Thanksgiving!

We got to spend Thanksgiving in our new house this year. Amy's parents and her sister came to stay with us for a few days starting Thursday. Amy got up early and started cooking - I went for a bike ride! I earned it after spending almost all of the day before cleaning and putting up the dreaded lights on the house! Even had my very own Clark Griswald moment that involved me finding out the hard way that one of my extension cords was bad. "Camden, come watch. I'm going to turn on all the lights! 1....2....3! WTF!?!?!?!?" You can imagine the rest.

Dinner was great and Amy did an AMAZING job on the turkey - which I got to carve!

Thursday night we stayed up past 2 in the morning playing games and somehow Amy and her dad managed to still get up at the crack of dawn to run to a sale so her dad could get something for his computer. Amy managed to knock out most of Cam's X-Mas shopping too - except for his BIG gift that I got last week. You'll have to wait for Christmas for that one!

Friday night we headed over to The Dalles to watch the Starlight Parade.

We had a lot of fun with Amy's family staying a couple days. Camden loves playing with his grandparents and exhausted himself every day with them.

Reading books with Granddad is always a favorite!

Playing EleFun with Grand mom in his room - he is very proud of his room and his big-boy bed!

Camden and his aunt Serena - who stayed with us for the entire weekend - Cam has not left her alone now for 4 straight days!

The weather in the Gorge has been nothing short of beautiful all weekend. My amazing wife even gave me a free pass every day to get out and ride since she knows I will go crazy if the sun is shining and I am not out in it this time of year!

Sunday we got up early and headed out for a hike so everyone could work off some of the extra pieces of pie we had. We hiked up Mitchell Point just a few miles west of Hood River. It was an amazing morning and Camden did great. This hike is only 2.2 miles round trip but it is straight up and very rough. Equally as impressive was my very pregnant and beautiful wife who managed to make it to the top as well.

A quick break on a log part way up where we stopped to "shoot the bad guys" with our stick guns!

This trail is very steep and you traverse a rocky scree field a few times making the footing very interesting for a 3 yr old and a pregnant woman but they managed fine. Camden did the whole hike on his own - he really is amazing!

Another quick break on the scree field. Only part way up and the views were already amazing.

Aunt Serena at the top:

Camden taking a seat at the top ready for a snack to get some energy for the hike down. As he crested the top he said: "What a view Dad!!" I hope he always appreciates what a beautiful area we live in and always has an interest in doing things in the outdoors. I never want to push him in any one particular direction and will always support what ever it is that he wants to do as he gets bigger but it just makes me melt when he says things like that and makes me feel like I am at least doing one thing right with raising him like we are!

Sitting on the ridge line of Mitchell Point enjoying the sunshine!

A perfect day for a hike and a perfect spot to soak up some vitamin D

The views from the top are incredible in every direction. This is a shot looking west down the Gorge toward Portland:

Goodbye for now from "Heaven on Earth" the Columbia Gorge!

I Can't Believe it's November Already!!

We had a GREAT fall weekend in the NW. We all LOVE where we live and take every chance we can to get out and enjoy every bit of it! This weekend started off with an easy hike (remember - Amy is now 7 mos pregnant) up to the top of Multnomah Falls. The colors were amazing and the rain this month had the falls flowing strong.Our little guy hiked the full 1.25 miles straight up to the top all on his own. We let out a proud smile every time some out-of-breath tourist would ask "Did he walk all the way up here?"

I love the big moss-covered trees and the bright fall colors mixed into the dark greens of the NW forests

The secret to getting a three year old to walk that far and up hill the whole way - M & M's for the hike and the promise of treats at the top! "Thanks mom!"

The stream above the falls where we stopped for a snack:

The falls as seen from the hike on our way back down

Cam and I stopped near the bottom for a quick picture in front of the falls:

At the bottom as we were leaving we noticed the spawning salmon that were making their way up from the Columbia River into this small stream to lay their eggs. There were a ton of them and big ones too!

The next day was the last race from the Cross Crusade. It had been raining most of the week so it promised to be extra muddy. Amy and Cam decided to come since it was the last one even though the weather outlook was not great. It rained all night and was pouring on our way there but once there and most of the day, the rain was either very light or not at all.

Camden was excited to do another Kiddie 'Cross race with even more mud!

"Are you ready to race buddy?"

Pushing it around the barn!

And through the puddles!

Giving it everything he's got all the way to the finish line! (and for about 2 more laps just for fun!!)

My 'cross season started off great with the races we had here in Hood River (see some of the past posts on here) but as the courses got muddier and the field of racers got as high as almost 200 in my category I struggled to finish in the front. I managed to get a good enough finish to finally get into the points and make the call-up to the front of every race but never got into the top 10 again. I'm very happy with how I did and look forward to some more races to finish out this year. I need to look at my training closer next year too as the cycling season here is quite different then what it was in UT. I peaked with my training at all the wrong times this year!!

Cyclocross is some of the most fun I've had on two wheels and my lovely wife has done a great job of capturing all of it:

Camden and I also managed to squeeze in a little exploration and went to Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery this weekend.

Meat Herman the Sturgeon!! He is 10 ft long, 430 lbs and 70 yrs old! He is also one of the biggest freshwater fish in North America as this type of fish, common in our Columbia River can grow to be 12 ft long and live for 100 years! Camden was totally fascinated with him and thought he was a shark!

We also watched them take the spawning salmon and extract the eggs for the fish hatchery, which was cool for Cam but provided an awkward moment for me as I found myself explaining the birds and bees to a 3 yr old! (the Disney version of course!)

We also got to feed the trout - Cam thought that was the most fun part of course.

BYE FOR NOW - FROM BONNEVILLE DAM (About 24 miles west of Hood River)

Halloween and more 'Cross Racing!

Soooo...... My wife gets into Halloween! We were a "Bat Family" as Camden wanted to be Batman and asked Amy to be "Batmom" and me to be "Batdad"

He looked AWESOME in his musclebound batman suit. He wore it for days, jumping off of furniture with his cape singing"Batman! na na, na na Batman!"

We started the weekend with a costume party at his school where he played games and decorated Halloween cookies. Saturday we had a party at a friends house where about 11 of Cam's friends and parents were there. From that we headed down to Oak St. where they close off the road downtown and all of the businesses open their doors for trick-or-treaters. This year it was under a full moon:While in town we ran into another friend of Cam's who was also a BATMAN!!!
A quick lollipop break to refuel for more trick-or-treating:
The rest of the "Bat Family" - Don't mess with the bat-men!!

When we got back to our house Saturday night thinking we would settle in for the evening we found our street as crowded as downtown. Our little neighborhood is THE Halloween destination! Cam and I walked around the block for more candy and the whole neighborhood was decorated to the hilt for the night! We made three total trips to the store for more candy just to keep up with the constant ringing of the doorbell which Camden found to be even more fun than being the one ringing them. Every time we would get more candy out, he would open the door and yell "We have food now! More Candy!"

I'm also still racing cyclocross in the mud now. The Cross Crusade is just over half finished and the venues are getting muddier and sloppier. Camden and Amy are still coming to most of the races but sat out a few of the colder/wetter ones.

Cam has been LOVING it. Check out how he has been doing with his cross remount: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ld8K1DFPY&feature=channel The boy has been to way too many races already. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our boy!

Lining up for another Kiddie Cross race:

"I'm ready to go dad"

The Kiddie Call Up for the start

And they're off!

Giving it everything he's got!
Remount after the barrier!

Out of the saddle and pushing through the mud (keep in mind - not even 4 yet!!) After his race we went back to the team tent/rig where Cam cornered some random guy and told him all about his race and how he almost crashed on a turn, passed another kid, went over the barrier, etc, etc....
And my beautiful wife, pregnant and all, endures the cold and wet just to get pictures of all of it! Thank you Amy! I love you for all you do for your boys!!

Check out the action shots below of me Amy took:

After a week like this - I could fall asleep in a tree too!!