How you feeling?....HOT HOT HOT

Well summer is in full swing and Sarah, the boys and I are trying to get outside as much as possible right now. Last night we went to Catamount for the Wednesday night training race, which we haven't been to in a long time. Sarah did the one lap race for her first mountain bike race ever. In this photo she doesn't look like she is starting off that well, but she did end up being the first woman finisher for the one lap (5K) race. So she beat all the girls which was nice to see. Next time she is going to go up to two laps and see if that is a little more challenging. Although we will have to start alternating racing by the week since she wouldn't be finished in time for me to make my starting time for the 3 lap race.

I did my first race in about two years on my new bike. The bike proved to be faster that I am as most bikes are right now. I finished next to last in my age group, testament to the lack of time in the saddle that I have been able to spend right now. The guy that finished behind me was one of my Earl's team mates from the store and he was too busy flirting with the girl behind us, which he ended up riding another lap with after he finished anyway. I on the other hand had trouble walking to the car. The difference between my team mate and I, is that I got to go home with the girl that I was flirting with. We also had our own cheering section.

Sarah took this cute picture of Logan at the race but didn't realize that in doing so, she used up all the memory on the camera so she didn't get to take any photos of me. I'm not too worried about it though, we all know that photos of me in spandex aren't anything to brag about.

Logan constantly amazes us with the things he can accomplish in no time at all. He wanted to lay down with Carter in his crib so he climbed up in by himself and covered Carter in all of his blankets. I went to brush my teeth and came back to find Carter completely covered in his own stuffed animals. Logan tries so hard to help with his little brother that I wish I could have a web cam for everyone to see all the little things. Sarah was about to help Carter who was crying in his swing, and when she got there Logan was sitting by the swing singing Carter a song to try and make him feel better. He was singing "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine......" Sarah said she started to well up from it.

Every day I learn something new that I need to do around the house to keep everything safe and running smoothly. For example, once in a great while we will let Logan have some doughnut holes. They are one of his favorite treats. He loves to take the powdered sugar ones and smear the sugar all over his lips and try to kiss you, he thinks it is one of the best games on earth. To keep this game in check we keep them up high so he can't "self medicate". I went to take care of Carter for a few minutes and I noticed that Logan was quiet, so I went to look for him and make sure he wasn't into something, because that is what he is doing when he is quiet most of the time. This is what I found;
Notice the stool that he carried by himself and climbed upon to find his prize. I threw away the last few doughnut holes in hopes to stop the temptation after the next scene. That night, after bath time we went looking for him again. This is the chocolate frosted cake that Sarah made for father's day. Remember that I said this was taken after bath time. We are now placing things out of sight on top of the refrigerator. I don't know how long this will last but short of locking things in a gun case, it's the best we have to work with.

This past Monday, Sarah took the day off and I built the boys a new sand box. It took about 4 hours to build and a fist full of Advil to fill with sand. Obviously Logan was ecstatic, and spends most of his outside time in it. This leads to the game Sarah and I play called "Let's see how much sand can hide in a diaper today?" Our electric bill is already going up due to the increased volume of vacuuming.

His other favorite thing to do is swim in the pool. We were so proud of him the other night. We don't have a shallow end of the pool since it is above ground. So he won't be able to touch the bottom for another 4-5 years. The other night we put his arm floaties on to see how he would do and he took right off without me. Not only was he swimming around the pool unassisted, he commence to climbing up the ladder and jumping right back in towards me Just to turn right around and do it all over again.

That same night Carter got to swim for the first time ever. He went under twice and both times he held his breath perfectly and didn't get angry at me. Before we know it they are going to be splashing and dunking each other all summer.

We have to get the boys off to bed so we will update more later.

Take care,

-Ryan, Sarah and the boys