Do you have time?

One of the first things we do when Dane gets back home is hit all of the local bike shops to look at all the bling. Colorado Springs has some pretty amazing bicycle shops here. Dane is always glad to get back home to them and the bad thing is they all know us around here.

The other day we went into Colorado Cyclist. This is mainly a catalog business with very high end merchandise, but does have a small retail store. It was one of our favorite catalogs to look at when we lived in Washington. Ryan, the manager of the store knows us. We were talking to him about the Copper Triangle Ride that we did last year and told him we wouldn't be able to go this year (Teaching test takes precedent that date). So when he heard that, Phillip, another sales guy comes up to Dane and asks him if he has time to demo a road bike? Well, you should have seen Dane's eyes pop out of his head. You never ask him if he has time to ride because of course he does!

Dane got to demo a Time Carbon Road bike with all Dura-Ace (everything top of the line) for 2 days. Two teams in the Tour de France ride this bike and it retails for $6500. Let's just say Dane loved it! When we brought it back, Ryan asked how he liked it and I said that he was cheating on me. Like Dane says, "It's hard to go back to margarine once you try butter."

Here he is with the bike as proof he got to ride it.

No more single mom!

Today is the day Dane returns home from Atlanta. He is somewhere in the middle of Kansas right now and we are so looking forward to seeing him in a few hours. Anders has a plan of running up to him and giving Dane a big hug when he gets home.

I am so excited to see him and have him here for a few weeks for sure. In honor of his return home here are the top five reasons I love not being a single mom,

5. I don't have to vacuum. Dane does all of the vacuuming. In fact, I am so used to it that when he leaves I often forget to vacuum until midnight and I am not too thrilled about pulling it out then. Trust me with Anders in the house, vacuuming each night is a necessity.

4. Women's Bike Ride night! I get to go and not worry about finding a babysitter to watch the kids.

3. Cooking. It is just not the same making a full on meal with two boys who have very different ideas about what is great food and not as much of an adventurous spirit as Dane and I have when it comes to food. Not only do we make great food, Dane does all of the clean up! Who wouldn't love that!

2. Bike Rides together. These are some of my favorite times spent with Dane. It is a chance to talk (with Bjorn we don't get to talk much as he likes to do all of the talking), enjoy the beautiful scenery here in Colorado and get some much needed exercise.

1. Waking up next to my sweetheart! It is just not the same waking up to a 5 year old who has crawled into your bed in the middle of the night and a 10 year old sleeping on the floor of your room.

Here's to you Dane and your three weeks home!

Bugger

Yesterday we acquired a new pet. Anders comes up to me in my bedroom to show me that he has caught a small beetle. I give him the usual "Cool" comments you are supposed to as a mom and proceed to continue what I was doing (which was not much). I then hear him downstairs rummaging around in the cupboards. I call down to ask what he was doing and he replies, "Trying to find a home for my beetle." I ask him not to use anything glass and a few minutes later he comes upstairs with a mostly empty water bottle with the beetle inside. He then goes and gets some grass for him to eat and places him in his bedroom. I tell him he can watch a movie until we have to pick up Bjorn from Scout camp. He says he can't because Bugger(this is the beetle's name) is taking a nap and that the movie would wake him up. Well, Bugger took a really long nap and I thought that nap had taken him to the other side, but Bugger seems to have survived the move from outside freedom to apartment living. He is slowly moving up in his new digs, along with a droplet of water, and I think that Bugger might be looking for a more upscale neighborhood soon. So if you have any great property you are willing to sell, Bugger is in the market despite Anders new found talent as a landlord.

Heaven and...

A couple of weeks ago Jenn, one of my best friends in the whole wide world, came for a visit. Jenn is my scrapbook buddy. When we lived in Washington we would go to crop nights at the local scrapbook stores and stay out very late scrapbooking our lives or the lives of the members of our families. One of the things we did was hit up some local scrapbook stores while she was here. We had no time constraints and no children with us. It was pure HEAVEN to peruse the store looking at all the new products and what we might do with them.

Yesterday I went to that same scrapbook store with my children. And let me tell you it was not HEAVEN! First of all it is summer so there is no school. Second, Dane is out of town in Atlanta so I have to take the kids on every errand. Third, we were at a scrapbook store! I just needed a couple of pieces of paper for an album that I am doing with Dane's job taking him around the country. It would have taken me about 5 minutes to get in and out but the kids decided to use it as cross country running course and my blood pressure, which was very good earlier that morning at the doctor's office, was now about through the roof!

Let's just say I am thankful for the little bit of Heaven I had with Jenn last week in one of my favorite stores!

YIKES, Needles!

Need I say more? I have a slight aversion to needles. I cannot look at them, think about them, watch something on TV that has someone having a needle poked in them and especially do not like them being poked into me. Dane will even poke me with his finger and I tend to freak out. I have not had a good relationship with them my entire life. I have fainted at the pediatrician's office growing up when I got me finger pricked. I remember passing out in the shower because I looked at the hole where I had a needle in my arm for some blood work (that also involved a seizure, biting my mom's finger and missing my one and only piano recital but that is a story for another day). I cried for 20 minutes prior to getting a blood test to find out if I was pregnant with Bjorn. And needless to say that there was no way on God's green earth I was going to have an epidural when giving birth as that involves a very large needle in your back and that is just not right.

So needless to say I have not been looking forward to today for a few weeks as it has to do with needles. I set up an appointment for a physical because I haven't had one in quite a few years. I knew going there that I was going to have to have blood drawn (I can do that fairly well now having been pregnant twice) and a tetanus shot as I haven't had one in 14 years ( that I cannot do so well, even when my kids get shots I leave the room). So I didn't sleep very well last night and was getting nauseous all last night. So the time comes for me to have my tetanus shot and I ask to lay down and the nurse tells me she is really good at this. Why do they all think that they are really good at this? I wonder because I know they are not all really good at this from experience. I take a deep breath and she gives me that shot and you know what, she was REALLY GOOD at it! Let me just say that the words "YOU ROCK!" are usually not the first words I think of when a nurse tells me she is going to give me a shot but that is what came out of my mouth as soon as it was done.

So here is to nurses who are really good at shots and to another 10 years of being shot free!

The Incline

My sister has repeatedly asked me to start a blog and I am now doing so. Today is the Fourth of July and Dane is out of town (big surprise) celebrating in Atlanta.

The boys and I spent the morning hiking up the Incline with some friends. Now for those of you who don't live in Colorado Springs, the Incline is an old cog railway that starts at the base of Pikes Peak in the city of Manitou Springs. You climb up a mile of old railway ties gaining 2000 feet of elevation in the process. It is not for the faint of heart and takes some mental toughness to make it. Anders, who is now five, made it half way up last year for the first time but needed to be carried some of the way. This year Anders made it to the half way point without any help! What a stud!

The best part was that Bjorn sprained his ankle in the garage this morning before we left. He assured me he would be fine but has spent the remainder of the afternoon icing a swollen ankle while playing video games! We need him better for swim practice and Scout camp next week!



Here are some pictures of our trip up the Incline on Pikes Peak, the mountain that inspired "America the Beautiful".

Katie on the way up. Yes, that is a no trespassing sign. Looks like we all obey that
one!


Hiking with our friends the Rapps & Anders and Bjorn on the way up.
Damon.



Anders hiking his way up. Colorado Springs is in the background.