Holiday wrap-up

In an earlier post, we promised to let you know how the 'giftless' (except for kids) Christmas went. Well, it was the most stressfree, enjoyable Christmas ever! We all got a kick out of sitting around eating, drinking and watching nieces and nephews tear open packages, remove the contents and proceed to play with box ;)

Here is a pic of our nephew Conner showing his Hollywood pose. In the background, our step sisters/brother Leah, Cammie and Edgar and their son kai(SP?). Next pic has neice Gillian playing dress-up and Isabella dressing down, her mom Rebecca is in the background. (Rebecca, get some clothes on that kid!)























We spent the first part of Christmas eve at Laura's Dads doing the 'kids' Christmas. That was fun, but, by the end of day Laura and I were 'kidded out'. Spent the second half of the day with my mom, dinner hosted by my Uncle and cousins. Nice quiet evening, nice dinner and good conversation. Laura, on the other hand, was losing it fast, here comes the flu!

Christmas day, after sleeping in, we headed off to Laura's dads for 'adult' Christmas. Awesome dinner (ALWAYS the case when you go there!) lots of good wine(again, always the case!) and good times and great conversation with the family. We did exchange small gifts with parents, who requested pictures of us on our adventure. We are planning to have some professional shots done in some really cool location (Sedona, Grand Canyon or something) of us with the coach and bikes, not just of parental units but as a keepsake of the adventure!

The week between Christmas and New Year was really quiet as the flu had really set in, and by Wednesday, Laura's voice was completely shot! I used the opportunity to go around and visit customers that I'm still working with while on the road. Firming up marketing plans for 06, lunching and just visiting, lots of questions about the adventure! Its really nice to be able to maintain this business while on the road, both for future connections and the incremental $'s its bringing in! We made some attempts to get around and visit some friends both mountain biking and otherwise, but with Laura not able to talk, it was difficult. We did not get a chance to everyone we wanted. We'll make sure we make the rounds on the next trip(as yet unplanned)

New Year's rolls around and Laura is in no shape to party. We dropped some stuff off at the house. We stopped by our friends the Mitchells' to say hey! Their son Yale got a cowbell for Christmas. We pulled from the internet a list of songs with cowbell in it and plucked the ones George had in his collection into the cd player. We then proceeded to play the cowbell to the songs, what a riot! Turned out not such a riot with the flu, Laura said it was like we were beating on her head! That evening, we headed over to Moss' house, some mountain biking friends who were having a get together, great to see everyone, but Laura was fading fast. We visited for a few hours, then back to house. Laura was out by 9:30, I was out by 12:05.

Enter New Years day. Trails-Edge, the bike shop we race for, holds a New Years day ride every year. I planned ahead and brought enough bike clothes to make the ride. The weather wasn't bad, temps in the mid 30's, but no sun! Here is a pic of the motley crew that made the ride. IT was a casual pace (to shake off hangovers for some) with a long stop in the middle for some chat at the coffee shop. Ended up around 15 miles total. I miss these group rides, but man you keep the weather!!


Tuesday the 3rd time to head out for the flight back to Vegas. Got over to my moms early, took her to lunch to say thanks for watching Snuggles while we were home. I think Snuggles needed the break from us. When came in to my moms, Snuggles didn't even look up from her cinnamon graham cracker(leave it to grandma to load the grand kids up with junk food!) to acknowledge us.

After a LONG flight home, both legs of the trip were delayed at least an hour. We pulled back into Vegas at 1:30 in the morning. We slept in the coach, parked in the storage area that night and headed towards Tucson on Wednesday morning.

Overall, great to be home to spend time with family and friends(those we made it too, anyway) Didn't even really mind the temps or the snow on ground. But, we really noticed the lack of sunshine. The sun did not even creep out in the 10 days we were in Michigan.


Now, random parting thought. I believe this a Botero sculpture, its in Laura's dad living room. I think the message Botero is trying to get across here is steroids and other performance enhancing drugs are BAD!




Rich