Easter in Ste. Genevieve, Mo

Luckily the past two weeks I have been able to get back on the bike in a pretty serious manner. I have ridden 9 of 14 days, but now have been off because of family commitments and lousy Misery weather. This week I had to take Tatum to singing lesson at COCA on Tuesday, toured the Antonia Firehouse with the Girl Scouts on Wednesday evening, baseball practice with Tatum on Thursday night and then Friday spent watching the girls because Kirsten has bunko. I am not complaining, but as you can tell, the cycling training has taken a back seat this week. When time did permit right after school on Wed and Thur, it decided to come some major storms. I was just getting into better cycling shape and now a little setback. Kirsten turned 35 on Wednesday and managed to celebrate with some co-workers. I hope we all get to see her on Saturday evening when she gets off work.

Easter weekend was spent at my Mom's house in Ste. Genevieve. I was able to put in thirty miles around the county and town Sat. afternoon and then I took the girls to the community center to swim for a couple of hours. It was quite nice as we were the only one there for the entire time. The girls had a good time and are getting much better at swimming.

Mom had our whole family over for Easter and as usual ate like kings. The girls got tons of goodies as the Easter Bunny is starting to make Santa look bad.

When will Spring get here? It is only going to be in the low 40's on Friday with Saturday being the only dry day of the week. Sat is the only day of the week I can't ride do to wife's work schedule . Good luck to my buddies racing at Hillsboro-Roubaix.

Wyman

A visit to Grandpa Wyman's House

Tatum and I were on Spring Break last Thursday and Friday, so we decidedt to take one day and go visit Great- Grampa Wyman and Great-Grandma Barb on Friday. My Mom and Reese went along as well. We had to drive all the way to Sikeston and down Hwy 60 to get to his house do to the the recent flooding. We had to drive through some water on the road just near his old house and farm near my Aunt Marceda's house. All the ditches were flooded with just about all the fields looking like lakes. Even the Castor River was out its banks near Bird's Corner and Cline's Island. If you know where that is, you are a geography genius!

Grandpa's dog, Skip, recently had puppies and the girls just had to go see them. Their are two yaller ones, one whitun and a small blackun as well. Who knows what kind of dogs they are? Skip looks like half Schnauzer, half Dachsund while my Grandfather claims the father was some sort of Chow/Lab mix! You can quit laughing now, but it is all quite true.

We had a great dinner fixed by Barb. She fixed my favorite of white beans and cornbread with ham, local sweet corn a delicious black forest cake! For those of you who know, you can't beat some proper beans and cornbread! Every time I eat them, I think of spending the few weeks every summer with my Grandpa working in the fields and then driving to Gray Ridge for dinner at Loita's. That old lady cook really cook some beans and cornbread! She would have a cig in one hand with an inch long ash on it and be cooking some beans in the other. What a place?

These are photos from that excursion.

I will have more very soon.

Wyman

Tatum singing at Antonia Elementary Talent Show

This is the video of Tatum singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star " at the Antonia Elementary School Talent Show. She was the only kindergartner to perform. She did a great job!! We are so proud of her. It took a lot of guts for someone of her age to get up there and sing. It reminded me of the time John Mountford and I sang "I Aint Got a Barrel of Money" in our 6th grade talent show. I remember being really dissapointed that we didn't win. I thought we were awesome, when I am sure it wasn't really that great.

Just a wee pint!

These are pictures my brother sent me of them celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a morning pint of Guinness. You can see Colin is getting a head start with his partying ways!

I got out on the road bike and did around sixty miles the past couple of days. If the weather holds off this week, I hope to get in miles everyday except Tues and Friday. Tatum has singing lessons on Tues and I plan on driving down to SEMissouri to visit my Grandfather on Friday. Easter will be spent at my Mom's in SG.

Wyman

Dancin USA - Spring, where are you??

Tatum and I went to the Antonia Elementary Father-Daughter dance this past Friday evening. She was very excited to go and we had a very good time. After we got home, she said it was the best time she has had in her life. I only wish she will continue to think it is that cool to hang out with her Dad as she get older. I would assume their were a hundred girls grades k-6 that attended. The place was very crowded with most the Dads sitting around together talking and the daughters out on the dance floor with their friends. I, on the other hand, wanted to dance and have fun with my kid. I danced most of the night taking pictures and just trying to be the cool Dad. We ate cookies and punch and even had our picture taken just like when you were in high school. I ran into a couple of other parents that I went to high school with and they felt the same way.

About fifteen minutes before the dance was over, Tatum was ready to go. We got our things together and started to walk to the door when I heard Ice, Ice Baby playing on the sound system. Their was a lot of noise coming from inside and I noticed a circle had formed with Dads and daughters out doing their best impersonation of Vanilla Ice. I couldn't resist and walked back in and preceded to jump in the circle and show up all the father's in the place. I busted out the best dance moves those people had seen in years. The stopper was the full on break dancing with a back spin. The place went crazy with Dad's and students coming up and shaking my hand giving me props. All the kids were telling Tatum how awesome her Dad was. I just hope in ten years time when I bust out the back spin she will feel the same. I knew all those hours spent practicing when I was 12 would eventually pay off!

All the girls in the photos are some of Tatum's kindergarten friends. The girls all seem to come from really nice families and that is real important to me. I know how crucial it is for kids to have good friends. I truly feel that good friends that are good people shape how a kid turns out. Luckily my brother and I both had the best friends anyone could ever want their child to have. We were surrounded by kids that had the same dreams and goals as us. I hope my kids have the same.

I put in the picture of Reese as she is actually brushing her hair. It is very rare occasion to get her to do this. Now that I think about it, it is very rare that we ever get Reese to do anything that we want her to do. That child has a mind of her own and nothing will change it. It is obvious that she takes after her Mother in this regard.

Kirsten and the girls also went this week to watch High School Musical on Ice. This was a gift from my Mother to Reese for her 4th birthday. They had a really good time. While they were gone I got our taxes done and then met the Hovis brothers and Brandon Klaus down at Johnny's for some wings, shrimp and a few beverages. We of course then stopped by O'Malley's for a pint.

I got back on the bike this week three days. It felt good to have some regular training, but I have a long way to go. I am so out of shape and really want to be in good condition for the Tour of St Louis the last weekend in April. The weather cooperated for most of the week, but now this weekend it is raining and the temps are in the 30's. 70s on Wed and 30's by Sat. You gotta love the MO weather.

Spring, where are you?????

Please come fast.

More updates later.

Cheers.

Wyman

What have we been doing??

Sorry I have not put anything up in a while. Since my last post on New Years, not much has been going on. I have only been on the bike once since November, but I have stayed in decent shape with the basketball officiating. That ended in early Feb. and I have been laying on the couch since. I have put on 12lbs since the Gateway Cup and hope to lose that by the Tour of St. Louis at the end of April.

The girls both did gymnastics over the winter and are now doing dance and singing lessons at COCA in University City. Kirsten and I are both busy taking the girls over there two days a week.

As you can see, Reese had her 4th birthday this past weekend(March 2). She got way too much stuff as usual. We had family and close friends over for the occasion. Luckily it was 80 degrees and we could take it outside. Just two days later we got 10 inches of snow and were out two days of school. Gotta love the MO weather. We have had an excess amount of snow this year here in the STL area. We have missed 8 days of school because of it. We are now getting out the first week of June! All of the snow photos are since the New Year. They are predicting a little more this weekend.

I had a good season of officiating. Not many problems with fans, coaches or players. I did around 40 dates and have already got that many scheduled for next year. The extra dough is nice. This Friday I am headed up to Mizzou for the state basketball championships with some friends. We have been making the trek for about 7 years now. I think we all look forward to getting out of the house for a day or two just watching basketball and rehashing the good ole days. It is always a good time. I tell you about it when I get back.

Since we have had soooo much snow this winter, I have had time to really watch some good films. Of course having the new plasma and surround sound makes them that much more enjoyable to watch. I got to see the good old favs such as Schindler's List, Goonies, Indiana Jones, Dances With Wolves, Hoosiers, Memphis Belle, and Saving Private Ryan. I have also had to opportunity to see some really good new films. I really enjoyed Into The Wild and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Bob Ford. If you get a chance, please rent Into The Wild. It is well worth the $5 from Blockbuster. The soundtrack is awesome as well. Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam did the whole thing. I cannot understand how it did not win one Academy Award. I can't wait to read the book by Jon Krakauer. To me, what makes the film and book so interesting is that it is a true story.

Cycling has started back up for me, so I will start posting updates on all that as well. I did go ride with Todd Parker and Cody Nees this past Saturday. I lasted 32 miles and then had to call it quits. They stayed in great shape this winter and completely made me look bad. Todd even finished in 10th place at the Froze Toes Race two weeks ago in Columbia, Mo. He will be a Cat 3 in no time.

More updates later.

Wyman

More photos from this winter.

Just a few more photos from this winter. Don't worry, I didn't keep the fu man chu. Kirsten would have thrown a fit. I did however wear a beard for a month or so.

Reese's 4th Birthday!

All of these are from Reese's 4th Birthday Party.
My Mother made the Horse cake and as usual did a great job. Reese wanted a cowgirl party, so that is what she got. Notice the pink boots and hat. The kids at the party were Hannah Drury, Tatum, Reese and Kaylee and Evan Hogan.

It's been a while!! Sorry!!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to get some stuff up on the blog! These are photos from a snow in early January, Tatum finishing up her gymnastic's class, watching cousin Colin for the Super Bowl and Tatum at her Valentine's Day Party at Antonia Elementary. I will write more in above post.

Cheers,

Wyman