A day in the life of a Grootveld

July to August... it went too fast!

2011-08-12T19:31:00.001-07:00

We are pretty much all moved in, and love the new house. The big backyard is great. Peyton and Bridger now have a safe place to romp. We also enjoy having a tub for Bridger and room for him to run around. There's an actual hallway, and our couch is in the middle of a room so there are loops, straightaways, and generally lots of opportunities for great games of chase. Perhaps our favorite part is having both a garbage disposal in the sink, and a dish washer! It's actually a really fun thing to be so excited about things we took for granted before. We are really looking forward to having a washer and dryer again (INDOORS!!). Holly's parents have graciously offered to bring ours out over labor day weekend, so a little patience will pay off.

Tip: If you ever want to feel like you're living in the lap of luxury, just spend the preceding year living in a tiny cabin with around 500 square feet of living space on the main floor and a toddler. And you have to climb a ladder through a hole in the ceiling to go to bed. And another adult spent the summer there, sharing a bedroom with the toddler. And the toddler bathes in a Rubbermaid tub. And there's no dishwasher or garbage disposal. So sometimes the drain clogs. And you have to shovel a path through the snow in order to get to the laundry shed. Which you have to thaw with a hair dryer from time to time when the lines freeze in the winter. And our neighbors got arrested for re-selling prescription drugs. Yep, we're happy to have moved.

This past week we cleaned the cabin to return to the landlord. We took our first trip to Twin Falls. We hadn't been to a Target since we were in Ames last December. We spent over 6 hours in Costco and Target alone strategizing on what was essential to purchase in bulk. Really.

With our big trip to Costco, Holly was busy after work this week canning. She also dehydrated cherries for her homemade granola, and dehydrated banana chips and mushrooms. On Sunday I awoke to her baking cinnamon rolls and bread.

Bridger has had some mile stones. He pooped in the toilet for the first time a few weeks ago. He is in the habit to let us know when he needs to go 'poo-poo'. Even if it means climbing down his ladder, into our room, in the middle of the night to wake us up and tell us. He is very interested in the potty training, underwear, and the 'big boy' seat. So, we are just going with it. He's also saying a lot more. "I brush teeth," Moo (both for movies and cows), "a bickigogigo" is Bridger-yodel word for bicycle. Kiki is a lamp. He knows the word for (and how to use, scarily enough) keys. He's figured out how to insert them into the ignition of the cars, so we've quit giving them to him when he's play-driving. "I go," "a shoe," are pretty solid. Working on "shirt." "Mine" and "I want that" are also solid, and ones that we are encouraging him to minimize the use of...

"MINE!!" -- "No, that is not yours. It belongs to God, and he lets us use it, but we must be generous with what He's given us." -- "I want THAT!" -- "Bridger, we need to be patient when we don't get what we want." He often gets his will under control, but sometimes this continues and a spanking follows. There is not a lot that breaks my heart more than having to take my son over my knee.

Holly is super busy with day camp. They have had record numbers of kids this year and she has made an impact on the program in a really good way. She is happy with how camp has been, but feels that 93+ kids every day leaves her feeling exhausted when she is done at work and some days out of patience. I have seen her in action with a large group of kids, and she has definitely found her niche in the world. Loving on kids is her 'thing'. She brings home a lot of wild stories and has fun bringing new experiences to the campers lives.

My work is in a slower season. I am working on a bunch of different projects that I didn't have enough time for during my busy season. Things will ramp back up soon with school starting. Much of my focus this summer has been on spiritual growth. I am glad that we have found a new church family that we've gotten involved with. We have gained a lot of new family out here. I am thankful for the men that I've been getting to know and spending time with. These relationships have been challenging me to grow as a father, husband, and leader of my family.

We are looking forward to a new season, once school begins in less than a month. I'll be back on the Safe Routes to School routine, and Holly will be back to her after-school program.

We are anticipating Bridger's second birthday and can not believe how quick that has gone. Seems like only yesterday he was cutting his teeth on Jim-Dear's slippers. And now he's on two wheels. He LOVES rides on Daddy's bike. He sits on the top tube, feet on the fork crown, and hands on the bars. We rode around the neighborhood for almost an hour tonight and he still wanted more when we got back.

Lots of words, no pictures. Sorry Tom! And Nora! And probably the rest of you, too that were hoping to see photos of Bridger and Idaho and instead had to listen to me ramble on about real life instead of adventures in the mountains. But, we've been living real life lately, so that's all I've got to report.

-Eric (and Holly, Bridger, and Peyton)

2011-07-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

We've had a big couple of weeks!

On Independence Day, we got up early and went to BCRD so that we could finish the float that Holly's camp kids were building for the Hailey parade. Then, Holly herded her kids along as they biked along with the float. I did the same for Mountain Rides, with Bridger in the bike trailer behind me. After the parade, we went downtown for the bike race and festivities. Food, bikes, and fun. Then, went to a barbecue. Then, there was the July 4th rodeo with friends from church, then fireworks. Bridger was a champ; he snoozed for a bit during the parade but other than that he was up from before seven till after 11:00, and was delirious by the end but still happy. We also saw a moose, and almost got run over by Ashton Kutcher in his Land Rover D90. This made Kelsey's day, as she has been hoping to see him. She never even dared to hope that he might almost kill us :)

Holly and I took the last week off work; Kelsey leaves next weekend and we wanted to get out and do some things with her before she left to go back to Iowa.

Friday right after work we headed out to Railroad Ridge, an old mining road off the East Fork of the Salmon River that goes up through the tundra over 10,000 ft. AMAZING 300+ degree panoramas. Chilly night in the tent, but totally awesome.

Moonlight in the high, clear air.

Then, Saturday, we came home via Custer, the old preserved mining town up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon. Huge dredge that moved tons upon tons of rock and dirt in search of precious metals. It was Custer Days, and we realized as we arrived that it wasn't "wander around Custer on your own" time, but rather, "be led around in groups by a tour guide" day. We decided that while it's cool, we weren't interested in spending an hour or two on a tour of the town. When we got back home, we got cleaned up and headed right back out for a barbecue, volleyball, and horseshoes birthday party. Great fun!

We've been looking into moving out of our little duplex cabin, and found a sweet little house in Hailey with a nice fenced backyard for Bridger and Peyton. We will now have a third bedroom for any friends or family that would like to come visit us (hint, hint). There's scarcely a surface in that place that we are not putting new paint on; we have been very busy with it this past week.

Tuesday, we went to Galena Lodge, biked the Harriman Trail, I rode a trail called Curly's that was 1500+ feet of glorious, rocky, rooty descent, and then we came home and looked at paint samples.

Wednesday, we hiked the Pioneer Cabin Trail. We got a bit of a late start, and had to turn around before we got to the cabin. Hiked 6 of the 8 miles, and climbed 2500 of the 3500 vertical feet. SUPER steep; having Bridger on my back was very difficult.

Pixels from the hike:

Thursday was spent painting at the new place. Long day, 7a-1a.

Friday, we headed for the hills again. Left mid morning, went up over Trail Creek to a place called Wildhorse Canyon. Squeezed the Cruiser under a tree that an avalanche had put across the trail with literally 1/4" to spare. We would have been literally up a creek if it shifted or settled significantly while we were out there. Fun, rocky, chunky trail with water crossings, beautiful views, and an awesome stream running next to it as it climbed through forests, meadows, and rock.

Wildhorse Creek:

Pretty sweet campsite: Spot for a hammock, mountain meadow filled with wildflowers on one side and a beautiful stream flowing on the other.

Between wriggling our way under, around, and over all the avalanche debris, and the rough, rocky trail, it was funny to see the reactions of folks on motos and ATVs when they saw us come around a corner in a full sized rig. This was one of the milder sections of the trail:

Kelsey took a photo here too, and joked that it was a better view than the mountain photo for the "landscape" setting on her camera:

This little cascade was at the top of the trail. There was a bridge across at one point, but all that was left were two stringers that were rotting away. I wouldn't even walk across now, much less drive a vehicle across. Would love to drop a couple trees across at some point and see what's further up the trail!

Came back Saturday evening for what we're calling Salipalooza. Our worship leader, Levi Sali, has a very musically gifted family and they all came to town for the weekend. We got together at the church and had a few hours of the most awesome worship and praise that I've ever been a part of. Then went and painted for a few more hours. We now have the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and cabinets painted. All different colors. We have some trim, three bedrooms, a hallway, a couple closets, and one ceiling left.

Whew! What a full, fun, productive week!

2011-06-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened since our last post. My busiest crunch of the year has come (and now gone) with Safe Routes to School and Bike to Work stuff, and Holly's busiest time of the year has just arrived with the beginning of summer day camp at BCRD. She has put in many hours, evenings, and LOTS of effort to make this summer a great experience for her kids. You can follow her camp blog at http://bcrdcamp.blogspot.com/.

Bridger is having fun, growing and exploring. He continues to be a very sweet boy who loves most things. His favorite is still outdoor play.

I made pizza. Bridger helped.

In early June, Holly's sister Kelsey came to spend a good part of the summer with us. It's fun to have her here, and it's a real blessing to have Bridger stay with Aunt Kelsey instead of day care. He gets to take naps at home now, whenever and wherever he wants.

He loves drives and bike rides in the trailer.

We've been doing some camping, hiking, biking, and 4wd.

Two weeks ago we went to Craters of the Moon National Monument and explored some caves.

This past weekend Will came out to visit Kelsey and they headed west to the Oregon coast for a long weekend. We spent our anniversary biking from Easley Creek north to Galena Lodge. Rode 24 miles of dirt and gained 2500' altitude. It was a fun ride and we were not ashamed at all to pack the carbs for lunch at Galena. Then I got food poisoning and spent Saturday evening miserable.

On Sunday morning I recovered, then in the afternoon we picnicked North of Ketchum and went on a nice drive.

Still a bunch of snow up high!

Picnic spot!

Will and Kelsey returned from Oregon Sunday night and we were able to spend Monday evening with them, before Will returned to Iowa on Tuesday morning.

Headwaters of the Salmon

That's what we've been up to! We'd love to hear from our friends and family, so if you're reading this feel free to give us a shout!

Bye!

2011-05-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Spring! Spring is late and slow in this part of the world; the weather has been gradually getting warmer and we've been getting out for walks and some hikes. Bridger's always excited for a couple hours in the backpack, and Peyton is loving life right now.

Sights from our evening walk from our house

Highs in the 50's-60's, plenty of sunshine. Some of the south valley dirt has opened up; we're getting some 4WD 'Cruiser time in, and starting to get the bikes out too. I'm riding to work most days now, and Bridger's really enjoying the trailer ride home in the evenings. The last little sliver of snow is gone from the shaded part of the yard, FINALLY! :) There's still a bunch in the high country and in the canyons out from the valley, though. It'll be another month before everything is open and accessible, probably. We went up to Galena Summit over the weekend and the snow is still 4-6 feet deep along the road.

Bridger has made the transition to his big boy bed, which is a loft/treehouse that we originally intended to just be a play structure. He has been really great with the transition; he has not climbed out of bed on his own at all. He LOVES the outdoors, and is currently very interested in trains, guitars, and bikes. Our landlord is a great guy, and loaned us one of his old Ukulele's for Bridger to play with when he heard how much interest Bridger was showing in our guitar.

We gave him a home haircut this week; we usually take him to have it done but thought we'd try it ourselves this time. All done!

He is counting now, and seems to count by halves... unn, twoeee, throoour, fwi! He counts animals in his books, trees along the trail while we hike, pieces of cereal on his tray, and got the biggest grin when he was watching Sesame Street and they started counting too.

He likes to carry his stuffed animals around, and enjoys bringing as many as he can with him at any given time. So, he loads them in a basket and carries them around the house.

Finally, here is a video. Warning: it's about 12 minutes of Bridger doing stuff we thought was cute and/or funny. If you're looking for fine cinematography, great soundtrack, or other elements of riveting filmmaking, sorry to disappoint. If you are a grandmother wanting to see her grandson identify parts of his face, then this is for you :)

February

2011-03-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since our last post. January 27th marked the beginning of the flu bug at our house and it has been one of those bugs that never goes away and morphs into sinus and ear infections. It seems like we are finally on the mend.

Since we have been under the weather, we haven't gone on many exciting adventures. We do, however, have photos from last month.

Bridger had big adventures inside cupboards.

He became an expert on detaching keys from laptop computers.

He learned how to climb to the top of his play structure with out a ladder, and without help. We hear books being tossed from great heights, and this is what we find.

So, we get the drill out and add the railing. Bridger loves power tools!

Now Bridger loves to have great adventures in his indoor tree house.

2011-01-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

This was a big weekend at the Grootveld house. I skied Baldy on Saturday and got a feel for the mountain. Big. Steep. Fun! There is no bunny hill (that's what Dollar is for). I'm pretty sure I had more vert in before 11:00 than I usually get in a full day at Cooper.

View of Ketchum from the mountain.

I watched a 5 year do a back flip off a jump onto moguls.

They do 'ski days' as part of elementary school during the winter here. The mountain offers free lessons/lifts for the schools.

Holly was afraid she might break a leg and opted to stay home and watch the boy. Here he is doing his best Colonel Sanders impression. "So then, I drop the chicken bits into the fryer..." He likes his yogurt.

The big reason Holly didn't want to get hurt was that she had the annual Galena Benefit at Sun Valley lodge on Saturday afternoon/ night and was in charge of running the silent auction. If she was busy getting a cast, BCRD would have been up a creek. Cameron and her kids generously offered to take Bridger over night. He had a great time hanging out with Lola and Luma. And Holly and I worked well into the night at the Galena Benefit. The moneyed folks around Sun Valley certainly are a different crowd than we're used to!

Sunday, we slept in. Neither of us stirred a bit until 9:00. It was glorious. We went and got Bridger from Cameron's house... they didn't let us take him until we promised to let them have him again sometime soon. Her two little girls thought it was great fun to have a baby for the night!

After a late brunch with Bridger, we headed north.

Pretty sweet that this is our Sunday drive!

Bridger got to go for a wander on a plowed road to a ranger station. He walked probably 1/4 mile all by himself. He wanted to wander further, but we decided it was time to go, so we came home, had supper, and he crashed out.

2011-01-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

So here is a peek into our house this week...

Monday. Since it was a holiday, the schools were closed and I had recess from school. It was set to be a 'Crazy Craft' day. I had gone into work on Sunday after church to cover all the tables with newspaper and gathered paint supplies from the art room and transported them to the Hub. Sunday night I had made a big batch of home made air dry clay. Anyway, Monday. I went to work early in the morning and waited for the children to arrive. We had 3 children come, when normally we have 30. Most parents had the day off too. I am not used to having the majority of the population having a day off on MLK Jr. day. It was disappointing. I was going to cancel the day and send the kids home, since we were going to loose money staffing the Hub, but my boss said it was fine to be at a loss for the day. I ended up having one staff come in and we brought the kids to main street shopping, then walked to get ice cream, and took a bus back to the Hub. That night Eric switched oil on both the vehicles and fixed the starter and came home around 10 pm after I had got Bridger down for the night.

Tuesday. Bridger and I left first thing in the morning and drove down to Hailey for a Bible study at our church. It went from 9-12 and then I drove him back up to Ketchum quickly and dropped him off at daycare. I went home quick to change and rushed back to Hailey for work. We had a nice quite evening.

Wednesday. A big day for everyone. Bridger and I completely cleaned the house in the morning. Eric had a big board meeting, a meeting in Hailey, and then went and got Bridger from Day care in Ketchum. We had supper together and then Eric went back to Hailey for a PTA meeting. He came home after 9 and after Bridger had gone to bed.

Thursday. This morning I am working at home. We were going to go to 'indoor gym' for Bridger at the BCRD, but Bridger told me he would rather take a nap. So he is napping and I was working on a bunch of different projects I have going on and decided to take a break to blog. We have a lot of people ask what our week looks like and this is about it.

During the weekend we like to have fun as a family. Next weekend Eric and I are volunteering at the Galena Benefit at Galena lodge. It is a really formal occasion and we are going to be taking care of the silent auction. That day we are also planning to go skiing at Baldy.

This past week I have started a bunch of new projects. We received a proposal from an employee at the middle school to start up an after school program for middle schoolers next school year. I need to decide how BCRD, myself, and our staff would be willing to be involved in this. The Fitworks area at BCRD is wanting to have a time on Tue/ Thurs to offer child care for children 0-5. I am putting things together to help my boss make a proposal to the Director of BCRD. The major project is Summer camp. I need to get some things nailed down by mid February. I am officially the Camp Director for the summer and it is a big undertaking. There will be 15-20 staff, 100+ kids everyday, major activities (river rafting, cave adventures, pump park, etc), a full production of Aladdin at the end of the summer, and I have never done this before. We need to have everything very thought out by the end of March as we will be having an open house for sign up.

The other major project started on Sunday. Our new church is planning to open a day care and has asked me to be a consultant as they go through the process of licensing and setting up the program. They had asked if I would be interested in employment with them, but at this point I am so committed to other things, I told them I would love to help in every way I can, but I don't want to commit to working there.

Eric is busy with lots of meetings with the public regarding the Woodside project. There is a lot of people really positive about the project, but the sidewalks are going to be put on land that many homeowner's consider 'their yard' even though it has always been owned by the city, and there is opposition in the respect.

Since Eric is getting busy, he is taking on less bus driving. Come spring he will be back to full time in the projects. It seems like he will be able to get 20-25 hours for the projects this summer, so we are beginning to think about if Eric will look for a second job at a bike shop like Power House or if we will keep Bridger in daycare part time and Eric stay home with Bridger 1/2 the day.

So, that is our week and a little window into our lives.

Backcountry Skiing

2011-01-15T21:55:00.000-08:00

We decided to try our new skis out this weekend at Proctor and Ruud Mt. area. Daycare was offering a weekend ski day to watch Bridger. We decided for cost reasons we would backcountry ski this time. It was something that would be a new challenge and also an experience that we wanted to try.

The climb up was exerting, but actually went pretty well. It was about 45 min to an hour of constant climbing a steep grade. There was about 3' of base snow and every now and then we punched through and had to use extra energy climbing out. We wore our ski boots for the hike up- which if you know the way alpine boots feel walking for any kind of distance you can imagine what that is like. Once Holly was following Eric a little too closely. He feel backwards a little and the bottom edge of his ski hit her in the eye/cheek hard enough to knock her down and leave a mark. The brunt of the impact was luckily guarded by her sunglasses, which now has a mark in the middle of the lens and on the frame.

Once we made it to the top we had a picnic lunch right next to the world's first chair lift. The views were great, and it was exciting to see the distance and height that we had achieved.

As difficult as the climb up was, I think the ski down was more frustrating for us. There was so much powder that we had a lot of trouble keeping our skis from being buried under the snow. It was a slow time down. I know, we shouldn't complain about fresh powder or first tracks. Our bodies were already hurting from the climb and our legs were already tired, so trying to direct the skis in that amount of snow was challenging.

It was nice have the mountain to ourselves. If anyone was watching they would be amused at our pace down the mountain. We haven't skied in 4 years, so I think we were a little over enthusiastic about how easy it was going to be to jump back into skiing. I don't think our skills are quite what they were before. Hopefully we can regain muscle memory and skill in the next couple of weeks, because we are planning to go skiing on Baldy then. We have decided that backcountry skiing will be something we will not attempt again until we are more comfortable skiing. All in all it was definitely a memorable day and an achievement we are both proud of. :)

Idaho Christmas

2011-01-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our first Christmas in Idaho this year. After we returned from Iowa, we set out to replace the 'Charlie Brown' Christmas tree we had before our trip with a new one.

It had snowed quite a bit since we had left and it was a bit of a challenge since we couldn't get as far in the wilderness of Sawtooth National Forest. As a matter of fact we only got about 200 ft past were the plow had stopped before the Cruiser found itself stuck in about 3 feet of snow.

Eric dug, and dug, and dug, and crawled under the truck and dug some more and eventually was able to get us out.

That day we saw a ton of elk.

Finally we found our tree.

We were determined to start 'new holiday traditions' this year, but Holly was inconsiderate enough to be sick every half an hour on Christmas Eve which put a damper on the day. By 4 she was feeling well enough to be up and around, so we decided to go to continue on with our plans and went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and to the torch light parade down Dollar mountain.

The next day went much better. Bridger was delighted to see that Santa had come and apparently he had been a VERY good little boy this year. His favorite Santa gift was set up on the living room floor. It was a mat with roads, and a set of cars, trucks, and trains to play with on it. He got his first set of skis from Mom and Dad.

After Cinnamon Rolls and a big breakfast we headed up to Galena Lodge for snowshoeing. This will definitely be a Christmas day tradition. We took Cowboy Cabin Trail and Valley View. There was quite a bit of climbing, but the view was worth it!

Coming down we really were walking in a winter wonderland. The trees were still blanketed with snow, and the woods were absolutely silent. The snow created tunnels through the trees in places, and went along a mountain stream. It was really neat.

Bridger tried his skis out on the groomed nordic trail.

For Holly's Birthday we drove to Stanley.

We had a great supper-- Baby back pork ribs, corn bread, and sweet potatoes.

On New Years we decided to stay in. Ketchum is crazy busy, and it was super cold. Side note: we saw Arnold Schwarzeneggar three times over the New Year's holiday. We rearranged and decorated Bridger's room and watched movies. Finally, Sunday we had gone stir crazy so we went to breakfast and then went for a drive.

We let Bridger loose and Peyton followed. About 15 miles from our cabin is one of many roads leading nowhere this time of year (or a pile of snow where the plow stops). We decided to go to the last stretch of that type of road and walk for a while.

We let Bridger roam free with out worry of cars, wandering off the road, or eating rocks. Everyone had a glorious time.

Happy boy.

This is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.

Eric 'skiing' Bridger.

Bed time snack after a long day.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Long overdue!

2010-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the dry spell, folks. It's been a busy (yet not very photogenic) couple months. Lots going on, but most of it doesn't make for good stories or photos.

Late October we did our last pre-snow outing into the backcountry.

Kelsey and Will visited us over the week of Thanksgiving. We had a great time showing them as much of our world as we could; it was a little tough as this is what we woke up to Tuesday of Thanksgiving week:

Yep, 14" of snow. I shoveled that path so that I could get to the Cruiser...

so that I could go take my CDL skills test in a bus with bald tires! No worries though, this western snow is so light and dry, it's pretty easy driving compared to the Midwest icy snow that we're all used to back home.

Bridger continues to grow and experiment... Here he's decided to get up and walk around when he decided he was done with his dinner.

Trying new beverages...

occasionally choosing his own wardrobe...

or lack thereof.

Playing with boxes and friends.

We're not sure where he gets that from.

He really isn't always just in a diaper... we just seem to always photograph him that way.

We came back to central Iowa to visit for the holidays; it was a wonderful time that we enjoyed greatly. We are SO blessed to have such wonderful family and friends! It was a time that we enjoyed immensely; saying goodbye was so hard! We got to spend time with both immediate and extended families, as well as dear friends that we won't soon forget. It was our first Christmas without Grandma (Grootveld) TerLouw, but her memories were with us strongly the day the Grootvelds gathered from Wisconsin and Southeast Iowa for a day together.

Bridger and Holly also ventured over to western Iowa to visit Holly's grandparents. They had a great afternoon chatting and spending quality time together.

Bridger got time with all his aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course grandparents! He colored with cousin Nora,

got spoiled by Grandma Grootveld and Grandma Happe,

and got some good truck time with cousin Justin.

So many great photos and memories from our time back in Iowa, but this post is probably too long already!

2010-10-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

I love this place. This is a photo of the top of the trail that I can hop on the bike and be at in 5 minutes from my office.

Snow in the high country Saturday morning!

A few photos of Bridger...

Here's one from a couple of months ago. Bridger was playing super hard, and kept the pedal to the metal until he just completely ran out of gas.

Went for a hike Saturday. Dog had a great time, Bridger had a nice ride in the backpack.

Ribs for supper. Bridger LOVED it!

Sunday afternoon - 4WD time!

Little hike to stretch the legs and let Dog romp.

Another good weekend in the books!

2010-10-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this should have been posted about a week ago... photos and trip were taken on Sunday the 3rd.

We got the flu. Ick. We got skis. Yay! We got out on Sunday for a loop over and up to Challis, then over to Stanley, back home. Route. Pictures from the day:

Looking back towards Ketchum, about 10 miles out of town.

Great colors this time of year!

Finally got to use the Cruiser a little closer to its full potential. I didn't get photos of the tougher sections, but let's just say I'm super happy with how it tackled some more challenging terrain!

Bridger did a lot of sleeping in the car. Then, after going to bed at 9:00 like usual, he decided that he was up and ready to start his day at 2:00 AM. It was a rough night, but we're back to a regular schedule now (in terms of sleep). We're all feeling quite a bit better, but this week has been brutal. I've been intending to put this post together all week, and just have not been able to get to it. We got a babysitter and got out for a mountain bike ride yesterday; temps in the mid 70's never happen in the second week of October here, but it has been awesome! Looks like we'll be seeing highs in the 50's and 60's now from here on out, like normal. It was great though to get one last day in the mountains with shorts and short sleeves! Trail conditions were perfect... I didn't bring the camera, but even if I had i would not have been able to bring myself to stop and take pictures. The descent was awesome... carving through a pine forest, trail covered in pine duff. It was so grippy and fast and fun!! Some rocks and roots to keep it interesting, but mostly wide open throttle! Mom, I promise we'll take some more Bridger photos and post them up soon... Catch you all later!
-Eric

2010-09-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

So we have had more significant changes since our last post. In April we sold our house. The buyer requested a closing date within two weeks of their offer. We had basically settled in on the fact that we were going to be in the house for a few more years while we waited for the housing market to change, and so the offer was major surprise. Eric was still on the hunt for a job, so we decided to wait out the summer in Eric's parent's basement to see if something came about before the snow flew. At the end of August Eric received to requests for interviews. One with a bike company called QBP out of Minnesota, and the other in Ketchum, Id as a Bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. He accepted the position in Idaho and needed to be out in 10 days. We packed like crazy. Got Bridger and Peyton to their annual doctor check ups, and sent Eric off with his dad and a great guy from cornerstone church that offered help.

Here is a video of Bridger we took while we were packing. One his own he went through a grocery bag and discovered a box of graham crackers. He opened the box to find an open package of crackers and took a graham out. Then he nibbled on one and fed another to Peyton. It was funny to watch this all unfolding from a distance.

After Eric made it out, I finished things up in Ames for work and for Usborne book shows that I had left to finish. Bridger and I arrived last Sunday evening.

Bridger and I spent our week unpacking and interviewing potential babysitters for him while I work. We feel that we have a great candidate to start him with tomorrow when I go to my first day at BCRD. We currently do not have a washer and dryer so we spent two evenings at the laundromat. On those evenings we went to the Power house (sweet burger/beer/ bike shop in hailey) and to the wicked spud (our fav. burger joint).

This past weekend we spent finishing some cleanup work on the little cabin we are renting. Saturday we drove to Stanley, wheeled at Smiley creek, and then had a picnic supper at Galena Summit. We wheeled to the top so we had some amazing views.

2010-03-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

The days and weeks following the summer of 2008 were a test of patience for us. Eric went back to work at Bike World and began his last semester at ISU to finish his degree in Community and Regional Planning and I began a job hunt. Luckily, I was blessed to find a job that have really enjoyed working for a physical therapy clinic in West Des Moines. I really enjoy the people I work with and really appreciate the ability to leave work at work. There are some challenges, mostly pertaining to the drive. This winter was especially challenging, as commuting through the storms was a bit nerve racking. The other challenge is that at least twice a week I need to be in West Des Moines by 6 am to open the clinic. This has made for many, many early mornings, but I have found that working early instead of late has been nice many ways.

After Eric graduated in December 2008, he started a job hunt. We were, and still are interested in moving back west, after have such a good experience. In December we also learned that we were expecting our first baby. This was a very exciting time for us, but as the months passed and Eric was not having luck with his job hunt it was certainly easy to become discouraged. We knew that we needed to be patient and persevere through by trusting in God's plan. My rule during pregnancy was that I would not stay home sick unless I was physically attached to the toilet and luckily I only missed two days of work. We placed our home on the market in August, in order to free up our ties to the area if a job came around.

On September 1st, we welcomed our son, Bridger Davis Grootveld, into our family. He was 7lbs. 11 oz., 21 in. long and had a full head of hair.

From Bridger 1st 12 hours

It was an amazing experience. There is nothing more in the world you take more pride in than your children.

The first bath was exciting. It was preformed at 4 am after being up all night... but we were still wide awake. We were amazed at how his hair color changed and how long the hair was after the first bath.

From Bridger 1st 12 hours

Bridger was welcomed by his family, including his Grandparents on both sides, 3 Aunts, 3 Uncles, a cousin Nora, a month later a cousin Justin, 4 Great Grandparents, and many Great Aunts uncles and 2nd cousins.

When we brought him home we enjoyed making a mohawk after his first bath. And Peyton learned that things were going to be different from here on out, but accepted the new addition to the new family with open paws. Eric would comment on how he felt Bridger looked like a Dr. Seuss character with a funny face he would make with his mouth.

From Bridger days 2-4

From Bridger week 3

He was a bear for Halloween.

It was fun to enjoy the weather with Bridger this fall. We walked and biked. I really was glad to be able to move around again freely and by the time the snow fell was able to run a few miles with out trouble again.

From bikes bikes bikes

When November arrived we celebrated Grandpa Toyne's 80th birthday and then saw the family again at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Before we knew it, it was Christmas time again. This year it was certainly a lot more fun with all the tots around. We had the joy of seeing Grandma Verniece with her Great Grand babies.

From Grootveld Christmas 2009

We also were able celebrate Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Happe, Grandma and Grandpa Grootveld, and as a new family.

Bridger got a friend named Pugsley.

Peyton and Bridger continue to become good friends.

Bridger has started on solid foods. So far we have had rice cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, and apple sauce.

His hair just keeps getting more awesome all the time.

He loves to read, blow raspberries, and get passed around. He is becoming quite the ham.

He is very investigative and inquisitive.

He gets more and more fun all the time! We're going to try to start this blog up again with at least semi-regular updates and photos.

~Both of us.

Coming Home

2010-03-20T08:15:00.001-07:00

What an adventure we had that summer. We often look back with fond memories. We never posted anything regarding the return home. Eric and I took our time... it took us a full two weeks to get home. We spent several days exploring more in depth Yellowstone national park. During our time there we did day hikes, ate at the Roosevelt Lodge, and saw many of the things we missed on our trip to Yellowstone at the beginning of the summer. Some of the high points were The Old Faithful Inn, seeing two bears, and staying at a neat campsite on the east side of the park. The low points were having an over weight squirrel raid our food bin, almost hitting a very large moose in the middle of the night (actually, this also a high point), and a car camping site that packed us in like sardines. One memory I often think about on our trip from Hailey to Yellowstone was a little plane spraying fields. I have seen farmers doing this before, but the area was so hilly that as it rose up from the field and toward the road, it flew right over the top of the car. It was so neat. I felt like it just barely missed me, though I am sure the pilot was quite sure of his clearance.

Room with a view

Day hike in Yellowstone

A bear!

Old Faithful Inn, super cool!

Morning mist rising off the Yellowstone River

After our time in Yellowstone we left early to Jackson Hole. We picked the car up from the hotel who had so generously allowed us to park one of our vehicles in their lot during our time in the park. We walked around town and then headed through Wyoming to Steam Boat, CO to spend the night. We met up with Tom and Aaronica Healy and continued our journey stopping for a night at Lake Dillon, two nights at Keystone (and did lift assisted mt biking), then headed to Ft. Collins for breakfast at lucille's, our 2nd New Belgium tour, beau joe's pizza, and some shopping. It was an epic end to the best summer of our lives.

by holly

Wheelin'

2008-08-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

Holly and I went out Sunday for what is likely to be our last Idaho 4WD outing. We drove about 130 miles... It took 7 hours. Awesome.

My lovely wife picking wildflowers at our supper stop

The view from our supper stop - it's amazing how good Ramen off a camp stove can taste up in places like this.

Wut?

We found these neat old abandoned cabins at a mine site. It would have been a long trip on horseback, incredibly long if you were hauling a wagon full of stuff, and the winters would have been fierce!

Holly took this photo of some wildflowers

A sweet little stream that crosses the trail

Noticing a theme here? :)

Another beautiful evening. You can't see it in the photo, but the sky was starting to turn a really pretty pink color.

After sunset, still very pretty!

MTB fun

2008-08-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

We went and rode the lift assisted MTB trails at Sun Valley today. It was fun, and very pretty. Holly wasn't feeling great, so she didn't have the best time (especially on the last run of the day) but she did great!

Wildflowers are still blooming! We rode through a few fields of beautiful lupine like this

Tom, you'll be happy to know that the riding we'll do at Keystone is much better than the SV resort. If you were coming out here and wanted to climb for our downhills I could show you some incredible trails, but if we're gonna take a chair lift I'd rather be there than here.

Update to "Update", Parents, and Oregon trip

2008-08-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Be warned, we're going to make up for the last three weeks of not posting on this one post. Get comfy...

In our post titled "Update" we forgot to post up pictures from our time at McCall, just southeast of Hell's Canyon, where we spent our fourth anniversary (and also Chopper's hometown)... so here they are :)

Payette Lake; McCall is right on this lake. We took this from Ponderosa State Park.

The marina

Mom and Dad Grootveld came to visit the weekend of the 12-13, and we did a little of everything. Mom and Dad took the truck wheelin' and by some miracle didn't run out of gas... it had about 2 gallons, maybe three TOPS in the tank when they left, as I hadn't filled it back up after putting a new tank in. They drove up north of Ketchum to do some hiking at Adams Gulch (about 10 miles each way), then wheeling!

Saturday we showed them around Hailey and then went up to Ketchum to check out the high-roller crowd and see how the other half lives, then had supper at the Spud.

Sunday we went to Redfish (It is to the locals around here what Red Rock or Big Creek are to the central IA folks).

Peyton had a blast.

Then we went on a hike.

We came home and grilled some steak and ate on the patio.

On to Oregon!

Holly and I took a trip to Oregon this past weekend. Four nights of camping, driving the Oregon Coast and general Cascade Mountain and Ocean fun. We took off Wednesday, drove until 1:00, then stopped for the night. We got up nice and early and drove on west. Saw some wildlife. Nice little buck in velvet.

We stopped for lunch in Bend. It's Holly's new favorite town. There's a great park in the middle of town,

Peyton was very interested in the local fauna,

He had a great trip... saw the sights

and sawed some logs

The Coast!

The dunes were neat.

On to Highway 101! The Pacific Coast Highway is absolutely gorgeous, and is truly a blast to drive. The car definitely spent some time between 4000 and 6500 RPM on this trip. I highly recommend it.

It was cold, windy, and cloudy though... it was in the 40's at night, and it was in the low 50's all day.

Saw some lighthouses

Sea lions with pups

Reasons for the lighthouses

Great name for a store

Newport, OR

Home of Rogue Brewery

mmmmm... beeeeer... also some awesome seafood. We had some great clam chowder, and split some fantastic fish and chips.

It took Dog a bit of time to figure out ocean waves...

Probably the highlight of the trip... a little town called Oceanside, near Tillamook (which, incedentally, has the BEST ice cream either of us had ever tasted). Surfers, sand dollars, and a great sunset. We walked on the beach together, hand in hand, had a great time.

Here's the town

Sunset on the Pacific

All in all, it was a blast. A little chilly, but beautiful.

Funny story from before the trip... Wednesday, I came home for lunch and Peyton didn't greet me at the door. I looked around and called, but he didn't come. We've been feeding him outside so he makes less of a mess, and I thought maybe I forgot to let him in after feeding him and he went exploring. Holly and I went looking in the places we thought him most likely to have gone, and couldn't find him. Holly was starting to panic at this point. We came back home, and she opened Brian's bedroom door and there he was. She had taken some clothes out of the dryer and brought them into his room, he followed her in there, and she didn't notice and closed the door behind herself. Much excitement over nothing!

Are you still reading this? You really should develop some hobbies or something! :)

random

2008-07-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

I smell like gasoline, PB Blaster, and Fast Orange right now. Good times.

Links

2008-07-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of websites I found that tell about Ketchum/ Sun Valley. They are really one in the same. This is where Brian works. It is 11 miles north of Hailey.
http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/sunvalley.asp
http://www.forbes.com/2000/12/12/ppsunvalley.html

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone back had a great 4th! We pretty much relaxed most of the day. We did a little tidying up of the house in the morning, then went to the parade and 4th of July Criterium. They closed off Main St for the afternoon for the parade and race. Pretty cool.

A group off the front of the 3-4-5 race

Holly's boss Cameron in the Women's race. She would go on to take 3rd.

Another photo of the women's race. It was a beautiful day!

Here's a local in the Pro-1-2 race. He held off the field by himself for about 35 minutes of the 50 minute race.

Here's the kid who won. I think I heard them say he's 17 years old.

Then we went to the pool and cooled off for a bit. We came home and grilled out, then walked over to the field near our house and waited for the fireworks. Peyton and Brian and I tossed a frisbee for a while,

Holly read a book,

and then we watched the fireworks.

All in all a great day (aside from a little sunburn).

By the way, we do enjoy hearing from everyone back home, so if you feel like sending an email or leaving comments to let us know what you're up to, we'd love to hear from you (yes, you.)

~Eric

Last Night

2008-07-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Hailey Rodeo. I was extremely excited, because the rodeo is a 4th tradition for me and because horses were a huge part of my childhood. I feel like the rodeo brings me closer to home. The rodeo was a little on the disappointing side. Biking is the culture out here, not rodeos (which I guess is more the culture in Lake City, Iowa). If that makes any sense at all :). After the rodeo Eric and I decided to take a drive to an area north a Ketchum to see the stars. We almost got into a head on with a drunk driver. It was a little scary afterward thinking of what might have happened if we hadn't have swerved. Basically a car veered into our lane on highway 75 south of Ketchum the car in front of us swerved and then we swerved and honked. The car looked like it had already been a smaller accident because the hood had a big dent in it. We called the fuzz and gave them information about the description and direction of the car. CRAZY. Lesson: DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!

Holly

I love Hailey.

2008-06-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Ames is a lot bigger than I always thought. I love the size of Hailey. When I go to the coffee shop the person at the check out already knows my name and face. I see people I recognize everywhere. I run into neighbors at the market. Strangers wave and say "Hi" all the time. Everyone is smiling. Last night we had trouble finding a place to park our bikes outside of the Wicked Spud (the beer and burger joint), because thirty-forty people rode. There is a huge bike community. Locals call themselves 5B'ers because all the Hailey license plates are 5B XXXX. Boise is A1XXXX, etc. 5B'ers pride themselves in being super pedestrian friendly. If you're standing on the sidewalk even thinking about crossing the road, all five lanes of State Highway 75 (which is Main St. through Hailey) come to a stop so that you can start crossing. So cool.

They are environmentally friendly too. Atkinson's (the market) encourages you to bring your own bag. Milk costs 5.00, and comes in a glass container, they give you 2.50 back when you return the container. Everyone has recycling bins they put out on garbage days. We recycle at the pool. There are even recycling bins at the post office, and everyone goes to the post office almost daily because mail is delivered to the PO Box instead of to the houses.

They are extremely dog friendly too. There are more dogs in Blaine County then there are children. Everyone is extremely conscientious of dogs being in the roads and paths. People pick up after their dogs. Dogs are everywhere and they are so well mannered and mellow.

Everyone loves the outdoors and are into being fit and active. They are not as much into dieting... but they run, hike, bike, swim, kayak, raft, on and on. The frame of mind people have is awesome. They travel and have lived many places. They are care free and enjoy the simplicity of life. They love other people and don't hold a lot of value on job titles or salary's. They are happy with their old pick up truck and mountain bike and just being. Towns in Idaho are like Summit County Colorado towns only less touristy. It is exhilarating and inspiring.

I'm not sure I want to hitch hike the country and back pack for months in Europe like some of the people we have met out here have. But I do want to be more of a traveler, to be adventurous, a little more spontanioius. I would like our kids to grow up in this kind of environment, with these kind of ideals, a little less tied to stuff, and willing to accept change.

Holly with Eric's help

Update Time

2008-06-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

We had a bit of a scare today... I took Peyton for a mountain bike ride, and I apparently misunderestimated the temperature. I'm not sure if maybe he was a bit dehydrated to begin with or what, but partway through the ride he kind of just shut down. He was doing great, and all of a sudden he just laid down. We walked the rest of the way home, and put him in the shower with cool water and got him some water to drink. He yacked in the shower, but then seemed to be OK. About an hour later (I'm at a P&Z meeting at this point) he lost bowel control and hurled again. (sorry for the unappetizing nature of the story.) He laid down in the yard, drooling, and then started dry heaving. Holly and Brian took him to a vet's office in Bellevue that had after-hours service, and they pumped him full of fluids and sent him home. $280.36 later, we have a dog who is very tired but not in danger. Painful, but well worth the peace of mind.

Also, Brian had a close encounter of the ursis kind. He was out for a mountain bike ride on Sunday and rounded a bend to find a large, brown, furry bear in the trail about ten yards away. The bear wandered off his own direction, and Brian headed back down the mountain with a little bit of blood in his adrenaline stream.

We were in McCall this weekend for our fourth wedding anniversary. We have a crappy work schedule this week because of a combination of my meetings and Holly covering shifts for a coworker, so we celebrated early. It was tons of fun, and a beautiful drive!

The hotel was really nice, including a jetted Jacuzzi tub in the room, and a nice indoor pool. We made a nice dinner of wood-grilled steak and roasted vegetables in the park by the lake, we waded in the water, watched sailboats, and just relaxed. On our way home, we witnessed a low-speed police chase. A white Suburban almost sideswiped us going down the interstate, and was tailgating, weaving, and just being unsafe. We were commenting that he really should get pulled over for driving like that, when a State Trooper tore out of the median after him. The trooper turned on his lights, and the Suburban just kept going. We were behind this whole thing, and it took literally 10 minutes for the Suburban driver to pull over. He was doing between 5 under and 5 over the whole time. Wierd. We were watching in the rearview mirror as the officer stepped out. He did not appear to be a happy camper as he slammed the door to his patrol car as hard he could and approached the Suburban with his hand on his sidearm. Two minutes later, four Sheriff and Statie cars came flying by in the opposite direction going toward the stop.

We stopped at a couple of gorges, one in the middle of nowhere,

and one in Twin Falls.

We saw two people jump off the bridge and land on the ground below.

If they hadn't had parachutes, they would definitely have been goners.

Sunset was beautiful.

Oh, Steve, if you check the blog this is for you... bring back any memories? It's even cooler in person than in the photo... click the image for a bigger version.

Rubbin' elbows with awesomeness

2008-06-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

Holly's boss Cameron is married to Chopper. Holly talks to him a few times a week, and we saw him race at the local Wed night dirt series. He kicked butt on a brakeless fixie semi-cross bike with a flat front tire, in a skinsuit. Cameron said something about him losing a bet... It was super cool to see him passing guys on $5000 carbon dual suspension race rigs on something that looked like it was found in a dumpster.

Camping!

2008-06-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend. We went north to the Sawtooth National Wilderness Area. It was purty.

Dog had fun! He did some extreme napping Sunday afternoon.

Camping is s much better with campfires.

We had a pretty view from the campsite.

After camping, Holly and I went to Custer, an abandoned mining town that has been preserved. It was pretty neat. Dave, you would have loved this!

Holly made cinnamon rolls this week... mmmmmmm

We went to Boise last weekend and came back the long way. Definitely worth it.

Update from Holly

2008-06-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

It has been pretty cold out here this week. There were threats of snow last night, which from what I could tell only yeilded a little bit of frost this morning. But it was in the 40's most of the day. I work at an outdoor pool and am very suprised at the number of swimmers that come out even in the cold.

This is my veiw from work. It was even more beautiful when the mountian was snow capped. I sometimes like rainy days because the the mountain tops seem to get tangled in the clouds and steam rises from the pool's surface.

Switching from a loan officer position to working at a swimming pool office has been like moving from night to day. I'm learning to be a little laid back and enjoying leaving work at work and not needing to worry about much of anything :). I also, for the most part love interacting with the kids. I also like my bike enthusist boss, who is giving lots of encouragement to meet other mountain bikers and be active in general.
Managing 14- 18 year old kids is a challenge. I am realizing that my expectations need to be realistic. I am working on leadership skills, patience, and humility. They are sometimes difficult to motivate, they are always trying to find a loop hole, and me being 22 it is difficult to get their full respect as an authority figure. I have to step out of my comfort zone to point out their failures, but I try to counter act that with encouragement when they are doing somthing right. My most uncomfortable moments have come from pool parents, I am finding that some parents are just strange. Every day I figure out what works and what I need to do a little different.

Last weekend we visited Boise. I would describe it as the feeling of Fort Collins and the size of Madison. Some of the outskirts reminded me of Ames (like s. duff).
We continue to mountain bike and 4 wheel often and have watched a few movies. We found a sweet campsite on the top of a mountain. We explored an old mine and found what Eric and Brian promise is fools gold. I'm still not convinced :).

This is a picture from that campsite.

The suffering!

2008-06-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Holly and I went for a nice Sunday drive yesterday afternoon... in 4Low! I love this place!

Saw a bit of wildlife sorry for the photo, it's pretty heavily cropped. I couldn't get very close; this guy had eyes like a hawk! (I know, I know... sorry.)

We got to the top of a little peak and had 360 degree vistas of mountains. It was awesome!

Then Brian and I went and did the riding of the mountain bikes. There was the climbing. And the pushing. And the climbing. And the pain. And the switchbacks. And the climbing. And the suffering.

This was the view from about halfway to the top. We started out lower than those houses that you can see way down at the bottom.

Then we went down. Our tires instantly filled with mud and we spent the entire trip down hanging on for dear life as we slid around muddy switchbacks, not so much steering our bikes as pleading with them to go kind of in the same direction as the trail.

Yes Tom, I know. Boo friggin' hoo. It was still fun, just not as good as the other riding we've done. When there is traction, and my legs and lungs start working, it will be an awesome trail, but yesterday it just brought the suffering.

Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

2008-05-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Sorry about that; we really haven't done much worth posting. I've started my internship, but other than that not much. Holly and I took a weekend trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone over Memorial Day. It's about a 5-hour drive from Hailey. We did a little backcountry camping in Grand Tetons National Park. It started raining while we were hiking in, and we set up in the rain. I've camped in the snow before (it's a lot of fun), but snow camping in a downpour is not a lot of fun. We spent about a half-hour trying to get as much water out of the tent as possible.

Here's Holly trying to keep warm... It was a cold, wet night.

Here she is on the hike out.

Jenny Lake at Tetons

The truck, having a good time... On a side note, Go Yota!! We got almost 29 mpg on the drive out and up through the parks, and 27.5 on the drive back.

Jackson Lake in Tetons

A cascade in Yellowstone (I forget which one). There's still a ton of snow up there!

Old Faithful! We did kind of a quick tour of Yellowstone. We're planning on going back later this summer, but we thought it would be fun to see the major attractions.

More photos

2008-05-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

Update: For some reason, the small photos didn't link to bigger ones. I've fixed this if you want to see the full size images.

Brian and I went wheelin' yesterday afternoon. It was lots of fun. A dirty truck is a happy truck!

After Holly got off work, we drove up over Galena Pass to Stanley. It's an incredibly beautiful area, and we got there just in time for this:

We were going back over Galena Pass afterwards, and stopped for some long exposure night photography.

Here's Wood River by moonlight.

Pictures from my first week here with my dad

2008-05-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

I finally have gotten around to posting pictures from the week Dad and I were out here together (the first week we were in the area).

One of the days we went on a drive and found a short cut back to Ketchum. When the roads started to look like this we decided the short cut would probably take longer than just turning around and driving back.

This was a photo we took shortly before dropping Dad off at the bus station.
It was taken near Twin Falls, ID.

This was taken at that same place. It is the bridge into town.

We drove to a little town at the top of a mountain one of the days. This is the view from Stanley, ID.

This is one of the many ski runs we found

This is a lava rock. There is a lava field south of Hailey.

This is our little patio.

This is the living room.

This is a picture of a potato field.

... And these are all pictures taken on the drive to Stanley. It is an hour away from Ketchum.

Idaho rocks my socks off!!!

2008-05-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Peyton got to some training time in on Wednesday. He's loving it here... There's a path that runs right through our backyard that leads to this field. He's gone biking with us a couple of times, and has found a new BFF in Brian.

My bike loves me so much right now! Thursday Brian and I rode Greenhorn Gulch. It was awesome. Sweet trail, a little mud, some snow, and a few freezing cold creek crossings. Heck yeah!

Brian on a bridge over a creek.

I wasn't expecting to be postholing through knee-deep snow in mid-May, but it's all good.

Happy bikes and a happy truck.

Fun in the dirt

2008-05-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

Brian and I played today while Holly was at work.

Mountain bike trail less than 1/4 mile from our house

Took the 'Yota wheeling.

End of the line for us today.

Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Long haul!

2008-05-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well, Brian and I drove pretty much nonstop to Idaho Saturday and Sunday. We were in the cars for about 28 hours total (we stopped for a couple hours' sleep twice).

Camera Dump!

Goodbye Ames!

Nebraska: Drive until your eyes bleed, rinse and repeat as necessary.

Bikes: "Are we there yet?"

Me: "Bikes can't talk. Leave me alone."

Me: "I didn't mean that. I'm really sorry, I'm just a little tired and grumpy. Will you forgive me?

Bikes: "We'll talk about this later."

Some people just weren't cut out for life on the road... :)

Hour 14: Welcome to Wyoming!

Sweet! Terrain features! I-80 goes from about 6000 feet in Cheyenne to over 8500 feet just east of Laramie. The truck was not happy climbing those hills. The combination of grade, altitude, extra weight, extra drag from the bikes, and the good ol' 105hp 2.4 liter 22re combined for several climbs at under 50 mph, getting passed by semi trucks going uphill.

Wyoming sunset, somewhere west of Laramie. Very few radio stations out here.

Yep, this is pretty much what the overnight felt like for me too.

Wasatch Mountains in Utah.

Woo Hoo!! We stopped at a rest stop near here, and Peyton wasn't quite sure what to make of the place. He walked around with his nose to the ground peeing on everything he could find.

Then he went back to sleep.

Going north on Highway 75, almost there!

And you'll have to wait for photos of the Big Wood River valley. I'll be posting again soon. Hope you all are doing well,

Eric

A little home sick.

2008-05-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today I dropped my Dad off at the bus station around 1:00. And took the hour drive back to Hailey. Eric and Brian will be coming either Sunday or Monday. Needless to say I am little sad and lonely today :(. I have a few movies to watch and am preparing for my first day of work tomorrow. It will only be few days.

The locals

2008-05-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

I love the locals here in Hailey. They are down to earth, and extremly welcoming. Most of them have warned me about the up coming tourist season. Many have given me tips on how to avoid the rush. You can start up a conversation with anyone and they are all very helpful.

Dad and I went to a bar/grill here in Hailey for dinner tonight. Since it is a Wednesday the place was very slow. There were only three tables being used and two gentleman working out front. One of the guys there struck up a conversation with us. We learned that the little hole in the wall place we were eating was actually owned by Bruce Willis. Apparently he has a home just north of Ketchum and will frequent the area. It is not uncommon to see him. Brad said just not to look to star struck when running in to people because the locals are used to them being around and that is why they have homes there. He also said that Arnold Schwarzenegger has a home in Ketchum, as well as Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. He had a few others he listed off like Jamie Lee Curtis. I think I may need to frequent that establishment. The food was really good too.

There is a little path right behind our town home. I took the path to see if connected to where I will be working and discovered that it was only a short walk away. I think that I could make it to work on my bike in two minutes and walk it in about 10.

I was also supprised to find out that there was a volcaino south west of Hailey that exploded in the prehistoric era. On our drive up to Hailey we noticed an area that looked like it was the surface of the moon. In chatting with a local we discovered this area was actually a lava field.

I really like it out here, and am really glad to have my dad out here to get me settled. We are discovering new things every day and are meeting a lot of new people.

-Holly

Hailey

2008-05-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

I wish I could upload some pictures. The scenery out here is beautiful. We arrived on Sunday afternoon- after napping we drove through Hailey and up to Ketchum and Sun Valley. The area is just like the towns in Summit county Colorado only more 'small town'. Hailey is really cute and well kept. There are not any major stores like Target, Walmart, ect. If you want food you go to the market, they have one clothing store, a jeweler, a hard ware store, block buster is the only place you can really purchase a movie. The people are very laid back and personable. I think that we are really going to like it here. Yesterday we drove up further into the mountains. There is going to be plenty of mountain biking, off roading, back paking, and day hike opportunities. More then we will be able to do in one summer.

Our town home is also very nice. It has an open layout and is pretty new. There is a small yard for Peyton. We were able to meet our land lord when we came in by chance and they seem extreamly nice. I am really excited. I do not have internet access set up in the town home yet, so I am only able to access the web with my new Hailey library card (and there is a time limit).

I will be putting on pictures as soon as I have the ability to down load them. Cheers!!

Update

2008-05-05T19:40:00.001-07:00

Holly has arrived in Idaho safe and sound, Thanks Dave! (her dad drove with her, and is going to take a train back) I'm finishing up the semester, and will head out with Brian this weekend. She says it's awesome out there, and I'm having trouble concentrating on school with all the reports of awesomeness. My next post will probably be from the Sawtooth Mountains... Catch you on the flip side!

Down to the wire

2008-05-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost time. Holly leaves in two days, I've got less than a week of school left, then I'm gone too. It's wierd to think that we're going to go three months without seeing most of our friends and family... We'll see how that goes. Kind of a funny feeling; I've never not lived in Ames.

2008-03-31T19:45:00.000-07:00

I don't think that it was nice to say "neener, neener..." but I would like to have a way to document our adventure and keep in touch with everyone back home.

~Holly

A new chapter

2008-03-31T13:48:00.001-07:00

I've been a conscientious objector to the whole blog-facebook-myspace culture up till now, but with the summer in Idaho coming up, I feel like we need a way to say "neener neener, you're still in Iowa and we're in the mountains." A blog seems like a good way to do that. You can look forward to photos of Idaho, stories of mountain biking and general adventures in the Sawtooths, and trips to Yellowstone, Tetons, and maybe even Glacier. That is all for now.