It has been tough making the time to update this blog. Scott is on facebook and has been keeping in touch with a lot of people that way. I am still trying to pay back some of the sleep deprivation from the last 10 months! Kiera is finally sleeping through the night for the past week or two now. It is amazing how much better I feel overall. Scott and I were able to ride 90 miles the Sunday on our road bikes and did another 60 mile or so ride yesterday. Thank God for grandparents that are willing to watch Kiera while we ride. Sunday was my first road ride in almost 2 years; my poor bike had dust on it! I forgot how nice and easy it is to pedal. I feel like I have just started my spring training. Too bad it is the end of July.

Our last race was the Lincoln Park Mtn Bike Challenge here in Duluth a few weeks ago. This was a first annual event complete with music, food, etc held in the park next to this beautiful creek in Lincoln Park. The start of the race was all uphill for expert riders; about 9 minutes or so. Then the course hit the Piedmont trail system that was just put in a year or so ago. It is rocky and bumpy, but a really nice trail. Better riding in my opinion at race pace than for a slow, easy ride. Scott and I both won, which was really nice. Kiera had a blast hanging out with Grandpa Irv (Scott's dad). She loves to ride on his shoulders and check out all the people and surroundings.

Scott and I were planning on racing the MNSCS race at Elk River, and even prerode the day before, but neither of us felt that great preriding. We decided instead to ride our road bikes from Scott's mom's house on raceday while she watched Kiera (see photo with Kiera and Grandma walking). Our 2.5 hr ride turned into a 4+ hr ride. We didn't realize that one of the roads we took was so long without any roads to take a short cut. So of course, we didn't have any food, no cell phone and both of us got really tired and crawled in.

My next race will be Ore to Shore while Scott watches Kiera. He doesn't enjoy the sand and I kinda like it. I expect the race to be pretty brutal for me and if I can finish that will be nice. My race speed thus far feels like it is missing a few gears this year, but I feel really lucky that I can still go fast enough to win sometimes. We love hanging out in Marquette and I am looking forward to jumping into the lake after the race. (I say that every year and then I get my toes in the cold water and chicken out. I am sure Kiera will enjoy it though!)

Kiera is doing really well. She is crawling all over the place and has been now for months. She pulls herself up and cruises furniture, the cupboards, and while hanging onto us. She loves to be part of the action and loves to see new places, people, things, etc. She can stand on her own for several seconds and can take a step while falling into me if I am sitting on the ground. She loves to use her pointer finger to point at things, and loves to take all the books off her book shelf multiple times per day. My mom just gave me a barn and farm animals/tractor, etc for her to play with. It's fun to watch Kiera make the rounds to all her favorite toys, including opening and shutting her bedroom door on her own. She just started waving bye-bye, but is pretty selective when using it.

Our little family has also been strawberry and raspberry picking, along with taking a lot of walks on the Duluth Lakewalk (photo above with Kiera on Scott's shoulders). Our garden is starting to produce peas and beans will be along soon. Our lettuce garden is still producing. Next year I hope to have an even bigger garden.