A Story in (mostly) Pictures

This is a story about Kite Skiing.

It wasn't a super successful trip because of wind speed (too much) and wind direction (from the north. East is best).

Arrival at Fairfield.

Harnessing up. I'm not sure I would want to be THAT connected to a huge kite in the wind.

Laying out kites.

Justin wastes no time. He doesn't need help. Doesn't wait for anybody.

Justin and kite.

Brady can't wait.

Setting up.

A good hold on him in case of strong take off.

Kite needs help...Ready. Set........

GO!

And stop.

Unsuccessful launch.

Let's try again.

Darren holding on HARD to Brady. One second later, they BOTH went airborne! Wind is picking up!

@#%^#$%!

Glad Brady is not in the fence with kite. Wind getting too strong!

Tears of frustration.

Spike that kite down! Wind picking up even more.

By this time I am wondering why I have let my boys get into this.

Justin lands his own kite (10m) because of too much wind. Will give Brady's (8m) a try.

Fold up Justin's kite. HOLD it down!

Putting snow on kite to keep it grounded.

Justin's turn with the blue one. Maybe he can tame it.

This is where I have a heart attack. The wind is obviously too strong, the kite is not cooperating. Justin is sailing along the barbed wire tooooooo close for comfort. I see visions of him being drawn into it.

He gets just past it and lands that dang kite. I breathe a sigh of relief. In talking to him later I am so impressed.

He said he was thinking, "Just get it past the fence, just get it past the fence!" He knew what had to be done and he was able to keep the state of mind to get it done!

It is hard to show in pictures how windy it was. Wind is your friend in this sport. Just not this much wind.

Now I have the darn blue kite and NO ONE is getting it again today!

Paige carrying gear back to the car.

A cool snow in the wind shot.

Brady saving the day. We almost drove off without these!

My Kind of Date

This is my bag packed for a date with Darren. What kind of date requires bike shoes AND hairspray? A good one, that's what.

This was a few months back (I'm catching up). Darren got us an appt. at a local bike shop to race against each other on a system that measures your cadence, heart rate, and power out put in watts. You hook up your own bike and watch yourself (an animated person) ride on a screen. When the course climbs a hill it actually puts a brake on your rear wheel so you actually FEEL like you are climbing the hill. When you go down the hill it speeds your tire up so you FEEL like you are flying down. It was fun and hard. Darren totally beat me.

The cool thing about it is that you can watch the monitor and determine at which cadence you put the most wattage out with the lowest heart rate, or effort, on your part. On the flats mine is between 90-95. Climbing is just a little lower. I try to remember this on the road. Who wants to waste energy?

We rode an 18 mile course, changed, (there is even a shower there), and went to Cafe Rio for lunch. What more could a girl want?

Lunch got cut a little short by a phone call. So it turned into I'll go here, you go there-the divide and try and conquer routine that is so often our life.

Life is just more fun with Darren. It has been that way from the start.

Watching for Kayakers

Darren finally got to run the Murtaugh tonight. It has been running for a while and kayak buddies have been on the river EVERY night for weeks now.

Paige and Justin ran up to look over the canyon at the connection wave to watch for them. They were gone for 1 1/2 hrs. They came running back at dark. They hadn't seen them.

What?

My worry gene didn't even kick in. Funny the things you get used to after almost 18 years of marriage.

Justin took these pics tonight of his sister the Ninja(?) and the canyon.

Darren made it back at 9:30. Got a late start. Waited for Ted. Paddled off in the dark. Ran the upper section just below Star Falls for the first time.

Loved every minute of it.

I am Raising Circus Performers

If you think you know what is going on in this picture, and you know that it is going on in my backyard, you are probably right.

On Purpose This Time

THIS time the fire was on purpose, unlike THIS time. I shudder at the thought.

We had some "stuff" to burn, as did some friends. The weather was perfect, there was NO wind. Yes, you heard me right. No wind. Justin came just inside the door, his shoes were dirty, and asked for a lighter, and then for a strawberry. The strawberry has nothing to do with this story other than it was really cute the way he asked for it. I had a container of the biggest, best strawberries sitting out on the counter. When I gave him a puzzled look about the strawberry request, as in, "what are you going to do with a lighter AND a strawberry?", he licked his teeth in his trying not to smile way, and said he just couldn't resist them they look so good.

Anyway, he then went about setting dozens of little fires, guiding the fire to burn weeds and other dead ugly stuff all the way to the cliffs. He did such a good job at it that we couldn't decide if he was showing a tendency toward being a firefighter, or a pyromaniac. We all smelled like smoke, the haze lingered longer than the neighbors wished, and the kids got in bed waaaaay to late. Spring is on its way!

Annual Ski with Grandpa Day

We love skiing with Grandpa. We get to do it once a year. This was the best powder day EVER!

It started off a little rough. We got up there and I had forgotten my ski pants. In Idaho. Nice. I ended up buying a pair in the ski shop. It was too nice of a day to not ski! I bought men's pants that one of the boys will probably be wearing next year.

Justin was here too, but he headed straight from the lift to Bishop's Bowl. That kid is a one track mind skiier. Friends don't exist on powder days. A little frustrating, but true.

Paige only lasted half day. It was a lot steeper than she is used to skiing, not to mention the POWDER! She did great and can ski anything if she just trusts herself! So I took her in, Grandpa skiied the lower half of the mountain, and the guys skiied hard all day.

Have You Seen Brady?

While in Provo for Spring Break Brady and Paige really wanted to go ice skating. Paige went last year with Grandpa. Grandpa is a darn good ice skater. His list of talents never ceases to amaze us. I guess growing up in the land of perpetual winter taught him a few things.

Brady has never been ice skating. Brady is good at everything. Immediately. We all know it. We all accept it. There is just something about this kid athletically. One time at the doctor's office, upon listening to Brady's heart, the pediatrician told me that he had an "athletic" heart beat. When I asked him what that meant, he told me that he had listened to thousands of heartbeats, and this one just had some "get up and go" in it. That's Brady, I thought. And, have you ever seen this kid ski? Play baseball? (even when his parents don't spend time practicing with him? Poor kid) Some people just have "it."

Well, Brady met his match on the ice.

It was so funny to watch him. Each member of my family came to me, separately, and commented on Brady and his skating "ability."

Paige: Have you seen Brady? He looks funny.

Justin: Have you seen Brady? It's weird that he's not very good at this. It's funny to see him struggle at something!

Darren: Have you seen Brady? I can't believe it's this hard for him. You never see Brady like that!

Brady is good at laughing at himself and was the first to admit that ice skating was a little more than a challenge for him. He's my favorite kid, dont' tell the others.