Christmas Letter

It is difficult to mail a card to everyone, so here is our Christmas letter! Please send me your address if you want to be added to my Christmas list. lauren (dot) cramer (at) comcast (dot) net

January—Lauren spent a few days with the Cramer sisters in sunny Florida. Ahhhh!

February—Conrad turned 1! He is so kind to his big sister, a great playmate for his big brother, a snug-bug with his daddy, and a buddy for his mommy! He keeps us all smiling!

March—Adam & Lauren began their cycling season with a local team. They both had several top ten finishes throughout the year and Lauren even made it on the podium a few times!

April—The Cramer Family celebrated their 11^th anniversary and spent spring break riding bikes in the Santa Monica Mountains & playing on the beach in Malibu, California.

May—Adam coached Anders’ first soccer team, the Wolf Sharks (He asked the boys if they wanted to be the Wolfs or the Sharks, and they replied “Yeah! The Wolf Sharks!). Lauren’s dad helped Lauren build raised garden beds for our first real garden. Yum!

June—Lauren organized the 2^nd Run for Rett in Olympia & finished the Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon in 1:42 (she had to walk down the stairs backwards for three days after the race, but she met her goal!)

July—Ella turned 8! She had a great summer, attending day-camp three days a week & riding horses two days a week. Adam and Lauren visited Mom & Dad Cramer on their mission in Switzerland and rode their bikes in the French Alps during the Tour de France.

August—The whole family attended “Adam’s Camp” in Colorado, where Ella was able to canoe, rock climb, horseback ride, & swim. The boys loved “camping” and Mom & Dad loved that “camping” was in a cabin with beds, running water, and electricity. We had a great time and are already looking forward to going again in 2012.

September—Anders and Ella went back to school. Anders has one more year of preschool and Ella entered the 3^rd grade. We also had a visit from Lauren’s sister Melanie & her family. It was great to have all the Gladding’s here for bike riding, kayaking, hiking, and visiting!

October—Adam and Lauren did a lot of Cyclocross racing throughout the Autumn months. Anders even got into the CX action! It is a crazy sport, but we are kind of crazy!!

November—Anders turned 5! He celebrated with his friends at a Lego party. He had a blast making Lego creations, wearing his Lego crown, and blowing out the candles on his Lego-shaped ice-cream cake. We also had a visit from Lauren’s mom for Thanksgiving.

December—The Cramer Family has relaxed this month and taken time to be together as a family. We love this time of year…a time to reflect on the birth of the Savior and give thanks for all the blessings we have. We are grateful for the blessing each of you are in our lives. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Love,

The Cramer Family

Great picture of Ella

I didn't include this picture in the last post and I really should have. What a beautiful little girl...I love those blue eyes!! She is so content in this picture. She is often so intense, upset, and/or fidgety. I just cherish the moments when she is just chillin'!

Summer 2011--A Quick Recap

This summer has been amazing...we have been so busy having a great time that I haven't had time to post. Seriously!

Here are a few picture highlights from each month:

June

Adam coached Anders' soccer team...it was totally entertaining. The best quote was from one of the boys on the team who was heading towards the wrong goal during a game: "Why does everyone keep telling me to go the other way!?!"

I ran the Rock n' Roll Half-Marathon with my sister-in-law Becca and running partner Laura. My goal was 1:45 and it did it in 1:44...yahoo! I had to walk down the stairs backwards the next day, but it was totally worth it.

July

We took the kids to Lake Chelan with our friends the Nielsen's...I love Lake Chelan

Adam and I visited his parents on the their mission in Switzerland...it was so good to see them.

Then we rode our bikes in the French Alps during the Tour de France...here we are at the top of Alpe d'Huez.

Here is Adam cheering on the Siestre in Italy during one of the stages of the Tour.

August

We went to Adam's Camp at the YMCA of the Rockies. It is a camp for families who have kids with special needs. Ella had camp all week with 6 therapists & 4 other kiddos...here she is rock climbing. Yes...rock climbing!!

We were able to hike, mountain bike, horseback ride, and chill as a family for 8 days...it was wonderful!

So now you can see why I haven't posted much. I hope to put more pictures from our summer on the blog, but this is all I have time for now.

I hope your summer has been as much fun as our summer has been!

Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race

I posted this picture on my Facebook account, but realized many of you are not on Facebook. So, here is the recap of our races in Enumclaw on Saturday.

We had a time trial in the morning. They sent us off one at a time at 30 second intervals. It was really cool to just be me and the bike trying to go as fast as possible. The only real reference point to how fast you are going compared to the other racers is the one racer you can see ahead of you. My goal was to be the one doing the passing--I wanted to pass two riders and not get passed. I passed the gal just in front of me, and didn't see the next gal until just before the finish. I did gain some time on her, but I couldn't catch her. I also didn't get caught, which felt good. I ended up 5th out of 32 riders, just 16 seconds off the leader.

The criterium was in the afternoon. My only goal for this race was not to crash. There is a lot of cornering in crits, and I am not a fan of cornering...at least not when you are going fast with a lot of other riders around you. I was able to stay in the pack without a whole lot of effort. I think all my training has paid off. I took off the front of the pack towards the end of the race, just to see if I could do it. There was a good section with a left turn and another quick right...I was able to take the left turn wide, sprint hard to get ahead of the group, and take the right turn tight. I figured I would do the same thing during the last lap. It was risky, but would really pay off if it worked. I pounded hard, but one gal caught my wheel. That was okay with me...she coached me through the rest of turns so we could stay ahead. On the last right hand turn before the finish, I was ahead. Adam said that everyone was surprised to see me out front because I had been towards the back on the previous lap. But there I was, out front with less than 100 meters to go. The gal on my wheel took off (with fresh legs thanks to me:)) and I couldn't catch her. I didn't really care...it felt awesome hearing my teammates cheer me on and crossing the finish line in second place. Yahoo! The picture above is of me on the podium with the 1st and 3rd place winners...my first podium finish! I even won $40...sweet!

Adam raced, too. He was frustrated with his results, but you can't do much about someone else crashing. A rider went down in front of Adam on the crit and his bike flew out right in front of Adam's bike. He went down, but didn't get too hurt... just a few scrapes and bruises. I know he'll be the one with the podium finish next time.

Easter Walk Surprise

Last night we took the kids on a walk. It started to sprinkle a bit, but we were dressed for the weather and just enjoyed being outside. We came upon a trail that we had never seen before...just 1/4 from our house is a green belt with trails through it. Who knew!?!

We started along the trail and were so excited to find woods so close to home. Anders loved finding sticks and pointing out all the moss and trees. Ella and Conrad were both content to roll along in the strollers...enjoying the extra bumps and near-spills along the way. We even saw a bunny hop along the trail. "Maybe that's the Easter Bunny!" I said to Anders. "Hello Easter Bunny!" he replied.

It is always nice when a regular Sunday walk turns into an adventure...I know we'll be exploring those woods again!

Sea Otter Classic

Adam and I were married 11 years ago and we spent our honeymoon in Monterey, CA. Last weekend we went back to Monterey, but not to relax on the beach like we did back then. Instead, we went for the Sea Otter Classic. It is a pretty big cycling event (bigger than we had expected) with both road and mountain events.

My mom and I drove down with our bikes (thanks, Mom!) and Adam flew in the next day. We raced Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Adam and I both started with Criterium races...a timed race on a 1K course. It was either up or down with tight turns on either end. It was on the Laguna Seca Raceways, so the roads were smooth. Adam liked the tight turns, but they freaked me out!

Adam stayed with the pack the whole time.

I got dropped halfway, but stayed in the middle of the group...doing my own little time trial! This was me towards the end of the race...I started to get the hang of the turning, but it was too late to catch up to the lead group. Adam placed 7th and I placed 5th. The second day, Adam had a grueling 64 mile road race on a super hilly course while I had a 50 minute circuit race on a 2.2 mile course on the raceway. The corners got me again...I could keep up on the climbs and got passed going downhill. I really need to work on cornering! I placed 11th in this race...kind of a bummer, but that is okay.

The last day, Adam decided to enter the Grand Fondo instead of the circuit race. The Grand Fondo was a 96 mile ride with lots of climbing and beautiful scenery. He was able to ride with some really cool guys, including Gary, the CEO of Clif Bars. Gary actually helped Adam at one point, making it easier for him to finish the ride in 2nd place out of 300 riders!

I stuck with the original plan and did the road race. Adam was smart enough to not be completely honest with me about how hard the course was...oh my goodness! It was the hilliest course I have ever ridden. It was only 40 miles, but it was so hard!! At one point I thought that someone must have been pulling on my back wheel when I was going up one of the steep climbs. Wow! There is nothing like suffering on the bike with really tough girls. I rode most of the course with another racer and she was so strong...she pretty much let me draft off of her most of the time. I did my best to pull some, but she was a lot stronger than me. Racing is so different than just riding...I feel like I learn so much from the other riders and about myself.

We drove home Saturday and Sunday, taking our time and enjoying our time together. The weekend was so good for us...we love to push ourselves hard and we love to relax. It was a nice combination of the two, with the hard work making the relaxing so much better. I feel so lucky to have Adam as my husband, best-friend, teammate, and cheerleader. He is such a good man. It is so sweet to be in-love with someone like him!