Random photos from the old cell phone

 It's an awesome treat to pick up an old cell phone and page through some of the photos on it.  I found some good ones.  First, the beautiful Mrs K.

 Hanna banana in full volleyball attire.

 The little guy and I sharing a moment before he has to go to school.

 The little guys first ride without training wheels.  Glad I found this one!

 Some random rainbow photo from the shop in Chesterfield.

 Rosco, wearing his bladder control device (read: doggy diaper) last summer after his surgery. 

 Hanna and Tyson sharing a moment.

 Tyson doing...well, doing a Tyson.

 Eli after losing his first tooth.

Eli's first lost tooth!

USA Cycling Racing License, 2012

Say what you will about USA Cycling...I renewed my license online on Tuesday afternoon and this bad boy arrived on Saturday.  Incredible.  Almost as incredible as the "Member Since" field.  1993?  Actually, it's wrong.  I got my first USCF license in March of 1990, but, I let it expire and didn't renew until 1993.  That was when NORBA and USCF were separate entities.  Well, here we go again.

It's almost the middle of March, I'm almost 45

March brings with it a lot of important things.  Spring breaks for the kids, the weather usually changes for the better, racing starts, and I have another birthday.

I'll be 45 years old this month.  That is some serious mileage on the old platform.  While I always welcome another year, I am feeling the years and mileage more than I ever have.  There are challenges that I have never had before and to be honest I am worried.  Well...I always worry, thanks to the queen of all worry warts, my mom.  This is more than Mom's gift of dynamic worrying, however.  It's real and I feel every hour of my age each day.  Good thing I'm not going on 90 because that would be a LOT of worrying.

Our Tour De France trip is not going to happen this year.  As excited as we were about this once in a lifetime vacation, things just ganged up on us and we're not going.  Of course, we will make the best of the situation and try for a different kind of holiday, one that will include our kids.  What sort of parents would we be if we didn't take them on a horrendous family vacation?

Good things?  Yes.  My lovely wife is doing her thing for US Bank.  She is an excellent example of someone who cares about her job and her clients.  I wouldn't hesitate to tell any of you to see her with your investment needs.  My job with Big Shark West is just amazing.  It's quite simply the best job and job experience I have ever had.  I highly recommend that everyone work at a job they love if the opportunity presents itself.  Hanna is playing USAV volleyball and has made major improvements this year.  Her overhand serve rocks, yeah baby!  Tyson is playing basketball, and while he may be small, he can rock that court.  Today's game put their team in a tie for first place in their division.   And Eli just made Power Math at school.

Whatever happens in life, you have to hold on to the good things.  Because they are there.

Four Cylinders Too Many?

Yeah...So it seems that a friend of mine, who is a long time stalwart of 4 cylinder cars, has crossed over to the dark side.  Seems that he got all ate up over the power.  Or something.

It's OK Ryan.  I'll baby sit the car for you when you go out of town.

Putting the B's on Greensfelder

My very first mountain bike ride was at Greensfelder in 1988.  In fact, it was my first ride and my first race all at the same time.  It has always been a wild place...rocky, rough, unruly..  Marty and I have always said that if you ride at Greensfelder enough, it will get you.  And it has taken skin and bone from me multiple times.

That has changed somewhat.  Our wonderful friends at GORC have saddled the beast and taken the trail down from Level 10 Unruly to Level 8 Rockstar in just a couple of years.

I sampled this goodness two weeks ago with awesome results.  And I was one of the lucky few to get out on the trail on Sunday, too, just after the Gorc crew had added yet another delicious morsel of trail.  I was there in the late afternoon, and the slime had been subdued and the trail was nearly picture perfect.

I rode two big loops of the three main biking trails and I was pooped.  But a good pooped.

The kids that surround me

 When I got home from work one night, I was greeted by a hoard of wild kids.  This was Max, some kid we picked up by the road side somewhere.  He happened to be related so we let him hang around.

 This is Tyson.  He lives here.

 This kid with enormous brown eyes lives here, too.  The flashlight is not permanently attached to his tongue, it only looks that way.

 This is Hanna, flanked by Max and Cassie.  She appears to have eaten a hot pepper, or perhaps she just realized that she forgot her IPad charger at home.

 This is Max again, praying to the God of Redhead kids.

 Tyson again, also praying to the God of Redhead kids and forgetting the words.

Tyson again, who looks now to have been kicked in the crotch.  Or maybe he is admiring Max's shoes.

Award Winning

 The beautiful Mrs K received her "5 Star Professional Wealth Manager" award tonight.  It's a beaut, and it comes in it's own little silk lined box.

This thing weighs a ton!  It's actually made of glass, and it's thick glass.  Congratulations again, honey!

Boy Meets Dog

ELI:  Rosco, do you think you could move so I could put my head on the pillow?

ROSCO: Kid, there's only so much room.  Besides, when you're gone all day I pretty much own this couch.  I'm not ready to give it up just when you rowdy humans come home.

ELI:  Yeah, ok.  Can I just lay my head next to you?

ROSCO:  Tell you what, kid...my butt is cold.  Put your head right there at the end of the pillow and we'll call it a day, shall we?

ELI:  Ok.  Tell me if there are any, you know...problems coming. 

ROSCO:  Sure.  I'll be sure to let you know, kid. 

ELI:  G'night, Rosco.

ROSCO:  G'night, kid.

Hanna's Volleyball Tournament

I spent the best part of Sunday watching Hanna play in a USAV volleyball tournament.  Her team is much improved this year, and she has improved a lot as well.  There was a heartbreaking loss in the last tie-breaker game, and that's always hard.  Otherwise, it was great to watch the team play.  There is a lot more strategic substitution, something that didn't happen much in earlier years.  That can really make things interesting.

I believe that there are three more tournaments to this season, one being here in St. Louis.

Whitecliff Park

Last Sunday we had to get out of the house and do something.  Since Whitecliff Park is so close, we decided to go there.  It's a beautiful little place with quiet gravel paths and some cool singletrack.  We've been there before, but it's really interesting in the winter because you can see so much more without the leaves on the trees. 

Since it was quite cold, the creek was frozen.  We were taking turns throwing rocks onto the ice, trying to break through.  That was really more fun than it sounds, probably because we had a 5 year old along.

There are so many things you can find to do so close to your house if you really try.

My New SuperSix

This bike says "Welcome to 2012".  Maybe I'll get to ride it today. 

Don't worry, the Fastback won't be going anywhere.

Happy Valentine's Day

For the beautiful Mrs K on Valentine's Day:  Roses, only not the kind that wither after a few days.  Love you!

A Dog's Life

 I was folding clothes on the bed and someone was sawing logs so hard...oh yeah, it was Rosco in his basket, snugged up between the bed and dresser.  Dang, that looks comfy!  Snore on, dude!

Still folding clothes, I turned to my right and out in the hall I saw this....Carmel basking in the sunlight.  I want to sleep with my paws sticking straight up!  Alas, I don't have paws.

Old Spaghetti Factory

 Eli slurping strands of spaghetti.  He took no prisoners tonight.

 I was trying to get a solo photo of Hanna, fresh off of her Mexican cruise, but someone put their big head in the photo.

And then all of them together.  Sorry for the bad cell phone photos, but I have to capture these moments somehow.

Awesome Mountain Biking at Greensfelder

 Both bikes got a good washing after a couple days of trail riding.

Yesterday before work I took the ghetto fabulous Sette out to Greensfelder and shredded it.  For February 2nd, it was like a dream.  The trail was literally begging me to ride.  The mud was confined to the smallest of sections and was a non-factor.  I was babbling on about it for the rest of the day.

Having the day off today, and knowing the weather change is a'comin', I took the Kona Hei Hei out to the same trail.  And, true to advertising form, it was like a trail-flattening device.  Never, never underestimate Greensfelder...but after 90 minutes on each bike, following the exact same trails, I can say that Greensfelder is much more easily tamed by said full-suspension bike.  If I had the time, I would have doubled the riding today.  Alas, I did not, so I had to load up the Hei while I still had loads of riding left in my body.

Next time, I guess.