One Year in Pictures

6 weeks!

Well the last time we made a blog post was nearly a year ago. It has been a great year for our family. We've had a lot big changes and had a lot of fun along the way. The biggest change has definitely been our family growing from 3 members to 4! We found out we were pregnant just after we got home from St. Augustine last year. It turned out I biked over 80 miles 5 weeks pregnant! 

First horse ride

One of the nice couples we know from Gainesville own a bunch of horses outside of town and they invited Jackson and I to come out and meet the horses. Jackson had a great time feeding and petting the horses. He even got to ride one of the horses!

Halloween 2012

Halloween was next on the list and Jackson was dying to be Mega Mind. I was pretty proud of myself for making his costume. I'm not a skilled sewer, but I was able to make his cape and I painted his pants and shirt and glued on about 100 rhinestones! He had a lot of fun trick-or-treating, although I made his costume for a cold climate so he was sweating like crazy all night. He actually still wears this costume around the house on a weekly basis. It was definitely worth the effort.  

20 week photo

In mid December we were able to get our 20 week ultrasound where we found out Mitchell was a "he." The morning of the ultrasound we asked Jackson if we thought we were going to have a baby girl or a baby boy. He then proceeded to tell us that we were actually having a "monster." Once we were at the ultrasound and the tech pulled up a picture of the baby, Jackson yelled out, "look!! It is a monster!!" I guess he didn't enjoy the 3-D rendering. I must admit, it is a little freaky looking though. 

Sometime near Christmas Karin and Tawnya came to visit us. We had a wonderful visit, went to see the alligators, and even had some of Satchel's famous pizza.  Jackson loved playing with his aunts.

~Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson~

He wanted jello instead of birthday cake

Best party ever

Jackson had a fantastic birthday. He had a Toy Story Themed party at the park on January 19th and the weather was fabulous--living in Florida is amazing. He had a lot of fun playing with his friends and got so many toys we're still trying to figure out where to keep them all. 

We had a mardi gras party and got gerbils!! Jackson was so excited to get pets and they are living plump and happy in our living room. 

Easter was a happenin' place in Gainesville. There were so many egg hunts and Jackson loved riding this blue train. We went to 3 or 4 egg hunts in the area, at one egg hunt they even dropped eggs from a helicopter! It was a lot of fun. 

This photo was taken after my water broke, just a few hours before Mitchell was born. 

There's my beautiful boy. 

Meeting Daddy 

Jackson was so excited to meet his little brother. 

We signed Jackson up for t-ball this summer and Justin got roped into being the coach. Justin did a fantastic job of coaching the kids. Jackson had a hard time sharing his Dad with all the other kids, but still had fun playing.

We've spent lots of time swimming and even some time at the beach. Jackson loves playing in the sand.

They worked forever on this castle.

I love this picture of Jackson.

 

 

I started EMT classes in May and graduated in August. I had a great time this summer learning all about emergency medical care. I really enjoyed all my classes and really miss going to class every night. I had a lot of fun on my clinicals and was able to see a lot of really amazing things. 

Things are going great for us and the boys are both growing up so fast. Mitchell is already rolling over, it is amazing how mobile he is already. He's been eating solids on and off and is a really happy baby. He is so smiley and is really fun to be around. Jackson is starting preschool this week. I can't believe how grown-up he is. He is excited for school to start and can't wait to meet all his new classmates. Justin is finishing up the first draft of his Master's project as I type and is off to a good start this semester. I'm currently studying to take my EMT state exam and hope to be able to take it in the next couple of weeks.  

Life is great!!

Italy: Part 2

Well, it's been a while since we actually went to Italy, but I've been wanting to actually record the experience and there is no better time to do it than while watching BYU v. Utah at 12:30am (I should probably just go to bed; this eastern-time stuff is ridiculous). I rarely contribute to this blog, but Brittany told me that she had done the first part and I needed to do the second.

This is our only picture from the second night. We were pretty tired.

 So, when we left you last we had gotten to our hotel and were very tired. Brittany didn't mention that there was a fair amount of driving that had to be done after the races (I think it was a 2 hour drive to our hotel from the finish line). My perception of cycling races was that they ended in or around the starting point for the next stage, but that isn't true--not that it never occurs, but a lot of the time there is some travel involved. This goes for the cyclists as well and many of the team buses were pulling into their hotels at the same time as us, which was around 7 or 8pm. I had anticipated having a lot of down-time in the evenings, but this wasn't the case. By the time we got to our hotel and ate dinner it was time for bed. The next morning we got up, had some breakfast (toast, hot cocoa, some cheese) and headed to the start of the race. We had to walk for quite a while to get to the village (this is where the cyclists sign in and wave to the crowd) and left a few minutes after we got there. I'll admit it was kind of fun to walk into the restricted areas and watch the faces of the other fans as they wondered why you were so lucky. 

The second day was a little different. We rode in the Santini car (our hosts) instead of a Giro VIP car. This meant that we had to stay ahead of the riders by quite a bit. To give you some idea of how it works: the peloton or gruppo (depending on your French or Italian preference), a.k.a. the main group of riders, is sandwiched by team cars. Most teams have 2 or more team cars. These cars are unable to pass through the main group of riders so one will stay in front and one in back. There are neutral cars that provide support and these are able to pass through the main group with permission (I'm not entirely clear on all of this, but this is my understanding of how it works). The VIP cars also ride near this main group. Then there are the official's cars, these are the guys who make sure people aren't drafting behind team cars (a big no-no, but it happens all the time) and getting illegal assistance. Two official cars ride at either end of this group making sure that everyone is out of the way when the riders come through. The first one has a loud speaker that announces what's going on in the race and the last one is accompanied by the medical van, these cars make sure that no riders are left on the road. All of the roads are closed until the final car goes past. Our hosts had permission to ride on the closed roads in front of the official's car. 

We rode ahead for a while and then stopped to watch the main group go past. It is an interesting experience sitting and waiting to see a group of cyclists ride by. It only takes about 1 minute for all of the riders to pass by, more if there is a breakaway group out in front, and there are usually a couple dozen riders who are behind the main group. On big climb days these are usually sprinters and are said to be riding "the bus" because they are all just trying to finish without getting disqualified, which means they have to finish within a certain time margin of the leader. The point is that you end up waiting longer than you watch, but we were able to meet some interesting people, including the race organizers for the 2015 cycling world championship, which is in Richmond, VA. Similarly many of the locals will wait for hours just to catch a glimpse of the race. They display banners and flags. We saw some kids who got out of class to watch through the gates. These small communities pay a lot of money to get the Giro to come to town and some may only get the Giro to come by once in a decade. Contrast this with American cycling races where people just get upset by traffic stoppages.

After the riders went by, we took the passo Gavia over the mountains where we would see the race go by on the other side (the roads are so narrow that they only allowed team vehicles to ride with the cyclists). I was pretty sick most of the time as the combination of jet-lag and winding roads made me extremely nauseated. However, there were some thrilling views and some heart-stopping drops of sheer cliffs without guard rails. When we got to the top there was plenty of snow and it was freezing! I wished that I had brought more than a light jacket. We stopped at the top where there was a little cafe that was decked out in cycling nostalgia. I really have no idea what to compare this to. I don't think there is such a thing as this in the United States. Basically, there are so many cyclists riding up this mountain that someone can open a cafe at the top and make enough money to stay in business. I'm sure there are other things to do, but it was obvious that this was a cycling establishment. We had a bite to eat, a warm drink and then headed back down the mountain. 

We arrived well ahead of the cyclists and staked out a spot in a cafe that was on the race route. We sat outside and had a great view. Willem, our host, brought out his iPad so we could watch the race via the internet. Brittany and I took the chance to go and buy some race merchandise (it's all over the place!) from some of the trucks that drive around repeating the same annoying message every few seconds. We hung out for a couple of hours watching the race, making conversation, and teasing Thomas for disliking vegetables. I really enjoyed relaxing and talking about cycling for a while and the atmosphere was great. If this kind of experience exists in the US then I have yet to find it. It seems like Americans can never enjoy waiting. The cyclists flew by (it's really amazing how fast they are going) in several groups and they were spread out quite a bit because of the difficult climbs during the stage so it probably took around 15 minutes for all of the cyclists to pass by. We watched the climb up the Stelvio pass on the iPad, which was slightly disappointing, but the road is much too narrow. Spectators would have had to drive up early that morning or camped up on top. The snow was several feet deep and it was a bit strange to watch the cyclists climb with all of the snow in the background.

After the end of the race we headed back to the cars and started the long drive to Milan. I was sick most of the time and spent the 2.5-3 hours sleeping or trying. Brittany and Willem had a nice conversation and I chimed in from time to time. We arrived at the Milan airport in the early evening and ate dinner in a little restaurant at the hotel. This time we stayed in the Sheraton, which was much more American than the other places that we stayed. We preferred the agriturismos, but it was a very nice hotel. We were sad to say goodbye, they were EXCELLENT hosts, and we had a great time. I wished we could have stayed for the time trial in Milan, but it would have been quite hectic and besides, we had to leave some things undone so that we could return in the future.

The rest of the trip was pretty bland. The most exciting thing to occur was probably when Brittany picked up a couple of the in-room concierge items before reading the do-not-pick-this-up-or-you-will-be-charged-for-it sign. This didn't seem too serious except that it was wired with all sorts of sensors so we called the front desk and they assured us that it was okay. I suppose that's only funny to infrequent travelers such as ourselves (Brittany will probably laugh at me for even putting this in here).

In the morning we ate some breakfast, compliments of Willem, and walked over to the airport (our hotel was directly connected to the main terminal). We flew to Munich, Charlotte, and back to Gainesville. Jackson was mildly happy to see us, but we were thrilled to be back with him.

Overall, the trip was incredible and northern Italy is unbelievably beautiful! I could have done without the jet-lag and nausea, but I can't complain too much. When we made our video we focused on building a legacy assuming that going to this race would help us further our love for cycling and engross us in the culture. I think it's safe to say that this has occurred. I'm not sure if my kids--or even Brittany--will ever enjoy cycling as much as I do, but I hope that it will continue to be a part of our lives for some time. Hopefully we will be able to return to Italy and see the Giro several more times. Of all the grand tours I am sure the Giro will always have a special meaning to us because of this trip. I can't thank Nashbar, Santini, our friends and family, and our new friends Willem, Thomas, and Mick enough for the MOST INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE EVER! We will never do anything like this ever again, thanks everyone.

Tour de Coast

I've been wanting to do some bike touring for quite a while. Brittany has always been a bit iffy about it, but after selling the car and getting some good bikes she came around. I first realized I wanted to do a bike tour while backpacking Europe in 2009. When we were in Prague we met some guys who were biking from England through Europe and around the Mediterranean. This blew my mind and I didn't know what to think about it--other than that I thought it was the coolest thing ever! Fast-forward a couple years and it was our turn. 

Jackson, looking a little dazed

We woke Jackson up and got out the door around 7. He was pretty stoked to get to the ocean--little did he (or we, for that matter) know that it would be a very long day. The first leg was smooth. Shade, cool weather, and some conversation made for a good time. Jackson took a pretty sweet video of this leg, and sheds some light on what a 2 year-old does in a bike trailer for 10 hours--Veggie Tales theme, a hybrid of Do Re Mi and Frere Jacques, the Star Trek theme, and a Jackson original--it's pretty wild. Also, there's a fair amount of my backside,  you have been warned. 

After a couple hours we stopped in Melrose Florida (see map). It's a one stoplight town in the middle of nowhere, but there is a Subway. We grabbed a bite to eat before pushing on. Up to this point we had a marked bike lane, but no longer. Fortunately, the shoulder was fairly wide.  In hindsight, taking our 2 year-old on a trip like this seems pretty crazy and I won't say that I didn't cringe everytime a semi-truck passed within a couple feet of us. Don't judge; we're good parents. 

Still in good spirits

Things started to get a bit more difficult toward the end of this second leg. The sun came out, I was running low on water, and getting sick of Clif bars. We pulled into Palatka around 1pm. After grabbing some lunch, we noticed a huge thundercloud coming our way and headed downtown for some shelter. Florida is the only tropical place I have ever lived so I'm sure this is commonplace in a lot of places, but for me, the thunderstorms here are unbelievable! When I moved to Missouri I thought midwest thunderstorms were nuts, but Florida's take the cake. The thunder is window rattlingly loud, and the rain is so thick that you can't see a thing. What I'm trying to say is that you REALLY don't want to get stuck on a bike in this stuff. We locked up our bikes on a pole under an awning and let Jackson have a potty break (I won't tell you where, but suffice it to say that it was probably illegal). We also saw a ridiculously huge spider. 

Bridge over the St. John's

After a couple of phone calls we decided to push on through the drizzle. We crossed the St. Johns river (riding over a bridge on a bike is completely different than a car and I highly recommend it; bridges aren't as stable as you would think), and it started raining harder, but the lightning was what really scared us. There was a Best Western on the other side of the bridge and I probably should have asked, but we just pulled our bikes up under the parking area, brushed the billions of midget flies off the chairs, and took a 1-2 hour nap. I have no idea what the front desk folks thought, but we were too tired to worry about it. Waking up around 4pm, we decided we'd better hurry up if we wanted to make it by sundown.

Passed out at the Best Western

Losing it.

The next leg involved an 8 mile trek along the wonderfully wide shoulder of a 65 mph highway. Yeah, I didn't care for that. Our lights were on, but we were competing with a thick layer of clouds that prevented any sun light. It seemed to be raining, but it could have been water rocketing off the sides of cars. At one point two semis passed us side-by-side, which meant very little room for the one to get away from us. I was holding my breath and praying that we'd get out of this alive. Finally, we saw a sidewalk ahead. Now I'm not one for riding on sidewalks--I believe that bikes belong on the road with cars--but this was not a time to stick to principle. As soon as we got on the sidewalk it started coming down in torrents. We crossed a bridge and made it to an old gas station where we bought a couple bags of chips and waited out the rain (funny thing about a trip like this, you don't feel like you have to eat healthy because you're burning so many calories, which is both awesome and deceiving). At this point we were feeling two things: #1 God was being very good to us (I'm not one to publicly proclaim my faith in God very often, but in this kind of situation it is you against nature and in many respects your only hope is that some miracle will occur) and #2 this is AWESOME! Yeah, we were totally riding some sort of crazy cycling high. I don't know about Brit, but I'd always thought it would be cool to have lived 200 years ago when you had to ride your horse through huge rainstorms and then ask complete strangers for shelter and food. That's pretty much how I felt, except that now people just think you're nuts. At this point you'd think we would be wanting to return to our modern comforts, rent a car, and go home, which we had discussed, but there was something exciting about not knowing if you were going to get caught in the rain again or if you were going to have to hide out at a gas station for the rest of the night, but the trip wasn't over.

Tire had a slow leak for the last 20+ miles

So far things had gone smoothly. We had planned for everything--we had rain gear, dry sacks, extra tubes, plenty of food/water, and we had been able to find shelter as needed. And then it hit. Brit says, "Jackson's tire looks a little low...ummm it's flat," bum, bum, bum! I have spent a lot of time researching bike gear, learning about bike mechanics, taking apart, cleaning and putting my bike back together, but I hadn't spent much time on the bike trailer because I assumed it was some kind of tank. It had a roll cage and big thick wheels; I assumed I'd have to get new tubes from the manufacturer and I wasn't even sure if they had tubes. I shouldn't have left this mystery until we were stranded on the side of a road, but I did. We headed back to the closest gas station and started brainstorming ideas. Fix-a-flat wouldn't work on bike tubes and the closest car rental was closed. I decided to hope for the best and see if it was just a slow leak. The tire seemed to be holding air so we moved on.

A few miles down the road we turn off the highway and onto a much quieter highway. The weather cleared up and we were enjoying a beautiful sunset. It was about this time that I yelled, "BEST FAMILY VACATION EVER!" A minute later Brit's tire popped. This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that we were in the middle of a mosquito breeding ground! I moved quickly to change the tire while slapping myself incessantly. A guy pulled over and asked if we needed help, he probably thought I was losing it, I thanked him, but said we had it under control. Jackson started yelling about a spider, but we thought he was going crazy too. Brit looked in the trailer and there was a spider crawling near his leg. She brushed it out, letting mosquitos in in the process. She proceeded to jump on my bike and pedaled down the road. I fixed the tire and hurried down the road only to realize that she was gone. After biking for a couple of minutes I saw them pulled off onto a dirt road using the "bathroom." We looked like we'd been involved in a mosquito massacre--dead mosquitos and blood were spattered all over our bodies. Occasionally we'd slap ourselves just to make sure we had them all. We switched bikes and then I realized Brit's tire was flat again. I'd been in such a hurry that I hadn't taken the time to  install the tube correctly. So, I put a new tube in, pumped up Jackson's tire again, and we continued on our way.

The rest of this leg was beautiful. There were very few cars and the weather was great. The only concern was that it was getting dark and we were getting a little discouraged because it was 7pm and we'd been going for 12 hours. In the distance we saw a stoplight, which gave us hope, but it was 4 miles away and getting there felt like an eternity. We pulled into a gas station around 8pm and were greeted by a guy filling up his boat. Our conversation went something like this:

"Where did you guys come from?"
"Gainesville"
"Holy $%!+!"
"Where are you going?"
"St. Augustine"
"Where's all your stuff?"
"In the trailer"
"Whoa"

Tearin' it up!

He was dumbfounded, and pretty hilarious to talk to. We spoke with a couple other people who had similar reactions. For me it wasn't weird to bike this far. I mean the Florida cycling team had done it just one week earlier and professional bike races go well over 100 miles a day. I had read blogs about people who toured much much farther than us, but these reactions were beginning to make me realize just how crazy it was. I suddenly realized that I was no longer reading the blogs; I was doing it. I've often worried that I am just letting life go by without doing anything really awesome. That's why, for me, having an experience like this is so important. I want to be the person who people think is a little nuts because that means I'm doing something right. Sure, comparatively speaking this bike trip wasn't really that intense, but I'm only interested in being a little crazy, not completely insane.

The final leg was in the dark. We started at the gas station next to I-75 just as twilight was settling in and arrived about an hour later in St. Augustine. We had to stop at least once to pump up Jackson's tire and the lack of street lights and head lights (one died and the other was pretty weak) made it difficult to navigate potholes, etc. The biggest concern was getting hit, obviously, but we worked out a good system and used the sidewalk to our advantage as much as possible. We pulled into the hotel around 9:30pm. The owners were nice and didn't even ask me what in the world I was doing showing up with my family, in lycra, at 9:30pm.

After settling in, showering, and eating some pizza, we finally hit the sack. We spent the next day at the beach, napping, and seeing St. Augustine. The following day we were supposed to head home, but had various bike problems (the most noteworthy being a shredded tire on Brittany's bike). While I was gone to find a tire, Brit rented a Ford Escape (which, FYI, is the best rental we've ever had). I was pretty upset about this, but once I put my ego aside we loaded up the bikes and spent the rest of the day in St. Augustine. Ultimately, Brit made the right decision getting the car as it looked like it would rain the rest of the afternoon and we weren't going to get started until around noon. This would have meant getting home at midnight or later, which is something we were both unwilling to do.

In hindsight I think we would have done a few things differently. First, bought tubes for Jackson's trailer in advance--turns out they are the same size as most child-sized bikes. Second, do the trip during the dry season (October-March). Not that summer was bad, but the rain/lightning was a little intense. Third, I don't know if I would do the same route. I might try for some roads with slightly lower speed limits--I'm not sure if that is even a possibility. Fourth, I would give us more time to complete the trip allowing more rest days and additional travel days as needed. It may have been nice to stay in Palatka for the night. We had booked our hotels in advance, but this kind of pre-booking is fairly incompatible when the trip can blow up in your face requiring a premature stop, especially if you are packing light and relying on bike shops instead of hauling your own gear (i.e., bike tires). Bottom line--I highly recommend doing this!

Victory.