Funny Face

 

This is face that Katie used to make all the time. It was usually accompanied by a lot of heavy sniffy-breathing. Very cute.

Fall Photoshoot

As you can see from the other photoshoot post, Scott really enjoyed using the camera.
I got it back from him long enough to snap this one of him under our tree in the front yard.



Then we went off to the ravine in Royal Oak, with sun on our faces and a scary looking storm on the horizon. It made for some great contrasts in the photos -- right up until the wind came wailing down on us.

Scotty at the pond

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Fall Photoshoot (By Scott)

With most of the leaves changing colour, we decided to get out and take some pictures at our place and at the ravine near R's parents' place. However, before I could take very many of Scott, he insisted in trying out the camera:





Some more pictures by Scott taken at R's parents' place later on:

The Hardest Eight Minutes of Cycling I Have Ever Done

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Ride for the Cure 2010 - Calgary

 

We showed up in boxing robes and gloves to ride bike #47 out of 50 teams competing in our 1-hour block. The boxing gear was because we have some competition going among the various offices of our company and our office has won the last two years in a row (at least, that's what I hear -- I just started here a month ago). Major bragging rights were on the line.

 

The race is set for eight minutes, and you ride a stationary exercise bike as far as you can go in that time. You say to yourself, "Eight minutes isn't very long to ride a bike, especially with no resistance." Well, it's a pretty long time to be sprinting faster than your legs think they should be able to go.

 

I was set to be the last of five riders, and the first four guys really churned it out. I came out fast and then barely held it together for the middle few minutes, boosting back up over 70 km/h for the last minute to finish with 8.5 km. I recall doing a lot of screaming in the last 30 seconds. After that, I went out of the event tent and knelt on the ground with my face buried in a wire mesh bench to try to keep from puking. That got the attention of the reporters, who came along and interviewed me. Sadly for them, no on-camera vomit.

 

In the end, we won the heat for team distance, and team fundraising, with two of our guys taking the gold and silver individual distance medals (9.7 km and 8.9 km). Now I can't wait for next year, to see if I can get to 9 km.

Pedal With a Cause

I am going to pedal a stationary bike as fast as I can go for 8 minutes this Friday. I'm going to do it for the children.

Together with my coworkers, we are raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation by racing our stationary bikes for 8 minutes each in a team race. We try to to outdo all the other teams in distance covered and dollars raised. I've been training by riding my bike to work as usual, but any donations you could make to my cause would be appreciated.

CLICK TO DONATE

Young Kids and Their Baggy Clothes

We were hanging out in the back yard and it seemed a bit cold for Katie to stay very long without a coat, but she and Scott were having such a good time that I didn't want to interrupt by taking her back inside, even for a minute. The solution:



We borrowed Scott's hoodie for her. What a kind big brother he is to give up his jacket. Of course, he hardly needs it. He seems to have the same kind of internal thermostat that his father inherited from Grandma W -- the boy gets red in the face from colouring too quickly with a crayon (mild exaggeration).

Ocean Princess

We have been fortunate enough to have friends and family give and/or loan us so many baby clothes that we really haven't had to buy a thing for Katie. It is super-helpful and it also makes for a bit of a fun surprise every time she moves up a size and we open up the mystery box to see what kinds of stuff are inside.



I came home the other day and thought this particular shirt was hilarious, so R obliged me with a photograph of it. This pink shirt has a white octopus in the center, with the caption: "Ocean Princess". I loved it because I have never associated an octopus with princesses before. On the other hand, an octopus has as much right as anyone to be princess over the ocean, so why not? Either way, it's super cute, despite the look Katie has on her face in the second picture. This appears to be her nasal sniffing thing that she does.



Perhaps this Ocean Princess has trouble breathing on land.

Katie Learning to Crawl

After a lot of time bobbing up and down on her hands and knees without actually moving anywhere, Katie finally just plopped back town on her tummy and dragged herself across the floor the old-fashioned way. As is evident in the video footage, she likes to lead with the right arm all the time.



I think it's funny how she almost gave up crawling to the musical toy until R moved it a little closer. I also think it's funny how Scotty munches on a snack quietly in the background until Katie finally reaches the finish line and he let's out a "Woo-hoo!"