Grand Teton Relay

Ran the Grand Teton Relay with my brother and friends again this year.  We rented a cabin near Victor Idaho, which turned out to be perfect because we could go back to the cabin after all our van legs where done and shower and take a nap.  Shauna did not run this year because she was watching our four kids.  I still feel like a jerk for leaving her with a newborn along with all the others.  However, she did insist that I go and participate.  She will be back next year and probably stronger than ever.

Our team finished in seventh place over all with a time of 26 hours and 10 minutes.  They also timed my first leg which I ran in 59 minutes and 29 seconds, which was also good enough for seventh place over all.  That run was a beast again this year (7.1 miles with a total 1100 foot elevation gain).  However, the weather was perfect since it was over cast with a slight breeze.  These clouds did shortly turn into a monster storm with wind, rain and lightening, but John was the one who had to run that part.

We had a good team which made it really fun.

Sam

Just wanted to post a couple of other pictures of our newest family member.  Everyone is doing well and we are adjusting nicely.  The kids love their little brother a lot--sometimes too much--but is good to see how much they love him and care for him.  We have great kids and I hope they know that.

Ludwig Reunion

Over the July 4th weekend we had the Ludwig family reunion at the Trogers' home in Promontory near Park City.  Promontory is a upscale vacation development.  The Trogers are Mike's in laws who live in California.  They were kind enough to allow us to use their home for four days over the fourth of July.  We had a great time doing different things.

We visited the Olympic Park and went on some rides and watched kids and adults practicing on the aerial jumps into the pool.  We watched fire works at the Promontory show (even though it was threatening lighting and rain).  I also went running each day and found that I can still run at altitude.

It was good to see everyone and have one last hurrah before Samuel was born.  We may not be going many places for the rest of the summer, but we knew that going into this four-kids thing.

View from the Trogers' west.

Ruby celebrating the Fourth of July.

Grand kids.

Nick and Ruby ready for fireworks.

Laney the tiger.  (Notice the dark clouds).

Cousins.

Joaquin got his hair cut by aunt Tiffany.

Smores.

Smores in the daytime.

Numero Quatro

Had baby number 4.  He is a good baby and we love him.  Our kids are over-the-top excited about him and want to hold him and be around him all the time.  "Just wash your hands."  Happy Birthday little guy.

Fun at the Lake

A late post about our trip to Lake Tahoe with the Arvidsons.  This was sort of the last hurrah for us for the summer because we are expecting a baby in mid July.  That means not much chance to travel after that.

We had a great time hiking, swimming, fishing, catching lizards and eating.  The weather we great and we went to Truckee and walked around down town and saw Truckee Thursdays, which is a street fair with vendors or all sorts including food.  It was pretty cool, but after a short while our kids were done and wanted to move on.

To entertain the kids we hiked and visted the horses and fished a couple of days with the boys.  They had a great time and caught a bunch of fish at Donner Lake.  We cooked the few we kept and they were tasty.  The most exciting part was the cleaning of the fish since neither of the boys had really done it before.  They thought is was cool, until they realized they had to give them through cleaning getting everything out including most of the blood.

Laney was fascinated by the lizards that changed colors that we caught.  We found several that started out a black, then became brown after we held them.

We also hiked to visit the hyroglyphics up old Donner Pass road and visited the beach at Lake Tahoe twice.  At the hyrogliphics, I Joaquin climbed with me up a chimminey to the top of the ridge were the railroad track goes up over the pass.  It was a good strech of 5.5 climbing and he did wonderful.  He was infront of me and was not scared or nervous and made it to the top in no time.  I was rpoud of him and he was proud of himself.  Some accomplishments maybe small, but reap great rewards in confidence and courage.

All in all we had a great time at the beach, which is an amazing place because kids can stay occupied there for an entire day, and had a good time with friends.

The Goldern Gate Bridge - Amazinig and Interesting

An article on CNN caught my interest with photos of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge so I took a few minutes and read about it on Wikipedia and found out some really interest stuff.  Also, there is a load of information over at http://goldengatebridge.org/photos/history.php.

Having been to the Golden Gate Bridge a few times I can say that it is amazing and remarkable.  No wonder it has become such a landmark--not to just those of us in America--but all over the world. Here are some pictures that I pulled off the internet.