Monday, April 21, 2008

My youngest daughter has advised me that it is now time for a new post. Noting that it has been sometime since I last posted, I must say that she is correct. Perhaps Colette and I lead such exciting lives that I don't have time to blog? If the next month is an indicator, that must be true. It looks awfully busy!

Later this week Kelsey will be graduating from college – can you imagine that? We’ll be there to cheer her on! Not only that, she has decided she should get married as well and we get all the way to August to plan that! Colette should be busy planning and arranging all summer while Dad should be busy writing checks. This is certainly an exciting time forKelsey and us (and an expensive time for Dad?). Congratulations, Kelsey, we are very excited for you and proud of you!

Sean is budding into a bike racer like his brother. Interestingly enough he has raced in two stage races so far (Arizona and Utah - check out his blog for details) and has yet to race in California, go figure! We think California would be a good place for his next race. We’re also thinking of pasting “Mom & Dad Racing” stickers all over his "new" Pontiac Vibe (move over Rock Racing Bentley). More importantly he seems to be enjoying and doing well in school – that’s not easy with trigonometry and chemistry right at the forefront. Keep it up Sean.

Eric has had some great early season success with his racing. Unfortunately, he came down with a “bug” over the weekend and bagged a DNF. That is not the end of the world and we expect great things next weekend when we see him race at East Canyon. We’re looking forward to that. Stay tuned and check out his blog site. Tour of the Gila is coming up and ought to be entertaining.

Amy has, in her own words, taken the last class she will ever take! That must be a great feeling. She is done with her class work at Michigan and now only has to complete her dissertation. I tell her she should have that done by the start of the ski season (she asked me when that was). She says it may take a tad (?) longer than that. In any event she continues to enjoy Ann Arbor and with spring here that can only get better. Colette and I are headed back to pay her a visit real soon. We are really looking forward to that, especially since the weather is now improving.

Hey, this almost sound like a Christmas letter! At least I’ve posted another blog. I’ll try to come up with something a bit more novel next time. Have a great week! I may move to Austrailia!
PS: Send me more pictures!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Stan's new bike

For Christmas Eric gave his Dad a nice tractor sized bicycle saddle with the assumption that his aging father’s derrière was getting soft and needed something a little (no, actually a lot) softer than a standard road bike saddle.
Actually my derrière is tougher than he thinks so I went to the bike store for an exchange. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

To make a long story (?) short I ended up trading in the “tractor cushion” for a new bike. The reliable old one has seen a lot of miles and it seemed like a good idea (at least at the time) to have a replacement for those days when the bike needs to be in the shop. The new one is an updated version of the old one and here it is:

Sean checks it out. Stan and Colette admire it (each other?)

If the weather holds up (its been “bitter cold” here, not getting much above 60 degrees during the day and getting down into the mid-30’s at night) the new bike will get its first real ride this Saturday. Speaking of derrières, I thought I was going to freeze mine right off the past few days when I was out riding at 5:00 a.m. – crazy?
Love you all!