In gratitude to those now serving

This weekend was quite eventful.  On Saturday, Matt, Kari Pettibone and I did the Group Health Inland Empire century ride in Richland, Washington.   That is 4 hours from Seattle on the other side of the Cascade Mountains.  It's dry and flat over there, very much unlike the Puget Sound area where we live.

The highlight of the day was when we stopped at a soldiers memorial park.  We took a picture by a monument that read "IN GRATITUDE TO THOSE NOW SERVING".   Matt thought of Bucky Morris, a friend and former lacrosse player from the Naval Academy, who is now overseas.  This one is for you Bucky - we wish you well and a safe return home soon.

They have these plants over there called goat heads.  According to Wikipedia, its a plant in the Asteraceae family--whatever that is.  These plants are like nails to a bicycle tire.  Matt got 3 flats in the first 25 miles and one of them not only punctured his tire tube, but also ripped an inch gash in his tire.  Thanks to Dave the SAG volunteer, we were taken to a bike shop and got back on the road eventually.  But we had to cut the course a bit short in order to finish on time and still have Dave available in case we hit another goat head plant!   Thankfully no more goat heads and it was a great day.

Today was Amaya Williams' 5th birthday.  After a delicious but unhealthy lunch together I took her shopping in the Southcenter mall in Seatac, WA.   I gave her $50 and told her she was on a budget.   I wasn't sure this would work, since I wasn't sure I would stick to the plan and, if she was anything like her daddy Jesse, budget wouldn't be a concept she would understand ever!   Turns out she bought a stuffed animal.   It was an elephant and she named her Tusky.  And.....it was in budget.   Although I was shocked to learn that a stuffed animal costs $45 nowadays, I was very happy that our first math lesson was a success.   Amaya went home with $5!

And oh, by the way, we leave for Santa Rosa two weeks from tomorrow.

To the limit,

/km/