Ski Day!

Nick convinced me that we needed to take a day to ourselves, ditch out on work and go skiing.  It was such a great idea.  We had good snow, no lines and no rain.  A great April tradition! !

Nick's 30th Birthday

Like last year Nick spent his birthday on the mountain skiing all day and night. This year the only difference was that this was his 30th birthday and we decided to make anyone crazy enough to join us come celebrate. I was just talking to friends and it seems to be a theme two years running that I become deathly ill at Nick's birthday parties. Last year - without any alcoholic assistance - I got the stomach flu and well...you can imagine. This year thankfully it was just the normal flu; nothing Day Quill didn't sufficiently mask. Let me say attempting to ski for a 24 hour period is both the stupidest and most fun thing I have ever done. We had a pretty good turn out given the mid-busy season timing and the birthday evite titled "Ski Marathon." Nick thankfully decided to take this year's competition less seriously so there were many breaks. In fact we spent most of the day on the back side of the mountain. It turned out to just be me and the guys during the day - I got to drink out of a flask on the chair lift and they even pretended that I was keeping up with them! Seriously good times. Here are the men! (Nick, John, Ryan and Pete)
The weather was a little foggy in the morning but it basically burned off by mid-day; perfect weather for my first time up in three seasons. I don't have too many pictures but in summary there was skiing, hamburgers, chili, skiing, bar lounging, hot tottie & beer drinking and some more skiing. That was just during day light!!

After the sun went down more friends joined us and the night skiing ensued. Codie's famous cup cakes filled our belly's but it turns out when you are exhausted with another 12 hours of skiing left, drinking the case of beer you brought up in a back pack just doesn't sound appealing. No worries though we rallied. My last runs were around 11pm and before I collapsed on (and later) under a picnic table in the lodge for about five hours. Here are the boys an hour or so before I passed out. You should have seen them at breakfast.



I am told that Ryan and Nick came back for an hour or two sleep but I was certainly not conscious. I woke up around 5am when the boys came in and after breakfast we all went out for a run at sun rise. AMAZING!


Think about it, what other time can you ski at sunrise? This made the whole crazy 24 hours worth it!! Nick said he had a blast so I believe we can call this birthday a success. We were home by 11am but no worries, Deven was well taken care of. In a couple of years (maybe not for a Ski Marathon) Deven will be up there with us...here is proof!!

Nick's Birthday (part three)

Per my previous posts we have really been celebrating Nick's 29th birthday for the last few weeks. First with Nick's family at the Tap House and then with Nick's Ski Marathon. Next I planned a fun night for the two of us. We finally got a chance to see Avatar in 3d. It was pretty awesome and even months after the first showing the theatre was still packed. Next we trucked down town for reservations at Ipanema Grill. I have been therefore but Nick needed to go! Brazilian BBQ is awesome. Unfortunately, with all the fun we had playing with Deven that day I had forgotten to eat properly and after watching a 3d movie and getting a head ache it was only a matter of time before I had to call our night a bit early. We were able to make it to our buddy's Alex and Codie's house in South Lake Union for a night cap and some birthday cake. We had to relieve Grandma and Grandpa Bodle a little earlier than planned but it was nice to get in a little extra sleep before our big run (see following post). Hoping to get out on the town soon to redeem myself!!

Sports and Recreation

Nick and I have been getting back into a lot of things we did BD (before Deven) lately. Skiing, soccer, and jogging with Sam. It is our goal to include Deven in just about everything.


Skiing proved to be a bit difficult because there was no good place for Deven to get in his daily naps. We are hoping to be those crazy parents with their three year old on skies (only 2 yrs and 3.5months to go). So as I noted below, Nick did a ski Marathon on his own this year. From the sound of it though it was pretty awesome. Seriously, he skied for 24hours. I am not really sure how he did it but its true, he still has numb and aching toes to prove it. His team was third place in raising money for the American Cancer Society and Nick came in 21st place with 118k vertical feet. Nick took notes on how to make this a family affair and apparently the thing to do is rent an RV for the weekend, next time Deven and I will be there!!

Nick has started a an outdoor soccer league and Deven I tagged along to this weekends practice. After a walk to the Mercer Island Library, some fun crawling and reading in the kids area we watched the last bit of Nick practice by walking (with my hands as balance) onto the track and to the field to say hi to Dadda and our buddy Alex. Deven has taken to palates balls and turns out soccer balls will work for him too. He was having a blast with an extra one until he spied a piece of gum on the ground...play time may have been cut a little short! ; )

Our indoor soccer league has started up again and we always try to bring Deven. It proves a little difficult at times because we both play but typically we will find someone willing to hang with Deven for 40 minutes. Today though we had a few too many outings planned so it was just me; Deven and Nick went back home for a snack and a little nap. No goal this time but I am hoping to make it an annual thing!

We recently got a jogging stroller and decided to break it in by entering into the Saint Paddy's Day Dash. Deven and I took it out for some practice runs the last couple of weeks around Lake Stevens but basically it was a cold run this morning. It was tough on a day-light-savings morning but we made it a group effort. Nick, Ryan, Anne, Me and Deven were all Down Town by 8am this morning! Deven and I were disappointed that Shannon and Hadley couldn't join us but we decided to do them proud and kick a little jogging stroller butt. Nick, Ry and Anne were in the Red wave having a starting time of 8:40am. Deven and I were in the Purple wave starting at 8:50. We all had a blast and really did kick some jogging stroller butt. Generally, Deven had his game face on (blank stare, mouth slightly open) but around mile 2 I heard him talking and yelling at all the slow pokes to get out of our way. By the time we rounded the corner on the Aurora bridge facing south looking toward town I heard Deven laughing at all the crazy people dressed in green. He must have known we were in the home stretch. It was down hill from there and we ended up stay on pace with the rest of the gang stroller and 20lbs Deven and all! Hoping we will have many fun runs like this in our future.

Here is Deven about two minutes before start time! Game Face!

Happy birthday Dadda!

The grown-ups are celebrating next weekend but today is Nick's birthday so Deven and I wanted to be sure to give a shout out! He is currently at a ski Marathon working-in his new skis and boots. Happy birthday!!!