Drawing the Blinds Closed...

That's right, folks - we're going private! We have, of course, mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, public blogs make it easy to share your memories with lots of people with minimal hassle. On the other hand, it's a little creepy to think about who may be ogling your adorable baby or sweet, sweet bike. We're hoping to find some happy middle ground. Read on...

First of all, If you would like to continue to see our blog (and you aren't an interwebs SPAMbot), send me an email at joshua (dot) ence (at) gmail (dot) com for an invite. If we don't know who you are, we might not add you. We're planning on switching to "private" mode on February 15. Send me your emails before then!

Second, if you have an RSS reader linked to us, have us listed in your blogroll, or use some other web app to keep tabs on our blog, point it to our new gateway blog: http://entr-ence.blogspot.com/ Whenever we update here, we'll post up there. Your readers, blog rolls, and web apps will see the update and let you know! (BUT, of course, all the real action will happen here.)

Gutting It Out

A mantra I frequently adopt is "survival is success." Those three words got me through my first marathon, my first year teaching, and Piper's first poop-splosion. Of course, once I've done something multiple times I typically raise the bar above mere survival. Then again, other days I'll just settle for survival. This last week was one of those weeks.

Last Sunday Cali awoke in the middle of the night with severe stomach cramps. She then spent four hours huddled in the bathroom battling a stomach flu armed with nausea (of the incapacitating variety), vomiting (first time in 20 years), and diarrhea (gross!). I stayed home from school on Monday to take care of her and the baby.

Move ahead to Wednesday night when I found myself in the late evening feeling a bit queasy. Later that night I spent four hours in the bathroom learning to better empathize with my wonderful wife. While it is not uncommon for illnesses to work their way through a family like this, it held particular significance for me because 1) the second grading period ended on Thursday and 2) I had planned on racing Snotcycle on the coming Saturday. Wednesday night was not a good time to get sick.

I stayed home from school (again) on Thursday. My school inbox filled with frantic emails from students, pleading for more opportunities to retake tests or make up assignments. From home, I had to take care of some issues for the robotics team. Still, I had a wonderful wife taking care of me and got lots of rest.

Saturday's race was my primary concern. Last year, I only had one opportunity to race: the Six Hours of Patapsco mountain bike race last June. I was excited for it, I prepared for it, I was ready to go - and it was rained out. The rain date was four months later in October. So, I got excited about it, I prepared for it, I was ready to go - and it got rained out (again), this time for good. *sigh* Needless to say, I was really looking forward to Snotcycle since it has a "weather be damned" policy.

Thursday evening I decided I had to adopt a similar policy about my health: I was going to do this race regardless of how weak, dehydrated, exhausted, or hallucinatory the flu left me. I was going to dust off my well-worn mantra and finish last but proud.

In the end, it was a much bigger adventure than I anticipated. Surviving a 16 mi. mountain bike race on a winter's morning, two days separated from a catastrophic stomach flu, is one thing. Surviving a 16 mi. mountain bike race on a 15 degree winter's morning while it dumped 2" of snow on the race course, two days separated from a catastrophic stomach flu, is another.

Getting ready to go: The hardest part was staying warm while waiting around for the race to start. Brrrr! I didn't start to feel my fingers again until the second lap.

And they're off! Only the die-hard mountain bike racers would sign up for a race in January. It was a pretty hardcore crowd. It was fun to ogle the blinged out bikes!

My support crew and cheerleaders. Cali deserves some sort of special award for keeping the baby entertained for three hours while I checked in, got ready, and raced. Fortunately, the race organizers were offering free hot chocolate and a huge bonfire.

Stopping after the first lap to talk to Cali and suck what little water was left unfrozen in my bottle. The snow fell consistently throughout the entire race.

Starting the second lap, in near-whiteout conditions. By the end of the race, my eyebrows had icicled-over my glasses. It was EPIC!

All in all, it was an adventure. Despite the slick trails, I managed only two real crashes (and countless near-crashes) and finished 24th out of 50 in my class (Sport, under age 40). More importantly, I survived. Success!

Riding and Robots

We love Martin Luther King Jr. Day for a couple of reasons:

• Dr. King's struggle and sacrifice for equality made the United States a better place. He deserves the day that has been set aside in his honor.
  
• On a more selfish note, a three day weekend just a couple weeks after winter break is perfect for mitigating the descent back into the grind. BUT it must be used wisely.
  

Mostly Sunny with a High of 51?

The good people at Chariot Carriers make a fine product, the Chariot Cougar 2. (Some of you may remember that the Cougar 2 was the first thing we bought for the baby.) We love how well it works as a running stroller and have been looking forward to using it as a bike trailer. Well, that day has come! Although most experts recommend waiting for your baby to be a year old, we're taking her out. We bought her a helmet and it's time to pony up!

Sometimes you only get one chance at fame: taken during the 0.3 milliseconds Piper allowed the helmet to stay on her head.

(Except, of course, we've got to convince Piper that the helmet is a good thing to wear. At the moment, she seems more interested in chewing it, throwing it, putting it on our heads, or sliding it across the carpet. In an effort to help acclimatize her to the concept of wearing a helmet, Cali and I donned ours while we took down the Christmas tree yesterday. While this was certainly entertaining for Piper, it remains to be seen whether it has improved her feelings toward wearing one.)


I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords...

I'll also spend a good chunk of my day at school. What? On MLK Day? Let me explain...

Many of you know that I sponsor the Herndon High School Robotics Team (FRC Team 116). At the moment, we're in the busy "build" season of the year. FIRST, the organization that runs our competitions, announces a new game at the beginning of the calendar year. We then have the following six weeks to design and build a robot to play that game. To give you an idea of how monumental an undertaking this is consider these numbers: As a team, we will meet for about 150 hours during these six weeks, all in the evenings or on weekends. The final robot will cost around $15,000 and weigh about 120 lbs. As a team, we will consume about 100,000 gallons of Mountain Dew (the robot-builders beverage of choice). It's kind of a big deal.

For one clever (but unfortunately illegal) robot design, see here.

So, tomorrow, I'll be at the robotics meeting from noon until 8 p.m. While the students are designing and building, I'll take the opportunity to get some work done: grade midterm exams, study some chemistry, and probably watch a few YouTube videos (science-related, of course). Yup, between the helmets and the robots, it's shaping up to be a pretty nerdy day!

2009 Year End Review

And just like that, 2009 is in the books. Here's a quick review of our year:

January: We rode a tandem bicycle to the inauguration of President Obama. Despite the freezing cold and Cali's 8-month-pregnant belly, it was incredible to be there.

February: Melanie Piper was born!! Cali quit her job working at the Partnership for Public Service because she got a better offer to stay home with our baby.

March: We found that our little townhouse was a bit small to accommodate our growing family and our bikes, so we bought a “bike barn” to solve the problem...it currently houses six bikes. Piper visited her first National Park, Great Falls.

April: Spring sprung. We found more reasons to be outdoors. Melanie Piper was blessed.

May: Happily, we flew to Utah for Hannah's wedding. Welcome to the family, Neal!

June: Josh finished the school year, turned 30, and promptly got on an airplane. We went to Utah for Josh’s niece baptism, drove to California (via Lake Tahoe), and camped for a week with Josh’s siblings.

July: Hooray for summer! We went river rafting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with the Neville's, returned to Virginia, made a day trip to Richmond, and cheered on the cyclist's at the Pennsylvania State Track Championship.

August: We spent a week in Williamsburg, VA with Josh’s parents and introduced Piper to the Ocean. Cali’s dad came for a weekend visit to attend a cousin’s wedding.

September: Josh began his 5^th year teaching physics at Herndon High School. Piper started climbing stairs.

October: Lucky-ducky Josh participated in Northrop Grumman's Weightless Flights of Discovery. Cali’s mom and brother came to visit.

November: Cali and Piper flew to Seattle to visit Taylor, Shawn, Madeline, and their new baby Asher. We all celebrated Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania and helped make truffles in Delaware.

December: Inspired by Cali's developing sewing skills, we made family stockings. (Can you guess what Josh wanted on the front of his stocking?) Mother Nature gave schoolteachers across the DC metro region an appreciative nod (the epic Blizzard of ’09) and began winter break three days early. We got over 21 inches of snow in 24 hours.

We were reminded of how fortunate we are as we put this update together. We'll especially remember 2009 for the adventure that began with the birth of our beautiful baby. Piper is a delight. As strange as it is to be the "mom" and "dad", we love having her in our family. We are especially grateful for supportive, generous, and fun family, and for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Josh, Piper, and Cali in front of the Capitol Building and the National Holiday Tree.

Let it Snow!!

The Washington DC area is having one of the biggest snow storms ever! I measured 13 inches of snow five hours ago and the storm is still going strong. The only thing that would make this storm more enjoyable is if it was during the week so Josh could have gotten a snow day - but there's still hope for Monday. We've had a lot of fun.

Melanie did great when we went exploring in the snow. She lasted almost an hour!

Her dad worked hard to block the wind.

She did much better today than two weeks ago (pictured above), her first exposure to snow.

Our car (several hours ago) before Josh shoveled it out.

Josh was very thorough when he unburied the car.

Two rosie-cheeked girls after being out in the cold.

UPDATE:
The morning after our record breaking 24 hour snow storm, we measured the snow on top of the bike barn at over 20 inches!

Mobile Melanie at 9 Months

If our recent posting (or lack thereof) is any indication, it was busy/sick/well-traveled November. Before we could believe it, our baby turned 9 months! Here are her stats:

Height: 27 inches (25-50%)
Weight: 19.3 lbs (50-75%)
Teeth: 6
First Word: "ma-ma"

Likes: Taking socks off her feet, putting socks in her mouth, seeing socks on your head, sitting on shoulders, jibber-jabbering, growling, swinging, exploring both high and low
Dislikes: Be separated from mom, having to sit still, not getting exactly what she wants, not getting to eat everything she'd like to

Although she's been a fairly content crawler the last few months, she is making progress towards walking, as evidenced by this latest "Mobile Melanie" video:

We showed considerable restraint in only including one outtake.

Who needs an absurdly expensive push toy when a simple laundry basket will suffice?!? As you can see, she is both frugal (a trait inherited from Cali) and inventive (a trait inherited from me).

PS: About a month ago, I made a bet with Cali - Piper will be walking by Christmas. If you wish to weigh in, feel free to do so in the comments section.

Perks of "Staying Home"

I don't really love the title "Stay at Home Mom." I feel like it implies that all I do is stay at home. However, having more time at home has serious advantages. Last night I thought about some of the non-baby related things I've done over the last few months (yes, there actually are some).

• READ. I've read more in the last two months than I have in a long time, maybe ever. I've read a pretty good variety too - The Last Lecture, Hands of My Father, Twilight (the first and second books - embarrassing, I know, but I am only reading the series to confirm how much I dislike it), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, now I'm in the middle of Jane Eyre and I love it. I also study the scriptures more intently.
  
• EXERCISE. I consistently run three plus miles three times a week pushing a jogging stroller. Getting outside and exercising makes such a difference in my mood.
  
• SEW. Thanks largely to the church sewing group I attend (and my mom for lugging her old, very heavy sewing machine across the country), I've made a bag, curtains, a ladybug costume, and now I'm making Christmas stockings.
• COOK. Instead of our standard quasadilla, I make chicken pot pie, quiche, clam linguine, cashew chicken, biscuits, enchilada casserole, etc. Okay, we actually had quasadillas last night, but I did make chicken pot pie on Monday and tomorrow I'm making chili verde.
  

It's really nice to have time to do things besides work and sleep.

And, here's what makes all of that possible: