Hitting The Hill

After Kian's skiing debut in Whistler last month and a promise fulfilled that I would get him some new ski goggles, Kian has had a pretty darn healthy interest in doing some alpine skiing, darn it.  Putting our Stevens Pass nordic hosting benefits to work, and going to work as hosts several times, we earned a couple free passes at the alpine center.  Annie had Kian on the "bunny slope" daisy for several runs one weekend and the next weekend I got him back out, but took him up on Hogsback and Kian nailed a couple blue runs. 

We have been the benefactors of a really cool ski harness that our new little friend Kasen Krebsbach loaned to us, or rather, his parents loaned to us because we actually haven't met Kasen yet since he's only 5 weeks old and was born a few months early, so he's still in the hospital.  But we'll be sure to thank him when we meet him.  The harness isn't really used that much but its a real confidence builder for Kian since he can call me to "pull out the ropes" when he feels like he's in over his head.  I've nursed him down top to bottom on just a few runs but I rarely had any tension on the reins because I knew that he could do it and he didn't really need my assistance.  A couple times we gots our signs crossed and he stopped short and I'd run him over, or he'd go when I thought he was stopping and so I'd jerk him out of his alpine boots, but generally for him it was pretty seamless.  It was I who had to work my bootie off to keep just the correct tension/slack, and doing so meant scouring the hill in a constant snowplow, not easy.  Seriously, holding yourself back down a run is tough on the legs so I encouraged Kiki to let them run every chance he got.  Fun times.

He loved being up there on the lift, out there in the fresh air, rolling around the snow, and he's doing really well.  As long as he's having fun and I can keep it cheap, I'm into it.  Only two weeks left at Stevens and I'm hoping to get him up for at least one more day on the hill.  Next time I'll stop on the helmet cam -- on him and me, and I'll be sure to post some footage.

Its still somewhat winter-like up here in the NW but its finally warming up.  Even in the city on those cloudy, pissy days its been getting down into the 40s and we're still running heat here in the house on occasion.  Crazy stuff. Come on summer!

 Kiki in his Carharts (and goggles, in case you didn't notice).

 

Zoo Cruisin the City

 

One of Kian's favorite bronze zoo buddies.

A few weekends ago now Kian and I had a big day on the bikes - I forget how long ago that was now since they all seem to run together for the past few months with intermittent ski versus stay and play weekends.  That particular day we loaded up Marlene's Kona Ute that I customized for Kian, and we hit it hard: Greenlake, then the Zoo, then down to Fremont and the brewery, then Ballard for a late lunch, then eventually back home via the roundabout way.  Super nice, super sunny, super fun day.  Here's some pics and vids.

 Not sure what happened here (the sideways thing)

 Our picnic at the zoo. 

Hanging out at the Fremont Brewery (Ute in background). 

I had a pint while Kian rode the "motorcycle" and munched on free pretzels.

The Ute is a "utility bike" that has about a 3' long wooden platform over the rear wheel and its designed to haul gear.  It came with saddle bags, but my payload is a kid so I've customized this setup.  1) I put wooden slats beside the wheels to keep feet and dangling kiddie things out of the wheel.  2) I attached a stem and cut-off handlebars behind the seatpost so the rear passenger has a non-steerable handlebar. 3) I strapped a cushion to the deck for rider comfort. 4) I put in make-shift stirrups made of webbing and huge caribiners for passenger safety and bump eleviation. 5) and I built a seatbelt that restrains the passenger from any possible in flight terrorist activities (or bailing out mid flight).  Its very fun, Kian loves it compared to being stuffed in his chariot, these days, however the next evolution for him will be a Trail-a-bike: an attachment that allows the kid to actually contribute to forward motion while keeping him/her a little more engaged.

Lotsa New

Visualizing world skis!

Okay................ lets go!

Believe it or not we are still skiing! Nordic skiing!

But there is just one last holdout remaining in the entire NW, and its our home NC at Stevens Pass. Everything else in the state closed up at least 3-weeks ago and all the other groomers have been summerized except for ours. And with my knee still giving me fits and with Kian's new interest in alpine skiing we're still getting up as much as possible. A few weeks ago the three of us went up with some friends and their two girls, and we had a great time... it was Easter weekend. The Fasts' had some pretty strong Easter traditions and so it was fun to be a part. Colored eggs, proliferated Easter Bunny lies (fables), and hunted for eggs and candy. Perfect spring weather too and the skiing wasn't half bad despite the 45 degree snow.... what am I saying, it was incredible.

Backin up, on Saturday Kian and I did some lift serving at Stevens Alpine. Oh yeah, I had Kian on Hogsback and the little guy did awesome. He only asked me to pull out "the lines" on a few of the steepest sections and even then I tried to keep slack in them lines. But man, was I sore after a day of snowplowing the mountain -- usually you try to let them run, so even just a few thousand vertical of wedging down the hill takes a toll on the dawgs.

Easter at the cabin with our Fast friends:
Chris & Leah and Linnea and Alma (pictured).

Score!

Whistler Spring

D'oh! Okay, places everyone!

For Spring Break, Annie's and Kian's that is, we took an extra long weekend/the better part of a week and went up to Whistler for some Spring Nordic. Did we ever hit the weather right: perfect blue sky and sunshine every day! We'd thought about going to Mexico where so many of our other friends and family went, but decided any old border would do and right now in our world sunshine is sunshine. Viva el Casa Rodante! Viva nieve con sol! Viva poutine!

Our original idea was to rent a yurt that is right on the ski trails just out of the village so that we could bust up in my new gas sipping car, but we narrowly missed out and so we ended up borrowing the Krebby family RV that is super spacious but is no gas sipper. What extra we spent in gas we made up for in free accommodations and ski-side convenience. There is nothing like having ski-in and ski-out room right on the trails especially when you have a kid who might not last for a full 3 hour session.

Snowball fight!

Gearing up in the RV!

Waiting for daddy. Let's go!

Back at the rings! Lots of great memories from 2010 Olympics.

First day skiing the highlight was the Magic Carpet!

This became a daily routine.

The other daily routine was sledding on Kian's new Penguin saucer sled that is rippin fast. We found a steep slope not far from the trails and we hit that thing hard and often. Usually the days would go like this: one of us goes out for the morning nordic session for the colder firmer faster snow while the other cleaned up breakfast and then took Kian out for his ski fundamentals session at the Blackcomb Village kiddie slope. It was about 1km from the RV so I'd load the chariot up with the gear and let Kian ride behind me on his "fatboy" and we'd lock it all up at the base of the slopes while he skied.

Kian skied about 30 minutes for the first two days and on the 3rd day, probably still just in his 2nd of skiing, he "got it" and then it was hard to pry him away from the Magic Carpet and the slope. I spent the first days working on his plow and turns, boring, but on day 3 we figured he was ready to let his motor skills take over and he'd bomb down the 100 meter run and get right back onto the carpet without hardly a turn. Lovin it!

Vids coming!

The Daily Wire

As Kian goes from baby to big boy, our Baby Cakes website also needs to do some growing if its going to survive. The changes to Kian are coming quite so fast and furious and often they are not as obvious, or more likely they are just not quite as cute as they used to be, and so my posting to the site hasn't been as regular. I keep making resolutions about more posting, more posting, but until I make that lifestyle change its really hard to make it happen. More posting, more posting... but instead of this thing being so Kiki-centric I think I'm going to start making it more family wide and probably, unfortunately, more Dougie based (since most everything is from my perspective anyway). But heck, it might not be long before Kian will be entering his own posts and perspectives to this thing!

I've been intending to revive a couple of my old blogs like Dougnog and A Racer Looks At 40 and Wheelz and What The What!, but its easier and more likely to stick if I put everything under one banner. Kiki updates alongside race reports, Kian vids right next to mommy updates, Bugaboo's latest blurbs next to daddy's recent rants about this or that. At least two things which we will strictly forbid and eschew from these pages: religion and politics. Whew, takes a load off. Too much of that already in our lives elsewhere so consider this a safe haven for building bridges, not burning them, uniting ideas, not dividing them. Whats so funny about peace love and understanding.

5 April, 11am -- Doug @ Work twitter feed.

Spent a record 34 minutes waiting for my bus transfer in the tunnel at International Station. Considering whether I can afford to continue riding the bus when the drive takes 30 mins max even in bad traffic. I love riding the bus, doing my part and walking the walk, but the transfer kills it. Even if I nail it, its still a 50-60 minute deal from door to door. On the bike -- back when I used to be able to ride a bike (another story for those not up-to-date)-- it used to take me less than that and was able to wrap my sanity and my workout and my travels into one neat little package. This part of my life really sucks now, worst thing that is happening to me, and once I get my knee back the joy in my life will blossom many-fold.

Out.