Baby, Bikes & Booze

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Waiting for Alex...

Here I sit on day 2 of my maternity leave and without a new baby to take care of.  Little Alex (named Alexandra Jean by Sydney) is supposed to arrive at any time and we're all anxious to meet her and get started with the next chapter of our lives together.  That, and I am really itching to get out for a real bike ride.  While I have been lucky enough to keep my balance and feel well enough to ride, it's been far too long since I really worked on my bike.  Not to mention the irresistible desire to see big sister Syd in action....she has been practicing reading bed time stories to her sister through my belly and I just can't wait to see her hold/feed/diaper/read to her, etc.

So, as I sit here, sipping my tea and watching the rain pour down I smile knowing that Alex will arrive soon and these daydreams for riding and playing with my girls will become a reality!  Good things will come to those who wait :)

Monday, January 02, 2012

Kicking in the new year!

Well, it's officially 2012 and I'm happy to announce that I am pregnant again! I'm just over 21 weeks along and my new little one is kicking in the new year. Syd is so excited to have a little sister.

It's the last day of our vacations from school so we stayed in our PJs, played games and tried to make a list of potential names for the baby while relaxing in the hot tub. It was a good day for sure!!!

Hopefully I'll be better about blogging this year, but I can't promise anything at this point.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Summertime, and the livin' is easy!

So today begins Summer vacation 'round these parts. School's officially out for summer! Most years I celebrate with a bike ride and a few drinks with friends, but today brought HS graduation and no trails. Today was bittersweet for me. My "partner in crime" (aka music education in our small rural upstate NY community) retired as of today. Pam has been an amazing co-worker. She gives of herself and shares her passion for music with all of our students everyday, and truly loves teaching. She will be missed by us all!

In addition to these changes for me at school, my little monkey princess graduated UPK and is all set to start Kindergarten (where does the time go?).

I do look forward to a restful summer, and lots of miles on the singletrack, but for today it was all about Pam and the kids and how to get them through the first day of school in September.

Grins and wheelies to you all and I hope to see you on the trails!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Spring Break?


So the calendar says April and it's supposed to be Spring Break around these parts, but it's cold and changing from snow to rain! I'm ready to head back to CA and ride the beautiful trails of Marin...home of my favorite trail signage :)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Meow



Halloween has come and gone and yet, we still seem to have this cat hanging around. Ah, to be 4 and love life :)

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

It's been a while...I really do need to get better at this! School's back in session and (unfortunately) I am teaching Elementary Art in addition to High School Band and being the Freshman Class Advisor. Needless to say, "art" instruction isn't my area of expertise so it's pretty much (somewhat) controlled chaos up there. Not really having any training, I agreed to work on pumpkins with all of my classes for today's Pumpkin decorating contest. The students had to choose a category--spooky, funny or creative--and decorate their pumpkins during 2 art class periods. All of the kids did a great job and here are some of the final projects:




Sydney & I will be carving our pumpkins later today (and by carving, I mean watching Earl do it) while we wait for our caramel apples to set and enjoy some apple cider. In the meantime, we're off to the corn maze for some haunted hay ride fun :)

Friday, August 21, 2009

A morning at Pine Hill Park


On our way to the Kingdom Trails for the weekend, Sq-Earl & I decided to hit Pine Hill Park in Rutland, VT and met up with our friend John to tour this newly developed trail system. The trails are pretty fast and flowy and feature tons of really cool bridge work.

The developer and builders have really spent a lot of time working and created some perfect switchbacks and beautiful features for riders to enjoy. If you're ever in the area, I would recommend checking them out and join up.

The trails have beautifully crafted switchbacks and some excellent berms in addition to some amazing bridges. It's a fun place to spend a few hours on your bike for sure!

Post ride, we hit the Long Trail Brewery (also on our way to the Kingdom Trails) and sampled some delicious Imperial Porters. What a great way to spend the first half of the day!!!