We're Back! and Already Rolling! (Racing, that is...)

I thought I would recap our vacation for you day by day, this week:
Last Sunday we left town after my husband got done rock climbing. We headed for Salida. We have friends who own a small, historic home there. When the oil economy fell out in Colorado many of the small mountain towns all but died. Salida was one of them. My friend happened upon this house just at this time. She bought the 1910 house (about 900 sq.ft) for about $12,000. Can you imagine? Each time we stay we leave something to improve the house. This time we left insulated travel cups with cocoa mixes. We spent Monday just haning out. The main attraction is a river that is usually full of river rafters. We play on the banks at a calm part. The kids built mud & sand creations. I worked on Ethan's fingerless loves and Larr read.

This Sunday our kids did the first bike race of the road racing season. It was a challenging course. Here you can see Ellie with her friend, Emily. They are such friends. THis was Ellie's first race and Emily told her how to handle the gravelly hill. When Emily crashed, Ellie stopped and waited for her. We are not worried about big time competition, so I was proud of how caring these girls are for each other.