Summer fun

One of the hardest parts about being pregnant (for me) is forgoing group rides, which is how I get a lot of my exercise and adult social interaction. I'm not quite back on the bike yet. Maybe next week? But I think about it all the time.

My team, HUP, periodically hosts rides where we just go out in the woods and have fun riding 'cross bikes. Then we enjoy coffee at Ride Studio Cafe afterwards. This ride was in June 2011. I've seen a few others get organized since then and I keep wishing I could go!

I rode the Grand Fundo in July 2011 with past and now again, current teammate Brenda. I was so unprepared but my friend Brad told me to go slow and eat real food. I followed his advice and made it to the finish just fine. It was so fun to ride with Brenda again!

I finished up the summer of 2011 with Tour of the Unattended. My team, HUP, helped put it on, so I got to help select some of the stages. It was so much fun and amazingly, I won the Prospect Hill climb, probably because the strongest rider waited until after dark and wasn't sure where the finish was. I should also mention that there were only three or four women, but we still all had a lot of fun.

 

Here I am with the family at the Ride Studio Cafe-hosted after-party.

 

I hope to be back on the bike soon. I already registered for two 'cross races!

Big House Project: Part 11

Today, we have the conclusion of the big house project. It was mostly finished up last fall, but the final finishing touch was done this spring.

Ed did all the electrical work and the town inspector was quite impressed. :)

Ed finished up the railings.

Then, he started the interior finishing, with lots of supervision from Elliot. He looks so small in this photo. He would have been about 18 months old.

Dr. Horrible installed our insulation.

My dad came to visit last summer and helped with the drywall.

More insulation, this time underneath.

Drywall almost done.

We continued the tile from the kitchen into the addition. The bright orange dining room has since been painted a more subdued creamy tan color. I miss the orange but we'll bring it back by changing out the curtains and the seat covers.

Ed finished up the deck railings as well. We've been paralyzed by indecision when it comes to deck furniture (everything seems to look really cheesy or costs more than furniture that is inside our house), so this is a bicycle track and soccer field at the moment.

Here's the sunroom, completed.

The kitties love this room.

We love IKEA, obviously. These are Billy bookcases set up for winter coat and toy storage.

This was the final project, closing the gaping hole over the fireplace. After hours of searching, I found the right piece of art at art.com and Ed mounted it on wood and hinges.

We love the fireplace, but getting it hooked up was such a pain. Ed spent a lot of time calling the gas company and I had to resort to Twitter to get them to finally come out and hook up the gas. The whole process took four months. Monopoly.

As a reminder, here's what the house looked like before -- basically the same as when we bought it.

Here's the after: