No Baloney - just oatmeal

On Saturday, I rode my 1st ever cycling century, The No Baloney Bicycle Ride! Riding a century is a significant milestome for cyclists...and it sure was for me. I rode with a pal from work, and he was kind enough to ride slow with me. As a bonus there were about 12 of his regular riding club members (The Oatmeal Roadies) on the ride. They rode with us for about 65 of the 107, then bailed out because of the rain. During that 65 miles we were able to form a little peloton, which really helped to eat up the miles. After the Oatmeal Roadies dropped off - Dan and I slugged it out ourselves occasionally riding with three other guys. Over all it was a well organized ride with plenty of food at the rest stops. Maybe a little hilly for my 1st century - but I will definitely ride it next year!!

Rassmussen's

You can't believe what the Rassmussen's will do to you :)

Life's little lessons

Last night we took the kids out for Marina's 1st soccer game (posting will follow soon), and I got a little lesson on life. As we walked out to the field I spotted a man using crutches out on the soccer field with his two children and he was playing very enthusiastically. He was very active, and was giving the kids a run for their money. As we got closer I realized that he had one of his pant legs pinned up at the knee. What a wake up call for me! Here was this man with every excuse to not play with his kids - but he was out the out-performing some of us with 2 legs. It was absolutely eye-opening. Time spent with the kids is so valuable - they are only young once. It has really motivated me to be a more involved Dad no excuse is good enough to miss these years!!!

Our Paigee-pooh off to school!

This was one excited little girl. She wanted to wear her new fall school shoes, backpack with everything loaded in it and head off to her first day of preschool. So fun to see her so enthusiastic.
I couldn't keep up with her. She said "I can go myself" and off she ran.

This was after about 2 1/2 minutes in the car after I picked her up -- wowzer, talk about worn out. She came alive when I gave her the job of picking out a lunch location.
She seems so much bigger and she was ready for a new challenge. She was just shining last night as she told everyone about her school.