July 4th 2008!
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! The 4th also happens to be Andy’s birthday (60 this year, but don’t tell him I told you!) so it’s always a big party down at their beach cottage. Unfortunately this year the motorboat was stuck to the trailer (the people who painted the bottom put it down wet apparently) so it was more of a hang our and eat BBQ party than the typical play in/on the water affair. For us that was quite fine as we had Elias with us for the first time, so it was a fun day of hanging out and letting everyone else hold him and pass him around.
When we got home, it’s was just in time to watch our local neighborhood fireworks. Our neighborhood lines the edge of a private local course. They have fireworks for the 4th, but shoot them off over the beach down the street from our house. Unfortunately it was high tide this year, so I shot from the end of the street, but it was still really cool to walk less than 2 blocks to watch fireworks in what’s basically our backyard!
RI Airshow 2008
Went to the RI Airshow on Saturday. We had a few members of my photography site come over to shoot it as well, then we had an awesome BBQ on the deck afterwards. We all had a ton of fun, and got some decent images even though it was hazy. Most of us also got sunburned pretty bad as well as we all forgot lotion in all the excitement. Enjoy the shots below!
Tuesday night mayhem?
Went out racing last night. Well “racing”. We drifted across the bay in NO WIND but actually, the boat sailed pretty well for the little wind we did have provided we kept it as heeled as possible. Our start was a non event with NO wind and we just sat there… There was an awesome storm system moving in the whole time and we sat…. and waited… and watched… and waited… Well then the wind filled in and we figured we should get back to the dock ASAP. We happened to go by photographer Amory Ross in his powerboat on the way back in and he shared some great shots he got of us with me. Thanks Amory!!! Be sure to check out his awesome site and his blog. He’s got some great shots from the Bermuda race start as well.
Elias week 12 update!
Well Elias is almost 3 months old now (he will probably be by the time you read this!). He can now roll over (see the video below for half a rolling over, he’s too quick to get on film!). He loves to talk with himself about who knows what. He’s almost giggling (we think he is, but until he strings them together who knows what it is). Most importantly, Nikki goes back to work tomorrow (Monday). We’re all pretty excited about that. Debbie will be over in the morning to start Elias’ day care. Nikki will be getting up early (as usual) but to go to work! Should be a fun week. Oh, and Mom and Dad on avalanche should be back either Monday night or early Tuesday morning.
We managed to go over to Katie and Matt’s on Monday which was quite nice. Hayden and Elias look an awful lot alike which is interesting. It’s also fun because the gap between Nikki and Katie is almost the same as Elias and Hayden (but in the opposite direction). Hayden and Elias are exactly 14 months apart though, so it’s great to go over there and see what we’re in for. 
I bought a bike!
I decided to get a mountain bike for myself for my 30th Bday. I pooled all my Bday money together and picked it up at REI with a 20% off member discount (1 item in March). It’s nothing crazy, but it’s been a lot of fun for me to ride. I have an issue with exercising… I just can’t get too into it if it’s not fun. Skiing is fun. Sailing is fun. Working out at the gym isn’t so much… So I decided to get a new mountain bike again to ride on the trails near my house. I have 2 areas nearby that are perfect. One makes for a ~6 mile loop I try to hammer out after work, the other is goddard park. I try to ride my close loop, then ride over to the park for a 14 mile loop (I’m looking to make it ~15 with some more trails). That’s my weekend loop. The bike is a 29er which means it’s wheels are 29″ over the usual 26″. It makes for a faster bike when it is on the road and it also goes over bump/ruts/stumps better. More importantly it also makes the frame a bit longer so it fits me better. I’ve also been really impressed with the disk brakes on this bike. It’s my first bike with disks and boy are they nice.
I bought this bike because I had a mountain bike when I lived in MT. I sold it when we moved home to RI thinking I wouldn’t have anywhere to ride it. Well when we bought the house I found a ton of local trails. I’ve also been breaking spokes on my road bike, so it’s not that much fun to ride for me (RI pot holes and me being fat = broken spokes). So it’s been a lot of fun and I already know I’ll be likely to keep this up since I really enjoy it.