...and the blood to prove it!

I feel like a real Coloradan now. Saturday I bought my first mountain bike and tested it out this week. Monday I rode around Barr Lake which is about 20 minutes north of my house in Brighton. Stupid easy trail, but it let me adjust the bike a little.

Then today my friend Ryan from work and I went up to Evergreen and rode the Three Sisters trail. It totally kicked my butt. All the biking I've done over the years proved no help in preparing me for the world of pedaling up a mountain. Even with all the roading I've got under my belt and all the charity races we did in college, I still felt like I'd never sat on a bike seat before.

The technique is so totally different - you have to sit differently, pedal differently, gear differently - but it's so much fun! The fast drop down is completely worth the agony going up. But the trail did try to win today. We were going downhill and came to a switchback. I tried to pedal it but took a total digger on the turn. Good thing I was wearing my helmet (always) because my head landed on a rock, my knees were all bloody and I ripped a fingernail off. But the worst part is I had chapstick in my pocket, so now I have the perfect tube-sized bruise on my thigh surrounded by road rash.

And yet I can't wait to get out there and do it again. (And hopefully not suck as much wind next time.) Woo-hoo!

New Arrival

Joshua Richard Beeney
June 10, 2006
9:17am 7lbs.12oz.

I thank you God for most this amazing day.

For perfect feet and even smaller hands that reach out for my own.

For squinched up cheeks and cashmere hair that already have my heart.

For quiet sighs and sleeping breaths that remind me breathing's all it takes to be a miracle.

For tired Mom and beaming Dad who's gift of love has only just begun.

For the patient months of waiting for this perfect babe that proves this to be the best day yet.

I thank you God for most this amazing day,
For the blessing that is a child.

A Michelle Kind of Day

Saturday was definitely a Michelle kind of day. Our dear cousin got a job for the summer up in Estes Park working for the National Park Service doing children's education programs - how exciting! She officially moves up there today, but we spent Saturday together as it was the only day we both had available! Busy girls!

We went out for dinner - mmmmm...Red Lobster... - and then went to the Denver museum to see and IMAX film about Mystic India. Very intriguing and of course that theater is awesome!


Then we drove up to Boulder for the best ice cream ever! It's called Glacier Ice Cream and it's all homemade. Well worth the drive, and we got to chat and sing in the car like we usually do!

I'm going to miss not seeing her around all the time, but this gives me an excuse to head up to the mountains more often to see her. Plus she'll have the opportunity to scope out some great new trails for us to hike!