Everybody is Happy Momma is Home.

We are very happy momma is home. We missed her a lot. We are also thankful Grandma and Grandpa were here to cover for momma's absence. While here we battled a few rounds of pink eye, tantrums and lots of fun in between. Last free day we went up to Mt Hood and road the ski lift. First time for everyone but me. Hanna wasn't unhappy about it but she had a death grip on the bar. Ella wouldn't look down, but she also kept asking to ride it again so it was fun for her. And for momma's benefit, don't worry we had death grips on the girls.

We still say our prayers for Baka Vuletic. Everyone in Croatia is working hard to take very good care of her. Anita brought home photos of our nieces and nephews. Oldest to youngest is Patrik the artist, Tin his brother. Petar is walking and running and doing very well. The twins Janja and Tena are doing great.

Friday night I did the big money Healthnet Portland Twilight Crit. Prize list of $10,000. I got number 47, prime, so I hoped to have a lucky night. Unlucky for me it was a 'supper fun' course of 0.5 mile and 6 turns. Unlucky, I lined up in the back row. I did everything I could the first 8 min (8 laps) to move up and ride around guys, crashes and small groups before latching on to who knows what group for me. Turns out I was in the pack and 12 guys (many pros) were driving hard and lapped us in 12 min. Lucky for me while in the 'pack' I rolled through the front and won a $40 prime! Lucky for me I avoided at least 10 crashes that I saw. Unlucky for me I dug too deep to avoid getting pulled at the start and to get in the group I was in. I was dropped after 25 min, but not pulled as expected. I went a lap down. Got in and then dropped to go a second lap down and stayed in to the finish. I was 30th out of 69 starters. Lucky for me finished Crash Free! Unlucky for me, I lost one glove between the finish and the car.

It was a crazy race with a big big crowd. It was actually fun to get something like that in this year. While solo and other times I kept hearing cheers for 'Go Dan!' the whole way around the course. I concluded there were many Dans in the race. Turns out results say I was the only Dan that finished. I had a lot of support out there from all the friends we've made in town from working, bike riding and otherwise. It made it a great race to ride.