Pooks Canyon

He gets a whole new kind of entertainment from the entertainment center...

Please scroll to the bottom of the page for the Baker Belgium Adventure Calendar, including all planned race dates (subject to change), complete with linked maps! Mimi, South Yuba Bill, Chess Racer, Rubber Chickenator, Forester Frank and Toots are all authorized/encouraged to add European events that you plan to do. Everyone should have received an email invitation to create a Google Calendar login - let me know if you did not. Since you can only view events here on the blog, you'll need to login to the actual calendar website in order to add/modify stuff. Dad- I put your tentative arrival and departure dates in there. Note the World Cups in Igorre, Spain and Milan, Italy while you're there.

On a steel single-speed with comfort saddle, coaster brakes, and balloon tires, I set out with Dad yesterday at 8:30 am. Our mission? To summit the pass to Whiskeytown Lake … on the cruiser bikes. Less than two hours and two Jack ‘n the Box breakfast sandwiches later we triumphantly arrived at the Whiskeytown Lake Visitor’s Center. Photographs were taken as we remarked on how much easier it was than we had thought it would be. The fun way back was of course to make a loop out of it. Enter Mule Town Road . Emphasis here should be more on Mule and less on Road. Ever ride down an extended 16 percent grade on loose gravel with slick tires and a coaster brake? As I fishtailed down at ever increasing speed I had to consider when would be a prudent time to just cut my losses and jump off. Well, I made it to the bottom without a crash only to be forced to dismount and push up the other side (steep- with loose dirt and all varieties of rock). After 2 rounds...

Mom says all the grandchildren have been bathed in this sink.

Dad says Axel is being grandmothered into submission. Hilarious. (I think Axel likes it)

Axel has learned his mouth is a good place to store his favorite toys.

Dad's bottle cage- still doesn't hold his 42 oz Diet Pepsi (fountain drink) which he holds with one hand while riding. When Dad told me about his "hip sack" handle-bar bag, I gave him a proper saddle bag for Christmas (see below). You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Well, we got the saddle bag in the right place, now what do we do about the saddle. These are Dad's rubber band tee-shirt/DVD straps. Apparently Dad was tying his tee-shirt to the handle bars until one day the shirt got sucked into the front tire. The Mysterious Part... Dad still insists this was a legitimate part to the Bell saddle he bought at WalMart. I contend it was the piece used to hang the saddle on the rack at the store. Anyway, I eventually convinced him to remove the item... what do you think?

A person riding a bike in Redding is like a dog walking on its hind legs... it's never done well but you're surprised to see it done at all. I said this to dad today after we both heard it in a movie last night. Dad tried to use it first by likening it to women and computers. Which is funny because I have a degree in Information Systems and am a database developer. So when dad (who, at the time, happened to be riding his bicycle on the wrong side of the road) was expounding on the benefits of bungee cording a water bottle to his top tube as a preferable alternative to using his existing bottle cage bolts to mount a bottle cage, I knew I had my chance.

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This is mom's exercise guru with a different take on fish pose.

I have to blog photos of Axel so Jon will recognize him when we get home.

So I'm staying with my parents now and there's a giant back hoe and septic system trench sitting in their front yard.

See Plague House

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I had a dream last week that both grandmas were present when Axel took his first steps. Not sure if that's possible as he will only be with both grandmas next weekend, but he's definitely making progress. (I also had a dream that Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher came to buy our house. Demi Moore had a potty mouth and Axel's room had an ocean view.)

Check out Breaker Baker starring in an episode of Dave Towle's "Shop Talk" Internet show !!!!

So, Leah was playing with the baby downstairs while I was packing up the car. I come back inside and Leah says, "Mommy, what does 'consumer' mean?" So I told her it is basically the buyer of something. She replies, "Oh good, 'cause Axel just pulled this tag off the recliner." The tag of course reads "Under penalty of law this tag shall not be removed by anyone but the consumer." Axel didn't technically buy the chair but I think we'll let him off the hook this time.

Leah took Axel on the baby swing. Her comments: He's a natural, look at his grip on the bars. Look at him, he's so happy. He likes it when you say whoosh. The flying bunny!!!