. It is always amazing to see how little kids look at new people. Hopefully this week will bring more encouraging signs that they are growing up and getting ready to make some good progress in the coming months.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a three day weekend next weekend, full of my first bike race of the season, potential snowshoeing, Partini with the girls, and some relaxation before starting up my masters class on the 20th! In the next few months, I will become an expert on the historical and legal background of bilingual education -- woooooo, can hardly contain my excitement for that one!
Outside.
Finally.
Too bad the "calm" wind was actually a crazy wind where I went. Anytime you stand up and pedal like crazy to go 5 mph DOWNHILL and then get blown at 15-20 mph UPHILL, something is wrong with the world.
Just to prove I'm not a big whiny baby (at least when it comes to the wind), I took this picture:
Isn't water supposed to go down when you pour it?
It turned out to be a fun little ride -- maybe not all I intended it to be -- but at least I got out. And I got to see my new pink stuff in action!
In other news, I survived my first week back with kids after winter break. They were pretty good, and all very excited to tell me about what santa brought them. I got a new student this week, who is has a lot of special needs. I'm very proud of my kids for welcoming her with open arms and being so sweet and helpful. It is always amazing to see how little kids look at new people. Hopefully this week will bring more encouraging signs that they are growing up and getting ready to make some good progress in the coming months.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a three day weekend next weekend, full of my first bike race of the season, potential snowshoeing, Partini with the girls, and some relaxation before starting up my masters class on the 20th! In the next few months, I will become an expert on the historical and legal background of bilingual education -- woooooo, can hardly contain my excitement for that one!
Saturday, January 03, 2009
P-I-N-K
Yesterday, Rhonda The Singlespeed got in touch with her feminine side.
Thanks to hubby for the awesome new headset, stem cap, and for setting off a pink explosion.
Next up on my wishlist? A pink seat post clamp and pink pedals! She's looking pretty! Thanks hubby!
Monday, December 29, 2008
The Great '08
Another year has come and gone on this blog. Last year I looked back on my previous year's goals to see what I'd met and what I hadn't. I enjoyed looking back on that, so I'll do it again.
*Great Divide: Stays in Montana, Banff, and Idaho showed me some outstanding beauty on this continent that I didn't even know existed. Will we do this again? We'll have to see what summer holds...
*Mt. Elbert/Mt. Massive camping trip: Chris and I always wondered how we'd do on a two-day, two-mountain camping trip. This one was so fun that we will definitely do a similar trip, but perhaps upping the mountain count to three.
*Durango Or Bust! Colorado Trail Detox trip. To me, there was no better way to celebrate Chris's unbelievable race than to lounge around and eat good food in Durango for a few days.
*Christmas St. Louis trip: Always a great time. Always come back several pounds heavier.
*Kokopelli Trail self supported three day tour: Wow. Quite the trip. Overall a great experience, teaching me to push my boundaries and trust Chris's handy guiding skills. I'm sure we'll be back in some form at some point.
*White Rim self supported 1.5 day tour: A great trip, minus the knee problems that started at mile 8. I will be back for a 1.0 day self supported trip in the near future.
*Lots of 14ers!: I think we completed six 14er hikes this summer, which is pretty good considering we were hardly ever around. My favorite of the six this year? Mt. Massive.
*3rd and 1st Flatiron Climbing: Definitely something I never thought I'd do, but now that I've done it, I'm glad that I did and I'll be back. Very soon.
Racing Fun!
*Set a new PR on the Cherry Creek Time Trial course, missing my big season goal by only a few seconds: No doubt I'm looking forward to CCTT this year. It's always fun.
*Got 2nd in the Sport class at Winter Park, won King of the Rockies in my class, had a blast racing my first official downhill race, and smashing all of my times from last year. 'Nuf said. I better get my butt in gear if I'm going to survive Expert though...
*Backed up plumbing with husband off riding the Divide: More annoying than anything else, but yeah. Bad timing.
*No baby yet! 'Nuf said. Another year has come and gone and now I'm finally biting the bullet and seeing a fertility specialist in the next month or two. That's a big step for me.
****************************
Back from January 1, 2008:
As I head into 2008, I hope for much of the same. My goal is to challenge myself in the mountains on my bike and on my feet. Perhaps I will talk myself into more mountain bike racing outside of the Winter Park series I did race one of the Leadville winter series races -- super fun! (for sure a tour of the White Rim. Got that done! Yay! Kokopelli tour too? Did that too! Colorado trail on bikes or feet? Err, not this year, but I got to watch Chris smash the Colorado Trail Race!!!)... Maybe by 2009, or 14er count will be up to 20 -- is there a true winter climb coming in 2008? It didn't get up to 20, but we gave it a good college effort. We got to 16, which is pretty good considering we spent most of the summer away from home in one way or another. I TRIED a winter climb in early February involving snow shoes and Pikes Peak, but 3/4 of the way up, the wind and cold were too much for my timid bones. Oh well, I gave it a shot. I already know of a few changes coming to the Plesko house in 2008 and with these changes everything will be challenged; however, I'm sure that no matter what happens, we'll make it through (once again) with "grace and plenty of pictures!" The changes I had in mind when writing this never came to be, which is probably good. We had different challenges and changes, and those were adventures in themselves.
Before I set more goals for myself, I want to look back on what was a truly great 2008!
'08 brought so many great adventures. With Chris quitting his job in May, we had the whole summer to explore, play, relax, and hang out without the stress of work. We've truly lived it up this year and we consider ourselves very fortunate to be in a position to pull it off.
Vacations
At times it felt as if we were hardly ever home. We would come home just long enough to do some laundry, pay the bills, and pack up for a new adventure. The best vacations of 08?
*Spring Break: Moab, UT --> Zion National Park --> Las Vegas, NV --> Solvang, CA --> Moab, UT --> Home. The best overall vacation I've taken with Chris. It was solely centered around having a good time and enjoying our two incomes while they lasted. I hope we get to do this trip again sometime... or at least something similar.
*Great Divide: Stays in Montana, Banff, and Idaho showed me some outstanding beauty on this continent that I didn't even know existed. Will we do this again? We'll have to see what summer holds...
*Mt. Elbert/Mt. Massive camping trip: Chris and I always wondered how we'd do on a two-day, two-mountain camping trip. This one was so fun that we will definitely do a similar trip, but perhaps upping the mountain count to three.
*Durango Or Bust! Colorado Trail Detox trip. To me, there was no better way to celebrate Chris's unbelievable race than to lounge around and eat good food in Durango for a few days.
*Christmas St. Louis trip: Always a great time. Always come back several pounds heavier.
Bike/Hike/Climb Adventures
In addition to nice vacations, we also squeezed in some extraordinary adventures.
*Good attempt at a winter summit of Pikes Peak on snowshoes. Once I couldn't feel my hands anymore, I wussed out :) I will absolutely try this again. Now I have huge expedition worthy down mitts. That should at least minimize the hand numbing problem.
*Kokopelli Trail self supported three day tour: Wow. Quite the trip. Overall a great experience, teaching me to push my boundaries and trust Chris's handy guiding skills. I'm sure we'll be back in some form at some point.
*White Rim self supported 1.5 day tour: A great trip, minus the knee problems that started at mile 8. I will be back for a 1.0 day self supported trip in the near future.
*Lots of 14ers!: I think we completed six 14er hikes this summer, which is pretty good considering we were hardly ever around. My favorite of the six this year? Mt. Massive.
*3rd and 1st Flatiron Climbing: Definitely something I never thought I'd do, but now that I've done it, I'm glad that I did and I'll be back. Very soon.
Racing Fun!
Chris had a breakthrough season on the bike. He surprised himself and confirmed what I've always known he could do. Also, I had a pre tty good season myself!
*I rode and won my first winter snow bike race in Leadville: Time to start training for this year's series. Last year I wanted to do the series but managed to be sick for all but one race. I'm excited for these to start back up. There's nothing like totally crashing over the bars, face first, flying downhill, and not feeling a thing.
*Raced, while sick, in the Frostbite Time Trial up near Wyoming in March... perhaps not the best idea. However, if I'm not sick and we're free, it'd be fun to do again this year.
*Raced, while sick, in the Frostbite Time Trial up near Wyoming in March... perhaps not the best idea. However, if I'm not sick and we're free, it'd be fun to do again this year.
*Set a new PR on the Cherry Creek Time Trial course, missing my big season goal by only a few seconds: No doubt I'm looking forward to CCTT this year. It's always fun.
*Got 2nd in the Sport class at Winter Park, won King of the Rockies in my class, had a blast racing my first official downhill race, and smashing all of my times from last year. 'Nuf said. I better get my butt in gear if I'm going to survive Expert though...
Life Adventures
Often times our adventures are planned, purposeful, and fun, but sometimes life has its own ideas. 2008 brought a few of those as well.
*Rolled Element leads to new Element during reeeeeeally bad weekend: This was the weekend that I got the worst flu of my life and threw up constantly for three days, had my uncle's funeral and almost passed out because of the flu, then locked myself out of my house and had to spend $150 on a locksmith to let me back in... all the while worrying about Chris after getting my most dreaded call that he and his friend had been in a bad accident in Arizona. In our car. And now we had to buy a new one. Baaaaaaaaaad weekend. Hope it never comes again like that one.
*Backed up plumbing with husband off riding the Divide: More annoying than anything else, but yeah. Bad timing.
*No baby yet! 'Nuf said. Another year has come and gone and now I'm finally biting the bullet and seeing a fertility specialist in the next month or two. That's a big step for me.
****************************
So, 2008 was truly great for me and Chris. As I look back at all of the fun, exciting, and interesting adventures that we had together, I wouldn't change a thing.
Looking forward to 2009? Well, I'm sure it'll hold many surprises just like this year. I hope to continue to build my climbing skills, as I've really enjoyed climbing both inside and outside this winter. At this point, it's still a Just For Fun hobby with an added bonus of a bit of cross-training for bike season. With no major climbing goals in mind, I simply hope to continue to enjoy it -- safely. I'm sure Chris and I will continue to work toward our 14ers goals together, hopefully including some multi-mountain-multi-day trips in this summer. I will climb Longs Peak this year, perhaps by the traditional Keyhole route, perhaps by a different one. Either way, I will do it... even though it scares me. Chris and I have our sights set on a tour of the Colorado Trail this summer -- probably by bikes, but we'll have to see. I'm not sure what our summer will look like, with Chris planning more big adventures, and me taking at least one masters class, but somehow we'll fit at least a few fun things in when we can. My biking goals for '09? Pretty similar to last year. I'd like to crush the 30 minute mark at Cherry Creek, in addition to trying to make the top 10 at one of the races. The 30 minute mark will be easy, top 10 probably not so easy. But I'll try. I want to survive Expert at Winter Park and if I can get top 3 on any race, I'll be super excited. I've kicked around the idea of the Leadville 100. I need to decide soon, as applications need to be in ASAP. It's so expensive though, and hard to commit that much money to 8 months out when I'm trying to get pregnant, but maybe. I feel like I can do it with some good training, and I'd like to do it, so who knows.
So there we have it. My goals for a very fine 2009. No doubt the year will be an adventure, just like 2008. I can only hope we savor the good times and push through the lows.
Happy 2009!
Happy 2009!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to everyone out in bloggerland.
Pictures of good loot to come! Rhonda The Singlespeed will be much prettier after this holiday season!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
'Tis the season
I've abandoned the blog lately.
It seems that before vacation I was too busy and/or sick to do much of anything.
Now that I'm vacation, I'm enjoying not doing much of anything.
I caught one nasty cold from my students that cast a nice shadow over the usually exciting week before Christmas break (minus the fun afternoon of decorating cookies with the kids, Chris, and my parents... despite feeling terrible, it was a blast and may just become a holiday tradition in my classroom).
Normally Chris has an immune system made of steal, but it seems this time the germs found a crack in his armor. Poor guy has been sick and feeling bad since last Saturday when we drove 13 hours to St. Louis. Since he wasn't feeling well, I drove about 2/3 of the trip. Luckily we had great weather -- minus it being REALLY freaking cold and windy in Kansas.
Since then we have been lounging around in St. Louis, eating and generally doing a bunch of nothing. Our bikes are here, but the frigid weather has kept me off of mine, and The Sickness has kept poor Chris off of his. We climbed Monday night with an old friend of Chris's and his parents. The gym was nice, but really makes me appreciate our climbing gyms in Denver. There were only a few easy routes and it was pretty packed. Mom2 and Dad2 did awesome for their first time climbing though! Both muscled it up a 5.7 and learned that climbing isn't as scary as it seems.
Yesterday we braved the mall for a few last minute gifts. I realize that as I've gotten older, I've started to hate crowds. They overwhelm me. More and more, I see that I am much better adapted to the solitude of a climb, hike, or ride than I am to crowds. Maybe it's also because I deal with a large crowd of children everyday and I need some "personal space bubble" rebuilding time on my time off? Who knows. Either way, I'm looking forward to using the other part of my Christmas gift from my parents and spend my gift card on some new boots in the post-Christmas sale frenzy!
I absolutely cannot wait to give Chris his gift tomorrow. The gift has been in the works for many many months and I'm very bad at delaying gratification. A shipping snafu nearly killed the surprise, so things didn't work out as planned, but I'm still excited. Perhaps he'll find the gift blog worthy tomorrow, otherwise I'll post pictures tomorrow for him.
Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!!!!
Merry Christmahannakwanzikah to everyone! (still one of the best holiday ads of all time)
Sunday, December 14, 2008
More to come...
But for now:
1) It's freaking cold outside. -10 right now. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
2) I finally got sick, which sucks, but this time last year I'd almost used up all of my sick days. I'm happy to have held off the beast this long.
3) 4 DAYS LEFT WITH KIDS!!!! I just might survive. But it's looking like an inside recess week. Key word in previous sentence: might
4) This snowman is awesome:
Even more awesome was this hillarious manic laugh that accompanied this..."My snowman has a long arm!! AHHHHAHHHAHHHAAAAAA!" A bit creepy in fact.
5) LOVE my new coat and blanket from my parents. Can't wait to get out and use the coat so I can get a good picture!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Need. More. Riding.
This week was snowy and I was very happy to see the snow. Finally. I didn't even mind the hour drive to work or the ice scraping when I got out. There's something peaceful about the first few snows of the year. Something festive. It finally feels like Christmas might actually come this year.
But then again, it IS Colorado...
Today was 50 degrees and beautiful. The only hint of this week's snow is the freshly packed, slightly wet gravel on the path. The sun was shining brightly, the air smelled clean, and I could walk outside without putting on the down jacket. After writing a long paper, and having a great lunch with my friends, I went for a little ride. Finally. It seems it has been too long.
My legs felt pretty terrible. Like they were filled with stones. But the great thing about riding? As bad as it feels, if you just keep riding, it generally gets better. My goal for the ride was merely to get out, ride, and find a good place to capture a picture of Longs Peak for Chris. I ended up riding for around an hour, pleased with the day but not so pleased with the massive headwind and low tire pressure. Luckily the single speed turns an ordinarily easy hour ride into a decent workout.
While I was out enjoying the beautiful weather here, Chris was out hiking Longs Peak (hence the picture for him). A big cloud seemed to be hovering around the Longs area, so I am curious to see how his weather was. My guess was it was pretty windy. I've watched his SPOT closely when I've been home, and unfortunately it was inconclusive as to whether or not they reached the summit. It didn't refresh very often at that point, and so I'm not sure whether they got close and turned around, or tagged it quickly and made it back down a bit before the SPOT refreshed. 12 hours in, he appears to be nearly back to the car, so I look forward to him coming home and telling me all about the adventure. I'm jealous that he has now possibly stood on the summit Longs without me, but at the same time I am incredibly proud of him for taking on the challenge and diving right in.
As a nice little surprise for him when he gets back, I made him some cookies. And promptly royally screwed them up. I've made the cookies a million times, but still they don't taste so good. Luckily he's sweet enough that he'll probably eat them without complaint. What a nice boy.
Tomorrow I am going to sit down and make a riding plan for the week. I am going to slowly get myself back into a routine and then start actual training again in January. It is time to get back into riding. Climbing, though, has been an unexpectedly amazing diversion.
Meanwhile, I will be eating yucky cookies. So sad.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Rock Moves
This Thanksgiving weekend started out with a wonderful climb on Wednesday. Chris convinced me, through my nervousness, to take advantage of the nearly 60 degree weather and get outside and climb.
When I first jumped into climbing the 3rd Flatiron a month or so ago, I wasn't nervous. I had only been climbing a few times, and while I knew the risks and knew the heights involved, I was pretty naive and not too nervous. Once I got on the rock, I flipped out once, but quickly got into a groove and climbed without too much hesitation. Having already done the 3rd and having climbed inside and outside several times since, I felt really nervous to climb the 1st Flatiron. I know that it's still considered a relatively "beginner" climb and small children do it, but I was still a little reluctant.
Chris reassured me, and convinced me that I'd feel better pigging out on turkey and pie if I'd done a big climb the day before, and we set out to do it. He also bribed me with delicious Starbucks hot chocolate if I could get up and commit to do it. When we got up to Boulder, we enjoyed the hike to the Flatiron and met up with another couple roping up to do the same route. We talked with them for a bit, and decided to climb first while they followed up behind. They were a nice couple from North Carolina and generally climbed at a similar pace. It was nice to have people to talk to at the belay points.
The first pitch of the climb is considered the crux. There aren't many good hand/foot holds, and you mostly have to rely on the friction from your shoes and some palming of the rock to stay on. I watched Chris fly up it to the first belay station and he made it look very easy. As I got started it wasn't too bad. The hardest part was that the rock was very cold which made for some uncomfortable hands, but other than that it was like crawling up a wall. Unfortunately I took a weird line toward the top and got a bit stuck a few times.
The view down from one of the belay stations. Those trees are FAR away!
The rest of the pitches were generally easier, although each had their own challenges. Overall the climbing was more difficult than the 3rd, and it required a lot more attention and friction moves. Overall, however, I enjoyed this climb more. There were lots of interesting little sections, including a slot where I had to climb under a rock (finally my shortness comes in handy climbing!) and a rocky, exposed ridge that we climbed as the sun was setting.
The slot is to the left of the middle of this shot.
Taking a break on the wall. The climbing was more difficult on this flatiron, so we didn't get any actual climbing shots. In this picture, I am probably 700 ft off the ground.
Chris did an awesome job leading this climb! He was careful and precise when placing gear and climbing up ahead of me. He kept us moving, kept me positive, and kept us laughing. I couldn't ask for a better climbing partner.
After scaling the ridge in the beautiful sunset, we reached the summit of the 1st Flatiron! We still had a 100 ft rappel to complete before calling the climb a success. The other couple that we climbed with set up their rope and let us rappel from theirs. This allowed me to go down after them (so I knew the rope reached the ground and was properly anchored), but before Chris so he could double check my harness and remind me how to do the rappel. This one wasn't as long as the rappel on the 3rd, and it was only free hanging for the last 30 ft or so.
We all safely reached solid ground, packed up our gear, and hiked back to the car in the dark. Since we were rushing at the summit to beat the dark, we weren't able to get a proper summit picture. We did, however, get a really bad picture of us on the hike back down. Keep in mind it was very very dark and this picture blinded both of us for the next few minutes. Personally, I love my hair in this one ;)
When all was said and done, it took us about 7 hours from car to car to climb the 1st. It was not nearly as scary as I expected and when we were climbing, we moved pretty quickly. It was the perfect way to start the weekend and I'm glad we got to take advantage of the beautiful weather.
Thanksgiving itself, despite being one of my favorite holidays, was a complete bust. An early exit from the family dinner left Chris and I dessert-less, but thankfully wonderful Chris saved the day. A quick detour to a closing Safeway resulted in a delicious end to the day. Frozen pizza, granny smith cider, and whipped cream with pumpkin pie made the perfect snacks to go with a movie and wild game of rummy. If you haven't seen Run Fat Boy, Run you should. It's a pretty great movie!
This is how we roll in this house. Is there pie under there? I think so.
Chris left yesterday afternoon to climb Mt. Elbert in the cold with some friends. Not surprisingly, I wasn't able to be coaxed into venturing out into the wind and snow to summit a peak that we already summited in beautiful weather. So, while he headed up to Leadville for the night, I stayed home and watched Turbo and my brother's dog, Sydney, play in the newly fallen snow! It is nearly December and this is the first actual snow in Denver this season. The dogs LOVED getting to go out and play in the snow.
Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone out in bloggerland!
When I first jumped into climbing the 3rd Flatiron a month or so ago, I wasn't nervous. I had only been climbing a few times, and while I knew the risks and knew the heights involved, I was pretty naive and not too nervous. Once I got on the rock, I flipped out once, but quickly got into a groove and climbed without too much hesitation. Having already done the 3rd and having climbed inside and outside several times since, I felt really nervous to climb the 1st Flatiron. I know that it's still considered a relatively "beginner" climb and small children do it, but I was still a little reluctant.
Chris reassured me, and convinced me that I'd feel better pigging out on turkey and pie if I'd done a big climb the day before, and we set out to do it. He also bribed me with delicious Starbucks hot chocolate if I could get up and commit to do it. When we got up to Boulder, we enjoyed the hike to the Flatiron and met up with another couple roping up to do the same route. We talked with them for a bit, and decided to climb first while they followed up behind. They were a nice couple from North Carolina and generally climbed at a similar pace. It was nice to have people to talk to at the belay points.
The first pitch of the climb is considered the crux. There aren't many good hand/foot holds, and you mostly have to rely on the friction from your shoes and some palming of the rock to stay on. I watched Chris fly up it to the first belay station and he made it look very easy. As I got started it wasn't too bad. The hardest part was that the rock was very cold which made for some uncomfortable hands, but other than that it was like crawling up a wall. Unfortunately I took a weird line toward the top and got a bit stuck a few times.
The view down from one of the belay stations. Those trees are FAR away!
The rest of the pitches were generally easier, although each had their own challenges. Overall the climbing was more difficult than the 3rd, and it required a lot more attention and friction moves. Overall, however, I enjoyed this climb more. There were lots of interesting little sections, including a slot where I had to climb under a rock (finally my shortness comes in handy climbing!) and a rocky, exposed ridge that we climbed as the sun was setting.
The slot is to the left of the middle of this shot.
Taking a break on the wall. The climbing was more difficult on this flatiron, so we didn't get any actual climbing shots. In this picture, I am probably 700 ft off the ground.
Chris did an awesome job leading this climb! He was careful and precise when placing gear and climbing up ahead of me. He kept us moving, kept me positive, and kept us laughing. I couldn't ask for a better climbing partner.
After scaling the ridge in the beautiful sunset, we reached the summit of the 1st Flatiron! We still had a 100 ft rappel to complete before calling the climb a success. The other couple that we climbed with set up their rope and let us rappel from theirs. This allowed me to go down after them (so I knew the rope reached the ground and was properly anchored), but before Chris so he could double check my harness and remind me how to do the rappel. This one wasn't as long as the rappel on the 3rd, and it was only free hanging for the last 30 ft or so. We all safely reached solid ground, packed up our gear, and hiked back to the car in the dark. Since we were rushing at the summit to beat the dark, we weren't able to get a proper summit picture. We did, however, get a really bad picture of us on the hike back down. Keep in mind it was very very dark and this picture blinded both of us for the next few minutes. Personally, I love my hair in this one ;)
When all was said and done, it took us about 7 hours from car to car to climb the 1st. It was not nearly as scary as I expected and when we were climbing, we moved pretty quickly. It was the perfect way to start the weekend and I'm glad we got to take advantage of the beautiful weather.Thanksgiving itself, despite being one of my favorite holidays, was a complete bust. An early exit from the family dinner left Chris and I dessert-less, but thankfully wonderful Chris saved the day. A quick detour to a closing Safeway resulted in a delicious end to the day. Frozen pizza, granny smith cider, and whipped cream with pumpkin pie made the perfect snacks to go with a movie and wild game of rummy. If you haven't seen Run Fat Boy, Run you should. It's a pretty great movie!
This is how we roll in this house. Is there pie under there? I think so.
Chris left yesterday afternoon to climb Mt. Elbert in the cold with some friends. Not surprisingly, I wasn't able to be coaxed into venturing out into the wind and snow to summit a peak that we already summited in beautiful weather. So, while he headed up to Leadville for the night, I stayed home and watched Turbo and my brother's dog, Sydney, play in the newly fallen snow! It is nearly December and this is the first actual snow in Denver this season. The dogs LOVED getting to go out and play in the snow. 
Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone out in bloggerland!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday/Tuesday
Yay for Tuesdays that are Fridays!
Can't wait for Thanksgiving break!
I keep meaning to post this story, because it was funny...
Everyday I sit on the floor to do my reading groups. Everyday. The other day I sat on the floor to stretch with my kids (I make them stretch to "get their brains working" but in fact I just need the stretches and it gives me a good excuse to do it daily). One of my little girls looks at me funny and exclaims: "YOU sit on floors too!" too which I nodded "yeah" and she clarifies: "YOU sit on floors AND chairs?!!!!?!!!"
Happy Friday/Tuesday to all of those teachers out there!
Can't wait for Thanksgiving break!
I keep meaning to post this story, because it was funny...
Everyday I sit on the floor to do my reading groups. Everyday. The other day I sat on the floor to stretch with my kids (I make them stretch to "get their brains working" but in fact I just need the stretches and it gives me a good excuse to do it daily). One of my little girls looks at me funny and exclaims: "YOU sit on floors too!" too which I nodded "yeah" and she clarifies: "YOU sit on floors AND chairs?!!!!?!!!"
Happy Friday/Tuesday to all of those teachers out there!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A great weekend
As I sit here, soon to be heading to bed, I have to look back and think: This weekend was wonderful.
I'm not sure whether it was the fun activities that we did this weekend, or knowing that there's only a two day work week to look forward to.
Most likely it was a bit of both.
Our fun weekend started with a delicious dinner at Pei Wei (no Shaina and Karen, not pay raise). After an incredibly rough day at work on Friday, Chris humored me by letting me vent and rant about the children all dinner long. The best lesson for that dinner, that I need to repeat to myself throughout the day? "You need to remember, at the end of the day, they are still five." Chris is always wise beyond his experiences, and he always makes me feel better and put everything back into perspective. Following our dinner, we had a great night of playing hearts and drinking beers with Stephan, Sheryl, and baby Sebastian. It was fun to hang out with another couple who understands all of the crazy things that we do... a rare and wonderful experience.
Saturday was comprised of our Marshal Mesa adventure, while Saturday night was mostly me hobbling around on my sore knees. We watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshal" (hmmm, Marshal theme?) and I even squeezed in a bit of knitting... another rare and wonderful experience these days.
This morning we slept in pretty late and drove to Boulder for some bagels before climbing at The Amphitheater. I made it up my hardest route outside (5.7), only falling once in the process. In fact, it was my first "real" fall. Luckily, while rock climbing, you only fall a few inches before being caught by your partner on the rope. I was nervous to tackle this particular overhang, as it seemed very big and hard once I climbed up to it. As I pondered coming down before even trying, Chris yelled up "at least fall trying!" To which I burst into tears and stood on the side of the rock hyperventilating for a minute or two. He's a smart guy, and knows me all too well at this point, and he knew that this would be just the right amount of "tough love" to get me up and over the ledge. I got mad and made it over the ledge with shaking legs and cold-numb hands after one quick fall. It wasn't pretty, but I made it and I'm glad I did. I then got the privilege of watching Chris tackle his own personal hardest route outside. He climbed up a 5.10a pitch like it was nothing. He also had one "real" fall where I was able to catch him quickly on the rope. He was nervous, perhaps a little scared, but he persevered and did an awesome job. I'm so proud of him! He also has a great write-up on his blog!
Tonight we shoved ourselves full of homemade pizza, salad, and soon some peppermint ice cream. Ahhhhh, deliciousness.
I am glad there are only two days of teaching this week. I really really love my job, but I also really really need a bit of a break. 28 Kindergarteners is a lot. I have a great class, great kids, but lately their needs and struggles have been overwhelming. I know I can't help all of them, solve all of their problems, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like I must.
So here's to another week. A short week for all of us. My stomach is ready for whipped cream with a bit of pumpkin pie beneath.
I'm not sure whether it was the fun activities that we did this weekend, or knowing that there's only a two day work week to look forward to.
Most likely it was a bit of both.
Our fun weekend started with a delicious dinner at Pei Wei (no Shaina and Karen, not pay raise). After an incredibly rough day at work on Friday, Chris humored me by letting me vent and rant about the children all dinner long. The best lesson for that dinner, that I need to repeat to myself throughout the day? "You need to remember, at the end of the day, they are still five." Chris is always wise beyond his experiences, and he always makes me feel better and put everything back into perspective. Following our dinner, we had a great night of playing hearts and drinking beers with Stephan, Sheryl, and baby Sebastian. It was fun to hang out with another couple who understands all of the crazy things that we do... a rare and wonderful experience.
Saturday was comprised of our Marshal Mesa adventure, while Saturday night was mostly me hobbling around on my sore knees. We watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshal" (hmmm, Marshal theme?) and I even squeezed in a bit of knitting... another rare and wonderful experience these days.
This morning we slept in pretty late and drove to Boulder for some bagels before climbing at The Amphitheater. I made it up my hardest route outside (5.7), only falling once in the process. In fact, it was my first "real" fall. Luckily, while rock climbing, you only fall a few inches before being caught by your partner on the rope. I was nervous to tackle this particular overhang, as it seemed very big and hard once I climbed up to it. As I pondered coming down before even trying, Chris yelled up "at least fall trying!" To which I burst into tears and stood on the side of the rock hyperventilating for a minute or two. He's a smart guy, and knows me all too well at this point, and he knew that this would be just the right amount of "tough love" to get me up and over the ledge. I got mad and made it over the ledge with shaking legs and cold-numb hands after one quick fall. It wasn't pretty, but I made it and I'm glad I did. I then got the privilege of watching Chris tackle his own personal hardest route outside. He climbed up a 5.10a pitch like it was nothing. He also had one "real" fall where I was able to catch him quickly on the rope. He was nervous, perhaps a little scared, but he persevered and did an awesome job. I'm so proud of him! He also has a great write-up on his blog!
Tonight we shoved ourselves full of homemade pizza, salad, and soon some peppermint ice cream. Ahhhhh, deliciousness.
I am glad there are only two days of teaching this week. I really really love my job, but I also really really need a bit of a break. 28 Kindergarteners is a lot. I have a great class, great kids, but lately their needs and struggles have been overwhelming. I know I can't help all of them, solve all of their problems, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like I must.
So here's to another week. A short week for all of us. My stomach is ready for whipped cream with a bit of pumpkin pie beneath.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Ride Marshal Mesa from home? Check!
This summer and fall have been full of checking activities off an unwritten list of things that I never thought I'd be able to do.
(Ok, well, never as in the last few years.)
Today, Chris and I took advantage of this continually warm weather and took care of one of those items. Fall is sticking around in these parts and seems unwilling to give way to actual winter-like weather. This week Denver hit 78 degrees. At the end of November. It's crazy.
One item on my list of things I've been wanting to accomplish, is riding the Marshal Mesa trail from home and back. Marshal Mesa is a pretty easy ride that we've been riding since back in our Boulder days with GhettoBike. Chris likes to make this relatively easy trail into a more substantial ride by riding from home. He makes the trip fairly often, but I've always thought it was too far away for me to ride and still enjoy the trail in the middle.
So we tried it.
In the end it turned out to be my farthest single speed ride yet... around 31 miles, 2000 ft of climbing, in about 4 hours.
We (as in I) started out pretty bundled up, but quickly stripped off layers. The high today was in the upper 50s and it was almost too warm for knee warmers. We enjoyed the cruise down The Wall over to the Colton trail and rode that up to the regular Marshal Mesa parking area. I was surprised at how quickly this part of the ride went, it really wasn't that far to get to the trail! Zooming down the Colton trail was fun and I even went fast enough to get some air off of some little jumps. Once we reached the lot where we normally park our car, we crossed highway 93 and rode the Dowdy Draw trail. The views of the Flatirons and Eldorado Canyon were spectacular. The trail itself was really fun and in great shape. In the past we have ridden up this trail, but this time we got to go down it. Much more fun that way! We stopped for a few snacks and hit the normal Marshal Mesa trail on our way back to the road behind Superior where we turned back toward home. As seems the norm for big rides around here lately, we had to cruise up The Wall before getting to spin home. I was nervous about climbing The Wall on my single speed with giant heavy wheels when I know I usually suffer up it on my speedy little road bike. At this point my knees were really bothering me as well (URGH!!!!!) but I made it up.
A few random thoughts from the ride:
1) Chris is a badass. 30 miles on the single speed really is hard. Harder than I expected. And he does that on his rest days. Dang.
2) Prairie Dogs right now are really fat. And apparently suicidal.
3) Having not really ridden except for once in the past month, and not that often for the month prior, I don't feel that I've lost a lot of fitness in my legs and muscles. I do, however, feel like I have lost lung/heart fitness. I had to stop for too many breaks. That was annoying.
4) I need to fix my knees. The foam roller of pain is helping, but not enough. I need some serious strength exercises to make them better. Any suggestions for IT Band exercises?
5) It does not feel like the end of November. I hear it may snow over Thanksgiving. I hate driving in the snow, but really, it's about time.
We had a great time, on a great day, on a great ride.
Now I'm sore and tired. As usual.
(Ok, well, never as in the last few years.)
Today, Chris and I took advantage of this continually warm weather and took care of one of those items. Fall is sticking around in these parts and seems unwilling to give way to actual winter-like weather. This week Denver hit 78 degrees. At the end of November. It's crazy.
One item on my list of things I've been wanting to accomplish, is riding the Marshal Mesa trail from home and back. Marshal Mesa is a pretty easy ride that we've been riding since back in our Boulder days with GhettoBike. Chris likes to make this relatively easy trail into a more substantial ride by riding from home. He makes the trip fairly often, but I've always thought it was too far away for me to ride and still enjoy the trail in the middle.
So we tried it.
In the end it turned out to be my farthest single speed ride yet... around 31 miles, 2000 ft of climbing, in about 4 hours.
We (as in I) started out pretty bundled up, but quickly stripped off layers. The high today was in the upper 50s and it was almost too warm for knee warmers. We enjoyed the cruise down The Wall over to the Colton trail and rode that up to the regular Marshal Mesa parking area. I was surprised at how quickly this part of the ride went, it really wasn't that far to get to the trail! Zooming down the Colton trail was fun and I even went fast enough to get some air off of some little jumps. Once we reached the lot where we normally park our car, we crossed highway 93 and rode the Dowdy Draw trail. The views of the Flatirons and Eldorado Canyon were spectacular. The trail itself was really fun and in great shape. In the past we have ridden up this trail, but this time we got to go down it. Much more fun that way! We stopped for a few snacks and hit the normal Marshal Mesa trail on our way back to the road behind Superior where we turned back toward home. As seems the norm for big rides around here lately, we had to cruise up The Wall before getting to spin home. I was nervous about climbing The Wall on my single speed with giant heavy wheels when I know I usually suffer up it on my speedy little road bike. At this point my knees were really bothering me as well (URGH!!!!!) but I made it up.
A few random thoughts from the ride:
1) Chris is a badass. 30 miles on the single speed really is hard. Harder than I expected. And he does that on his rest days. Dang.
2) Prairie Dogs right now are really fat. And apparently suicidal.
3) Having not really ridden except for once in the past month, and not that often for the month prior, I don't feel that I've lost a lot of fitness in my legs and muscles. I do, however, feel like I have lost lung/heart fitness. I had to stop for too many breaks. That was annoying.
4) I need to fix my knees. The foam roller of pain is helping, but not enough. I need some serious strength exercises to make them better. Any suggestions for IT Band exercises?
5) It does not feel like the end of November. I hear it may snow over Thanksgiving. I hate driving in the snow, but really, it's about time.
We had a great time, on a great day, on a great ride.
Now I'm sore and tired. As usual.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Teachers make the best...
Drinkers.
Snackers.
Shoppers.
Laughers.
Conversationalists.
Singers.
Friends.
An awesome weekend has come to an end, but the stories and memories will last a lifetime.
I love my friends.
Snackers.
Shoppers.
Laughers.
Conversationalists.
Singers.
Friends.
An awesome weekend has come to an end, but the stories and memories will last a lifetime.
I love my friends.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Super slacking
I haven't ridden my bike in a long time.
Since Fruita I think.
SuperSlackerSad.
I haven't gotten into cold/windy/darkness riding mode yet. I'm seriously itching to take my single speed out on a fun spin though, but I haven't been able to actually make it happen. I have a date with the kitchen tonight to make some "Muddy Buddies" (yeah, you know, the delicious chex/peanutbutter/chocolate/powdered sugar miracle...mmmmmm), but when I'm done I am going to make a serious effort to get on the trainer.
I haven't been totally slacking though.
My parents, hubby and I recovered our couch. That was no small undertaking. When I get the pictures from mom, I will make a post all about it. It truly was a learning experience, and fun to see my parents a bunch, but not an activity that I'm looking forward to repeating any day soon.
We've been climbing in the gym a few times lately, and it's surprisingly fun. This week I made it up a 5.9 with an overhang which was really hard and basically toast me for the next two days. I'm sure it'll get easier as I gain some upper body strength, but at the moment it's an incredible workout. As I type, Chris is climbing again with some friends while I work on homework.
Boooooo, homework.
One day the masters will be worth it.
Hopefully.
In fun news, I'm heading up to Breckenridge with my best teacher friends from college for the weekend. We are going to be living it up, relaxing, and drowning our mid-November sorrows in snacks and "beverages." We never fail to have a great time when we're together, and two uninterrupted days of laughing is totally needed right now. I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it.
Off to the kitchen for my date with deliciousness.
Since Fruita I think.
SuperSlackerSad.
I haven't gotten into cold/windy/darkness riding mode yet. I'm seriously itching to take my single speed out on a fun spin though, but I haven't been able to actually make it happen. I have a date with the kitchen tonight to make some "Muddy Buddies" (yeah, you know, the delicious chex/peanutbutter/chocolate/powdered sugar miracle...mmmmmm), but when I'm done I am going to make a serious effort to get on the trainer.
I haven't been totally slacking though.
My parents, hubby and I recovered our couch. That was no small undertaking. When I get the pictures from mom, I will make a post all about it. It truly was a learning experience, and fun to see my parents a bunch, but not an activity that I'm looking forward to repeating any day soon.
We've been climbing in the gym a few times lately, and it's surprisingly fun. This week I made it up a 5.9 with an overhang which was really hard and basically toast me for the next two days. I'm sure it'll get easier as I gain some upper body strength, but at the moment it's an incredible workout. As I type, Chris is climbing again with some friends while I work on homework.
Boooooo, homework.
One day the masters will be worth it.
Hopefully.
In fun news, I'm heading up to Breckenridge with my best teacher friends from college for the weekend. We are going to be living it up, relaxing, and drowning our mid-November sorrows in snacks and "beverages." We never fail to have a great time when we're together, and two uninterrupted days of laughing is totally needed right now. I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it.
Off to the kitchen for my date with deliciousness.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Happy Propose-aversary!
I wanted to wish my sweet hubby a happy 5th propose-aversary!
Five years ago from Friday, Chris took advantage of my one major clueless day and proposed.
In celebration, we are currently drinking our second-to-last bottle of propose-night-wine.
Want to read the story from back in the day?
Happy proposeaversary wonderful husband. Five years ago, I never could've imagined a future as wonderful as this.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Happy Vote Day!
Yes, I voted.
I rushed home from a busy day at work and walked to the high school to vote. It went quickly, I put in my vote for prez.
We'll see what happens with the night.
I have my opinions.
Luckily for me, I don't talk politics.
Ever, really.
So instead, just assume I voted for cake.
*In other news, we went to the zoo today for a field trip! Chris came to help, as he's quickly becoming accustomed to doing, and we had a great time. The weather was warm, most of the animals were out, and I got to spend some good quality time with four of my kids that I am most concerned about for one reason or another. I liked the donkeys.
Chris is the best help in the world. He is so patient and sweet and great at teaching the kids stuff that I would never think to do. He knows the most random information about everything and that really came in handy at the zoo. In fact, the two of us have plans to return on our own personal field trip just so we can spend quality time at each animal so I can learn more. Working with kids comes naturally to him and the kids adore him. This particular group needs as many positive male role models as possible and I can't think of anyone better to do that. I know that one day he'll go back to work and not be able to help me out in the classroom as much, but I am taking advantage of him while he's available!
*We've also started recovering our couch with my parents. It is a really tough project but we're getting through it! It'll look great when it's done!
*Chris kicked my butt in fantasy football this week.
'Tis all for now.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
I vote for...
I keep meaning to post this, because it truly is a great Kindergarten moment...
We were studying the letter 'v' and the speech teacher (who does a weekly phonics lesson with my class) used the word "vote" as an example. She explained to the kids what "vote" means and said something to this extent:
Teacher: "Voting is what grown-ups are going to do on Tuesday. They will pick who will be the next president of the United States. It will either be Barack Obama or John McCain."
Then one girl shoots her hand in the air: "I vote for Barack Obama!"
One other girl: "I vote for John McCain!"
Then, one of my more innocent babies shot his hand up: "I vote for cake!"
You know what honey, I vote for cake too.
Go vote...
Go cake!!!!
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