When Jeff and Demi came to town! New York!

Paul's brother Jeff and his wife Demi came to visit us at the beginning of June and boy did we have a full docket.

We just went non-stop all week and I have the pictures to prove it.

We picked them up at JFK at headed to Staten Island where we stopped in at the Bay Street Luncheonette. The owner (Paul) made sure to welcome Demi with a nice "How YOU doin'?", Staten Island style.

Then we rode the Staten Island Ferry and enjoy the Manhattan skyline and misty sunrise.

After some Wall Street fun - we walked past my favorite Trinity Church and cemetery.

And Paul and Jeff and their best friend in the background hung out.

And then we watched these two crazies catch a huge fish out of the North River and when I asked for a picture of it they just stomped their foot right on that fish, ripped out it's hook and let it flap around while they went back to their lines.

I promise it was so weird.

Then the Goatesies arrived in the big city and Reuby was just being a charmer and holding everyone's hands... including MINE! This has never happened.

 

Then we headed to the 9/11 Memorial and took it all in. Cute Reuben tracing his "R" was one of the best parts.

Then the whole crew (all 9 of us) hopped on the Subway and headed up to Chelsea.

This is Nathan saying, "My only goal in life is to keep her off the pole, and I've already failed".

I was just so happy to see the Highline in the green summer!

Reuben and Marian enjoyed wrestling, and I enjoyed watching.            
             

Then I had this great idea to take a picture staring into the sun.

Ombre Ivy and more cute siblings.

 

Window pictures of the whole group!

And I just walk too fast and left them all across the street.

New York Public Libraryyyyy

Nicest public bathroom in Bryant Park includes fresh flower bouquets and rotating lined seats.

 

Then we walked over to the American Doll store, and Paul and Jeff tried to find their perfect match. Until we realized the convenient couch we had found was actually in some private party room and then we felt a bit embarrassed and walked right out when all the 7-year-olds started gathering for a group picture with their dolls.

I've never had an American Girl Doll or understood the craze of it, until this moment. She even had mouth guard!!

Rockefeller Center

And the necessary chocolate cake stop.

More hooker time...

And then we sailed with Pirates back to Staten Island.

or... on the Staten Island Ferry more accurately.

And it was lovely.

Killington 2012!

Over Memorial Day weekend Paul and I drove up to Killington, Vermont where he competed in the three day Killington Stage Race. 

I loved so much about being in Vermont. Supporting Paul, feeling like I was in Utah, and being next to the amazingly green mountainsides. We had some fun nights camping, making s'mores and seeing stars in the sky again (NYC light pollution steals that from us most the time), and some great days racing (or watching the racing), running, eating at a delicious Deli and, oh yeah - LOTS of driving.

Here are a few shots from the weekend:

Starting line on day one. Paul raced for Mountain Side Racing, so instead of his usual Rutgers red and black I had to get used to looking for the green and blue. (He's right behind the guy sitting down on the left side in this picture). 

At the end of Day 1's circuit race (sprint for the finish is below) there was a crash right before the finish line - Paul was right behind it, but somehow managed to bunny hop the crashed riders head, and avoid crashing himself. 

Lucky guy got to ride ZIPPs on this stage since his own tire flatted a few miles in. 

Post-race and headed to the feed zone to help out his teammates riding in other categories.

The feed zone just happened to be at the home of Calvin Coolidge! I didn't have time to look around, because I had to fit in a run on this racing day. 

I ran the race course backwards, so the other races going on were fun to watch from that perspective. Surprisingly, these usually serious bike racers really enjoyed seeing a random girl waving to them on an otherwise empty-of-spectators section of the race. Even Timmy Johnson (one of our favorite pro cyclocrossers) riding in the Cat 1 field gave a big smile. 

This nice little barn and the great mountains around it helped me distract me a bit.

The next morning was the individual time trial. Paul looked great warming up on the trainer. 

Getting called up to the line...

3....2....1....

And he's off!

Those calves!

Audrey and I hoped in the car right after he started and got to see him on the road racing his legs off. Then, we got to the finish line before him. Three sightings in one race is hard to accomplish! 

Coming up on the finish.

This giant butterfly was being so photogenic for me!

Audrey (my niece) was not only a great companion for race watching but just a beautiful and fun young lady. Random people love to stop her and tell her that she is Rapunzel in real life. 

I have no idea who this bike racer is, but the sweet dude in the neon was part of the race coordination and he would look up each racers name and cheer them on in their finish 100M. We liked him.

Teammate Alan coming into the finish.

Brother-in-law and teammate Nathan.

Green! Trees! Mountains!

Day 3. Mountain stage. Nervous husband.

But still willing to pull out a smile for me in the neutral roll out!

After 65 miles of racing (Audrey and I drove the whole course, backwards so we could handout waterbottles at the feed zone at about halfway through the race), I was anxious for Paul to come through the finish. His teammates in another race were already done and ready to cheer him on. 

And then there he came, grinding up the mountain.

And crossing that finish line!

Lost Boys Racing!

Lost Boys Racing + John!

Nathan and Audrey at the finish.

Me and Paul.

But here I am being a fake podium girl and giving that Paul a good job smooch.

Maybe I should have cropped that guy on the left out? 

Hooray for bike racing! I loved this trip so much I even made a little video.

Things to note:

-Thanks for Audrey for taking some much footage for me while I was taking the photos above

-Please notice the funniest restaurant we happened upon our first night in Killington. After we ordered our meals they told us to go play mini-golf and ping pong outside, and then when our food was ready they came outside and let us know. I think it was Audrey's favorite part of the trip

-None of the racing footage is sped up. They are really just speedy dudes!

Killington from Christine Frandsen on Vimeo.