I wish I had a camera for this incident today, but I thought I would blog about it since I am relaxing for a few. I took Barney to the dog park this morning as usual for our Sunday morning ritual. This time they were having their two year anniversary celebration.

As soon as I let him loose, he ran to the swimming pool and splashed around like a psycho. By then five other dogs were following in him in it, including two bull mastiffs. Then, he starts taking off in a dead run and the pack followed him!

Everyone was calling him a “wild child” and asking me how I put up with his energy…

I have no clue!

All of us went up to Ruidoso for a 12 hour race. All of us included: Wayne, Brad, Brent, Jared, Mike, and me so that we could make up two teams. Wayne and Mike were a duo team. Brad, Jared, and I were a trio team. Brent came along to do one lap and hang out.

Here is the starting line. If you look closely, you can see Mike. (Some of these are professional pics by Brian Leddy.)

This is Jared. Kind of hard to tell but man he was flying!

Mike coming in on his first lap.

Last month Mike and I raced duo in Gallup, NM for 12 hours. We each would do a lap and then trade off a batan. The morning stated off really nice when we showed up at 7 am. Mike only had a few minutes to preride and then he had to take off to the starting line.

It begins with a really steep uphill climb! It was pretty hard for me but once you get through the tough parts, the rest of it is really fast downhill.

So. Guess what happens? Wind! Lots of wind! Then the temperature starts dropping. Then…..SNOW!

Here is what I looked like at the end when we were so tired we wanted to just go back to hotel and couldn’t fit anything into the car!

At this point, I was out on my third lap and it was so muddy that I couldn’t move at some parts.

It was so cold!

Barney is going through his teenage phase right now and sometimes it really tries our patience. Dirty rugs, hair on the couches, chewing up things, digging up the yard, etc. is an everyday occurance at our house.

The thing is we can’t help but like the guy! (Also, knowing he is going to grow out of it helps!)

Plus, look what torture we put him through!

And look how happy he is!
Such a ham!

These are so out of order, but I love em! This trip was so much fun! Can’t wait to hang out with them again!

Sliding down White Sands..

Mike showing Sarah the leopard geckos. Great pets. Angelina the bearded dragon.

Jen and Sarah came out for a fun girls weekend for my Spring Break! I had so much fun! Jen took a bunch of pictures but here is what I got from Carlsbad Caverns.

The entrance is so cool! I can’t wait to show you the pics we got!

Inside the visitors center. We took the natural entrance tour and then the King’s Palace tour where they turn off the lights. So cool.
Just a sneak peek at what it looks like!

I promised my kids I would have animals in the classroom, but it has gotten a little out of control! One of the parents of my students gave me a bunch of their animals and now its like a zoo!

This is Billy Bob the bearded dragon. He is really feisty!

I have four leopard geckos altogether. Two of them are albino!
This is Angelina. She is really mellow and very sweet. She loves to eat lettuce.

Mike had an idea to go hiking over to Pine Tree Trail, where he used to go on father and son hikes back in the day. We decided to make a field trip of it and bring Barney along. He did so well! The hike is about five miles long and we were racing daylight, but we only had to use the flashlight for five minutes.

Barney stayed in between Mike and I while we hiked. He was good about staying on the trail.

He looks like he is choking!

The view. So beautiful.

We went to Tucson to go to the 24 Hour race in the Old Pueblo. Its a race where a ton of people come to hang out and have some good old mountain biking fun!

Its pretty much a town that is made of RV’s and tents and when its done, it disappears! Here is the poster from this year:

After the race, Mike had cholla barbs in his feet and they had to operate!
The end of the race!