Olympic Greatness

I recently attended the annual National Character and Leadership Symposium hosted by the Air Force Academy. This year's theme was "Courage in the Face of Adversity". One of the featured speakers was a man who, I believe, achieved one of the greatest accomplishments in sports in the last 20 years (perhaps only slightly behind Lance Armstrong's SEVEN Tour wins). This man is none other than Rulon Gardner -- 2000 Sydney Olympics Gold medalist. But Mr. Gardner did not simply win Olympic gold. He won Olympic gold in the sport of Greco-Roman wrestling (style of wrestling where one is not allowed to attack his opponent's legs; throws only). But not only was he a gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, he achieved this feat by defeating one of the most (if not the most) formidable opponents in the history of the sport: Russian Alexandre Karelin http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/0911/oly_karelin.html

Me with Mr. Gardner:

Here I am attempting to wrap up Mr. Gardner (I could bearly lock my two longest fingers with my arms around his 58" chest!) :

You can read all about Rulon Gardner as well as watch a highlight video of his "Miracle on the Mat" Gold medal win against Kerelin: http://www.rulongardner.com/index.html

Ride for the Roses 2004

Below are a couple pics from Lance Armstrong's 2004 charity ride, "Ride for the Roses" in Austin, TX. Although I didn't get any pictures of him, the highlight of the event was riding right next to Armstrong himself! I also rode side by side Robin Williams (just he and I on a Texas country back road) for about 7 miles. I tried making small talk, but only got 1-word responses--I guess he was focused on his pedaling. :-) At the conclusion of the ride I ran into a former member of the U.S.'s first Tour de France team, Bob Roll.

Is that Grizzly Adams? No-It's Bob Roll!

"Tour DAY France"

Christmas 2005--College Station, TX

Family Photos 2005

Thought everyone would enjoy our family photos a little early this year!

Hurricane Rita: A great reason for a visit from auntie Brianne!

As Corpus Christi evacuated on the 22nd, Brianne found herself heading north to College Station with cat, Abbott, in tow!

Thanks for coming up, Bri! We love you!

Shamu City

Thanks to the fine management at Anheuser-Busch providing free entry into their parks for military families, we recently took a little trip to......Sea World! San Antonio is about 4hrs away, but on the way there is Austin, where Tiina and Ilse live, so we picked them up on they way! As expected, everyone had a great time. (we had only planned on staying a few hours due to Lance being tired out, but--not surprisingly--he lasted the whole day: Noon--8:00pm!)
Here are a few pics from our trip on 17 September.

The fish were fascinating...

...and the rides were thrilling...

But when you play hard, you need some chilling!

The end of a long, hot day!

An enjoyable sea lion show!

Taa Daa!! (hands clapping)

Big Sky Get Away

While I was yelling, er, I mean "encouraging" cadets in South Dakota during the month of August, Tanja and Lance escaped the Texas heat with a trip north to Big Sky Country to visit my Mom, Stepdad, "Aunte Brynn" and "Uncle Bryant". Here are a few pics from their trip!

Outdoor water fun with Brynn....

Indoor water fun with Bry!

Lance loves time with Grandma!

This was Lance's first trip to the Fair! Finally, after months of looking at farm animals in books and listening to Mommy and Daddy make the animal sounds, Lance is introduced to the real thing! "Baaaa!"

"Baaaa!"