Growing Babes

The last and most exciting thing to share is the kids. We were so grateful for having the family travel with these two so that Ricky and I could see how their personalities are unfolding. Hardy is still a Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic (note the PJs). A few times I thought he might be striking up a conversation with me, but he was actually rehashing Thomas stories aloud. He's got those things memorized backwards and forwards. So while Hardy is impressively meticulous, Maggie is simply an animal; she'll crawl anywhere and eat anything. That's right, they're busting up gender stereotypes left and right. At one point I pretended to be attacking them both. Maggie looked up with a huge smile and started racing toward me. Hardy raised his eyebrows, stepped aside and pointed me toward Maggie! It was priceless. We miss them and can't wait to see them again soon.

Mmm...Food

No Hardy vacation is complete without a little overindulgence. Ricky & I took the family to some of our latest and/or greatest finds. This included Neptune Oyster bar, Hi Rise Bread Co, Beauty's Pizza, Basta Pasta, and all the way to Ipswich for some fried scallops (my favorite), haddock, clams, etc.

Red Sox (14) - Yankees (1)

Ricky's dad treated us to Red Sox tickets. Better yet, they were Red Sox - Yankees tickets. Even better still, the Sox annihilated the Yankees. This was a total stroke of good fortune (attending a win), since the Sox lost both other games that weekend, and Red Sox fans are not nearly so much fun when they're losing.

New Hampshire 2009

Excuse us for the HUGE gaps in posts. You must be getting dreadfully anxious to see how we've been doing. Wait no more; we've finally uploaded some of our photos, so prepare yourself for rapid-fire posting. The first is a tribute to our beautiful neighboring state of NH. We've made it up there 2 more times since the triathlon.


This trip was to Winnipesaukee, thanks to generous friends that played host at their incredible retreat. Thank you friends! Here is one of our feasts. Yum.

Happy Father's Day

I think no one could question these two men are our biological fathers, but more than that, no one would question that they have fathered us in a way other children could only hope for. We love you dads. We are thankful for all you have given us in life and the example you provide for us to emulate. Love, Ricky and Lindsay

Aperture

Ricky & I are on vacation this week in New Hampshire, and since his ileotibial band is irritated, we can't do much hiking. This has given me time to work on some hobbies, first of which is getting to know and love Aperture. I spent some time with Miles and Mor Mor. I hope you like it mom!

Ricky the Rhino

Ricky's first ever triathlon was completed on Saturday. He was awesome! After giving up on tennis and soccer for staying fit in New England, Ricky has turned himself into a triathlete. He jumped right into the Olympic distance, which was ~1mi swim, ~25mi bike, ~6mi run. Not only was it fun to see Ricky compete, but there were so many other people out there of all ages (one guy 69!), one paraplegic, and one visually impaired (rode tandem bike). I can't get over how impressive these people are, especially Ricky.

The Swim: This was Ricky's steepest learning curve, having never swam for sport, but we both had the most fun with it. After I smoked him in the pool, he started contemplating the bananahammock, but thankfully, we learned that the options are plentiful, and the best one for triathletes is a padded spandex (swim-bike-run) suit. We also learned that without a wetsuit, most people can't finish the race because they're so cold. I almost fell out of my chair the first time I saw him in it. By the way, he's definitely wearing it to the next batman movie.

The Bike: He trained mostly indoors and on an old clunker (so old they don't make that size wheel anymore), and at the last minute he decided to risk being a poser and rent one of the sleek triathlon bikes from a local shop. It was a sweet bike, one of the ones you can lift with 2 fingers. My favorite part was the big smile he had after completing the race.

The Run: Ricky irritated his ileotibial band about a month ago, and he hasn't been able to get it under control, so he had to walk most of the run, but he finished with a smile and a somersault for the crowd.

The Rhino: There is a special heavyweight group in triathlons, tactfully named "Athenas" for women >150lbs and "Clydesdales" for men >200lbs. Ricky's hoping to establish a new group, the Rhino.