My Name is...

A-BI-GAEL!!!

Seems our little girl has a new favorite word (Her first three syllable word). We worked for months to get her to say her name. Finally, she gave in and started calling herself "Aba." Not too bad of a nickname if you ask me. Anytime you asked her name or who she was, she would respond with a confident "Aba!"
Well, this week Brandon took her to spend some playtime with her friend, Maxine, who is just two months older. Maxine is able to say Abigael's full name and apparantly shared the secret with our big girl. Now for the past two days all we've heard is "A-bi-gael! A-bi-gael!" It is sooo cute!

18 Months Old!

Happy 18th Month Birthday Abigael!!!

I can't believe our baby girl is one and a half now. In some ways it feels like it has just flown by and in others like she's always been a part of our lives. We celebrated her big day by going to the doctor for her regular checkup and a flu shot... "Thanks Mom and Dad..." She's absolutely healthy and the doctor couldn't be happier with her progress. She's meeting or exceeding all the developmental milestones and continues to grow like a weed. Measurements for this checkup:
Height/Length - 31 inches (40th percentile)
Weight - 25 lbs 1.5 oz (60th percentile)

Happy Halloween

Here's our little Fairy Princess getting ready for her first trick or treating excursion...Mommy even made the dress with help from her mommy ;)


We were worried about the rain but good fortune smiled down on us and the weather cleared up for a couple of hours.


The Payoff!!!...

Annette Bednosky, Ultra Runner and Friend

ANNETTE BEDNOSKY winning AGAIN!

This post is a tribute to our good friend Annette Bednosky. WOW is about all I can muster when I think about Annette. She just won the 2005 Western States 100 women's overall, here is a blog interview of Annette!! She has been running ever since I met her at Appalachian State University where she was one of my college instructors within the Recreation Management Department. Her husband and partner in life, George Santucci, is one of my best friends, my climbing partner, and mountain biking buddy. Annette and George live in Jefferson, North Carolina which is just north of Boone, North Carolina where Christie and I went to college. I just wanted to say THANK YOU ANNETTE, you have been and will continue to be, throughout my broken leg recovery, an inspiration to me as an athlete! YOU ARE A BAD ASS, KEEP ON KICKN' BUTT!!

GEORGE SANTUCCI mountian biking at Mt. St. Helens

Family update and Track Season Pictures

Hi all, I am SLOWLY healing up only 6 to 9 months to go. Basically it just sucks! Oh well, Thank you Moms and Dads for coming up here to Seattle to help spoil and take care of Abigael and myself. We love you all very much. These are pictures of me from the 2005 track racing season at Marymoor (Redmond, WA), Alpenrose (Portland, OR), and Kisenna (Queens, New York) velodromes. Season results are HERE. I finished 4th in the Master B's and 14th in the Cat 3's, even after missing the entire last month of racing. I was hoping to upgrade to Master A's and Cat 2 next season Oh well! The team is growing for the 2006 season and we picked up a new co-title sponsor AVASeattle Real Estate to form the new AVA/Counterbalance Bicycles racing team, stay tuned for awesome results to follow. Abigael turns 18 months on the 15th of Nov! Christie's birthday was the 7th she turned 23 ten and we had a nice dinner out at Mulleady's Irish Pub & Restaurant it was quiet and fun for the whole family.

Marymoor Velodrome, Seattle, WA

Marymoor again

Alpenrose Velodrome, Portland, OR
US National Elite Qualifier in Match Sprint 8th place outta 9!

Marymoor, Keiren race

Kissena, Queens, NY City, NY
Match Sprint during the 2005 CMWC