Such a Happy Boy

Cayle loves hanging upside down, and is such a happy boy! He is constantly smiling and laughing. He is a such a bundle of joy for us! We are so blessed! Thank you Lord!

Thanksgiving Celebration and x-country skiing

What a great weekend! Lots of relaxing time with friends and Cayle :) The first picture is Natalie planted in front of the tv with her coffee, waiting patiently for her cousin Delaney to perform the opening act of the parade. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find Delaney in the crowd, but the parade was fun to watch anyway!We had an awesome spread of food for Thanksgiving lunch. All this food below, in addition to the table of appetizers we had in the other room. Lots and lots of amazing food!
Cayle's first Thanksgiving. He wore his Thanksgiving bib to celebrate the event. He had started solids a few days before and had enjoyed rice cereal, bananas and avocado. Thanksgiving was his first attempt at sweet potatoes! He really enjoyed them...and his fingers, of course!
Family photo on Thanksgiving. Too bad Cayle wasn't interested in the photo!
Delicious, scrumptious mini cheesecakes made by Jess. Unfortunately, there were a few left over at the end of the day and she had to leave them with us. Pretty sure they were consumed for breakfast on Friday...
This next picture is hilarious. It was Cayle's first time to help decorate for Christmas. So, here he is holding on to Santa for mommy. Cayle looks so serious!
The next photos are from cross-country skiing we did on Saturday. We went up Valley Road to find some nice snow. It was Natalie's first time on the skis, and she only face-planted once!
Cayle at the end of our cross-country skiing session. He clearly enjoys his time in the Chariot. He was super-bundled up and stayed nice and warm :)
Only three weeks of school until Christmas Break!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We had a fantastic turkey day complete with the best turkey I've ever had, and the best sweet potatoes I've ever had, all while hanging out with great friends!

Thanks to my lovely wife for the feast, and for being with me, and providing me with the best son ever! Thanks to mine and my wife's families for all your love and support! Thanks to all of our friends for hanging with us and helping us out when needed! Thanks to God for giving us this wonderful place to live, and all of the fantastic food to celebrate this wonderful day! We are so blessed to be able to live where we do and work where we do and enjoy the activities that we enjoy with our baby son!

This really is a holiday to be celebrated with family and friends around a good meal! The food is a means to bring everyone together for good camaraderie. THANKS ALL!

Fantastic Day Off

Started my day with hanging out with Cayle and Natalie and having coffee. Wish everyday started with just a bit of lounging around like this. Swam at the rec center this morning for the first time in a while. It actually went really well! I remember this time last year, I was just teaching myself how to swim and breathe properly, and I SUCKED! It was super hard to get into any kind of rhythm. It's so nice now to just be able to go to the pool, swim 500+ yards, and get a good workout!
Cayle has started in on the avocodo... in case you can't tell from the green stuff all over his face...

After swimming we set up the house for the Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. We cleaned and arranged furniture, and Natalie slaved away in the kitchen preparing food for tomorrow.

At 3 I went and picked up Mark, and we headed up Valley road for some x-country skiing and snowshoeing. He snowshoed and I skied. It was fantastic! I got to explore a new side road. There was about a foot of powder that was completely untouched by human feet. Just the two of us surrounded by nature and silence. It was about 5 degrees up there, but we were soon taking off hats and gloves in an effort to keep from sweating too much. About 45 minutes up, and about 20 minutes back down for an awesome workout! I'm loving the skis, an excellent purchase it seems!Mark looking down over Valley Road down below us.
Is this picture senior picturesque enough???

ILL- INI

Lots of good college bball on the tube tonight. Saw a bunch of good games, a few blowouts, one HUGE upset in Mich. State, and also got to watch the ILLINI game. They played Yale, so the competition wasn't that great but they looked good! The look like they are finally starting to play together as a team a bit better, and may be buying into the motion offense. Unfortunately Cayle didn't get to watch it with me, as he was sleeping in preparation for Thanksgiving celebrations....

Doctor and Sunrise

We had Cayle's 6 month checkup tonight. He grew about an inch, but lost about a pound... :( Despite his weight loss, Doc said he seems very healthy! His energy levels are great, and he is eating well. We have to try to boost his calorie and fat intake a bit in order to try to get him to gain some weight. I wish I had that problem... Although it was nice when I stood on the scale with him yesterday to try and get a weight estimate for him. I was fully clothed with shoes and all, and holding Cayle weighed in at 198 lbs. Last year at about this time I was that same weight without clothes, and without Cayle....
I caught this sunrise on camera the other day. The pictures don't really do it justice, but you get the general idea. Now all I need is a nice camera to be able to shoot these kinds of pictures and do them justice....
Red sky in the morning, Sailors take warning......

Cayle's Sunday

The day started out with Cayle having his first sampling of rice cereal mixed with a bit of milk. I couldn't tell if he was too big of a fan or not. I'm not even sure if any of it went past his lips or tongue....

In the afternoon we took Cayle up Valley Road behind the house for some x-country skiing. It was my first time on skis, and his as well. He seemed to pick it up really easily, and enjoyed it. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to click into my bindings, but once I figured that out, it was super peaceful and fun!

Cayle is getting ready to be packed up after his x-country skiing adventure... It snowed a decent amount up here. This is about 25 minutes up a dirt road from the house. The subie does so awesome driving in the snow!

Oktoberfest

So now that it is officially over a month past the time of this party, I guess I can write about it. I decided I wanted to have an Oktoberfest party where we drank only Oktoberfest or Fall Seasonal beers, and sat around the fire pit out back and cooked s'mores. Natalie went along with it as long as I was the one in charge, and took care of most of the details. Sure enough! We ended up with about 20-30 people over here, and spent most of the night hovered around the fire in the back yard, or hovered around the amazing appetizers in the kitchen. We had at least 10 different types of beers for people to sample or drink. We had little sample cups out, so people could browse the different flavors before choosing which one to drink. The tub below was sitting in the kitchen with the sample beers, and we had a cooler out back with several of each flavor to choose your favorite. I think the party was a success! I know I had fun hanging with good friends, and sampling good drinks!
It was really nice sitting by the fire. I love these cool fall nights around the fire!
Two of our Social Studies teachers sharing a "special" moment.... :-)Below is the result of the many "samplings" that we tried...

Yummy Goodness!!!

If you've never had Nutella before, I highly suggest you try it! It's HUGE in Euro, and most often used here in the states on Crepes. But you can really put it on anything, toast, waffles, and bagels just to name a few that we use it for. It's rich chocolate hazelnut butter, and it is fantastic (even for health nuts like us!) If you have a CostCo near you, you can pick up 2 of these HUGE jars for about 6 bucks. If you don't get it at CostCo or similar wholesale, it can be a bit expensive, and you don't get very much quantity.

Random

The shelf I built last weekend with a few of the bikes hanging underneath it. It's working great! All we have up on top so far is the camping stuff, but as soon as the holidays are over, all those boxes will go up there as well.

Cayle had his first off-road ride behind the bike this afternoon. We went up Spring Creek Road (dirt and rock) up behind our house for a couple of miles. It was a slow climb, so I think it was a good pace for him. Good training for me pulling him! He never woke up, so it must have been a pretty smooth ride.
May have been just a little bit muddy in some spots, but he sure didn't seem to mind.


A little video of a momma playing with her baby boy... Cayle is so full of laughs! He loves to laugh, and it's so much fun! (He also loves to sleep, which mommy and daddy love.... :-)

Cayle hanging with Grandma

Grandma has to do stretches every day to rehab her knee. Here she is teaching Cayle how to stretch. He seem to really get into it!
He's so talented, he can stretch and suck his fingers at the same time. Sometimes his toes also find their way into his mouth.Let's stretch the left leg now Cayle. Feel the burn, feel the burn....
Cayle in the rocking chair with grandma. Before I took this video he was actually trying to go to sleep. Guess he wanted some camera time.

New Shelf

Spent the day on Saturday building a new shelf in the garage. More storage space, without taking up extra room in the garage. You can't beat that with a stick! This shelf will give us lots of room for seasonal things, and tubs of Christmas items. It sits up above the bikes in the garage. Mark stopped by to help for a couple of hours, and Natalie helped measure and cut the plywood for the top pieces. Worked on it from about 1030 am till 400 pm. It went excellent, and looks fantastic!

Before the shelf....After all the work is done....

2.99 New York Strips

Went out tonight with Mom, T & A, and Mark and his mother for $2.99 New York Strip Steaks at the Minturn Country Club. The atmosphere at this place is super cool. Kind of grungy, and very crowded, but hey, what do you expect when you can get a 6 oz steak for 3 bucks and you get to grill it yourself! It is fun, and the food is good! We really like it when they have this deal, and it was cool to bring mom to it as well. Cayle is loving having her stay with him during the days while we are at school!

Sitter

This is a cool post of Cayles time with his sitter last Friday while mommy and daddy enjoyed a little dinner out together. :)

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This picture cracks me up! Cayle must have fallen and been trying to get up or something... I guess I need to teach him some wrestling skills, so that he can defend himself in the future.... :-)

Last ride on Hardscrabble for 2010

A co-worker, James asked me to go on a mountain bike ride with him on Friday after school. Kind of a final good ride on Hardscrabble between Eagle and Gypsum. We headed up the Hockett trail, then over to Itch and around to and down Scratch, then down Worlds Greatest in the Dark. They have a new sign system marking the trails on Hardscrabble, and it is AWESOME! I can finally tell where I am, and where I should go! Awesome ride, and it was great to get out on the mountain bike again! That will probably be my last ride up that direction this year. Some parts of the trail were already covered with snow, but for the most part the dirt was fantastic! Time now to get ready for snow. It's coming soon....

Un-Freaking Believable!!!

Driver who hit a Cyclist then fled the scene will not be prosecuted in Eagle County because he has too much money, and a felony could damage his ability to do business! He hit a Doctor none the less.

I try to be fair in most of these cases.... maybe the cyclist wasn't where they should have been on the road, or maybe they swerved out into the car... but no, in this case the Prosecution came right out and said that they wouldn't prosecute the man because he manages a Billion dollars of assets! I can't believe he just came right out and said that the man wouldn't be prosecuted because the Felony charge may hurt his business! This is pure craziness!

It's Coming!!!!

The Quiznos Pro Tour Challenge is coming to Colorado summer 2011!!! We should be able to make several of the stages, as they are within an hour of the house. Especially the TT in Vail, and the stage leaving out of Avon heading to Steamboat. I can't remember being so excited about a professional sporting event. They will be riding on the same roads that I ride on, on a regular basis!

Bike Ride

Got out for a bike ride with Cayle this afternoon after school. Nice sunny afternoon. It was our farthest ride together so far. About 23 miles into Eagle and back. Cayle slept about half the time, but never made any noise, so I think he enjoyed his ride in the Chariot. It was nice to get out on my road bike again!We have this nice bunting bag to keep Cayle warm. It is 2 fleece layers with a wind proof nylon layer on top. It's super cozy, and he seems to like being sandwiched between to layers of soft, cozy, fleece!

farmer boy

Love this picture. He looks like he is chewing on this piece of straw, just like so many old farmers do. Taking after his great grandpas.