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Noggin is a channel for toddlers/preschool aged kids on TV. It will pretty much melt an adults brain after about an hour of watching it, but Chloe and Claire love it. When their favorite shows come on (Blue's Clues, Jack's Big Music Show, The Wonderpets, etc) they are glued to the TV.

Their favorite part is in-between shows when this cartoon Moose guy comes on and sings songs. They dance around and try to sing along.

I headed out to Squaw Leap this morning and it was a good reminder of what horrible shape I'm in. I think it took me about 2.5 hours to complete the 8 mile loop. Going up isn't getting any easier for me, but I think I am getting better at the technical downhill. No crashes today, it's been a while since I've been able to say that after a ride.

Check out some of the moves the girls have been working hard to develop.

Watch this video in high def

We missed out on going to the Sierras last summer because the girls were so young, but we made it back this year! We just got back home last night around 12:00 pm. We decided to drive at night in hopes that Chloe and Claire would sleep the whole trip, which they did!

We all had a blast with Grandpa John and Grandma Mona, fishing, mountain biking, eating, eating some more...

In these photos you can see the girls eating ice cream cones, Grandpa John aka the Birdman of Clio, Chloe and Claire eating spaghetti and the view from our walk to Frazier Falls.

The Downieville Classic, a three day mountain bike race and festival was happening while we were there. It was crazy to see seven time Downieville champ Mark Weir have to carry his bike down the hill after his rear wheel exploded.

Later in the week I rode the downhill race course which is described as:

The World Famous Downieville Downhill... begins on the Sunshine trail, a 1.3 mile singletrack which links up to Butcher Ranch, a 150 year old mining trail, then hooks up with 3rd Divide and ends with Upper and Lower 1st Divide. This is the typical Downhillers ride.

1-4 hour ride, 1/4 mile climb, 15 miles, over 4000' of descent.

It was awesome, I think the fastest time at the race was like 45 minutes and it took me over 2 hours. Of course I did crash 4 or 5 times and went at grandma speed.

I took this photo from our spot beside the pool at MGM, where Jamie and I spent the majority of our three days in Las Vegas a week ago. The heat was scorching and I still have blisters on the bottoms of my feet from walking back and forth between the pool and the lazy river.

This was the first time that we were away from the girls for more than one night and we couldn't wait to get back home to them. Luckily Grandma Jerri came to town to stay with them, so we knew they were in good hands (thanks Mom!)

It can't be 4th of July with a bar-b-que, friends, fun and fireworks. Luckily, yesterday was the 4th and we had all of those things. Claire and Chloe managed to party on until 10:00 pm which may be the new world record. Jamie and I were able to kick back and enjoy ourselves a bit too thanks to lots of help from friends and family.

Highlights of the day: Tasty lemon squares, three kinds of beans, fighter jet flyovers, cul-de-sac fireworks show on the ground and big time fire works show in the air.

So I turned 30 last week, which pretty much ... sucks. I remember being in high school and thinking that 30 seemed so old. Now that I am older and wiser I realize that 30 seems ... so old.

I suppose it is due in part to this depressing fact that I have started to get back into mountain biking. I say "back into" because I think there was about a two week period just after high school when I was "into it" the first time. It is fun, just dangerous enough, great exercise and I can go it alone when I want to. This is important because most of my friends have other hobbies to deal with their varying degrees of midlife crisis. 

I used to think that trading my Mustang for a Harley was my mid-midlife crisis, but now I realize that I just thought motorcycles were cool. Maybe it was a pre-mid-midlife crisis. Anyhow I have decided to sell the Harley and get a car again. Maybe a Hybrid or car that runs on tap water and banana peels (do they make those yet)?

I wonder what I will be into when I turn 40 .. sailing around the world? trying to become the world champion hot dog eater? In a mental institution from ten years of having twins (don't get me started on turning 45 and having two teenage girls)?

The girls have both been feeling under the weather for the last week or so. They seemed to be feeling a bit better today so we hopped in the pool for some floaty time.