Pooks Canyon

Today is the 5th grade Biography Tea. Each fifth grader chooses a biography to read, writes a poem about their subject, then dresses the part for the tea. Leah, being a WWII buff, chose to read a biography about Anne Frank. We outfitted her with thrift store clothes and dyed her hair dark brown (semi-permanent).

Leah made dinner for us tonight. Here is the final product. Meat Loaf grave with Baquette and Ketchup Headstone and Mashed Potato and Olive ghost. She loves her Halloween! Leah worked on this meal for over 2 hours and it was the best meatloaf I have ever tasted. I'm not just saying that. Guess who put Axel to bed tonight? Gotta be the Rubber Chickenator. Jon and the never ending tire project. He came in from the garage 5 minutes ago (at 12:20 am) saying something about gluing tires and economies of scale.

Read the Interview Here

I told him I would get him any pumpkin- provided he could pick it up himself.

Today we went to Anderson Farms. Axel likes the cows and Leah and Lisa have found their millinery homeland. The wagon driver asked if they were fryers or layers.

We kept Leah out late last night to see the Magnetic Fields. It was a great show even for the 10 year old set.

Here are some pics of Jon at the races, sent from his great host in Ohio, Jaden. Thanks Jaden! Jon hung out around the top five in all three races and said the big factor was the heat; while it was freezing in Boulder it was in the 80's in Ohio. Looking forward to Deleware this coming weekend. I am sad to report one of the new Pipistrellos was retired this weekend after suffering a rip to the sidewall. The rip was not due to failure on the part of the tire but a loose wheel, possibly a failed skewer.

We started the day off making muffins at our house and got a double yolk! Then we went to Estes Park Center and decided to roller skate... Aunt Elisabeth is a former Figure Skater I'm a real roller skating guru, see video in the post below. Leah hurt her wrist but gives us the thumbs up. Axel had a good time learning how to walk on wheels. Arthur was a very good help to Axel. Leah went horseback riding with Emma; she said her horse was gassy. This is a funny pic. The horses look hungry but can't be fed. Axel can't have a pony ride so he's having an Arthur ride. Arthur is being choked. Aunt Elisabeth, Emma, and Arthur are all so cute.

Baby's napping, Leah's on a playdate. Ahhh. I'm watching text updates from Jon's race in Ohio, the other race in Gloucester, and the Broncos game on the Plaz. And drinking a beer. It is a sporting overload.

Here is the Palin/Biden debate, SNL style.

A miracle has happened; VT4 will be broadcasting the entire Superprestige series for free on the web! See them here . Jon will be at Diegem, for the rest we'll be up early watching. Most races will be 7am mountain but Diegem and Ruddervorde will be at 9am and 9:30am respectively. Superprestige races 2008-2009: Ruddervoorde (Belgium) Sunday October 12th Eerde-Veghel (Netherlands) Sunday November 2nd Hamme-Zogge (Belgium) Sunday November 23rd Gavere (Belgium) Sunday November 16th Gieten (Netherlands) Sunday November 30th Diegem (Belgium) Sunday December 28th - Jon will be there! Hoogstraten (Belgium) Sunday February 8th Vorselaar (Belgium) Sunday February 15th

Yes, we are returning to Belgium right after nationals and are staying through World Championships, which are to held in the Netherlands on February 1st. Hopefully Jon makes the team! We are staying Near Bruges this year as "In Bruges" has become dangerous- what with characters like Colin Farrell running around shooting people. Seriously though, we've rented a little farm cottage about 6 miles from town. Apparently there are chickens and donkeys and a hayloft for the kids to play in, it should be fun. Jon plans to race around Belgium as well as hitting a few World Cup events, basically picking up where his fractured collar bone left him off last year. Word has it the Hofstade world cup on 12/26 is actually being moved to Zolder (site of the 2002 World Championships). Yes, the article is in Dutch. The Euro has dropped preciptiously vs the dollar, the biggest drop since 1999. Banking crises throughout the world are the cause of this drop so we'll see if any bene...

Jon was so fast through the barriers he is just a streak on my camera. These guys kept offering Jon a Bratwurst during the race. Jon said he considered taking it and then handing it off to me... The solo win. The aspen were beautifully colored in the Rockies this weekend and we were lucky to spend time up there enjoying the sights. The race promoter doubled the prize fund for day 2 (yay!) and also included a gift certificate for 2 nights in a Breckenridge condo. I sense some snowboarding in our futures- especially since Leah, as a Colorado 5th grader, is entitled to ski for free throughout the state this year.

Posted by Mr Pooks. I'm up I'm Frisco with the family for a weekend of high altitude 'cross racing. Today did not dissapoint in the weather departement, with a nice cold rain starting up just as the race began. Paco from Velonews had a blistering start on the opening uphill, while I settled into the chase groups trying to shake the cobwebbs from my legs. A few laps later, it was just me and Paco after the guy from Mafia crashed himself out of the lead group trying to bunny hop the triple log barriers; amazingly, he did this two laps in a row! Halfway in, the legs started to come around, and I went to the front, managing to get a gap through a technical section. Though I kept telling mysrlf to ride safe in the last few laps, I still managed to slide out on a rough corner, but my gap was big enough to hold on for the win. Looks like tomorrow will bring some snow; unfortunately, it sounds like Paco may boycott the race due to the shockingly low prize money put up by the o...

Mudandcowbells offered this great shirt through Cafe Press and I'm wearing it to Frisco this weekend to cheer Jon on. Thanks Greg!