Fresh Escape

Addi with her blue cotton candy moustache. We all went down to Maggie Moos's and had a little treat once I returned from HH100. The ice cream really taste like cotton candy. My favorite is the Cherry Vanilla Vacation, vanilla ice cream, brownies, cherries and caramel. I'm a Freddy's fan but they'd be in trouble if there was a MM's closer to my house.

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My Girls

Em's .5 birthday is fast approaching and Amie thought she'd take a few pics of the girls on Sunday.

My Silly

Addi's Em

As you can see, Addi is quite the proud big sister.

Better

Monday morning, again. I wish more days started with an S. I had a great weekend. Got a short little road trip in with Zachary, a race (full report to come), and then some quality time with my girls.

I often look at my life and am amazed at how blessed I am. Do you know what it's like to get to come home to three beautiful, blond hair, blue eyed girls? I DO! You know how good that first bite of Rodney's Pizza is, or that first sweet taste of Freddy's Custard is, well going home to my girls is way better than either of those things.
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Hotter n' Hell

This weekend is the Hotter n' Hell extravaganza in Wichita Falls, TX. My homey & teammate, Zach, and I will be rolling down Subaru style right after work. I'm looking forward to it. This is always a big race. It has lots of street cred and also a big turnout. This will be my third year to race it. Every year I have big plans of winning, so I can get that jersey, but I've failed the last two years. Both years have been a learning experience. What I learned the first year was, I wasn't as strong as I thought I was and that I have a lot to learn about racing. What I learned my second year was that I race stupid. I've spent a lot of time working on both of those areas so we'll see if it helps out any this year.

Last year Zach and I were racing for CRRC. He and I had really just joined forces a little earlier in the season and it was a great time to get some race miles in together as well as get to know each other a little better. This year, we're representing Bicycle Alley Racing. We started this team at the beginning of this season and began as a three man team, we are now eight deep and have some great new teammates. Jerry Willis, one of our recent additions, will be joining us in the CAT 3 race. Jerry is a great guy and I'm looking forward to chatting it up for 100 miles. We'll also be represented in the CAT 4 race by Andrew Chasteen, and in the Masters 40+ race by Phillip Wilson and Mark Trimble. It's going to be a great weekend of racing for B.A.R. It's going to be a little different in Hell this year as a cold front is moving through and it's supposed to be in the low to mid 80's.

As much as I'm looking forward to racing, I think I'm going to miss my girls even more. I won't be gone long but I wish I could take them with me. I'm not sure if they are my biggest fans or if I'm theirs. Either way I'll be thinking of them and can't wait to see them when I get home. That's just even more incentive to do well, if I'm going to be away from them, I mine as well win...right. Hopefully, I'll be home with jersey in hand.

The a.m.

I know that everyone is sitting at home wondering what my mornings are like. They are actually pretty eventful.

This morning I was able to sleep until 3:45 then it was time to rise and shine and to do it as quietly as possible. I slip into the bathroom and throw on last seasons bibs and a shredded base layer top and then tip toe out to the garage.

Today my workout was just a high cadence endurance ride. It's nothing special, it's done at high cadence to get your heart rate up but not overload the legs. I just went with shuffle on my iPod today and ended up skipping songs more than listening to them. So much junk on there. To make the time pass a little faster I through on the 2003 tour de france. It was the stage were Lance's bars get caught on the strap of a fans bag and he goes crashing to the pavement. No biggie for Lance, he still put 40 seconds on Ullrich.

Once my workout is complete I sneak back into the house and get ready for work and then out the door I go. If I do all that correctly the only sounds I hear in the house is the soft breathing of my girls.

Then it's off to my first stop of the day, the new Oklahoma Heart Hospital.

Good morning!
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Morning training ride this morning. Should be good, rolling with the Willis brothers and Trimble. Hopefully this gets me out of my two day slump. Dang, someone won the lottery recently i guess, it's back to 20 million. I knew i should of bought a ticket.

My Boo's

If you haven't met my girls you're pretty much missing out on a life changing experience. I'm pretty sure they are the most beautiful two little girls in all the land, not to mention smart (in more ways than just brain smart) and full of laughs and smiles. They are just what the Dr. ordered after a long day at work. What could be better than walking in the door only to be greeted by a big hug and kiss and hear "I missed you daddy."

There's been a lot going on at the Hodges house lately. We recently switched Addi's Mother's Day Out program to one she is excited to go to and we're happy to have her in. This one is highly recommended by a friend of mine and it actually has a set curriculum and two teachers for her class. I was pretty disappointed with our other one. It didn't seem like Addi was learning anything other than bad habits and she was never thrilled to go. We're now going to the 1st Learning Center at First Baptist Church. I'm really happy to have her in a church based program also.

Her 1st day at 1LC.

While Addi is off to school, Em has learned to sit up. She is almost a master at it. She's so funny. She smiles more than anyone I have ever seen, unless you try feeding her pea's and then you better watch out. She's not a fan of the pea. She is getting big so fast. We've found her tickle spot and if you're brave enough to risk getting your hair pulled you can raise her arm and blow right under her arm. It's pretty funny and you get a laugh out of her.

That's Addi's Em

I LOVE MY GIRLS!