It is hard to be original in writing these each year and it is not like we have a lot of things changing in our life like as when we were younger.  This afternoon we received the Christmas card from our son, John.  He had used Shutterfly to make the cards, that included some photos.  Great I thought, and in less than 20 minutes I had ordered our Christmas cards.  Hope they come before Christmas so we can mail them out.  For the truly lazy people they will even do the mailing for you if yo upload a contact list.  But I am not yet that lazy.

The front of the card looks like this.

Want to see the inside?  Well, you will just have to wait until you get the card.

It has been a delightful Memorial Day.  This morning we got up and watched the TV with some of the feature stories on the sacrifice of our military men and women over the years.  A touching story was about an organization that had made it possible for many of the WWII veterans to travel to Washington DC to see the monument devoted to their comrades who had died in the war.  It helped us appreciate the sacrifice of so many for us and our children, and their children.

After cutting the bike ride on Saturday short due to the cold weather, we wanted to get in a good long ride today.  We decided to go 64 miles and do the Canada Loop, then head up and ride up to the Henry Coe State Park headquarters.  It was still overcast in the morning so we kept waiting.  We thought that once it reached 55 degrees we would head out since the forecast was for a nice day.  We had only gone one block before Anne decided to add the sleeves to her jacket because it was still brisk.

By the time we made our way to Canada Road, it had warmed up to about 60 degrees and we could see that the sun was attempting to break through the over cast.  We quickly warmed up during the climb and by the time we reached the summit the sun was now shinning.

We went all the way down Roop Road, up a short hill and down a descent, past some very nice homes then on through the back roads up to Morgan Hill.

Before we started to make the big climb we stopped briefly while we shared a sandwich we had brought along.  We no longer needed our arm warmers or vest. The weather was absolutely perfect for cycling.  Part way up the climb we stopped to enjoy the view.

We were glad when we reached the end of the road.

We didn’t stay at the top long because it was now mid afternoon and we had not eaten much yet.  It was a moderate paced descent down to the valley.  Franz was doing much better braking with his left hand and the drag brake on the tandem really helped.  After we made our way over to Erik’s Deli, we shared a sandwich, sitting on the patio area.

From there it was 10 miles back to our house.  We had timed it it just right because it was now starting to cool off a bit.  We finally made it home after 5:00 pm, with a total of 64 miles and nearly 5,000 feet of climbing.  It was a very nice day.

Here is a video that I put together for Ann. Click the play button to view and then scroll down to see a few photos taken today.

I had bought some flowers. It was a bunch of roses with four different colors, read, white, yellow and pink. It made me think about our four children. Like the four different colors in the bouquet, our children are all different but together they make up a beautiful family.

Franz then bar-b-qued some thick stakes for dinner.

Meanwhile Ann picked some strawberries from the plant she has been growing.

We then enjoyed a nice Mother’s Day dinner on our deck.

After cleaning up we enjoyed to video on our TV. I had created a DVD version with full resolution.

Later we went out for a ride on the tandem. The weather was on the cool side, but much warmer than when we were in Utah.

Click to see all the photos

Then we celebrated Christmas together.

Click to see all the photos

Click to see all the photos

We had a great time spending some of the holiday with the family. John and Amy treated us to a concert of Handel’s Messiah with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The weather was nice for most of the visit and John and I were able to get out on the bikes three of the days.

From Atlanta we headed to Utah where the weather was much colder. It was fun to see the snow however.

Click here to read our Christmas 2007 Letter

Later we enjoyed desert. Instead of pumpkin pie and whipped cream, Andrew went straight for the whipped cream.

On Saturday Andrew ran his first race. He was on a program at his school to included running and so far he has run 50 miles during the year. That entitled him to enter this race in Seattle.

We then made a trip up the Space Neddle. Peter tried to see the moon.

Then he tried to blow the cold away.