Weekend Reflections

Little Man in the Mirror!

Daddy rode his bike again this weekend, go figure. There was a team ride Saturday morning and the Seattle Cyclocross series kicked off on Sunday. Perfect weather both days, in the 70's! After the ride, Annie, Bugaboo and I headed down to Renton to visit the Peterson's (Marlin and Christine) and our mutual Swiss friends who have been traveling in N. America for the past 4-months.... with their three kids ages 4, 2.5, and now 5 months! Inspiring stuff. I've got a great story of coincidence, you should hear it.





I was setting up my tent at a campsite near Grindlewald in the Berner Oberland of Switzerland back in the heatwave of '03 when some nearby campers who were also traveling by bike started chatting it up. When they heard that I was from the Seattle-area they asked if I happened to know anyone in Renton. Ha, yeah right, I knew one person. No kidding, they knew Marlin too! And the story continues. But not here... maybe over at DougNog.




Next weekend is my flex and so we're leaving Thursday night for the Methow Valley Mountainbike Fest, a "family" tradition since about 1993 when I first attended. Jeff and the gang started going at about that same time if not sooner, and now its become one of those unspoken entries on everyone's calendar each year. We used to bivy in the parking lot and race our brains out. Then we started camping at the KOA and a few years later of a few us even moved into the cabins there at the campground. Then a few more girlfriends and too many real jobs later and we were renting 8-room upscale cabins in Mazama.

We almost never race anymore but we ride the heck out of our bikes: 4-6 hour rides are the staple, can't wait. That is if the tequila bottle didn't get passed around too hard the night before. But this year there is a new first: warnings of crying babies and baby gates littering the rental unit. Roger & Malia's little Oliver is about 6-months old so Kian has a little bro while we are up there. The Tortuga will be making the trip again and that's where we'll stay, plugged in. Kian is still too fussy and I want to keep on the invite list for future outings.

This will be Kian's first camping trip, sort of. Stay tuned!

Friday Night Fights

Lara and Jon invited us over to their place to watch the debate on Friday, but really it was an excuse to mute McCain and hear what we wanted to hear. Obama crushed it, says Kian. But it was even more about good food and good friends, crying babies and wailing pooches.

This is Kian after too much political doublespeak

El Nino Got Ritmo

Last night I snuck in on Kian when he had the lights down low, must have thought that no one was around. Here he'd tuned the radio to KEXP's Tuesday night Wo-pop program and was gettin downtown with Derek Mazoni and some Cuban old-school. Nice grooves, little buddy.

Squeaky Monkey

If you're a sucker for cute, then you'll enjoy this vid... its not sideways for long.

Weekend of Smiles

Lots to smile about! As you can see, we got to spend time with family... Sunday was Reid's 11th! birthday! Reid and Justin had some buddies over to celebrate and the rest of us sat around the TV watching football as we ate pizza, drank beer, and passed around the little guy. Check out Aunt Joanie with a little boy in her arms -- you'd almost think she's done this before. See Uncle Brent in the video below checking out Kian's Kung Fu grip and having the good luck to be holding Kian while his diapers "fill"... its good luck just like pigeon-poop on the head is good luck.

Reid got a new-used crossbike for his birthday. I know because Annie and I gave it to him. I found a sweet Kona frame on Craigslist and I've been spending the past week trying to finish it off for him and I'm now down to just needing a front fork. It was a bit of a tease to bring him just the major parts of the bike yesterday - frame, wheels, bars and stem - but it wasn't even enough of a bike that he could saddle it up to see how it fits. If he's anything like his uncle, his first ride on it will be in a race. I'll do my best not to let that scenario befall him.

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas!

...from the novel of the same name: "You open a window to let the sunbeams in. They behave like tourists, which, in Seattle, they practically are". -T.R.

Below, he's fully asleep in elephant pajamas: the way he usually is at yet another boring cyclocross race on the National circuit... ho hum, daddy won.

More smiles: I forget how long its been since we first caught Kian with a REAL, non-pooping-the-diapers smile, but its still new enough of a phenomenon that I call out to Annie every time I see it, and it still lights up my heart. I never thought that it could be so amazing to me, but gradually over the past week he's taken to smiling more and more.

And Daddy Fresh had his biggest single smile weekend of cyclocross ever by taking 1st and 1st at two national level races against the BEST (the best masters 35+ year olds) in the country. But this is Kiki's blog so you'll have to tune into the Velonews headlines or Daddy's own site for that stuff.

A Couple from the Archives

Shaken not Stirred

Can someone qualified tell us if Kian might be a prime suspect for the onset of Shaken Baby Sydrome by the looks of it from this vid? He looks pretty solid to me.

10-pound Gorilla

In his final official checkup with our midwife, Charlotte, Kian weighed in at nearly ten-pounds, thats ridiculous! For gods sake, he's only 6-weeks old. Please, let my baby be.

And what a momma's boy, when do I get to hold him?

Don't get too close, he could bite.

Everyone looks haggard when its hot in Seattle.

Weekend Happenin's

Kian in his new Pack n Play checking out the round n round.

I had a big three-day weekend and we'd made big plans to do something big. I had Monday off this time as a result of a flex day swap and Grandma had just left us, and so we thought we'd take Junior out for a few days camping in the RV. We'd break him in slow, car camping.

As it turns out, the Tortuga never left home.

Saturday morning we got up late, its nice once in awhile, and then without thinking I launched into a huge weekend style breakfast. One of the nicities of life on a super sunny morning in Seattle. Sometimes you just need to take advantage. But the next thing we knew, probably after a tantrum or two and maybe a diaper changing, and it was early afternoon. No problem, I still had two more days off, a normal sized weekend afterall.

In the hat that Grandma made.

That was when we took Kian for his first bike ride in the trailer. I had a triage of bike shops that I needed to hit in order to pick up some spare parts for Kian's nephews' new cross bike that I'm building up, and that was excuse enough. Still unsure if his neck could manage under the G-forces of a bike ride, we decided to take it easy and abort if need be. Seattle streets suck, but once we hit the bike trail it was smooth sailing. What a great day: I pulled Kian behind me and Annie pulled up the rear on her neglected bike (wow, nice to get her out again!) while she kept an eye on the little nipper. 3-hour jount, nice!

Only once the Lion sleeps can I work on the bike: gluing up some tubies!
(I know what you're thinking: sexy)

But we were too pooped to pack and the next morning was a carbon copy of the former except that Jon & Lara brought some breakfast goodies over. It was then I decided that I might as well race since we still hadn't left for our "camp trip", and besides, I'd rather not have my first race one of the biggest races of the season which is next weekend. Thats how it continued, and so even though we thought we might still pull out late Sunday night for a trip out at Alki or something, no go. Not yet defeated we took Kian on his first hike on Monday in the foothills, and we both thought how nice it was to get back into the woods. Kian slept for most of it, but I've got a funny little vid that shows his eyes wide.

Milk drunk!

First Ride, First Hike, First Cyclocross Race

Kian and Mommy.
Then mommy got trigger happy and took 47 identical pictures of Kian and insists that each one is different, though you and I could never tell. Here's a couple:

Jon y Lara came over for breakfast before our cross practice in the park.

Dad E Fresh took 3rd at Copper Cross, and not even in the old man division that he is, but against the big boys, despite all his whining about dropped chains and a sore back.

New Peckinpah Flick

What a rock star!

This vid is already a couple of weeks old but he's still making these funny noises, listen. This is taken first thing one sunny morning and Alan's motion-activated rooster is getting a workout in the background.

Stork & Rancid Milk Neck

Feast yer eyes, son, someday this could all be yors!

We did the Chiwawa this weekend to show Grandma Francis and Kian the place for the first time. On Saturday Heffe and I (Jeff still hasn't changed a diaper and so the honorary "uncle" prefix has not yet been bestowed) pulled off a nearly 7-hour MTB ride, so on Sunday I carried Kian right down to the rivers edge. He enjoyed sitting out there on a rock watching the light flashing in the rippling water, and the river sound kept him soothed on an otherwise ornery sort of day. I anointed his head with a few drops of water, he seemed to like it, and then I dipped his little feet into the water and he instantly came unglued... it wasn't THAT cold!

The customary group photo with two-Chiwawa first-timers!
...and this is where Ma & Pa chow down.

So Kian has got this irritation on the back of his neck that's common in little babies and its called something like "stork neck", interestingly enough, but I always thought that the stork carried infants in a sack or basket, not by the scruff of their necks. And speaking of necks.

Kian always has this warm musty smell that I kinda like and so sometimes I will bury my face in his neck and tickle him with mouth farts, but I learned the smell comes from spilled milk that trickles down his face and hides in the fat folds of his neck where it can get pretty rank. So now we've started to clean in there with a sponge and so he doesn't carry this smell very often anymore. Now he's usually got that sterile soapy smell, yuk, another drawback of so-called civilized society.

The First's Just Keep Coming

This weekend he'll make his first visit to the Chiwawa. We're leaving this afternoon after work and will spend the whole weekend along the mighty banks. Last weekend was his first ever time to a farmers market and I'm sure he won't remember a thing about it despite all the old organic, free range lady's who oogled over him. It was also his first time to the BOB: Blue Onion Bistro, but it'll be at least 6-9 months before he can even try their apple juice, so again, another lackluster impression.

Now what you've all been waiting for...

Dare 2 Compare: 1st bath in week #1 versus bath during week #4.

Here's Kian at the Farmers Market in the U-District, and below that, a new breed of swine: Annie, can we get one can we get one?

Multi-tasking: no baby will come between me and my pancakes.
Except Kian, apparently.

Grandma Francis seems to be enjoying herself in Seattle:
the little baby and the big breakfasts.

Big News @ 1-Month!

Our little Pumpkinhead just hit the 9-pound mark! 2-days ago I measured him at 19-inches long and holding, so all that weight is in his belly and his brain, unlike his pops. I'll take a pic and post it when I'm home from work today -- can't wait to get home to squeeze my little fatty!

But remember this meek little guy from just a few weeks ago?
Sorry Grandma, but young Peck has grown up.

As you can see, he's taking to life outside the womb pretty well and from the looks of it
sleepin and suckin on a tit all day's a pretty easy livin.

Belly of the Beast

Its a big belly, and getting bigger. I'd stack Kian's tummy girth against any Sumo wrestler's, for at 19 inches I'm sure he's got a belly that's at least equal to that -- does a Sumo have a waistline of about 6-feet, I doubt it.

We've got a new nickname for the porkster: Tubby.

Yo Rocko, I'll knock yer lights out wit me eyes closed!