Sunday, June 28, 2009

Photoshare 7


Nick and Julia Wedding 225, originally uploaded by rcelliott.

Yeah, this is the girl I love!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A Song for my Wife

I just wanted to take a minute to tell the world how I feel about my wife, Andrea. She is the best!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Daddy Daughter Ride

Yesterday at around 4:30 I got this text from Andrea.

"R U Biking?" was what it said.

In my car, I read this message while nursing some really bad pain in my shoulder from three consecutive crashes. "Biking? All I want is an ice bag and a pillow." Was the thought in my little head. I thought of an out.

"Do the boys want to go?" I knew they didn't. They were still recovering from the race last weekend.

"No." Was the reply. I thought to myself how I could relax and let my shoulder heal...

Then the phone rang. It was Allyson. "Dad, the boys don't want to go riding, but can we go? We haven't ridden any trails with you all year."

"Are you sure you want to go?" was my reply. Ally isn't the first kid in the family I think of when it comes to biking.

"Yes. Should we get the bikes out now?"

In my body, all I could think of was pain, but in my heart, all I could think of was my girls and how I haven't gotten to spend time with them lately. This was the easiest "YES" any kid has gotten out of me to date. Time with my girls??? Absolutely.

I got home and we loaded up the bikes. I chose to take them to the skills park at Stony Creek because I felt it would be safer if I didn't have it in me to ride. This way, they could ride and I could enjoy.

It ended up that we all rode. We all rode and had fun. We had a great time! We got to ride, then we rode around the park and took some pictures. We even got to see a male turkey showing off for some females! We capped it off with chocolate shakes and came home. My shoulder didn't matter one bit. Take a look at the rest of the gallery HERE.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Thanks to my Wife


Andrea and I like a lot of the same things. We like to figure stuff out, we like to try new things, we like a lot of computer related stuff, etc. One of the things we both like is blogs. We read different blogs and like the look and feel of the different blogs we go to. (You can see Andrea's blogs HERE and HERE)

About a month ago we were talking about blogs and layout. We both agreed that we liked some of the other layouts that we have seen over the "standard" blog look. We decided that at some point we would like to update our blogs.

Two days ago Andrea decided to work on a blog a little. At first, I thought this was going to be a little adventure to do in her spare time. I forgot... We are talking about my wife. No, this led to two full days of her life locked at the kitchen table. This led to a quest. A quest to accomplish a completely new layout. A quest for a clean look. A quest for organization. A quest for boldly going where no man had gone before.

For two solid days she neither ate, nor slept. She never moved from her computer. She never faltered from her goal. She had a plan and NOTHING was going to stand in her way! She had to change MY blog! It was gnawing at her... Gnawing... Gnawing like a relentless rat. My blog must be cool. It must be cool and Andrea was on that quest until it was, indeed, cool.

I really appreciate this. I think she did a great job. She gets a thought in her head and she sticks to it, and this is no exception. Everything is laid out and categorized. Everything is clean. I think it is pretty doggone cool! Thanks Andrea, for taking the time to work on my blog! I love you!

Without further ado, I give you the new www.rctales.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

8 Hours of Cannonsburg

8Hrs of Canonsburg 165a, originally uploaded by rcelliott.

Well, the 2009 Michigan Endurance Racing season has had a bumpy start. First, Addison Oaks, which is the season opener, got rained out. It got rained out not once, but twice! Then came the 12/24 hours of Boyne. We couldn't make that race.

Finally a race came that we could make. It was 6-13-09 at the 8 Hours of Cannonsburg, in Grand Rapids. Nathan, Jordan, and I packed up the car and drove out early in the morning, despite the lack of sleep from the Detroit Redwings debacle the night before. We unpacked with our team members Nate, Andy, and Justin. But, in the clouds, was it... Yes it was. It was raining.

Fortunately the rain didn't last very long and before we knew it we were riding in prime conditions. The course was nice and had some great, flowing singletrack coupled with some long climbs. There was a great fast descent that led into the start/finish area.

We all had a great time. The boys finished third in their class, and we finished second overall in the elite class. Pictures can be found HERE http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcelliott/sets/72157619751746204/

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Gratiot Car Show


Gratiot Car Show 007gimp, originally uploaded by rcelliott.

The kids and I took a spur of the moment detour to Continental Lanes for their weekly Friday Classic Car Show. The rest of the gallery can be seen here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcelliott/sets/72157619506861016/

Friday, June 5, 2009

Photoshare 6


099a, originally uploaded by rcelliott.

Just testing the blog function of Flickr to my blog. This was a shot from Florida last winter.

Photoshare 5


This was a Bible on one of the tables at my friend Jeremy's church. You can check out his church at EnigmaChurch.com