Friday, February 27, 2015

Because I'm Three: Daddy's Little Helper

Best 1 1/2 wrenching session ever with my little helper. After her birthday two days ago it's been "I can do that now because I'm 3!" We talked about how she is going to get a motorcycle soon and race/jump it. Oh boy...

We are going to need good insurance with this girl. 

She was a big help and never got bored or wanted to go in. Stayed out in the cold garage helping me and turning wrenches. 

Working on the bikes

Got my new GPR steering stabilizer mounted under my bars to prevent the bars from getting jerked out of my hands due to the front wheel deflecting off a rock or deep sand. Another big bonus is it came with an extra 1 1/2 inch riser added for better ergonomics during long rides (like, oh, maybe 1400 miles through Idaho or something) :-)

Operational!

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Turning Three All Week

Andy and I have never been content with the one day birthday. It's not selfish, but the fact that we rarely get that day off work. On the off chance that we do get it off, we just don't know what to do with ourselves. So birthdays range from a week to a month long, which keeps birthdays mellow and no pressure. 

The first of the birthday goodness came in a box from North Carolina from Gramma Jody and Grampa Glenn. Lots of great clothes, homemade cookies and jellys, stickers and little animals, filled our afternoon with birthday giggles! 

What a treasure trove of happiness. 

With Chinese New Year in our mist, we combined Pyper's birthday with our Year of the Sheep family celebration. We celebrated with three hot pots boiling with grass-fed beefs, chrysanthemum and pea vine greens, and all the goodness of Chinese hot pot. Second year in a row for a traditional fresh cream and fruit toro root cake. It's that lavender color that's so special, maybe the chocolate birthday message too. 

At the head of the table with daddy, there's 18 more folks not in the picture. Sugar makes everyone a little crazy. 

Showing off a present from Auntie Sharon.

The day before Pyper's birthday we had Mama Katy, Tomas, and Margo over. We were greeted with banana bread and Tomas painted art, Darth Vader for me and a lovely smiley face for Pyper. It was also a gloriously beautiful warm day. 

Baby lov'n

Backyard flowers in bloom for the birthday girl. 

On Pyper's actual birthday we made banana pancakes and she asked to go to gymnastics, so we did. We came home to pink and black balloons, something Pyper has been asking for since September, as well as a can of pink silly string. It definitly got silly for a bit, especially with Daddy's pink hair. She picked out vegan chocolate cupcakes at our local co-op for her birthday treat. 

Real birthday day!

Biggest birthday celebration this family has ever seen!

So until next year, when we make it around the sun one more time. 

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Pasco-caching

Last week I decided that I wanted to head out to Pasco the next time Andy got an overnight there. That way I wouldn't have to pay for a hotel. The mission would look a lot like our mission two years ago before Pyper's first birthday. It was a Geocoin mission. But this one was even crazier, not only were there leftover geocoins from the 2014 Challenge, but there were also some 2013 coins still floating around. The goal of the challenge is to find 10 geocaches in a city and be rewarded a piece of a three part coin. The Pasco area is known as the Tri-cities in Washinton. The neighboring cities are Richland and Kennewick. Each one is very unique, especially in terms of geocaches. So for each city, you find the caches, get the coin, and put the coins together. 

Two days after I mentioned this Pasco idea to Andy, he informs me that his next shift has him overnighting in Pasco. We might be the only couple on earth excited about our luck. The universe heard me calling. I was in no way prepared, but got as ready as I could. The big debate was whether to fly or drive. We went with drive.

Andy got up at 4am and went to work. Pyper and I got an early 8am start. She surprised me with her car riding ability, staying awake the whole ride there. It took us three and a half hours. We even played the alphabet game. 

Once arriving in Richmond, caching was slow going, but it was good to get out of the truck. After about 5 caches in 3 hours, I headed to Andy's hotel to pick him up. With Pyper asleep we grabbed a couple more caches, then headed in to take care of Pyper business. At this rate, it wasn't looking good to finish either challenge, so I took off solo, while Dad studyed and Pyper vegged out in front of the hotel tube watching discovery channel. I returned with seven more finds. 

Our first caches of the challenge somewhere in Richmond. 

Fun caching and having dad around. 

Since we didn't celebrate Valentine's day, we decided to use it as an excuse to spurge on a "sunset dinner" at Anthony's Home Port. The sunset was spectacular and dinner superb. 

The next day Andy headed to the airport for work and Pyper and I grabbed our first cache for the day. We were actually able to complete the two Pasco challenges by 8:30am, having only 5 left. The majority of the Pasco finds we did the day before. We celebrated with a Mexican bakery stop. 

The cache she found before me, and the biggest donut I've ever seen! 

Next on the list was Kennewick. We checked off the list around noon, celebrating with a ice cream sandwich. I think sugar was the only thing keeping us going at this rate. Most of the caches were at parks, so we either tricycled to the caches or played on the toys. 

Kennewick was full of treasure and fun exploring. 

A sweet reward is always welcome. 

Finally, back to Richmond. We had eight left, since that's were we started and we were able to tick some Richmond caches off on our Kennewick loop. Somehow Pyper managed to keep awake and even found caches before I did. 

Happy to be caching in Richland, they have some awesome caches. 

Posing with our two completed coins, that's six individual coins total. 

We hit the road back and managed to be home at 7pm. After checking the statistics of the day, we managed to hit an all time high of number of caches found in a day, 26 caches!!! I think that's 3 more than the previous record, which I think happened when we were on the 2012 geocoin challenge journey. 

Flashback - Pyper happy with her find in Richmond two years ago. 


Saturday, February 14, 2015

All About the Love

This is just one place the love is. 

Today we delivered brunch to my friend Katy. This was our first visit since Margo was born. So fun catching up on baby/birth stuff while Shawn so awesomely hung out with the big kids outside. It's also awesome that the weather is suberb this mid-February day. 

She's loving her baby time. 

Driving around in my automobile!





Friday, February 13, 2015

The Adventures of Tom

Tom was given to Pyper from Gramma Jody's friend Julia. Tom is perfect for hitting the trails as water, mud, and forest debris doesn't bother him at all. Today we ventured on a new trail and Pyper was excited to show Tom everything. 

Tom visiting and floating in the icy water and climbing trees. 

Cool falls along the trail, Pyper sure knows how to make a selfie face. 

She counted a group of three that passed us on the trail and said, "that's how old I'll be on my birthday!" She was promptly wished a happy birthday. For some reason she was completely tickled every time we were passed by folks. Super cute. What a beautiful day for a trail walk. 

One last dip for Tom before heading out. 

Productively Slacking

So this might be the longest no blog post streak so far, but I feel like that's the only slacking part of my life. 

Simulator training

Dam building lessons along the trails. 

Valentine day crafts

Many puddle missions this last week.