Wrapping up another fun summer in Spearfish. The garage door remodel was the biggest project of the summer. Mattie learned how to ride her pedal bike and we’re about to head into another Five-O Labor Day weekend.
Here are some photos from the summer.
We finished up the garage door remodel. A big project, but made a huge difference.The before.Moving the gas meter to the side of the house was also a huge improvement.
Lots of creek time.
And ice cream.
Mattie found mom’s sandal after 2 weeks of being lost in the creek.
Playing in Spearfish Canyon..
Daddy’s little helper.
Catching butterflies.
She loves to swing, high!
Day trip to Devil’s Tower.
Cutting trees on the trail.
Bucket clean up.
Mattie learned how to ride her pedal bike this summer.
Clever outfits.
Double rainbow!Iron Creek.We see these guys daily in the canyon.
Hidden gems in Spearfish Canyon.
No signs or trail, just have to know where to look.
Spearfish Arch.
Fourth of July Parade with Gil in the Model T.
Evie & I took a trip to Silverton, CO to do some hiking and bike riding.
Here we are again, back in South Dakota. January feels like lightyears ago. It was a cool and wet spring in Arizona which made for lots of wildflowers, waterfalls and releasing lots of water from the damns to reduce flooding.
Mattie loves her new preschool, CASY, She goes 2 days a week and will be back in the fall. Toddlerhood is still wild and crazy. When she wakes up each morning she says “I got bigger!”
This week she rode her pedal bike for the first time by herself thanks to her momma. Now she’s off to the park and Hatchery and spillway by her own mobility which is cool.
The MBAA season felt long this year, I believe I’m in my 6th year now as director after being on the board for 2 or 3 years before that. We were able to mix it up with a mass start format for our last race due to snow in Flagstaff forcing us to move the race down to McDowell. It’s actually been a super nice May in Arizona with relatively cool temperatures. On race day it was only 70 degrees.
Grandma Marie passed away in March. Lots of good memories at my grandparents house in Wisconsin playing in Lake Michigan.
I raced Whiskey 50 in Prescott at the end of April. Planning on the Dakota Five-O and the Pike’s Peak Apex in September so I didn’t make a huge push to ride as much in January/February like I normally would. Luckily I’ve raced enough, especially the Whiskey, to trust my fueling and pacing and ended up pulling off a 2nd place.
We’ve been in South Dakota a little over a week and made a lot of progress on the garage and a handful of other projects. For the year you spend planning, ordering materials and strategizing, you are still always hit by curveballs, usually minor, but always good to brace yourself ahead of time for unknows when you start opening up walls and concrete, especially in bathrooms. So far things have gone really smooth on this garage remodel though.
Evie is doing the Pine Island Gravel Grinder so we’re going to go scope out the new racecourse this weekend and do some hiking with Mattie & Lucy. Cheers!
Desert snow. Seems to be a once a year occurrence lately.
2023 is already upon us so here’s a photo dump and quick summary of the past few months. We left off in September, returning to AZ from Spearfish and it was full steam into Evie’s school semester and me putting on the MBAA enduro series.
Mattie started pre-school, then got kicked out for pushing other kids on the playground. She started at a new school this week, doing well so far…
In addition to doing anything outdoors, she enjoys playing in the snow, toilet paper roll telescopes, scootering, bike riding, putting things in bags, playing with Lucy, climbing, and playing with friends.
We spent Christmas in Spearfish and got to enjoy a few days of -20 degrees (as the high!), but later that week it was back into the 50s. We arrived just after a massive winter storm so we got in some XC skiing, sledding and even a ride through the canyon after the snow melted.
I slipped on the ice near the end of our trip and banged up my other hip (not the one I fractured in 2018). Now they’ll be evenly calloused. It’s been about 2 weeks and it’s feeling much better.
The first MBAA XC race kicked off this past weekend. Nice to get my garage emptied from all the boxes of water bottles, bars, merch and other misc. race prep items.
Enjoy the host of photos from the past few months!
Cool clouds in the McDowell Mountains.
Fall hikes in Arizona. Looks a lot like Spearfish.
Ballet dancer Mattie.
She also loves markers…
The neighbors, mostly friendly.
Fountain Hills.
Making a break for it….
Bike riding.
Not sure what’s going on here?
Crayons!
There’s no stopping this one.
Getting her own lunch.
Trying to climb the wall to Carolines.
At least she knows how to wash her hands.
Paper towel telescope.
Got Mattie a pair of skates for Christmas.
The Fountain Hills parade.
She loves Frozen.
Fall in AZ.
Bubble party!
She loves sorting and organizing.
Young wild and free!
Scootering to pre-school.
Halloween costume.
Hiking in the White Mountains.
Just funny.
Potty training.
Goofball.
Fall colors in Arizona.Always love when it snows on Four Peaks.Mattie’s first pedal bike.
Ready for South Dakota!
Lots of snow to shovel!
And cool frozen water falls.
Snowy family hikes.
Front yard sled hill.
Olaf the snowman.
Wild indeed.
Visit with Santa on the 1880s Hill City train.
Christmas tree harvest in Spearfish in 3′ deep snow.Bridal Veil falls frozen over.Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!