Dave's 100 Mile Ride in the Mountains

Just last weekend, Dave completed his Mountains of Misery Bike Ride.   Mountains of Misery is a challenging bike ride for road cyclists near Blacksburg, VA, the home of Virginia Tech. The annual timed event features a century (100 mile) that ends with a tough, four-mile 12%–16% graded climb to the finish. 
All four of us drove out to Blacksburg last Saturday.  We stayed in a hotel overnight and in the morning we dropped off Dave at the starting point.   Alex, Aubrey, and I cheered him on as he road his bike away to start the ride.  Then the three of us hopped in the car and drove to the hotel to eat breakfast and to swim in the pool.  After a couple hours in the pool, we went and found lunch.  Just as we were finishing lunch we got a call from Dave that he was at mile 70 and would soon be passing by the starting point again and we could go and cheer him on.   So we got back in the car and went to go see him on at mile 83.  He looked like he was doing great.  After he ventured up the road again, the kids and I took the shuttle bus to the finish line to meet him there.  

The finish line was at Mountain Lake Lodge where parts of Dirty Dancing were filmed.   We had some time before Dave would be at the finish line so we ran around a little bit and played until we thought Dave would be close to the end.


This pier at one time was over water, but there is a "leak" at the lake and the lake is disappearing.

 

After playing for a little bit, we went to the finish line to wait for Dave.  We didn't have to wait too long until we saw him come up the hill.

 

 

 

We are all so proud of him and his accomplishment.   He did great and even finished faster than he thought he would.

55

Just a little over a week ago, Dave had a big birthday.  He turned 55.  We celebrated with food on the grill and blueberry birthday pie.

 

 

We were glad that Jamison was here to celebrate with us.
Another neat thing was that we were able to recycle the birthday candles from Alex and Aubrey's birthday cake for Dave's Birthday cake.

Jamison's Visit

A couple weeks ago, Jamison arrived for a week and a half.   Alex and Aubrey really enjoyed him visiting.  Dave and I were glad to spend time with him too.

Aubrey asked him to help her put together her Fancy Nancy puzzle.
 

 
Dave even put him to work chopping up a stump that we had in our backyard.

 

 

Then after working hard out in the yard, Alex and Aubrey got him to play their matching game and build with blocks..

 

 

 

Dave also got Jamison out on the bike to do a couple bike rides while he was here.  They even did a hard and hilly 30 mile ride out at Skyline Drive one day while he was here.

Unfortunately, he had to leave to head off to Hong Kong for the summer.  We will miss him and hope to see him again soon!

 

Mother's Day Train Ride

 On Mother's Day, Dave got me a new camera and I just absolutely love it.  I just need to figure out how to use it without the automatic focus.   I will learn.   On Sunday afternoon, we opted to take a short train ride out at a local county park.   I was glad because I was able to test out my new camera and we had fun along the way. 

By the way, right now, Aubrey loves to pose for pictures.   Silly Girl!

Playground Fun

During my Mom's and Bonnie's visit, we also did a stop at one of our favorite little playgrounds.
 

 

 

 

 

Grammie Visits

A few weeks ago, my Mom came to visit and we had a wonderful time with her.   She was on her way back from her winter home in Florida to her summer home in Michigan.  Mrs Bonnie (as the kids called her) drove with my Mom, so we had the pleasure to spend some time with her as well. 
Dave had a great idea to go and take a day trip drive up to Shenandoah National Forest to see the sights.  The weather started out kind of iffy, but ended up being really nice.   Dave decided to take his bike up there (I think this is why he suggested us all going up there..hahaha), so he did a 30 mile ride while my Mom, Bonnie, Alex, Aubrey, and I did a short hike and stopped at some of the scenic overlooks.


Bonnie, Alex, Aubrey, and Grammie at an overlook on Skyline Drive

Alex, Aubrey, and Grammie posing on a bridge during our hike.

Grammie taking a picture

And on of the pictures she took.  : )

 

At one of the rest areas, we got the kids a sucker from a little gift shop.  It is amazing the power a little candy has to make kids happy!!!

 

This one above makes me laugh for some reason.   : )

Dave joined us after his bike ride and we all enjoyed lunch together at one of the Park Resorts.

Their Real Birthday

We had Alex and Aubrey's gymnastics birthday party on April 27th, but their real birthday is April 28th.   Alex and Aubrey got all confused as to when their birthday was, so we decided to just to celebrate it for the record on April 27th (the day of their gymnastics party).  We decided to treat April 28th as just a regular day.  But I couldn't resist and I pulled out the remaining pieces of their cake and stuck in 2 candles and we sang Happy Birthday again on the 28th of April (their real birthday).

 

 

They love singing and blowing out candles, so it was well worth it to celebrate for one more day.

Gymnastic Birthday Party

This year, we decided to have a fun birthday party for Alex and Aubrey at a local Gymnastics class.   We invited a bunch of Alex and Aubrey's friends from the neighborhood and preschool.  Everyone had a blast.  The best part of the day for the kids was the soft block pit.


As the birthday boy and girl, Alex and Aubrey got to swing from a high bar and fall into the block pit.   They got to do it twice and it was one of the highlights of the day.

 
Next came time for cake.  

 

After the gymnastics fun and enjoying the cake, we went home and opened presents.   Also, I had them put on their birthday hats.  Aubrey was excited to do it, but Alex just wanted to open the gifts.

 

 

A fun 5th birthday was had by all