Monday, April 19, 2010

Very pleasant in Pleasanton...but traveling sucks!

We spent the 5th through the 14th in Northern California, Pleasanton, CA to be exact. Pleasanton is about a 1/2 hour drive east of San Francisco. Kate was sent out west by Kimberly-Clark for work and Joslyn and I decided to joined her for the 10 day trip. Most days Joslyn and I hung out and went sight seeing. Couple of the things we did were visit state parks, where we climbed to the top of Mount Diablo and had 360 degree views of the area. We also visited many vibrant downtowns in the area such as Danville, Livermore and Pleasanton. Over the weekend Kate was able to get in a race in Menlo Park. Sadly it rained the entire time and Kate crashed twice!!! She was OK but was a little upset because she was feeling really good for the race. After the race we spent the rest of the day downtown San Francisco with our good friend Ryan! Ryan had just recently moved, so we got to see his fancy high rise apartment(nice view by the way). The rest of the day was spent walking around seeing the sights. I'll let the picture do the rest of the talking.

Traveling caused me the most stress. On the way out I flew solo and Kate was with Joslyn. Kate's plane left ATL at 10am however mine didn't leave until 3pm. So I sat at the airport and waited. Once I left I flew to Charlotte and then to San Francisco. It was 9:30pm in SFO when I arrived. Sadly my rental car company was closed and I was stranded at the airport. Since Kate had baby I flew with all the luggage. Needless to say I wasn't too happy to have to lug all the luggage back up the 4th floor where I could rent a car from a different company. After all that I made it to the hotel by 11:30pm (2:30am back in ATL). I was tired and that was the getting to SFO story. Coming home I had Joslyn and Kate's bike. Our flight from SFO was cancelled and instead flew to D.C. the upside to that is we flew on a 777 and it only took 4 hours to fly across the country. The down side was it's a big plane and it took then forever to unload our car seat. As you guessed we missed our connection and had to spend the night in D.C. The next day we flew out at 8am. Sorry not that easy, the plane was delayed an hour and we flew out at 9am. All of this really took its toll on me. I just wanted to get home!!! Got to ATL took the train from the airport and of course I didn't get the direct train. So once again we made a transfer. We finnally made it home by 1pm, just in time for my 2pm doctors appointment(which took 3 hours).

The view from atop Mount Diablo

Joslyn headed to the lookout

Joslyn and I at the top

Sierra Mountains behind us(maybe)
Big tree - Little people

You don't realize how big they are until you stand next to one!

Joslyn and her new best friend

The only picture I got of Kate during the race

Kate and Alcatraz

Pier 39

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Birthdays and Bike Racing


Wow, another month has past and we only updates once! Well let see in the past month Pete went home to see family and friends while also celebrating his birthday. Kate was in Wisconsin for work:( but did get to spend time with Pete on his Birthday! The family went to Lambeau Field and had dinner at Curly's Pub. Most of the time spent at home was with family. The grandparents love seeing their baby girl!

Last weekend was Kate's first couple of races of the season. This took us to Tuscaloosa, AL for the Tour de Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is nice college bar town. Day one was a criterium style race downtown around said bars! Kate was not feeling particularly well and had picked up a head cold while we were back home. Needless to say she struggled a bit but fought through it and managed to pass 2 girls in the sprint to the line. Day 2 took us out to Lurleen State Park for the road race. It was 30 miles of rolling hills. Kate was still a little under the weather but was feeling a little better overall. Unfortunately she flatted on the first of 3 laps! The wheel exchange was slow and she lost too much time to make up. I also forgot to mention it was raining cats and dogs! She persevered and finished the day alone and in the rain:( On a brighter note Kate's teammate won the event!

Here are a few pictures from the past month... in no particular order.

At the start


Warming up


Uncle Ryan & the girls


Cousin Iylee looking cute


Grammy and Jos


Lambeau Field!


Inside the atrium @ Lambeau


Vince!


Arrrrrgh!



Grandpa and Jos