New Spoon

Tanner tries out the new spoon his Oma sent him. We're thinking its still a bit big!

Sunday Ride

Top of Lower Gold Camp Road
Photo of Dharma and I mid way through our Sunday ride. We did 24.8 miles and over 2600 ft of climbing.
Philly here we come!

Mountain Biking Ute Valley Park

Dharma visited us this weekend determined to squeeze in everybit of riding she could. We did two road rides, our first (and only) training rides together in preparation for the LIVESTRONG Challenge is August (http://philly07.livestrong.org/suryacox). In addition, we spent Saturday morning goofing around Ute Valley Park and having a lot of fun on our Mountain Bikes. The photos below are from our road ride through Garden of the Gods Friday morning.

Fun with Daddy

Playground Time

Chillin' at the Playground

LIVESTRONG Challenge...I'm IN!

As I mentioned below, my sister is participating in the Philadelphia LIVESTRONG Challenge ride in August. I was so inspired by her efforts, and have decided to join her! We will be doing the 70 mile ride together, and raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in honor of our uncle Jim to help those whose lives have been impacted by Cancer.

James Dill (May 17, 1946 - April 25, 2007) pictured with Tanner last May during our visit with him in Florida. I hope you will consider supporting our efforts! http://philly07.livestrong.org/suryacox

Dharma will be visiting us over Memorial Day weekend, and we will officially kick our training into full gear. We are planning on doing some good mountain bike and road rides while she is out here, and begin getting ready for 70 miles in the saddle (ouch)! This should be a fun summer full of training...I'm doing the Prospect Lake Triathlon in June, the LIVESTRONG Challenge in August and I've got my eye on the Denver Half Marathon in October. Here is to staying healthy and injury free!

A long one

This week was certainly that, a long one. We were cooped up indoors due to some nasty weather and even nastier colds. Thankfully, we are all on the mend, and the weather looked up yesterday afternoon enough so that we got out front to play for a bit. Tanner met a new friend, she is our neighbors granddaughter and will be living next door for a little while with her family. She and Tanner were pretty excited about giving each other high fives. It is pretty amazing that such simple little things bring such joy.

Tanner woke up to a great surprise yesterday afternoon...an edible bouquet. Oma surprised our sick household with a get well edible bouquet full of melons, pineapples, grapes and strawberries. YUM! Tanner was quite pleased not only to find a balloon when he got up, but also a boat load of fruit he could go to town on. Heaven!

Virginia Trip Highlights

Tanner and I went to Virginia to visit the family and spend time with my Uncle Jim, who was diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer in February. We had a good trip, visitng both Jim and my grandfather often. Tanner did his part and brought some smiles to everyone in VA, and also a bit of chaos...there is a lot of interesting things to get into in all those new places. I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend time with my uncle, especially since we received the news of his passing this morning (April 25, 2007). My sister is participating in the LiveStrong Challenge and riding 70 miles to raise money for cancer research in his honor. Check out her fundraising page ... she is getting closer and closer to her goal of $5000. Way to go Dharma. http://philly07.livestrong.org/dharmadill

In addition to family time, I reconnected with a friend who I haven't seen in many years. As it turns out, her second son and Tanner are only 9 days apart in age! Andrew, his older brother Lucas, and Tanner had a great time playing...and it was wonderful to see Loretta again.

Tanner discovered the joy of having his Oma and Opa live near Dulles Airport. There were lots of airplanes flying overhead, and Tanner made sure to point one out each time he heard the engines overhead.

While dining out, Tanner found the Olive Tapenade...and went crazy!

As luck would have it, our trip also coincided with the DC Rollergirls Innaugural Brawl. We got to see Sarah and the other Rollergirls do their thing, which was great fun. We also had a chance to catch up with friends and their kiddos, ending up with a mini baby born in December 2005 crew (Madeline, Jack and Tanner). The boys were quite enamored with Madeline, who was freely giving kisses. Tanner quickly became obsessed with having her kiss his hands.

The album below has many trip highlights.

VA Visit April 2007

Feeding the Ducks

We spent a great afternoon with friends in Green Mountain Falls feeding the ducks and hanging out at the playground. Tanner wasn't quite sure about the whole ducks things at first, but warmed up to the idea, and he even went wading. In my attempts to capture a better shot, I hopped over a little stream only to have Tanner follow me! Oops.

Green Mountain Falls - Ducks/Playground

P.S. for another set of photos check out our friends site...http://www.taylorreidwagner.com/Taylor/3rd%20Year/Duck%20Day%20Apr%2007/index.html

Me and My Dog

So much love...well on Tanner's part at least.

The Joys of Heavy Machinery

The boys had lots of fun watching the construction at the zoo.

An Afternoon at the Zoo

Zoo with Nana, LeighAnn and Evan

We spent a gorgeous afternoon at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with Nana and some friends. We had some special treats including an up close and personal visit with the new baby gorilla, fun times at the playground in my Big Backyard and lots of construction equipment! We hope you enjoy our trip highlights!

Mountain Biking

Tanner helps to get the bikes ready and gets suited up for his ride.




Enjoying the trails with Daddy


Taking a little time out of the saddle at the top of high drive

The Guys

Tanner, Jackson and the Stick