The Rages Report

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:05:00.000-06:00

Today, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Dickmann side of the family at my parent’s house. Mel and all three of my brothers and their families were there. God gave us beautiful fall weather; the sun was shining on a cold crisp day. We all got there early so we could play games in Grandpa’s game room. Mel and I got in a game of ping pong. The boys played air hockey and pool. We all shared a time of worship during which we shared some of the things for which we are thankful. Mel and I took a walk around the circle with a bunch of the littles.

Mom set the kids a table in the basement. The table was set with pretty Thanksgiving paper plates and napkins. She served them sparkling cider and grape juice with their supper. They were very impressed.

She set the adult table upstairs with her fine china.

Stanley has been learning about the indians and Pilgrims in school. This is his Indian bag and headdress. He loves crafts, and I love how excited he gets showing me what he has made in school. It makes me so happy that he gets to enjoy doing those things.

Here is Stanley in his Pilgrim costume after the Thanksgiving Festival at school.

A Miracle has occurred {Grocery shopping}

2011-11-03T12:55:00.002-05:00

I’m probably not alone in my quest for frugality while grocery shopping. Since I had twin boys about two and a half years ago, my quest for sanity outweighed my quest for frugality somewhat. So I usually shop with the twins only at grocery stores with a double cart. Hence, NO Aldi. I have run into Aldi using our double stroller from time to time, but I can’t fit an entire week’s worth of groceries in it, so it feels like a lot of work for not much gain. Today, I decided to really go for it. I brought the baby back pack for Marty and was going to push Mike in the cart. It is chilly out and is misting. I load on the backpack with Marty in it, get a cart, get Mike situated, put my reusable grocery bags in it, and open my purse to get my list. It’s. not. there. At first, I think I must have just left it in the car, so I head back through the rain to the van and search it as well as I can with a 20 pound baby on my back. I cannot find it. At this point, I am not sure what to do. I do not want to go through this ordeal and just have to go out again, because I forgot half the things on my list. I feel like sitting down and crying, but yeah, that’s not going to happen. I decided to get what I could. I could say this was my trial run seeing how I like the whole baby backpack/cart deal. Here’s where the miracle comes in. I prayed that God would help me to remember everything on my list, and He did!! Seriously, that is a miracle. Usually, even when I bring a list I forget something that is staring back at me in black and white. I found my list at home (I had brought it in, accidentally, with some baseball cards I’d found in the backseat) and was amazed when I read through it to discover I’d actually gotten everything on it. So, anyway, I am super thankful.

Sledding

2010-01-11T21:09:00.001-06:00

I took the day off of work on Thursday and went sledding with the kids. It seemed like a better use of my time than being stuck in traffic.

This is Stan’s first year of sledding, and he’s very brave.

There seem to be some extra legs in the picture above!

We made it!

Whoops!

Snow angel

It was extremely cold. I think the temp was in the low teens, maybe the single digits, and the wind was fierce. Wind chill must have been around zero. But we stuck it out for quite a while; we were very well bundled.

Cardinals game

2009-12-02T22:30:00.001-06:00

OK, I have been neglecting this blog! Time to catch up. In mid-September, Jacob and I went to a Cardinals game. We got some nice seats on the first base side in foul territory (stubhub.com) because Jacob was hoping to catch a foul ball.

We brought lots of snacks - Hot Tamales, Mike & Ike, Pringles, and Cokes.

It was kind of fun to be seated closer to the field, but I actually prefer the vantage point from the cheaper seats up high behind home plate. I like to be able to see the whole game and to glance up at the scoreboard.

Not to mention that I had to stay on my toes the whole time -- with my ball glove on -- just in case a foul ball came our way.

The Cardinals lost, though:

Grace Baptist Chapel

2009-10-13T16:03:00.002-05:00

Our family is part of a small church called Grace Baptist Chapel. Our church recently started a blog and if you are interested, you can check it out here:
www.gracebaptistchapel.blogspot.com

Jacob's first day of school

2009-09-13T17:10:00.000-05:00

I remember posting about Jacob's first day of school LAST year, and I can hardly believe I'm posting about it already again. He started first grade this year. He enjoys it, but like many boys, would rather be playing baseball. :-)
He is learning "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson right now. He really loves poetry and is trying to learn "The Cow" by the same author on his own. This is his first year of having Art and Music and really likes both of those. He comes home telling us about jazz and Duke Ellington and last week they listened to Checkowsky (I'm sure I am spelling that wrong) and said his favorite music was classical.

Stan wants to be five so badly!! He asks me frequently if he is five yet!! He can't wait to go to school! :-)

Blowing bubbles

2009-09-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

Tim and Amanda's son, Michael spent the night a few weeks ago. I got the homemade bubble solution and the big bubble wands for them to play with. The boys love doing this. The bubble wands make the biggest bubbles ever, and it was really interesting how the bubbles would land on the grass and not pop right away.

Staying with the Kelly's

2009-09-13T16:51:00.000-05:00

Levi and Jenny invited us to stay with them while we were in Kirksville. It was SO great to visit with them and for the boys to get to play together. They have twin boys who are three years old. There were 7 boys in their one house and it was suprisingly calm and orderly! We even all got out of the house on time for church! Thanks so much for having us, guys! We hope to see you again soon!

Brian and Levi boxing each other with Wii. It was really funny watching them getting so into it!

A trip to Kirksville

2009-09-13T16:44:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back we went to Kirksville. We had a great time seeing people we don't get to see very much, and celebrating David Kelly's birthday. I can't believe I don't have a picture of the birthday boy or his wife or family!! These are some from the day. There were lots of new babies!

The kids are so busted

2009-09-13T16:24:00.002-05:00

So about a year ago I dropped our camera on the tile floor of our kitchen shattering the LCD screen. We were able to see about half of the screen so we made due for about a year. A month or so before the twins were born Brian bought us a new camera and about a month after that he found out he could buy a new LCD screen off ebay for pretty cheap. He bought it and fixed our old camera, so we now had two cameras. Well, then, a few weeks ago I go to use our new camera and the screen is completely shattered in it. I called Brian to ask if he knew what had happened. He had no idea but said maybe it had gotten broken when he had it in the tent when he and Stan went backyard camping. THEN, the next day, I saw the camera in the middle of the basement floor. When we went to download our pictures we discovered the culprits! There are the funniest pictures and a videos they too! Jacob telling Stan "Say cheese, buddy." Those first three are Jacob I think doing the "6 is a serious number" dance from the commercial! Hilarious!

Stan's swimming lesson

2009-09-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

Stanley in the shower before swimming lessons. We were in there when all the elderly women were just coming back in from their water aerobics class. They were all just going googoo over how "cute" Stan was. And when he'd tell them his name was "Stanley" they would just go even wilder - "oh, I never hear that name anymore!" "What a sweet name!" He loved the attention... as if he's lacking it! :-)

The color on these is horrendous. I guess it's my total lack of skill to compensate for the weird inside reflection of water and flourescent lighting.

Jacob's swimming lessons

2009-09-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks after the twins were born, both boys started swimming lessons at the YMCA. My parents had agreed to take them for me. The last lesson Dad stayed with the twins and I got to take the boys. I was glad to spend some one on one time each of them and see how they had progressed in their swimming abilities.

Family pics

2009-09-13T15:51:00.000-05:00

John laughing about something while feeding a baby for me - fun times!

Family photo of Laura, Russ and William

Isabella - I love her little sun dress with her beautiful little face to brighten it up!

Laura's visit

2009-09-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

Laura at our house with Mike above, and Marty below.

Brian and William

Mom and Dad and William

Sleeping babies

2009-09-13T15:34:00.000-05:00

Ang comes for a visit

2009-09-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

This is my new sister-in-law!! She is so great! She and my MIL drove down for the afternoon to visit. It was a great time.

More birthday pics

2009-09-11T16:15:00.002-05:00

Family at the hospital

2009-09-11T16:07:00.004-05:00

Brian's brother and family visited us the day after the twins were born. We are so glad to have them here in St. Louis with us!!! There has been lots of babysitting, and other kindnesses over the past year from them. We are thankful for their love!

Brian's mom was in town visiting, so she got in on the visit too!

More hospital pics

2009-09-11T16:01:00.000-05:00

Mel, Mom, and Dad - more of our most awesome family! As I get older I more and more appreciate my parents and their godly example and training. I am so thankful that God gave me Christian parents - it is such a huge blessing!

Debbie and kids visit

2009-09-11T15:32:00.000-05:00

My good friend Debbie stopped by to see the newborns with her two little ones. I was surprised at how excited the kids were to see the babies, even Sam! He kept coming back in from playing outside with Jacob and would want to sit down on the couch and hold one of them again. Lilly is so beautiful! I love the way the light is making her hair all wispy and golden looking.

Grandma and Grandpa Rages visit the newborns

2009-09-11T15:26:00.000-05:00

Brian's parents came to see the newborns a few days after they were born. Mom brought food and they both brought their cheerful smiles. We had a relaxing so much fun time with them. I am SO thankful for them and we are blessed by their love all the time. We are so glad for Christian parents. They are an example of godliness to us, and such an encouragement to us too.

Tim and Manda's family with the twins

2009-09-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

Amanda brought me a meal the Sunday after we got home, and they got to stay and visit a little while. It was wonderful to get to see them and hang out for a while. This is Lizzy.

This is Michael

This is Caleb

Dave and Cheryl's family with the twins

2009-09-11T14:51:00.002-05:00

I know some of the blog posts are out of sequence, but I don't care. :-) Here at the top is Conrad. Below is Benji. Next is Cheryl and Grace; then Dave, and last is a shot of Hannah and Grace. Dave and Cheryl kept Jake and Stan while I was in the hospital giving birth. The next day they brought their clan and two of our clan all the way to the hospital for a visit. I was so thankful they did. I was ready for some visitors, and I was glad Jake and Stan could meet their new brothers.

Jacob turned 6!

2009-09-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

Jacob turned 6 years old in July. He loves baseball mostly. He loves video games (he's dying for us to get a Wii). He's learning to read, and enjoys being read to and reading himself. Right now he's reading a book about Albert Pujols. He enjoys his friends and his brother. His days are mostly filled with playing baseball outside or actually playing with his new pitch back or playing catch with his dad, pitching to his dad and also batting - he tries to get "home runs" over the back fence. He has succeeded in that a few times. I remember Brian telling me earlier in the summer, that he thought by next year Jacob would be able to hit the ball over the back fence, but here he is doing it already.
His birthday fell on a Saturday which is, of course, the best day for a little boy's birthday. We started the day with presents.

Then we a breakfast of donuts from our local donut house. YUM.

Then we had a birthday party in the afternoon. Everyone met at the park for a baseball game! It was so much fun! Then everyone came back to our house for a backyard BBQ. This picture is of most of the cousins and 2 friends from school who were there.

Here's "Dad" grilling hotdogs - this is a baseball party remember!

Stan's cast

2009-09-11T13:05:00.000-05:00

Our little guy broke his foot about two weeks after the twins were born. We thought it was just bruised, but he kept limping on it, so we took him to the doctors and then to the hospital to get an x-ray and then to anther doctor to get the cast. He was very brave. The only time he got upset was when they were wrapping the cast, but as soon as he realized it was going on and staying on, he didn't ever complain about it. He got very good at walking with it and even running! It only stayed on about 3 weeks and now, a couple months later, he is completely healed up and is walking normally again. We praise God for his healing.

Fan Fest 2009

2009-09-11T12:57:00.000-05:00

The All-Star Game was held in St. Louis this year. As part of the festivities the city held an event called Fan Fest at the America's Center downtown. My mom's coworker and friend had some tickets she couldn't use, so Brian and Jacob got to go. Jacob has become a HUGE Cardinal's fan, and also loves playing ball so this was the perfect thing for him. He had a great time, I'm told.

Here he is batting, and below he is getting ready to field a ball.

Here he has just completed a pitch. His favorite thing to do is pitch. He loved this thing here, because it let him pitch to a real baseball player (on a screen). It measured his speed and I think it was about 30 MPH.

The goodness of the Lord

2009-08-14T14:55:00.003-05:00

I would be remiss if I did not post a bit about the goodness of the Lord through the past year. I cannot say how much I owe to my Heavenly Father. The fact that he has given me a husband that loves me and four beautiful children makes me so happy. I am so happy to be a wife and a mommy. God brought me from the brinks of personal ruin to this!! It is not my doings - it is His! I would not love the Lord, but for his drawing me to Himself and loving me first.

I am thankful that the twins were healthy and that I was able to deliver them with no complications. I am thankful for an excellent obstetrician, who was willing and able to turn Baby#2 from a breech position in order to be born with no ceseserean. I am thankful for Brian who was so supportive and helpful through the pregnancy and then especially afterwards. He was amazing - he kept the house running smoothly with food and cleaning and spent gobs of time with the older two boys. I am thankful for my dad - he started doing my grocery shopping for me in the middle of my pregnancy and is still doing it! He is awesome! I'm thankful for my mom who cleaned my house for me so many times during the last trimester!! I'm thankful for my sisters who babysat on numerous occasions. I'm thankful for lots of family and friends who brought me meals after the babies arrived. I'm thankful for my mom-in-law who came and stayed with us a week after the babies came. She brought lots of delicious food and told lots of stories! She is an amazing storyteller. I'm thankful for my sister, Melanie, who comes over twice a week to help me with the twins so I can have a couple hours to myself to do whatever I need/want to do. She is so good with the babies!

I'm thankful that God has been helping me these first weeks with the twins - getting things worked out and adjusting to life. Jacob and Stanley have adjusted SO well to having the twins around. They love their new little brothers and I am so glad!! The twins are great sleepers and I mean great! It is pretty amazing how great.

The first few weeks of life with 4 children have gone quite smoothly. I do not know what the future holds, but I know Him that does know, and that is all I need to know. May the Lord help me to rest in Him no matter what!

Backyard Campout!

2009-08-08T21:40:00.001-05:00

Last night was a campout in the backyard. I'm planning on taking Jacob camping later in the year, so this was a chance for just Stan and me to camp together. But first, the whole family enjoyed some s'mores from the grill:

We set up our little 2-man backpacking tent in the yard. Stan especially enjoyed hammering in the stakes with a rubber mallet. We were equipped: Therm-a-rest pads (those are the green things), sleeping bags, pillows (having a real pillow is certainly a camping luxury!)

Also, we each had our head-lamps:

And four rather long children's books. We read the books until it got dark.

Stan was a little noisy and moving around, but he finally got still.

It was hot, but it cooled off a little overnight. We really didn't need sleeping bags.

In the morning when we woke up, Stan wanted to know if we were going to sleep in a tent that night. Sorry Stan, just one night this time!

The Broken Window

2009-08-08T21:25:00.001-05:00

A young hoodlum, say, heaves a brick through the window of a baker’s shop. The shopkeeper runs out furious, but the boy is gone. A crowd gathers, and begins to stare with quiet satisfaction at the gaping hole in the window and the shattered glass over the bread and pies. After a while the crowd feels the need for philosophic reflection. And several of its members are almost certain to remind each other or the baker that, after all, the misfortune has its bright side. It will make business for some glazier. As they begin to think of this they elaborate upon it. How much does a new plate glass window cost? Two hundred and fifty dollars? That will be quite a sun. After all, if windows were never broken, what would happen to the glass business? Then, of course, the thing is endless. The glazier will have $250 more to spend with other merchants, and these in turn will have $250 more to spend with still other merchants, and so ad infinitum. The smashed window will go on providing money and employment in ever-widening circles. The logical conclusion from all this would be, if the crowd drew it, that the little hoodlum who threw the brick, far from being a public menace, was a public benefactor. (http://jim.com/econ/chap02p1.html)

Thursday, I got up and left to go to work and found out that, during the night, someone had thrown an egg at my car and also broken the windshield (not, I presume, with an egg). Of course, I shopped around and got the cheapest "glazier" I could find, and of course he stood me up on Friday and didn't finish the job until today.

As we were leaving for a family gathering today, I noticed someone else in the neighborhood having his windshield replaced. I stopped and inquired - yes, another victim of the same miscreant. And I noticed some other cars in the neighborhood had been egged as well, but I saw no damage.

Whoops, I didn't blank out my license plate (why do people on the internet do that?).

The Hawn Family

2009-07-10T08:55:00.003-05:00

Please pray for our friends the Hawns. Here is a link to their blog.
I've also added their blog to the sidebar. They are at home caring for their newborn son who does not have a good prognosis.
http://thehawnfamilyweekly.blogspot.com/

Even in the midst of their pain and incredible busy-ness, they somehow found time to get the twins a present. I was amazed at how they could still be thinking of others even in the midst of their own heart ache.

Cheap tires aren't cheap

2009-06-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

Took a little tandem ride with the kids yesterday. Here's Jacob doing a little trick on Grant's Trail:

We rode down to the snow cone shop on Reavis Barracks:

Then we rode to the far end of the trail, turned around, and only a few minutes later:

BANG! A blowout! Hutchinson Flash tires that I had picked up cheap from Nashbar for about $5 each. Hmm. They weren't very worn. I think I was running them at 90-100 psi; I thought they were rated for that, maybe not.

We walked the bike back up to Reavis Barracks Road (it was a hot day for a walk!). Thankfully, Trailnet was open, so we dropped in for a little air-conditioned comfort and awaited the support wagon (Rebekah and the twins) that had been phoned for immediately after the blowout. Rebekah brought a new tire and tube, and I did a quick repair in the parking lot. Then, she took the kids home and I soloed home on the tandem. Messed up the twins feeding schedule a little...

Baby contortionist

2009-06-21T22:29:00.000-05:00

How does he DO that?

Few more photos

2009-06-20T16:43:00.000-05:00

Mike & Marty 6-18-09

2009-06-19T12:18:00.003-05:00

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a real blessing!

Here is a quick description of the labor and delivery:

11:00 - got the call to come in for induction
11:45 - cheeseburger and apple dippers for Rebekah; double cheese combo for me.
12:00 - admitted to the hospital, hooked up to the monitors
1:00 - ultrasound - yep, "A" is down and "B" is breech.
2:00 or so - started the pitocin
4:00 - pitocin really working
5:00 - got the epidural going. The epidural seemed to take a long time to get effective. I guess it was because Rebekah's labor was advancing quickly, and the epidural couldn't keep up.
6:00 - getting the urge to push - call the doctor!
6:15 - WHERE is the DOCTOR?
6:30 - whisked into the operating room.

This part was really scary for me, seeing all those doctors and nurses in the operation room all gowned up. I am thankful for the many people who were praying for us.

6:48 - Michael was born. Rebekah did great! Pushed him right out!

Now Dr. Hermann started flipping Martyn around. Looking at his eyes, it looked like he was pretty concerned. I was concerned; I didn't want Rebekah to have to have a Caesarian.

7:03 - Praise the Lord! Martyn is pushed out!

more babies

2009-06-19T12:17:00.000-05:00

Mother and babies doing well.

Marty in nursery.

Mike in nursery.

Two more of Mike sleeping...

2009-06-19T11:15:00.000-05:00

babies 3

2009-06-19T11:10:00.001-05:00

Burping Mike.

Mike sleeping.

Marty sleeping.

Marty's feet.

Babies

2009-06-19T11:04:00.001-05:00

Michael

Martyn getting footprinted.

Martyn

Us four.

A Garden

2009-06-17T19:02:00.000-05:00

Today, my mom came over on her lunch break to plant our garden. First, she had to weed the whole thing. She is so amazing! Even more so because today began the hot and humid dog days of St. Louis summer. It was 96 degrees today, and about the same % humidity. Thanks, Mom! We love you!

How to replace the LCD in a Casio Ex-Z750 Digital Camera

2009-06-15T22:03:00.006-05:00

At the end of 2005, we bought a Casio Ex-z750. In my mind, this digicam marked the high-water-point for Casio's foray into the digital camera market. Perhaps they have improved since then, but I haven't paid attention.

It's a small camera with a slightly larger sensor than its peers, fairly small but not the tiniest. It's quick, takes good MPEG4 movies, and has tons of manual modes. That's probably why Ken Rockwell flipped for it.

Anyway, ours got dropped a few months ago. About 60% of the LCD started showing white lines. I thought about getting another one, but they were too expensive on Ebay. So I picked up a Fuji F100fd - $135 with rebate. A great deal, just a little bigger than the Casio, but brighter LCD, better low-light sensitivity, and wider zoom range.

Then I noticed that replacing the LCD was a viable DIY prospect. So I bought one from a Chinese eBay seller for $26... about two weeks later, it arrived:

Nice, says CASIO right on it, even has a little hologram for authenticity.

This was my first time working on a digicam. I saw that you are supposed to buy a dead camera for your donor LCD, so you learn on it. Hmm, didn't do that, so I'll just have to be careful.

Speaking of being careful:
DISCLAIMER! CAMERAS HAVE FLASH CAPACITORS THAT CAN SHOCK YOU BADLY! Look on the web to learn more about the dangers. Mine had been sitting around with the battery out for a few weeks, so I felt safe...

YOU WILL NEED:

Phillips #00 Screwdriver
Patience
Steady hands

STEP 1: Remove Battery, SD card, etc. You probably don't have to do this, but I'd feel safer with the battery removed.

STEP 2: Remove back cover of the camera. There are two small screws on each end:

And, on the bottom, two slightly longer screws:

Gently pull off the rear cover. Disconnect the mode wheel and the "Play and Record" switch board from the cover.

STEP 3: Remove LCD

The LCD sits on top of a backlight panel in a metal frame. This little sandwich is held together with vinyl tape and also held in with detents on the metal frame. Remove the tape. You'll need to remove the metal frame to run the LCD wire ribbon below it.

Once you have the frame loose, you can flip up the little black flap on the wiring connector and slide out the ribbon connector to the LCD.

Step 4: Install LCD

Remove the plastic sheet stuck to both sides of the new LCD for shipping. Set the new LCD onto the frame, and slip the ribbon connector in place. Flip down the black tab to lock it in.

At this point, I fired up the camera to see if it would work:

Success! The LCD is just sitting loose on the backlight here.

STEP 5: "Assembly is the reverse of dissasembly" Slip the new LCD into the metal frame and screw it down into place. Fit the "Play" and "Record" switches onto the back panel. Assemble the panel and insert the four short and two long screws.

WORKS LIKE A CHAMP NOW!

37 Weeks

2009-06-11T17:22:00.001-05:00

Today's report is 3 1/2 cm dilated, still 70% effaced. The babies are in the same position. This last week has been a nice time of relaxation and getting a few last minute things done. I haven't been anxious for labor to start; I've been able to try to enjoy the "peace before the storm" so to speak. Next Thursday, the 18th I'm scheduled to be induced if I haven't gone into labor yet.
I can hardly believe in a week or less we will have twin boys. I can't really imagine what it is going to be like having two newborns to care for. I'm excited thinking about finally meeting them and holding them.
Thanks to all for your prayers.

Playing Catch

2009-06-05T22:02:00.002-05:00

It's been about two weeks since a very big day for Jacob and me. I bought Jacob his first real (leather) ball glove. (I think it's a Wilson 425 something; I like it). At the same time, I bought myself my own first new ball glove. The whole time, growing up, I had a Spalding from a junk shop. The laces were dried out and broke, and it never performed all that well. We also got a tee ball bat for Jacob.

He loves it! During the day, he's throwing the ball up in the air and catching it. Sometimes he bounces the ball off our maple tree as a sort of pitchback. And when I get home, he's always ready for a game of catch or a bit of hitting.

It is amazing how quickly his baseball skills have improved in the last couple of weeks. He can catch the ball most of the time if the throw is good, and he can throw with pretty good accuracy. Here's a little video of a recent "catch" session. (Don't bother turning up the audio; it's just me pontificating about wide angle vs. telephoto.)

36 Weeks!

2009-06-04T21:50:00.000-05:00

By the grace of God we've made it to 36 weeks - it is now safe for the twins to be born. This will probably be the last picture of me taken. I'm really really hoping they will come soon. It's been an incredibly easy pregancy really - if no one had worried us and we hadn't know all the possible complications and I hadn't have had to go to the specialist's every 2 weeks we never would have even realized. But since we do realize all that could have happend, it makes us even more grateful and thankful for God's bringing the twins to this point. We praise Him for giving us these two precious sons and we trust Him with their futures.
These pictures were taken tonight, right before we went for a walk through our neighborhood. It felt great to take a walk. Although it was pretty painful for me I loved getting out there and pushing myself again. I've been taking it easy to keep from having contractions and just because I've been afraid of exherting myself. I can't wait to work out again and to be able to stretch and flex my muscles.
I had a doctor's appointment today. The news is that Baby A is vertex (head down), and Baby B is breech (head up). We would prefer if both babies were vertex, but they don't need to be in order to go for a V-birth - only Baby A who is lower needs to be head down, and he has been most of the pregnancy. So we are planning on trying for a regular v-birth, but it is possible for Baby B to not want to come out or for the doctor to not be able to get him to turn around, and then they would have to do a Ceserean birth for Baby B. My doctor has told me that he has only had one twin birth where the mother had to have both a v-delivery AND a ceserean. In other news, I am 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Yay!!!
So where we are now, is that if I have not gone into labor in 2 more weeks (babies will be 38 weeks) - they will induce me on June 18th or 19th. I'm hoping that will be unnecessary, but either way, Lord-willing in no more than 2 weeks we will have doubled the number of children in our family.

On our walk:

o

The boys' first catch

2009-05-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

The boys and Brian took a trip to the farm a few weeks ago. I wasn't able to go because it was the weekend after the hospital scare and my doctor wanted me to stay home. While they were there, Brian took them fishing. We went fishing last summer, once, but Stan was too little to enter in, and Jacob nor Brian caught a single thing.
They had better success this time!!

The Nursery is Finished - Part 2

2009-05-21T21:40:00.001-05:00

I wanted to show a picture of one of the quilts, as well as the mobile my husband made for me. The quilt is absolutely the most comforting quilt ever made. It is just perfect. Thank you, Mom, for making all this for us! You are so awesome!! The mobiles, like I said were made by Brian - he did an amazing job of bending wire and connecting it all together. He insisted on spray painting the metal which makes them look so much more "finished" in my opinion. They are really neat and different from any other mobiles I've seen and I really love the way they hang and are always moving around in the breeze. Brian is so great about doing this kind of thing for me - I'm so blessed!

A shot of the changing table (woo-hoo) - but I did want to show the cute red gingham basket liners made my MIL.

And this is a shelf above the changing table - my sister Mel, gave me that "Cat in the Hat" hat and I just love it there. It gives a little dimension to that shelf.

Well, that is the nursery.

On a more serious note, I had a doctor's visit today. They monitored the babies heartbeats and did an ultrasound. Both babies, are you ready for this? - weighed in at 5.3 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you say "WHOA NELLIE!" :-) HA My doctor was completely amazed - he commented that that was big for a singleton at this far along. I am so thankful!! I want these babies to be big and healthy. I say 'big' in a relative sense here. :-) Both babies looked great - one is breech at this point, with little chance of turning, but still a chance. Their heartrates were great - no problems. So it seems like everything is going along well. God is keeping us and we are SO happy of that.

The Nursery is Finished - Part 1

2009-05-21T21:27:00.000-05:00

This nursery is just the cutest thing in our house right now. It is so bright and cheery and I totally love it. I got the idea for a Dr. Suess themed nursery - I was thinking "Thing 1 and Thing 2" here, so I googled that and Pottery Barn Kids had Dr. Suess nursery bedding. What in the world??? Well, as with most of their stuff, I loved it. I then googled "red gingham crib skirt" and there were 2 Pottery Barn red gingham crib skirts being sold on Craiglist in Kirkland, WA. (When we lived in Seattle, the church we attended met in Kirkland - pretty wild, hu?) The lady selling them had twins and she had decided she didn't like them, so was getting rid of them. They were basically brand new. Well, here is where this gets even more amazing - I call my MIL, who can sew ANYTHING, and who has made every window treatment in our current house and lots of pillows, and I asked her if she thought she could make the Pottery Barn bumper pads and a red valance. She agreed immediately and also loved the set from Pottery Barn. We have similar tastes, which makes decorating with her that much more fun. She also offered to make me the quilts AND the liners for my baskets. I was really overwhelmed at her genorosity. So this is a picture of the crib skirt and the bumper pad.

So, the names are out, I guess!! :-) Yes, we are naming one of the boys Michael after my dad. The middle name is not decided on yet, but we're thinking Lloyd.

The other baby is going to be named Martyn Lesley. Lesley is Brian's middle name, and I have been wanting to give that middle name to a son since our first, but have only now prevailed upon Brian to allow it.

This is a picture of
a.) the red valance Brian's mom sewed for us,
b.) the lamp I had quite a time finding, and
c.) the Lazy Boy my parents bought us after Jacob was born - they took us to the furniture store and said "pick whatever chair you want", and this is what I picked. I picked it for comfort and neutrality of color. It is the perfect fit for me - a little bigger than many b/c I am on the tall side. Anyway, I have rocked both of our other babies in that chair and am looking forward to rocking these two (however I'm really not sure how all that is going to work out at this point)

Kindergarten Graduation

2009-05-19T09:45:00.000-05:00

Jacob and his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Kuntz. This was taken the day before graduation. I'm so glad Mrs. Kuntz thought to do this, because the picture I took of him with his diploma is totally blurry! I can't believe it, but oh well.

A collage of photos from the year. One of the moms from the class put together an amazing slideshow presentation for the graduation, and then made it available to all of us. It was very precious!

They sang some of the songs they learned through the year during the informal ceremony.

Stan and I before leaving for the graduation.

32 weeks

2009-05-12T15:43:00.000-05:00

Here is the much requested photo of me pregnant with twins. This is last Friday - I was 32 weeks. I'll try to post a couple more as I get closer to my due date.

A Trip to the Hospital

2009-05-01T19:08:00.005-05:00

Brian insists I put this picture up, so here I am in the hospital bed, AFTER finding out everything was looking okay and the contractions had stopped. Today, I am 31 weeks along. On Wednesday, I ended up in the hospital at about 7:30 PM having contractions one right after another. The Lord worked everything out in such an amazing way, I will tell you the whole story. I had a busy previous few days, and went to bed Tuesday night after having contractions off and on all evening. I awoke Wednesday, and immediately had a contraction and was feeling so completely exhausted I didn't think I could get out of bed. Brian was going into work late, so he helped get Jake off to school and I called my sister (in-law, but who's keeping track), Amanda to ask if she could watch Stan and keep him overnight, so I could relax and try to get my strength back. She said yes, and even offered to come get Stan, which I did not allow her to do, but it was so sweet and over the top for her to offer. So I basically rested all day, and then decided to go out and get a massage that evening. Brian was home and he and Jake went out bike riding to the park to play catch and then they were going to go to Taco Bell.
Well, by the time I got to the massage therapist's I was having these contractions that wouldn't stop. I was pretty scared, so I didn't even get out of the car; I started back home. On the way, I called my sis, Laura, expecting her to calm me down and help me get on home. However, she told me to "PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY!!" There's no use arguing with her, and I figured she was probably right so I did. I am so glad she insisted on my pulling over, because otherwise I would have gone home to an empty house, waiting for Brian to get home and panicking even more OR I would have went out looking for Brian myself also in a panic. So ultimately she DID calm me down and did exactly the right thing. She is always helping me through my crisies and I am SO thankful for her! Well, so then she called our brother John who came and got me and brought me to their house right up the street from where I had pulled over. I went in and put my feet up, and drank some water, hoping that would help, but it did not help at all, and the contractions were getting stronger.
I hadn't been able to get ahold of Brian since he didn't have a cell phone with him. I was beginning to panic. John left (foregoing his dinner)to go find Brian - I told him to try Taco Bell or the park. Sarah did all the figuring out the fastest way to get to the hospital, finding out where in the hospital the Women's Evaluation Unit was. She was getting ready to start calling Taco Bell's when John called saying he had found them - they were on the tandem bicycle on their way home - he was driving slowly behind b/c he didn't want to scare them. Sarah tells him that this is an EMERGENCY and that he needs to get up there and tell Brian to get over here!!! I don't know if it sounds funny but looking back it is funny to me. John is so sweet - driving all over creation, first picking me up and then to find my husband, with all of us women in the background telling him to do it faster, faster. First, Laura calls him in a panic, asking him to go get me, then right as he's getting ready to eat, I tell him I think he has to go right away and find Brian! He did it all without complaining.
Well, anyway, Brian made it to John and Sarah's. They kept Jake for us overnight and got him to school in the morning. Oh, I forgot to mention that while I was at Sarah's waiting for the word that John had found Brian, Sarah was so calming for me and prayed with me, and really helped me keep from panicking. She is a precious sister (also in-law, but again, who's keeping track!).
Okay, so to summarize, God worked it all out that Stanley was already at Tim and Manda's house for the night, and John and Sarah were home and ready and willing to drive all over creation and then to keep Jacob. Thank you guys!
Back to the hospital. Here's the low down on that: I got a shot of something that made me very jittery and stopped the contractions right away. I got a pill to keep the contractions from coming back. My cervix is completely closed (hooray! - no pre-term labor here!). The babies heartbeats were both strong and healthy sounding. After the third try I got a huge nasty IV put in the back of my hand, which was the worst part of the whole experience. It was in long enough for me to get about 30 cc's of whatever that clear fluid is. Then they took it out and said I could go home. We were there about 4 hours or so. I am now on a prescription to keep the contractions at bay.
Brian was super great the whole time - well, except afterwards when he took me to Jack in the Box's drive-thru which was packed out at 11 PM (COME ON!! - WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND EATS JACK IN THE BOX THAT LATE? - APPARANTLY LOTS OF PEOPLE -INCLUDING ME!) and I was getting hysterical thinking I might starve to death (yeah right). He maybe could have told me I was being a big baby in a slightly calmer way. JOKING HERE HON - I WAS being a baby!! :-) Anyway, he was great, very supportive and sweet. He drove like a maniac just like I was hoping he would, to get me to the hospital as quick as possible. He didn't tell me I was crazy or get upset that I had decided to go get a massage (!) after having contractions off and on all day AND he didn't complain about taking me to Jack in the Box at 11 PM. He is so wonderful!
Okay, yes there's more. The next day, Amanda kept Stan the whole day till around 3 in the afternoon, and Sarah picked up Jake from school, so all I had to do all day was rest. Then my other sis, Melanie, came over at the exact same time the kids were dropped off and helped me get them dinner and ready for bed.
I am so thankful for my family - you are all great. I should give a shout out here to my sister (in-law, but you know...) Lorri, who watches Stan for me whenever I go to the specialist's - which was a lot there for a while.
Praise to my heavenly Father who has blessed me with such a wonderful husband and family.

In Memory of Grandma Lehr

2009-04-23T10:12:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday, my Grandma Lehr passed away. She was confident in her Saviour's welcome home and so it was with joy she left this earth. I am glad the Lord took her, but I will miss her. She was a quiet, happy, content person. I don't think I ever heard her complain. She was an example to me of a godly woman. One of her favorite songs was "Day by Day". Here are the words:

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He would fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow'r.
The protection of his child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then, in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith's sweet consolation,
Offered me within thy holy Word.
Help me Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E'er to take, as from a father's hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till with Christ the Lord I stand.

"Normal"

2009-03-26T19:56:00.002-05:00

Well, I just wanted to report that at my last specialist's appointment on Tuesday, they told me that everything looked "normal". YAY!! God has helped us through. We are so thankful. I don't have to go back to the specialist's for a month!

New bed

2009-03-21T15:39:00.005-05:00

We're getting things ready for the arrival of the twins, so we moved Stan in with Jacob and bought them a new bed. It is a bunk bed with a trundle bed and in the middle it has lots of drawers and a pull out writing desk with a couple of open shelves. Here they are in their new bed.

This last one is Stan at the present moment. I had been putting him in the crib still for his naps, but just started putting him in his bed for his nap. I guess he figured if he just got out of his bed to get the toys and then brought them in with him, it still counted as his nap time. There isn't a single toy on the floor, so I'm sure he hadn't been out of his bed playing, jut making little trips back and forth to and from the toy box.

Babies

2009-03-11T08:41:00.003-05:00

We have a great answer to prayer to report. At yesterday's appointment, the baby's sacs were about equal in fluid! We are so thankful! Baby A's fluid is still a little less than B's, but not a substantial amount at all. It is so good!

I did remember the CD this time, so here is a picture of each of them. The first picture is "Baby B" and the second is "Baby A".

More birthday party pics

2009-03-06T14:25:00.000-06:00

Hannah holding Isabella - the newest addition in our family. She is 2 months old.

Lizzy and her Raggedy Ann dolly.

Mom and Christian

Laura with William and Amanda with her newest baby, Joshua

The Big Birthday Bash

2009-03-06T14:20:00.000-06:00

For those who don't know, though most do, Stanley has one of those stuffed animal blanket things where the head is a lamb and there are arms and the rest of it is a small blanket. He is pretty attached to his, which he affectionately calls "Lambie", most of the time. He sometimes pretends Lambie is William (Laura's little boy), and will cradle him in his arms. Sweet!! So this was the first year, he was really old enough to say what kind of cake he wanted, and he picked a "lambie" cake. When I showed him his cake on the way to Cheryl and Dave's house he said, "Where are lambie's arms?" It was then I realized I should not have made a cake that looked like a lamb, rather a cake that looked like Lambie. Oh well.... I told him lambie was laying on his his arms and that seemed to satisfy him. :-)

A view of the madness. It is a blast getting together with everyone. Present opening is mayhem. It is a zoo! And hilarious. Three of my brother and sister-in-law, Dave and Cheryl's kids have birthdays within 2 days of Stanley. Dave and Cheryl have also been blessed with a beatiful and very spacious home. Every year they have offered to let us celebrate Stanley's birthday along with their kids. It is a wonderful blessing for us, because our house could not accomodate all the family very comfortably. We are so thankful for their generosity ! Thanks guys!

Jonathan (John and Sarah's 4th) with a cupcake!

More birthday pics

2009-03-03T10:34:00.000-06:00

Here are just some more pictures. I tried to post them all together, but for some reason I can't get Picasa to let me blog more than four pictures at a time. So here are some more shots of our little birthday boy. We love you, Stan! You have brought us so much happiness!

Stanley turns 3

2009-03-03T10:25:00.000-06:00

Stanley turned three a couple days ago. His actual birthday was Friday, so we had a little pre-party party at home just for us before the big bash we had the next day with all the family. We had his favorite foods: macaroni and cheese and chicken strips, along with asparagus and Asian coleslaw. He will eat asparagus; since it was his birthday we didn't even mention coleslaw to him. For dessert we had cream cheese chocolate chip muffins. He loves all things chocolate chip - just like his mama.

22 Weeks and counting....

2009-02-26T13:45:00.002-06:00

Next time we have an ultrasound I will remember the disc and therefore, have a picture to put up. Until then, another word only post regarding the twins. They measured Baby A at one pound; Baby B at 14 ounces. The measurements are give and take two ounces, so seems like they are growing at about the same rate and are in the normal age/weight range. Praise the Lord! There is still a fluid differential between the two sacs, but the fluid in Baby A's sac is still sufficient. Baby A is the one with the low fluid; Baby B is the one with the velamentous tube insertion. We got that straight at the last visit. We also figured out which baby is which so to speak. I guess at the beginning of the pregancy, they name whichever baby is lowest, "A". Sometimes that can change. For us Baby A has always been lowest, except one time. But they also differentiate between the two by what side each is on in the placenta, and I guess that does not change. I don't think either thing will change as the babies get bigger and there is less room to move around in there. Baby A is the baby on the left; Baby B is on the right, just for your general information. HA.
The babies are both looking bigger and are very active already. :-) I am feeling them move a lot. I was feeling pretty worn out and having contractions like ALL DAY there for a couple weeks, but I am figuring out my limits better and not trying to do as much as I was. And now I'm feeling a lot less tired, and having fewer contractions, just feeling incredibly S...L...O...W.

Happy Birthday, John Deere!

2009-02-10T21:38:00.000-06:00

We continued our tradition of making tractor cut out cookies to celebrate John Deere's birthday. His actual birthday is February 7th. This year, instead of icing, I made "paint" that the kids brushed on before the cookies were baked. The paint was made with one egg yolk and 1/4 tsp. water and food coloring. I liked painting better than icing, but the end product was not as pretty or as tasty.

En Garde!

2009-02-10T17:24:00.000-06:00

look who came in, ready for action, when I was on the computer...

Great News

2009-02-05T13:36:00.002-06:00

Today I had an appointment with my obstetrician - who I believe is the best OB in the world! He is so great. He told us that he sees no problems with the amount of fluid surrounding the babies. When I asked him about what the specialist had said, he said, "well, it says here, low normal". WHAT?? That is not what the specialist told me! She did not say the word "normal" ever in her time with me. Then, he told me that the velementous tube insertion is usually no big deal. He said something along the lines of "when we see that, we say, yeah, there it is, now we know" He said "very rarely" does it affect growth.

We are SO thankful!!! It seems like everything is going just great.

Some interesting stats: My tummy is 6 inches bigger than it was at this time with my last pregnancy! LOOK OUT!

Well, what makes my OB so great is that he is so laid back, and so thoughtful. He goes out of his way to be helpful - and he thinks about what would be best for us - not just him. Today he told me to just come over to see him after my next appt. with the specialists, so I didn't have to be coming up to St. John's every week. His words: "you have better things to use your gas for, and to spend your time on". Very kind. I have my sweet sister-in-law, Lorri, to thank for recommending him to me when Brian and I moved to St. Louis from Kentucky.

Thanks for all the emails and encouraging words lately. I am glad to be in the family of God with so many others!

Lego Creations

2009-02-02T13:52:00.000-06:00

Both the boys really enjoy playing with Legos. I don't remember Jacob really liking Legos at three, but now at five and almost three, Jake and Stan both have a lot of fun with them. Below you see Stanley using his most amazing (in my opinion) creation - a machine gun!

This is what Jacob built - a "bunk bed for Monkey". I know you can hardly see it, but monkey was using it at the time this picture was taken. Jacob, as you can see, is kissing him goodnight.

And then this is Stan from this morning. His favorite things to build are airplanes. He came to show me and then said, "Get the camera, Mom." And then "Get my boots [in the picture] too, Mom!"

Twin Update

2009-01-29T22:25:00.002-06:00

I had another ultrasound today. Both babies appeared to be the same size - the ultrasound tech estimated them both at 8 ounces. They both look developmentally really well. Their heartrates were both 160 bpm. She spent about an hour doing the ultrasound. They are really looking at everything at this stage!

A couple matters for prayer: one baby has what is called "velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord", which from what I can figure out, means that the umbilical cord is not attached as best as we would wish for - it is off to the side of the placenta instead of the middle. The doctor told me this could affect the growth of the baby. That is all she said really about that. The other baby has a very small amount of fluid surrounding him. I could tell right away what she was talking about - I could see on the ultrasound one baby with this big area all around him - he had plenty of room to "swim" around, and the other one looked crammed into his space. Again, the doctor didn't say much about this, except that it wasn't what would be best. I think nobody wants to say too much, because at this point, both babies appear to be fine physically.

So, we just wanted to let you all know so you could be praying more specifically. We covet your prayers for our babies. We feel scared, and we wish we could do something, but there isn't anything to do or change. We are safe in the will of God for us and for them, and I am so glad for that. I am glad that Jesus came to die for us, and that now he is with us always.

Sledding

2009-01-28T20:07:00.000-06:00

We finally got our big snow storm of the winter! Hooray! We've all been wondering if we were ever going to get one this winter. Brian had to work, but Jacob was off school. If I weren't preggers, I would have tried to take the kids to a big hill to do some sledding, but they were actually really happy with our three foot "hill" in the back yard. For a while I stayed out with them, getting them situated on the sled and then pushing them down, so they'd glide pretty far out into the yard. Then, I went to get the camera, and they had taken to the method you see below. Jacob would lay down, the sled would begin to take off and Stan had better hurry and jump on. The boys have been getting along really well lately (for the most part) for which I am really thankful. Come to think of it, that is not something I pray about, but that I will start praying about, for sure!

OUTNUMBERED

2009-01-13T20:39:00.003-06:00

That's right, I'm going to be completely outnumbered five to one. Apparantly there are to be no little frilly dresses in the Brian Rages household. 4 boys! We are shocked! The twins looked good today at our ultrasound and they both let it be known that we are to begin coming up with boys names. Any suggestions?? We are clear out! (Just kidding) We are so thankful and it will sure be a hilarity to have four boys growing up here rough housing and being generally boyish. I'm sure there will never be a dull or quiet moment for years to come. Bring on the years of fun - we're ready for it! :-) God is good!

Twin Update

2009-01-08T12:22:00.003-06:00

We had another ultrasound today. We were hoping to find out whether we can expect two boys or two girls, but our obstetrician was unable to get a good shot. He said with twins there isn't as much room for them to move around and so it's a bit harder to see sometimes. So the big news, is no news yet. But WAY more importantly, they are both the same size! We are so thankful. No sign of TTTS. We have an appointment at the specialist's on Tuesday. Our doc said that with their big ultrasound machine, they should be able to see if they're boys or girls . We'll keep you posted...... Thanks for praying!

Twins!

2008-12-28T21:38:00.001-06:00

Here's the latest picture of our youngest kiddos.

At our first ultrasound, our ob/gyn only saw one baby.

At our second ultrasound, a couple of weeks later, another baby popped onto the screen. What excitement! We were expecting twins. However, it appeared that both twins were in the same aminiotic sac. Apparently, this happens in a small % of twin pregnancies. It's referred to as "mono/mono" or "momo"... and it's very dangerous for the babies. I read that there is a 50% mortality rate for momo's (although our ultrasound specialist said it was 60-80%!). Also, successful momo pregnancies usually end with bed rest from 24 weeks or so (when the babies become viable) until birth.

Our ob/gyn referred us to an ultrasound specialist, but we had to wait for about a week and a half before we could get it. This was a little bit of an anxious week - we were ecstatic at the thought of twins, but concerned they they might be "mono/mono" and might not make it. We reminded ourselves that God is in control.

About a week ago, we had the ultrasound at St. John's The Perinatal Center(*). The ultrasound tech took several pictures and measurements of our babies. It was so cute - they looked like they were playing patty-cake at one point (communicating in secret twin sign language, maybe?). Another time, Baby A had her head on Baby B's belly. I'm saying "her" because that's just my guess; we should know the sex for real in a couple of weeks. But the tech couldn't see a membrane between the babies - they looked momo to her.

Then the specialist doctor came in and took a look. Praise the Lord - he found a membrane between the babies! So we are very thankful for that.

This wikipedia article describes the different kinds of twins pretty well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin "Fraternal" twins always have separate placentas and amniotic sacs.

"Identical" twins can have separate placentas and amniotic sacs. (This is "di/di", the safest). Or they can share a placenta and have separate amniotic sacs (mono/di, this is most common for identical twins, and is what ours are.) Or they can share both placenta and amniotic sac (mono/mono, the most dangerous).

The specialist told us about the greatest danger to our mono/di twins - something called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-to-twin_transfusion_syndrome). He said this occurs in about 20% of mono/di twins. So far, our two look completely fine, no evidence of this disorder. Please pray that they will continue to grow and develop healthily.

(*) the sign in the perinatal center says "The Perinatal Center", so I figured I should leave the "The" in there.

Cursive!

2008-12-23T22:45:00.000-06:00

Stan "writing in cursive."

I've Been Working on the (Model) Railroad

2008-11-30T21:18:00.000-06:00

When John Henry was a little bitty baby,
No bigger than the palm of your hand,
John Henry's mammy looke dup and she said,
"My Johnny gonna be a steel-driving man,
my Johnny gonna be a steel-driving man."

On the day after Thanksgiving, I started trying to set up an old model train that Rebekah's dad had given me. This train is an American Flyer setup from, I don't know when, maybe the 50's or 60's. Anyway, after picking up a "lockon" clip, I was able to get it running a bit Saturday night. So we began nailing the track to my train board.

The train board is a 4' x 4' sheet of 1/2" plywood, painted green, to look like grass and to look like Christmas.

This picture is from Saturday morning. Each tie on the model railroad is held down with two tiny tacks. I held the tack in my left hand and sat a punch on top of it with my right. Then "Jake Henry" hit the top of the punch to drive down the tack.

It was fun getting to do this with Jacob, and I think Jacob enjoyed it especially because he was able to do something important.

Later, I got Stan into the act - I had Stan pick out the nails and set them into the holes in the ties.

The tasks were a little tedious, but both kids kept at it until we had nailed down all of the track. This took a while!

I fiddled around with the train a bit. I sanded all over the tops of the rails with 100 grit sandpaper. I tweaked the tender and the searchlight car so that they wouldn't short out the track. I took the engine apart and cleaned up the area where the brushes contact the rotor. I tried to clean all the contacts, and sanded down all of the metal wheels. Now it's working pretty well! I'm still getting a little sparking from one of the tender wheels.

Branson

2008-11-01T19:03:00.008-05:00

Every other year for the past few years Brian's parents have taken all of us kids to Branson for a family vacation. Every year we enjoy the time more. This past year we got to go down for 4 nights (our longest time ever). It was so relaxing! Brian's dad is a farmer so it is hard for him to get away from the farm for an extended amount of time. It was wonderful to spend all that time together. Mom planned amazing meals and she even put together a family trivia game that got everybody riled up and arguing over how many points partial answers garnered (will some people ever grow up!?) :-) I admit I enter in to the competition with as much gusto as anyone!

We are so grateful to have close siblings and parents. Thanks Mom and Dad for another fantastic Branson vacation. We are making wonderful memories to share for a lifetime!

The beautiful (and huge) cabin we got to stay in. I didn't get a single shot of the view from the back deck, but it was breathtaking. We were up on a cliff overlooking a lake with hills of trees surrounding it. It made for some beautiful mornings and sunsets.

After a game of basketball:

Stan measuring up at Silver Dollar City. He got to ride almost all the kiddie rides and he LOVED them. He is our little daredevil already (doesn't he look it?)

On the swings. If you look closely you can see some more of our family in the background.

A shot of the guys and kids on the kiddie roller coaster:

Here we were almost ready to leave Silver Dollar City for the day and were enjoying some music

Jacob and Hud trying to see who is taller:

Mel and Me

2008-10-16T09:20:00.006-05:00

Mel and me, having a little photo shoot (thanks to Brian!) before going out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. Melanie lived in Texas for a few years before moving back to St. Louis last year around this time. It is great having her back. She is one of my very best friends. All of us, but especially the boys and me (since she's over most often while Brian is at work) love having her around and she is a huge help to me. A couple days ago, she came over and did my dishes! That was so sweet! We have so much fun together; I'm so glad she's back and I hope she never leaves St. Louis again!

Mel, I love you so much!!

Goofing around.....

A Field Trip

2008-10-10T18:35:00.009-05:00

A couple weeks ago Stan and I accompanied Jacob's class on their first field trip. We went to Eckert's Apple Orchard. It was SO much fun! We had wonderful weather - actually kind of hot for September, but I'm not complaining about hot - not after the constant coolness of Seattle! Going to Seattle taught me, among other things, to appreciate the change of seasons and the hot weather. Those who know me well, are now yawning, as I am constanly saying these kinds of things about the weather. Back to the field trip - I really enjoyed spending time with and getting to know the kids and some of the moms better.

Here we are on the back of the wagon being pulled by a tractor to go out into the orchard and pick apples. There were quite a few of us who brought little ones with us, so it turned out to be a pretty big number of people. The more the merrier!

Jacob with his wonderful teacher.

After we picked apples and had a picnic lunch the kids played. This is a huge pipe like slide that went through a hillside. Stan had no qualms about going down, even though it was VERY long.

As soon as Stan saw the put-put he began asking to go over to play. When I finally let him, he played for a good 10 minutes trying to get the ball to go into the hole. It was hilarious watching him, because he kept falling backwards over the side of the wall. He'd fall down on his bum, get back up, concentrate, get all set up to put, then fall over again.

Having fun at Eckert's. This is my favorite picture from the day.

After successfully navigating the Corn Maze.

Heart Rate Hijinx

2008-09-30T20:38:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Dan, I can now log heart rate over the course of a ride. Here are examples of a few recent rides (speed + HR):

Ride to Klondike on the Katy Trail (look at the spike at the end going up the hill to the park!)

Ride back from Klondike (I didn't have the strap on the first 20 mins or so)

Maplewood Saturday morning group ride

Katy Trail ride back home.

2008-09-29T20:43:00.003-05:00

It began raining lightly as I loaded up the bike for the return trip. I was apprehensive. I hadn't expected any rain; in fact, I had postponed the trip from the previous weekend because of predicted scattered thunderstorms (it didn't rain until later, though). But I had thought this weekend was going to be dry.

Since I hadn't expected any rain, I hadn't brought any rain gear at all. I put Jacob's "soft shell" on him. But it wasn't a true "shell" at all - the fabric is like a soft shell, but it didn't have significant water-repellant ability.

For myself, I just put on my regular bike outfit - shorts and a jersey. I had a long-sleeved base layer, but I figured I would save that for when I got to feeling really miserable.

As we began on our trip back up the Katy, we passed a few riders who had left from Klondike (many of the other campers had brought bikes along, although I was the only one who biked in.) They were all bundled up in long hooded raincoats.

We hit the trail and I brought the rig up to cruising speed. The rain was coming down, not severely, but sufficient to get us wet and cold. I remember thinking to myself, "Ok, this seems bad now, but in about an hour, I'll think back about how comparably comfortable this half-soaked condition was."

Interestingly, we saw several times more bikers on Saturday, even in the rain, than we had seen on Friday night.

Thankfully, the rainshower was short-lived. By the time we got to Defiance, the rain was no longer falling. We pulled off the trail and rode to the bike shop in Defiance. At the shop, we bought a 24oz of Coke (Jacob had dropped one of our Aquafinas playing "baseball" at the camp and broken it), a couple of ponchos (just in case), and some special Jelly Belly jellybeans.

The Jelly Bellies were raspberry and blackberry flavored, and were made of a central jellybean part covered with little cruncky candy bead "seeds". Jacob wanted to get them for his mom... sweet. The whole family enjoyed trying them on the next day. Reviews were mixed.

Anyway, thumbs up to the bike shop in Defiance - they were friendly folks with clean restrooms. They do bike rentals, and they even have Ted Drewes frozen custard.

We left the bike shop and continued on our ride. Jacob decided to start singing. So we sang, There is a Fountain Filled With Blood, Grace Greater Than All Our Sin, and, On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand. I think some of the other trail users were a bit puzzled. And I was riding so hard that I barely had breath to sing.

After we had ridden for a few miles, Jacob told me to stop - he had seen an animal at the side of the trail. He said it was white, and it looked like a hedgehog or something. I figured that what ever it was would have run away by the time we got back to it, but we pulled over and walked back to see what it was. There, in the grass about 20 feet or so to the side of the trail was not a hedgehog, but the biggest mushroom I have ever seen!

It's a giant puffball mushroom!

Did you know puffballs are edible? We left this one in the woods, though.

We kept on riding. Some of the trail was like this: road and fields on one side, trees on the other.

We found two box turtles. One of them was shy and hid in his shell, but the other was much bolder and continued crawling without paying much attention to us at all.

Jacob is wearing my base layer under his "soft shell" to give him more warmth. I was plenty warm, just from pedaling.

Jacob complained that he was tired when we were about a mile and a half from the St. Charles trailhead. And before we knew it, we were back at the car, loading up!

Klondike Park Pictures

2008-09-29T20:39:00.001-05:00

Hmm, it may take me longer to write about the Katy trip (in hours) than the whole trip lasted. Anyway, we rode around a bit on the paved trails at the park. There's a nice paved path that goes around (and slightly over, across a low bridge) a lake created by the former quarry. After we rode around the lake a couple of times, I headed up the road to the conference center. On my way, I ran into a friendly bike-mounted park ranger. Like most people, he thought our bike was pretty cool, and he asked me a few questions about tandems. I guess he was thinking of getting his own tandem. I asked him about the trail to the overlook, and he showed me what direction it was. He didn't follow me up the overlook trail.

The trail up to the overlook was really steep (I didn't have my Garmin on, so I don't know the exact grade - I bet it was over 10%.) but it was quite short. It was fun and just a little strenuous. Here are some of the sights from the overlook.

Labadie power plant on the other side of the Missouri River.

You could see really far, even on an overcast day.

Some cliffs in the background, even up on top.

Don't throw stuff over the edge!

After checking out the view, we headed back to the campground and began packing up. Right as I was taking the tent down, it began it rain...

Breakfast on the Katy

2008-09-25T19:36:00.002-05:00

Breakfast on the Katy was pancakes, and they were pretty iffy.

I really had never made pancakes before. I used a box of "just add water" pancake mix. And just added water. So far, things were going swimmingly.

I poured a pancake into my $7 steel "nonstick" fry pan from Wal-Mart. A short time later, I tried to flip it. BURNT and STUCK in the middle, still pale around the edge.

I did the same with the next pancake.

Finally, I worked out a system. I would take the pan off of the fire, slip a little peice of butter into the pan, and mash it around with a paper towel. Then, I'd pour in a tiny little (2-3") pancake and cook that.

Our nifty little tiny propane stove also puts out a tiny little circle of heat. So it's really easy to scorch a pancake while the outside is still practically raw.

I brought two cups of mix, and we eventually ate almost all of it, except for what was used in the pancakes below.

One thing that worked like a champ was the little lexan French Press; you can see it full of coffee in the picture. I made a pot on Friday night, but I didn't want to drink it all because I didn't want to be up all night. It was good and strong. The coffee on Saturday morning was mighty fine as well, and I think I drank it all.

After brekkie it was time for cleanup (again), and we dropped by the playground. This was one of those new-style playgrounds with all the rope equipment, and the little climbing wall. Jacob was a little too small for it.

After some time at the playground, I grabbed my camera and we decided to check out some of the paved trails in the park...

A little more Katy

2008-09-24T22:55:00.002-05:00

We got to Klondike Park a little bit before dark. Klondike Park is a pretty new park, I think. It used to be a sandstone quarry.

The quarry part in the middle is now a lake. There is a trail that goes around the lake and over a corner of it on a bridge. For some reason, the lake reminded me of Yellowstone. It's a little bit other-worldy around the lake, because there's a lot of fine white sand underfoot and the vegetation is a bit odd. I didn't take any pictures of it, though.

Like I said, Klondike is a pretty new park, and its camping facilites are fairly luxurious. You can rent, in decending order, a conference center, cabins, deluxe tent camping sites, and basic tent camping sites.

For some reason, Klondike calls the deluxe sites "basic", and the basic sites "primitive". The nicer of the sites has a picnic table on a concrete slab with a metal roof overhead. I didn't see the "primitive" sites, but I think their picnic table is uncovered. Personally, an uncovered picnic table is not really "primitive" to me, but I don't know much about camping.

There are ten so-called "basic" sites, and we got No. 9. One thing that's weird is that the tent sites were all clustered fairly close together. I guess that's nice if you're camping with another family. The family next door in No. 10 was a couple with a maybe 3-y/o girl, and they were nice and quiet. Some of the other campsites were noisier, but 9 and 10 are slightly set off from them, so it didn't bother me.

We got our tent set up before it got dark. Our tent (The North Face Tephra 22) was certainly the smallest in the campground. Then, I tried to get a fire going... a couple of false starts and a lot of blowing, and we had enough fire to roast some hot dogs. I put some pre-doctored baked beans on the propane stove while the weenies were roasting.

We ate in the dark wearing LED headlamps.

After hot dogs, I cleaned up in the very nice camp kitchen located on the side of the bathroom/showers building. Then we made S'mores. Then I cleaned up again, and we went to bed.

Our chocolate bars had become totally liquid on the ride down, but I laid them flat on our metal pot lid and the chocolate hardened by s'morestime.

Jacob (with a few tips from Dad) was a masterful mello toaster. He perfectly browned every one.

The picture above is two really bad pancakes from breakfast. Maybe I'll BLOG about that tomorrow!

view of the lake

The mighty Labadie power plant is across the river, and we could hear its steady thrum all night long. I pretended it was a soothing drone like the pounding of the surf at the beach.

Katy Trail Part 1

2008-09-23T21:59:00.005-05:00

It took a long time to get everything set up after we got to the trailhead (by Trailhead) in St. Charles. I think we finally hit the trail at about 3:45.

The trail conditions were pretty good. Occasionally, I would ride over some deep ruts that had been cut across the trail by our recent rainstorms. But overall, pretty smooth sailing. We rode for about 10 miles or so without any significant stops. I was hoping to get halfway before we started snacking...

At about ten miles in we stopped at a historical marker (Lewis and Clark slept here) and ate some "GU".

This stuff isn't really a good snack for youngsters. I also had some Hot Tamales candy (Jacob called them "Hot Duds") that worked better for Jacob.

The section of the trail from St. Charles to the Page Extension bridge is fairly dull and unpleasant, but once you pass under the Page bridge, you enjoy riding that is more secluded and scenic.

Sometimes we had fields to the east and trees to the west. Sometimes we had trees to the east and trees to the west and trees over our heads. Sometimes we had trees and swampy flooding to the east and bluffs to the west.

There was a lot of flooding. Some of the water was green on top. We had a brief discussion about whether the green stuff was algae or duckweed. I'm in the algae camp.

This is the Daniel Boone Judgment Tree Memorial. There used to be a big tree here where Dan'l Boone would listen to people's cases and pass judgment. But the tree died, I guess, and there's a small tree there now.

Here is our bike at the Judgment Tree Memorial. You can see that it's loaded down. We had firewood, a tent, sleeping bags and pads, food, cookware, a camp stove, clothes, and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting. You can see that Jacob has a horn and speedometer on his handlebars.

Here is Jacob goofing around at the Judgment Tree Memorial.

At one point, I ran over a dark-colored snake that was stretched across the road. He was only a foot-and-a-half long or so. We stopped to take a look at him, but by the time we had walked back to where the snake was, he had gone. I guess that means he survived.

We had forgotten water bottles, but Rebekah had set us up with some 20oz Aquafinas. Water was running thin on this trip. The guide map says that there is no water between St. Charles and Defiance. Believe it. There is a nice trailhead with restrooms at Weldon Spring, but no water. Even at Defiance, I think you'd have to go into the town to get a drink; the trailhead is without water (correct me if I'm wrong).

It was starting to get darkish when we finally got to Klondike Park.

The final hill into Klondike topped out at 15%, according to the Garmin. My HR topped out at about the same time (194), as can be seen on this graph:

Hmm, my last two pictures aren't clickable; I'll need to fix that.

Getting Ready for the Katy

2008-09-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, Jacob and I went on a Katy Trail bike camping trip. In the morning, I loaded our tandem on my car and took it to work. In the afternoon, Rebekah brought Jacob up to my workplace, and Jacob and I left from there.You don't have to have a special tandem rack to carry a tandem bike. You can carry a tandem on a trunk rack if you take off the wheels. Here I have a 1998 Cannondale RT1000 on a Saris Bones trunk rack. I tied the forward and aft ends of the bike to the loops under the bumper for a little more stability. It worked - the bike was very stable on the rack.

While I was putting the bike on the car, a couple of hot air balloons flew over our house. Last weekend was the Forest Park Balloon Race.

The Lawn has two daughters: "Give," "Give."

2008-09-15T21:12:00.004-05:00

Lawn care is really a pain. The more energy (and time and money) you devote to making your lawn fertile and lush, the more energy you must devote to keeping it cut short. Also paradoxially, the people with the nicest lawns never seem to spend any time outside playing in them.

I have heard that people in the Southwest where water is scarse have lawns that are just rocks and dirt, but they are painted green. That sounds pretty weird, but at least it wouldn't be so much of a hassle. Or maybe you'd have to repaint it all the time?

I don't really know anything about how you're supposed to take care of a lawn, and our yard shows it. Our small backyard is also a playground, and it is getting worn bare down the middle.

I was told that what I should do was aerate the lawn, and then put down seed and fertilizer. So, on Saturday we rented a lawn aerator. This is a neat tool. It has a rotating bar on the back on which are mounted four disks of tubular spikes that dig into the ground. Each spike digs a hole in the ground that is about 1/2" diameter and maybe three inches deep. The "core samples" are continually getting expelled over the yard as you run the machine. (They look like little doggie doos.)

On my first lap around the yard, I had the machine at full throttle, and it was too fast for me. The scene was so hilarious that Rebekah grabbed the camera to catch it on video. The poor resolution of the video doesn't seem to capture my panicked state... or maybe I was figuring out how to handle it a little by then:

It was very hard to control. With a lawnmower, you push down on the handle and raise the front wheels to enable steering. But this thing had all those spikes in the ground on the back end, so raising the front didn't help to steer it much at all. You really had to raise the back of the unit to maneuver it. And that was heavy and awkward.

After I stopped the machine, I figured out that it had a throttle, so I backed it off to about half speed. I finished the job, but it was still pretty tough going.

Then I spread the fertilizer and grass seed.

Then we got hit with the remnants of Hurricane Ike, and most of my grass seed and fertilizer inthe back yard got washed away... at least that's what it seems.

-- Brian

Shaw's Garden

2008-09-15T16:33:00.001-05:00

Today, to celebrate Melanie's birthday we went to Shaw's Botanical Garden. We had a lot of fun. The sky was overcast, but it was still really beautiful outside. The temperature was in the 60's. Fall has arrived in St. Louis (at least for today!) Stan enjoyed spending time with Aunt Mel, and so did I!
Happy Birthday, Mel!!!

You Can't Take It With You

2008-09-11T13:01:00.002-05:00

Brian and I FINALLY got a little free time to watch a movie. This is an old one directed by Frank Coppolla, the same guy who directed one of my all-time favorite movies, It's a Wonderful Life. There are actually a lot of similarities between the two movies. Many of the same actors played in both. James Stewart (or as my Grandma's both called him - Jimmy Stewart) stars in both. The actor who played the bad guy in "It's a Wonderful Life" plays the good guy in this movie - really funny to see "Potter" with a heart!

Cowboys

2008-09-11T12:56:00.000-05:00

We have a wood stove in the basement and next to it is our pretty small pile of wood. Sometimes the boys like to get into the pile and pull each piece to a clear spot on the floor and build a "house". When I see them begin this game, I cringe inside because it always creates a huge mess with little pieces of wood and bark and dust all over the floor. But they love doing it so I go along with it. Their "house" consists of the pieces of wood laid on the floor mostly and Jake will tell me the boundaries of each room and what each room is. The piece of wood you can see standing up is one side to the doorway (the piece for the other side of the doorway having recently fallen down). Jacob informed me that he was going to be a cowboy when he grew up and among other things which I can't remember right now, he said he would eat at Bandana's BBQ a lot. :-) Last time we were there he commented on the decor and wondered out loud if a lot of cowboys eat at Bandana's.
You can see Jacob is dressed like a cowboy complete with cowboy hat, boots and kerchief. After Jacob had gotten dressed up, Stan must have decided he needed boots and a hat too - next thing I knew Stan was coming downstairs with his own "cowboy" gear on! -- Rain boots and hat!!

Trying to be just like big brother....

but still a little finger sucking in between trips.

I don't think Providence would go for the little extras to that school uniform!

Hiking on Labor Day

2008-09-04T16:53:00.000-05:00

We went hiking on Labor Day. We went to a trail in Weldon Springs and hiked 5.3 miles! Jacob did really well - not much complaining at all. Brian is the one who worked the hardest with Stanley's 35 pounds on his back the whole time. This was the prettiest spot on the hike. We hiked up to an overlook. That is the Missouri River you can see behind us. I was suprised at how many flowers were still blooming.

We found the neatest caterpillar. It was really big (for a caterpillar) and very vibrant light green. One of the most interesting things about it was its "feet". It had super suctiony "feet" that stuck really well to our shirts. It was like velcro when we would peel him off.

A picture of the guys. We were almost finished at this point.

One of the many butterflies we saw during our hike. We saw some yellow and black ones that were really really big.

Jacob's first day of school

2008-08-31T22:47:00.000-05:00

Here he is - his first day. He wouldn't stand still for a second! He had talked about this day for weeks and looked forward to it with great anticipation.
His teacher had told me to drop him off like I would any other day so he would know what to expect for the second day, so I did. Then I went in to get some pictures. I dropped him off outside the gymnasium in the drop off line. The headmaster is always outside to greet us when we stop at the ramp. There is a long line of cars and we all wait till we are at the bottom of the ramp and then the kids get out and go up the ramp into the gym where they all sit in rows according to class. The headmaster then officially greets everyone and they begin the day with Scripture and prayer. Then each class is led to their classroom by their teacher. This is Jacob in the Kindergarten row.
Here he is getting up and ready to go for his first day!

School days

2008-08-31T22:28:00.000-05:00

So my little boy is in kindergarten. I can hardly believe it. During the days when I walk past his room I still feel a little lonesome for him. I doubt the feeling is mutual and I'm glad. The first day he was just a little nervous about getting out of the van at the drop off point. He reached for me and I reminded him of what he was going to do and where he was going to go and then he got his confidence and was out of the van and up the ramp to his first day. Now when I drop him off, he jumps out of the van and literally runs up the ramp. In the rear view mirror I watch his little backpack bobble up and down on his back as he bounds into school.
He loves going to school. He loves recess and P.E. best. He loves playing with the other kids. He is learning a lot already. He knows 3 songs and the school verse. The songs are used to teach facts. One song taught the days of the week, another the items on a calendar and the last taught the 7 continents. He loves memorizing, and loves to sing the songs for us whenever we ask.

First day riding

2008-06-20T20:55:00.000-05:00

Jacob learns to ride a two-wheeler

2008-06-20T20:35:00.000-05:00

It's been almost a year since Jacob got a shiny new red 16" bike for his birthday. In that time, we've had a lot of lessons, but he has always been timid about it, even with training wheels, and never really caught on.
Lately, we'd taken a few walks around the neighborhood with a Skuut wooden balance bike (http://skuut.com/) and Jacob seemed to be getting more confidence and ability to balance. But he was getting too big for the little Skuut, so I tried taking the cranks off of his Quest to make it into a balance bike.
Rebekah's brother Dave had given me one of their old bikes - a little girls' 12" model - when I needed a handlebar for my shild stoker setup on the tandem. Anyway, I put the handlebar back on the bike and aired up the tires (and relaxed the chain tension a bit). I asked Jacob if he wanted to try - he was just a little timid starting off, but then he figured it all out. It's amazing! He's still a little shaky, but it's all finally come together for him. I think the smallness of the bike and its lower gearing made it a lot less intimidating and easier for him to pick up. As an avid cyclist, I'm very pleased and proud of him!

Picasa Photo Albums

2007-08-12T00:10:00.000-05:00

Lately, not a lot of blog activity, huh?

Well, we've found it's a lot easier to just upload photos with Picasa, and provide captions if we want to.

So, point your browser to our Picasa Web Album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bbrages

My first criterium

2007-04-08T23:19:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday, I entered my first on-pavement bike race. (Back when I was in Kentucky, I had raced mountain bikes some.)

The race was part of a series of races at Seward Park.

The race flyer is here:
http://www.pazzovelo.com/assets/sthursday_flyer_2007.pdf

A criterium is a short race on a short (generally less than a mile) loop. Usually the race is for some set period of time plus a couple of laps.

I raced the "A" race - the race for Category 4 and 5 racers.

...

We had been to Seward Park before. It's a pretty good-sized park, located on a peninsula on Lake Washington. Lake views abound - the scenery is fantastic. The weather was fine, too - about 65 and fairly sunny.

The race course is a 0.8 mile loop located at the top of the park. One end of the loop has a downward slope, and the other has an upward slope. There is one 140-degree hairpin curve.

Rebekah picked me up from work, and we loaded the bike on the car (I had ridden my "race bike" to work) and the whole family drove to the park and parked at the lot up by the course.

It was a nice area for kids. While I was getting situated - and trying to figure out how to get my number pinned on - Jacob was riding around the park sidewalks on his Big Wheel. It was cute to see him cruising around among all the serious racers and their high-end bicycles. (I was nervous that he was going to knock some $3k bike over on the sidewalk, but no incidents occurred.)

The race organizers offered a "first-timers" clinic, and I found it very helpful and pretty fun. About a dozen riders rode the clinic. First, we rode a few laps around the race course. This was to get us used to cornering at speed. Then, we concentrated on practicing the hairpin. We were taking the corner at around 17 mph. Once, I started pedaling halfway through, and my inside pedal struck the ground because I was leaned over so far. It wasn't a big deal; the back of the bike stepped out a bit, the rear tire grabbed again, and I continued on. I didn't realize that I had experienced pedal strike (for the first time) until after negotiating the turn.

While I was learning race skills, Stan was enjoying the swings.

As soon as the clinic was over, it was time to race. Here's a picture of us at the start. I'm on the right a few rows back in a yellow jersey and blue helmet:

The picture doesn't really capture the size of the field. There were a LOT of riders!

I had tried to prepare myself as much as possible by reading "your first crit" internet articles and getting advice from those who had raced. So I was thinking:

Dont get dropped.

Hold your line.

Stay at the front of the pack; avoid the "accordian effect"

The pace will vary - might start off fast, slow down, go fast again.

DON'T GET DROPPED!

So, I decided that my objective was to finish with the main pack of riders and try to learn what I could of race tactics. Tactics are key in road bike racing - not so much in mountain bike racing. On a mountain bike, your adversary is the course. Your level of fitness and skill at navigating the path determine how you place. On a road bike, the concept of drafting results in a need for race strategy, and the other racers become your adversaries. "Drafting", or riding behind another rider, your power requirements is decreased by up to 40%. The typical race strategy is to draft in the pack as much as possible the entire race, and save all your energy for a sprint across the line ahead of your adversaries at the finish. Sounds simple, but it's what everybody is trying to do, so it's not that easy.

There was no gun going off or starting bell. We were just told, "okay, go!" and we went. I was trying to get up in the pack quickly, but the fellow in front of me was stumbling with his pedal. In a second, he figured it out, and we got going.

A typical loop was like this: We started on a fairly straight and nearly flat section. Hard acceleration to get up to speed (mid-20's). Then an inexplicable slowing of the pack for a slight right-hand bend, and the course dipped downwards. We rocketed down to a tighter right-hand bend. Slight feathering of the brakes to keep from running into the rider in front while negotiating the turn (about 30 mph), then fairly hard acceleration out of the turn and across a wide flat stretch. We roared across the flat stretch and hit the uphill. As the course turned upwards, the lead riders slowed before the rest of the pack, making the whole pack stack up and spread out across the hill. We worked our way up the hill. Speed was moderate, effort was substantial but not extreme. I generally rode the hill seated, in the large chainring. At the top of the hill, the hairpin turn. We took the turn very slowly each time - the clinic skills were wasted. Then it was back to the straightaway. Lather, rinse, repeat... for a half an hour.

In the end, the best advice was from my buddy from work who also rode the race with me. "It's like a Tuesday night ride," he said. And he was right. The intensity was manageable. I fulfilled my goal of staying with the pack. Rebekah said I was about 1/3 back in the pack at the finish.

Entering the race, I was afraid that I wouldn't have the fitness needed to hang on and that I'd be off the back of the pack within a couple of laps. Instead, I felt that my fitness was adequate, but that I need to learn more racing skills, and that I need to relax more on the bike.

Here's a Jewish (?) guy watching us climb the hill.

Seattle Public Library

2007-04-08T23:02:00.000-05:00

Hmm, there's probably a more efficient way to post tons of pictures...
Anyway, here's some other pictures of the library:

They had a sort of conference room area where all the walls were red. Also, unusual, organic curves were used on the ceiling and floor.

Here's the floor in one of the rooms. Look closely.

Lots of escalators to get around, and lots of interesting use of solid colors.

Seattle Public Library

2007-04-08T22:47:00.000-05:00

We saw an article in World Magazine about the Seattle Public Library, so we decided to "check it out". (HAW!)

Anyway, it's a very interesting structure with a lot of neat design inside. Here are a few photos of the (very large) children's area:

Where's Waldo... I mean, Stan...?

Playing together

2007-04-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

Stan is getting big enough that he and Jacob can play together sometimes. Here Jacob is demonstrating proper (?) use of a hammer.

-- Brian

Looks like Washington

2007-04-08T22:38:00.000-05:00

The other day, Jacob ran up to me and showed me this Etch-A-Sketch drawing he had made. "It looks like Washington!" he proclaimed. Indeed it does. Amazing!

Stan's big enough for the bike trailer!

2007-03-13T13:07:00.000-05:00

We tried out Stan and Jake together in the bike trailer last weekend. Stan really enjoyed the ride around and around the driveway. He started to whimper every time Brian stopped riding.

So, we bought him his very own baby helmet and as soon as the weather permits, we'll try biking together as a family again! Brian will pull both kids in the trailer and Rebekah will try to keep up. Even pulling both kids in a trailer, Brian is still way fast! He has been biking a lot and is in great physical condition!

Swimming lessons

2007-03-13T13:01:00.000-05:00

Jacob recently started swimming lessons. He loves it. He has no fear of the water. His teacher, Missy is great. He is learning, among other things, to kick without bending his knees, and how to blow bubbles out of his nose.

A Day at the Park

2007-03-13T12:54:00.000-05:00

Stan absolutely loves swinging on the swings with Mom. He cracks up the whole time we are swinging. It is so fun to hear him laughing.

Happy Birthday, John Deere

2007-03-13T12:47:00.000-05:00

February 7 was John Deere's birthday. If he were still alive he would have been 203 years old. Most of you know Jacob is a HUGE John Deere fan, so to celebrate his birthday we made cookies shaped like tractors, dump trucks and bull dozers. Jacob decorated them with yellow and green icing.

Christmas time!

2007-03-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

I know we are SO far behind on keeping up on this blog, but I wanted to show off this beautiful picture of Lizzy, Tim and Amanda's newest addition. Can you believe she is almost a year in this picture?

Picking pumpkins in the pumpkin patch...

2007-01-14T01:08:00.000-06:00

We went to Fall City Farms in October to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day.

Look at this automatic donut maker! It's like a miniature Krispy Kreme restaurant! The whole thing is only three feet long or so.

Just like in Robert McClosky's Homer Price! (Interestingly, McClosky was an inventor of all sorts of contraptions...)

Jacob enjoys a doughnut while we get ready for a hayride:

There was a hawaiian band at the pumpkin patch:

Jacob's favorite part was a sandbox with toys: