Easter Weekend

We had a very busy Easter Weekend!

Friday night we had Camden's friend Noah (and our friends Ashley and Frank) over to dye Easter eggs. This actually went much smoother than I would have thought with 2 boys both in the thick of their "terrible two's" They took turns dunking their eggs and put stickers on them. I think we managed to get 24 eggs colored! Notice the big scabs on Camden's upper lip from taking a header on the sidewalk. Cried about 2 seconds and then saw some rocks to throw. His poor lip was covered with blood and I panicked way more than he did.

Saturday was a bit chilly in the morning but we all got up early for the Easter Egg hunt in Draper Park. Amy still makes fun of me for last year, but egg hunts aren't like I remember them to be. We picked a spot last year that advertised that they had their egg hunts broken down to age groups and we found the one that had toddlers. I was expecting some eggs to be hidden in some pretty obvious locations for a bunch of toddlers to wander around and find them while the parents would give some direction and take pictures. This is not how it was at all. We got there (last year) just in time to line up with about a hundred parents and kids at the edge of a grass field strewn with eggs. The horn blew and every other parent - but me - took off in a mad sprint with their shaking toddler under their arm scooping up eggs! It really was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I managed to quarantine a small area let Camden pick up three eggs while Amy was yelling at me: "What are you doing!??! RUN!!" (yes - she's a bit competitive)

Anyway, I vowed we would never do that again, but one year later and here I am! We picked a different park this year and they had a small area for 2-3 yr olds in a circle. This one was a bit more civilized (except the fat couple we saw gathering up all the candy they could and taste testing everything - funny) Most parents walked behind their little ones and took pictures - as we did. Later in the day Camden and I went for a ride on the bikes. He is going to have to start pedaling behind me as the climbs are getting tougher the bigger he gets. We rode about 20 miles and went about 1/2 way up Suncrest in Draper. Total climbing with him behind me was about 1500 ft.

After our bike ride that Camden slept though, we went to the Discovery Zone at the Gateway. It's a pretty cool place that encourages kids with hands-on learning and discovery. It's for all ages and Camden seemed to really enjoy it. It was exciting to watch him try to do everything and really quite amazing the stuff he can figure out when you just let him go for it on his own.

Practicing for when he go go down some real rapids with daddy!! Yeah!

Maybe a future musician? (just kidding - we all know he's going to play Lacrosse at University before going on to win the Tour de France! Duh!)

Check out Amy's hair - she cut it all off!

Camden had to cruise for chicks in his black sports car

Sunday we went over to Ashley and Franks house for our own egg hunt and an early Easter dinner. Camden and Noah are great together. Noah is about 6 months older and Camden tries to keep up with everything he does! We hid eggs around their back yard for the boys, played golf, baseball and played on the swings. The food was great and the boys wore each other out!

The Search for Eggs

Chocolate...More Chocolate!

It was a great weekend of non-stop Camden Action!!!

One more note - we just got back from Camden's weekly Little Gym class, and I just have to brag. The instructor picks Camden to demonstrate every skill in class. When it's time to play with the balls, Camden is the first to run to the little basketball hoop and the only one to ever make a shot without having to be picked up to the rim (this one seems to amaze the other dads and I can see the jealousy in their eyes!) and he has absolutely no fear. He climbs up on top of the tallest mats and just launches himself off of them jumping down 3-4 ft onto a mat below. It's funny to watch the other parents try to coax their kids into doing some of the stuff that Camden does and how timid they are. Do other parents not do these types of things with their kids at home? Amy and I just sit back and watch now as Camden follows the instructors directions and is always first in line to try the next skill or get a stamp. OK - enough fatherly gloating!

We're off to Nathan's wedding in Surf City, NC tomorrow. Camden is excited to see his aunt Laura!

On our way!

Well, we have put our house up for sale. The market sucks and we've only been in this house under 2 years so we'll be lucky to get out of it what we put in it. Luckily the UT market is still a bit better than most others so hopefully we can get a good deal on a new home in Hood River.

Here is a link to our home listing:
http://www.utahrealestate.com/783551

For those of you that never came to visit (and you know who you are!!), you can at least get to see some pictures of our house now!

A day at the Movies

I wanted to add a short post. This past weekend was pretty uneventful except that Camden sat through his first movie in the theater. We took him to one a couple weeks ago but it was right at nap time and he slept through most of it, so that one doesn't count.

We went to the movies with Cam's buddy, Noah. (and our friends Ashley and Frank) The boys were so cute, sitting next to each other and even holding hands through part of the movie. Here is a picture I took with my phone during the movie - sorry for the quality, but look how grown up our little man looks sitting in the theater with his popcorn and drink!

I've been able to get quite a bit of cycling in lately (even though it snowed Sunday at our house and covered the yard with about 3 inches) I've been down to Southern Utah twice in the past two weeks and did over 20 miles of mtn biking each time on the Hurricane Rim and JEM trails. Last night I met up with John and Eric for some road riding. We did a loop around Draper and climbed up to the top of Suncrest. Mileage wasn't that great but we managed over 3000 ft of climbing in a ride that was less than 2 hours - not bad!

We're dying Easter Eggs this week for the big Easter Egg hunt so check back next week for some pics of Cam at Easter.

Sunny Hood River

Amy, Camden and I flew up to Portland this weekend to check out Hood River again. What an AMAZING place. The weather report called for a chance of rain starting Fri night and into Sat - the times we were scheduled to be there! But it ended up being sunny and beautiful all weekend! We were out in short sleeves and got some sun. Amy grew up in Kelso, WA which is just north of Portland by about 45 miles and is worried about moving back to the Northwest because of the rain she remembers as a child. Everyone we talked to has told us that Hood River sits on the East side of the Cascade Mtn range (HR is 50 miles east of Portland) and that the rain clouds get caught up on the mtns and stop a lot of the rain from hitting Hood River. We weren't convinced of that until this weekend. The proof came on Sunday when we woke up at Amy's parents house to grey clouds and a dreary looking morning. We packed everyone in the car for just a day trip to Hood River (about an 1 1/2 hr drive) and it was grey all the way through Portland. As we got farther East into the Columbia River Gorge the sky cleared up to an awesome, clear blue and that is how it was all day again in Hood River. When we headed back to Kelso that afternoon it was grey again in Portland and Kelso - maybe there is some truth about the Cascades holding off some of the rain in Hood!

Amy and I got to Portland on Thursday night and Cam got to be spoiled by his grandparents while we went to Hood River Friday and Saturday for some exploring, biking, and to look at houses. We looked at a bunch of houses Friday with an agent (who also used to be a professional Kite boarder and wind surfer) and did some exploring of our own of the area. Our agent was great and Amy and I hope we become friends with her and her husband some day. Friday night Amy and I went to dinner and had drinks at a few of the places downtown. It was a great night out and felt good being in a "normal" town where you can go have a few drinks without worrying about the need to buy food or have a membership (stupid UT laws!!) but by the next morning we quickly realized that we had one too many bottles of wine (but the OR wines are great!!!!)

After breakfast the next morning we rested a bit and then went in to Discover Bicycles (http://www.discoverbicycles.com/) to pick up some mountain bikes. I really liked this shop and know I will be spending too much time here in the future. They gave us a map to the Syncline trail which is a great group of rides on the WA side of the Gorge across from Hood River. Here is a link to a good description of the trail we rode: http://planetcyclist.com/trails/wa/syncline.htm

It was a great ride and Amy said her legs felt like noodles when we were done. The weather could not have been more perfect - mid 60's and plenty of sun. On a day like this in Hood River the options for outdoor play are endless!! I saw guys headed out of town from the Kayak shop with kayaks on the roof - probably headed to the White Salmon for some class IV or V runs. We saw kite boarders, wind surfers and sail boats on the Columbia, skiers stopped in for coffee in town on their way to the mountain, there were a ton of hikers and mtn bikers on the trails, and even a group of road riders came through Oak St. and stopped at Ground for some Espressos! I'm telling you - it was like I had died and gone to heaven!!

Just imagine this: Amy, Cam and I get up early with a fully loaded car. We run up to the mtn for a couple of morning turns on the slopes before they get crowded, on the way back toward town we stop along the hood river at one of our favorite kayak play spots for some play boating. Back in town for lunch to refuel and then we head out for some kite boarding and windsurfing because the afternoon westerlies have kicked up in the Gorge. When our arms are too tired to hang on anymore we decide to ride up Syncline on our mtn bikes because the sunsets from the top are awesome. Than it's back to town for a Full Sail Amber Ale! (not enough hours in the day - I can't wait!)

Below are some pics from the weekend:

The beautiful view from Syncline is being a bit overshadowed by the beautiful biker babe in the picture!!

This is the view of Mt. Hood from the WA side of the Gorge

It was right about here that Amy started cussing me. "No more steep climbs!" (actually she loves climbing and hates the downhills)

A bit of play time for Camden at Jackson Park

Grandma and Grandpa taking care of the little man

Wrestle time with Grandpa!!

Another Biking Weekend!

This weekend we took a last minute turn and decided to head to Saint George for the first Inter Mountain Cup Mountain Bike race of the year. We were going to go to Moab and ride in the Lance Armstrong Foundation ride at the Skinny Tire Festival but opted to go for fat tire and some play time for Cam with his cousins.It was a beautiful weekend. We got to Keith's house just before 8 on Friday. Saturday morning we went out to a big breakfast and then Cam, Amy and I headed out by bike to the race. Cam has been riding in his bike trailer since he was 2 months old and still loves it. We road the mtn bikes on the road over to the race where we bounced Cam down a dirt road to watch the race. I did not race in this one but had a few friends who did. My friend Erika (from my 24 hrs of Moab team) was racing as a pro for the first time. She kicked butt last year and is excited to finally hit the pro level. She will be starting her altitude training on our simulators this month to take her training to the next level. Here are a couple pictures of us at the race and two shots of Erika racing:
Erika is on the far left of the start line

Here she is completing lap #1 - she took 5th place!
Check out these little guys who raced the kids race earlier - this will be Cam in a few years!
Sunday morning we got up for more biking. A cold front moved in over night and brought chilly temps and a really strong wind. Keith and I bundled up and left early for a mtn bike ride out in the Arizona Strip just south of his house. We had never been on the trail before and now we know why. It was very rocky with a lot of loose rocks. I don't think many people had ever ridden here before. We got in a decent climb and a small downhill run but decided against going any further. At this elevation it was only about 35-40 degrees and very windy. We found our way back to the main gravel road and shot down it to the car. Here is a shot of Keith on this trail - you can see how loose and rocky it is:Later, Keith and Stacey volunteered to watch Camden for us so Amy and I could get out for a ride. It had warmed up some but was still very windy. It was strong enough that it just about pushed Amy over a few times, but she is tough and kept going no matter how many times I offered to turn back. We road out to the Bear Claw Poppy trail right in Saint George. Below are a few shots from the "Three Fingers of Death" One is of me coming down the middle finger - the closest thing to "Down Hill" riding I will do (I stick to the cross-country riding) The shot of Amy has the "3 fingers" behind her. She did great on the mtn bikes even though she prefers to ride the road. She's a natural athlete but also has a natural biking form that most would be envious of. Even in this picture you can see how she keeps her knees in and arms bent. I'm a lucky man - beautiful and a natural biker!!!!

An Afternoon at the Park

Last weekend it was actually warm and sunny enough here in Sandy that we were able to get out and play. We took Camden out to the park for a few hours of Basketball (yes - at 2 he already tries to shoot at the 10 ft basket!) and to play on the slides.

Here are a couple pics from the last Sunday in Feb:

"Mom! - Enough with the camera already!"

Going for the Shot!

Maybe with Daddy's help
What a cute boy!!
Soccer is hard in the snow