Our Life in Oly

Monday, February 14, 2011

Betsy's Visit to Seattle

We were fortunate that Betsy (Eric's little sister) had a meeting at the University of Washington in January, so she was able to spend a few days with us.

Eric and Betsy near Seattle's Pike Place Market.

Another yummy dinner brought to you by Chef Eric.

Carmen hanging out with her Auntie Betsy.

While Betsy was at her meeting in Seattle, Eric, Carmen and I visited some of our favorite places in the city including Revolutions Coffee, a walk around Green Lake, Theo Chocolate, and lunch at Blue C Sushi.

Oh yeah, and we were lucky to get into see the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum on it's last day at the museum. It was crowded, but still pretty neat.

Brandee's Cyclocross 2010 Season

After a successful but demanding 2010 road cycling season, I started training for cyclocross. Early in the cyclocross season it became apparent that my head wasn't really in the game and it needed to be because I was racing at the elite level after upgrading last season. I competed for 1/2 the cyclocross season at the elite level then decided to not race the rest of the season. I was simply burnt out. I recently decided to not race at all in the upcoming 2011 road and cyclocross seasons. I'm enjoying my break from competitive cycling which has given me time for a lot of other things. Looking back I'm really happy with the success I had in the amateur racing circuit, especially in cyclocross, where I got to compete in a professional international (UCI) race.

I love this picture. It was taken after my best race of the 2010 cyclocross season: 6th place in the small but competitive elite class in the Seattle Cyclocross Series.

This picture was from that same very very muddy race...

...and more mud!

Michelle (Little Red Riding Hood) and me (Wonder Woman) before the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships. Notice how clean we look!

My Wonder Woman costume went straight to the garbage after the race! It was a blast, but probably the muddiest race I've ever been in.

This picture was taken after Starcrossed, my first professional level UCI race. The race was a surreal experience. I realized at the starting line that the woman next to me is pictured on a poster that I have hung up in my cube, professional racer Wendy Simms. This was it. After years of racing cylcocross I had made it. I raced well, finishing 6 minutes back on the same lap as the winner, Katerina Nash. I didn't get lapped! I was so nervous, but so glad that I did it.

2010 Miller Oyster Christmas

On Christmas we had our 4th annual Miller (west coast) Oyster party with friends and neighbors. It's definitely becoming a delicious tradition.

Four kinds of oysters cooked 3 ways: raw, grilled, and fried. Yum!

The Party!

Yummy other foods too...

It was a star wars theme with the kids as our Jedi's.

Eric's Birthday

Eric turned 38 in November 2010. We spent the day in Seattle as we have done on previous birthdays. It was really fun.

Here's the birthday boy with some of his presents.

Eric at the Seattle Art Museum's outdoor sculpture park.

Another installation at the sculpture park.

So cute! Eric and his birthday otter.

Catch Up

It's been awhile since we blogged, so here goes the catch up. I recently organized our digital photos from 2010 and early 2011 and so included some of those photos in this post.

In early October we attended Oyster Fest with Dad and friends Jeff and Merey. The weather was great, the oysters were wonderful, and the place was hopping. This was our 11th year going to Oyster Fest.

In September, Kim came to visit Washington from Australia. It was great to visit and catch up with her and her baby boy Kobe.

This picture is from my niece Kira's visit with us this past summer. She came out with us as Eric competed in a local SUP race. Kira and I paddled on a SUP board sitting down. It was really fun and Kira was super adventurous.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Holla' Days

After a long, fun weekend in Port Townsend helped us get into the holiday spirit, we decided to put up our Christmas tree. Enjoy...

Sunday, December 5, 2010

DeceptionPassDash

Even though he's had an unusual, two-week long 'functional' chest cold, Eric decided he still wanted to try the annual DeceptionPassDash. So we all loaded up and drove north to Fidalgo Island and met up with over 170 other paddlers for the six mile paddle through a pass that has some of the swiftest tidal currents in the northwest. The weather and conditions couldn't have been more perfect and Bowman Bay and Deception Pass State Park are absolutely picturesque.

Watching Eric at the Start; Carmen loved scrambling on the trails at the Park - the steeper the better