34, holy crap that is old!

A week and a half ago i got a letter in the mail saying i was to report for jury duty on June 30th.

Luckily the phone call on friday said the case was dismissed.

I woke up and had a nice mtn bike ride and came home to some presents including a new wind up toy airplane.

then i rode with #1 & 2 to school.

i went to work for a few hours and had bagels (luckily they did not order cafe rio this time)

a couple weeks ago i got a gift certificate in the mail from DSW that was good for $10 off any purchase over $25.

I went to the store and realized i forgot the coupon. I asked a clerk if they had anyway of pulling it up but they didn't. I found a pair of shoes that were $55.95 and decided to get them anyway. When i went to check out, they rang up at 80% off and ended up costing $11.96 after tax. I would have lost money if i didn't buy them. Luckily they are completely different than any other pair of shoes i already have. See the new shoes on the right and the older shoes i have on the left.

Apparently somewhere along the way i have developed an obsession for athletic shoes. At $11 a pair things could be worse.

When i got home there were hot snickerdoodles waiting and i really should not have eaten that 4th cookie.

We got some pizza and went to the girls swim meet for a couple hours where #2 didn't have to hold onto the lane lines at all on her freestyle this week and she competed in the backstroke for the first time.
I went and caught most of my soccer game that we lost 3-2 but got to run back and forth in 90 degree temps for almost 90 mins.


I had many calls and well wishes and even a package from Long John Leather Couch full of magazine clippings that looked like the picture on the right. Happy birthday to me.






#4 did not wish me happy birthday or get me any presents.

300 warriors pre-ride

Saturday morning i met up with 15 other cyclist and pre-rode the last 3 climbs of a ride some of us are doing in august. The Tour of Utah bike race is back this year after taking last year off due to lack of ability to raise enough sponsorship dollars. The hardest stage of the 5 day stage race has a 99 mile course starting in Park City, riding on the north side of Jordanelle resevoir over a climb into Kamas, then south into Francis where it heads up another climb and down into Midway. It winds its way around deer creek res. and down provo canyon for a couple miles to the Sundance turn off. It goes over Alpine loop and down american fork canyon. It goes up and over Suncrest and then up wasatch Blvd to little cottonwood and ends at sonwbird parking lot #2. All in all it is 99 miles with 14,000 + feet of climbing. They opened this event up to 300 non-pro riders to start 4 hours before the pros and do the same ride. the difference is that we will not have been racing for 3 days before hand and have another race the next day.
We rode down to provo canyon and up it to the sundance turn off. The temperature was great for the first 2 climbs but by the time we got to little cottonwood it was hot. The alpine loop was beautiful and as i took my time getting over it, i snapped some pictures. Once you get past sundance the road for the last few miles is only one car wide and is nice and smooth. My total distance was 98.5 miles and i only went to parking lot #1. I think of the 16 that started, only 4 made it the whole planned distance for the day.

Shrinking Simpson Babies

As with all of our kids so far, they have jaundice for the first few weeks.
With #4, she is also shrinking. When she was born she was 7lbs 6 oz and 20 inches
When Megan took her in a couple days later, she was 6 lbs 8 oz and 19.5 inches...and Yellow
I realize babies usually lose weight for the first week or 2, but losing height?
I have spent the entire week off my bike and this is the first saturday that i have not ridden my bike since christmas week. i spent the day building a tree house instead. It is a big project and pics will be posted after i get it done, which according to my sister in law, will be when #1 is driving. Apparently others have noticed my habit of starting projects and getting bored with them half way through.
The problem with not riding my bike the entire week is that we have generously had family and friends bring us in some meals. When we cook a meal at home, we usually have a main course, some sort of vegetable/ sides and a lot of the time, bread. When someone brings you a meal, it usually contains all of those as well as dessert. Lots of big meals with tasty desserts and no bike riding is not a good combination.

Georgia Bradley

Megan went home as soon as they would let her which ended up being about 24 hours after giving birth. The lawn needed mowing i and wasn't going to do it. They like to keep the baby for at least 24 hours to do some tests otherwise Megan might have gone home sooner. Megan figured that she could go home and sleep on her own bed without having someone come in and check her or the baby every 45 minutes. #1,2 & 3 keep fighting over who gets to hold (smother) Georgia. So far we can tell that she is good at pooping and is nocturnal.

WARNING: FULL FRONTAL NUDITY

This picture says it all.
it is official. another girl.
everything went well during delivery.
we didn't go in until 10 AM.
we sat around for a long time. watched a discovery channel show on a haunted house.
sat around some more.
they broke her water and gave her an epidural at around 1.
she was going slow so they gave her some pitosin a few hours later.
in the past they have given her petosin and she doesn't do much until they break her water and then she goes real fast. this time she wanted to try breaking her water without the petosin.
apparently it takes both for her to give birth.the baby was born just before 6 PM and was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches.
megan only had to push a couple times and aside from not having eaten in 24 hours felt good.
#3 has named the baby jessica, but we have not named her yet. Megan thinks if we name her Jessica she will probably fall down a well at some point in her life.
Everyone is healthy and happy .I have started looking through the want ads trying to find a boy dog.

4's a crowd

In trying to streamline things, we try and bathe the 3 girls together most nights before they go to bed. Almost every night, someone ends up crying in the tub. 3 normal sized kids is a lot to fit in 1 normal sized tub. Tomorrow morning megan is going in to give birth to #4. It seems like she has been pregnant forever with this one. Maybe it is just because i feel so bad that she took up running after having #3 and she hasn't been able to run for the last several months. As i ride my bike around and see people riding and running, i feel a little guilty. She has been able to workout at the gym and walk up until this morning. Walking around 9 months pregnant and being able to take off and run for a couple hours are very different i'm sure. She was dialated to a 2+ at her last checkup. get a ruler out and look at 10 cm and then think about the size of a babies head. OUCH. Wish her luck.

Top 10 relatively clean reasons Megan is better than my bikes

1. I cannot get any of my bikes to make homemade cookies

2.I have not figured out how to get my bikes to reproduce.

3. I did not have to bid and win Megan on eBay.

4. Spooning with my bikes is uncomfortable, awkward and if taken a couple steps further, illegal in some countries. see the article here

5. After spending 7 straight hours with megan, my butt doesn't hurt.

6.I don't need different versions of Megan for different terrain.

7. I don't have to wear spandex to hang out with Megan.

8. Megan has never given me a rash in my crotch.

9. If i have a friend come in from out of town and wants to go for a ride, very few of them would even dare ask to take megan.

10. Megan completes me.

Swim Meet

#1 and #2 had their first swim meet on saturday morning. it was 47 degrees when we left for the pool. They both play soccer and think it is their job to run 5 feet behind whoever has the ball. Swimming was similar for these two. They both get their moneys worth by enjoying the pool for longer than their competitors, but they both had a great time. #1 did the freestyle, the breaststroke, the backstroke and the butterfly (which turned into the breaststroke after a few meters). #2 did the freestyle and only had to stop and hold onto the lane lines a few times in her long 25 meter swim. This is the first year for either of them to do this so it is a growing experience for all of us. I could swim well enough to get my swimming merit badge when i was 13 but that is about it. Megan did swim team growing up so she understands this a little more than me. It was fun to see them swim and we have several meets throughout the summer so we will see how they progress. Somehow none of our kids have been given an ounce of competitive nature yet and i don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing at this point.

Wind Up Toys

I started a wind up toy collection a few years ago. The girls get them for me for birthday or christmas presents. I usually try to find one when we go on vacation.
Some friends have bought some for me along the way for different reasons. When i did my first triathlon, a friend from work got this one for me. Apparently she heard what a terrible swimmer i am.
I had another "friend" give this to me but i am not sure why.
I look on ebay from time to time and find reproductions of the old tin style wind ups and especially look for bikes or motorcycles.
I was looking on ebay the other day and found this one for sale.It ended up selling for $9,700.

Usually the wind up toys i buy on ebay end up costing less than the shipping, but for this one, the shipping was a reasonable $9 with an optional insurance of $1.65. What a bargain.