The Christy's Visit!

The Christy family made their annual trek to Red Wing a few weeks back. It's so fun to see the boys getting so big. My neice was able to join us for part of the weekend. I think I realized why it's not recommended to have 3 children under the age of 3. The kids got along great but I think they wore out the adults! We went swimming at the YMCA, played at the park, had a campfire, played hide-and-seek at the house, read stories, and wrestled. Jace really entertained us in the referee outfit. This kid knows how to call penalties. He even called a penalty on his younger brother for crying..."You! Two minutes...crying." Love that kid!


Rachel multi-tasking at lunch.



Matt might kill me if he knew I let Jace play with the dollhouse.



Aspen, Lulu, Rachel, and Jace keeping warm by the fire.



Jace, the referee, calling penalties.

Costa Rica

Jon and I were fortunate to recently spend 2 weeks in Costa Rica. Check out the slideshow on the right. One of the highlights of our trip was a stay at Rancho Margot. Check out their website: www.ranchomargot.org. Rancho Margot is a self-sufficient, organic farm and ranch in the rainforest. The ranch is dedicated to sustainable eco-tourism and they have become a model for others. Just 6yrs ago the land was completely devastated by overgrazing of livestock. As you can see from the pictures, they have gone a long ways towards reforesting the valley. Here is some of the amazing things they are doing:
- Approximately 70% of the food they serve on the ranch, they grow themselves. They make their own milk, cheese, yogurt, as well as a variety of fruits and vegetables.
- They recycle literally everything except the toilet paper. Animal waste is separated into solids (used in composting) and liquids (which go through a bio-digester that creates methane used to cook in the kitchen).
- They make their own soaps for all the guests. Leftover soaps are recycled into laundry detergeant and dishsoap for the kitchen.
- All of the hot water is heated by running it through coils in the center of the huge compost pile, where it gets really hot.
Besides all of these great things they offer horseback riding, hiking, kayaking, yoga, and opportunities to help out on the farm.

Speaking of hiking....Jon and I decided to take a night hike to the top of the mountain so we could see the lava flows from the nearby volcano. At the top of the mountain we encountered the Bushmaster, Costa Rica's most deadly snake. It is literally the only snake in Costa Rica that will actually chase people. Jon experienced this first hand. Apparently getting bit results in serious nerve damage or death if you aren't to a hospital within 1 hour (which would not have been possible in our case). This snake had successfully killed 2 horses and 1 cow at the ranch over the last few years. When we told the owner of the ranch what had happened, he hired someone to track it down. Rather scary. Probably one of the most entertaining parts of the story was what happened when we returned to the ranch that evening. We went to the small bar to get a beer and told the bartender we had seen a snake. We asked her if Costa Rica had poisonous snake (duh) and she said, "Yeah, this is Costa f&#%ing Rica". We had a good laugh over that.

The other big highlight of the trip was Monteverde Cloud Forest. The forestry dork in me really came out at this place. Such amazing vegetation. I never really understood what a cloud forest was about until this visit. There are so many species that live in the forest canopy, it's almost like a separate ecosystem in the air. We saw an amazing amount of birdlife and even spotted a Quetzal! The quetzal is in danger of becoming extinct but happens to be thriving in the cloud forest. It's such a beautiful bird...check out the pictures!

Overall, a highly recommended destination.

Florida with Felicity

What a great trip! I flew down to Florida for a few days to hang out with my family. Three solid days with my neice was so much fun. We went swimming, had tea parties, went to the zoo, sang songs, danced in the living room, read stories, and ate ice cream. What a treat!

Good times with the Christy's

Check out Rachel's son, Jace, a real hockey pro. He just turned 3 and can already skate and handle a puck on the ice! I'm so proud of him...he is an awesome kid. We had a chance to rent a cabin near Hayward, WI with the Christy clan. We played in the snow, went skiing, had a campfire, read stories, watched cartoons, and played "hockey" on the kitchen floor. The Christy's are such a great family. Beau and Jace are really fun kids and Rachel and Matt are wonderful parents. Despite the boys having really bad colds (and fevers!), they were troupers!

Birkie Results

So Jon and I had a successful birkie. Jon finished in 3:56 (55 minutes faster than last year) and I finished in 4:43 (45 minutes faster). Some of our faster times can be attributed to our new racing skis but I think we were both in much better shape this year. Every year I ask my self, "Why do I put myself through this torture?" But Jon and I are already talking about next year and what wave we might be in. The darn Birkie is addicting! Our buddies Beth and John drove up from the cities to cheer for us. They made a great sign out of purple duct tape. It was so great skiing into Cty Rd OO and seeing them. Beth even had a donut with sprinkles on top all ready for me. The sugar jolt helped me recover from 3km of skiing with one pole (I had broke my pole in a crash around the 23km mark). So it's 4 Birkie's completed...only 16 before I can attend the Birchleggings breakfast!

Lutsen

Last weekend we made a trip up the north shore to Lutsen. It's been way too long since we have been past Duluth. We have so many wonderful friends in Duluth/Superior that we tend to get stuck there...in a good way. Jon's sister, Gretchen, and her boyfriend, Dylan, decided to join us. We stayed at a tiny log cabin right on the shore. I could have spit in the lake from the deck. I forgot how peaceful it is to listen to the waves crash against the rocks. I knew I had been in the city too long when it took me awhile to figure out what I was hearing. We did LOTS of skiing, including the Picnic Loop with our buddy Jere. We added a trip up to Moose Fence in order to make it 40km. Jere rightly predicted that we would be complaining the last 10km. Why do we torture ourselves in this way? Oh yeah, because we signed up for the BIrkie. Idiots!

Jon Loye as Jimmy Hendrix

Jon actually wore this outfit to the Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner in Red Wing!

Winter

Wow, I am overdue for an update. The holidays were a busy time, as they seem to be for everyone. The snowstorm forced us to slow down a bit. We took a week off between Christmas and New Year's to be in Duluth with friends. Three years after leaving Duluth we still have the best relationships with our friends up there. The hockey boys (Jon, Jace, and Beau) and fun playing with Jace's hockey oriented Christmas presents.



Rachel and I even managed to get out for a walk in the sub-zero temperatures.



One of the biggest excitements that week was our visit to the Duluth Curling Club with Leah and Jere. We went to a "Learn to curl" event for beginners. Let me just say that it is harder than it looks. I didn't take any pictures but just imagine me wiping out of the ice (a total of 6 times). I had a bruised hip and knee the next day to prove it. My parents were serious curlers when I was a child. In fact, I was curling in the womb. I always hoped this would somehow work to my advantage. I guess not.

A new thing I have started doing with Felicity is taking her swimming. She LOVES it. We have a great facility at the YMCA in Red Wing. They have a big waterslide and a zero-depth pool for kids. The first time I took Felicity swimming, we went down the waterslide and she was not so excited about it (lots of tears). The next time we went swimming she actually WANTED to go down the slide and did so twice. Later I told her mom about how she went down the slide and she added, "and I wasn't even scared!" I love her to pieces.







The final news centers around our training for the American Birkebeiner on February 27th. This will be my 4th year and Jon's 3rd year racing. "Racing" is a term we use loosely. "Finishing" is probably a better description. Either way 54 kilometers is a long way and we've been out on our skis quite a bit. Last weekend we continued the tradition with Leah and Jere of going skiing up north. In the past we have stayed in a yurt. This year we went to the UP and stayed at Wolverine Village. What a great place! I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a laid back, affordable atmosphere right across the street from the Wolverine cross country ski trails. This the 5th year we have made this trip with Leah and Jere and each year it gets more enjoyable.