Sierra sent me this photo of her, Lori, and Laura at the Grape Escape, a fundraising event for The Jackson Center for Conductive Education.

Tyler and Kyle made this for me for my birthday - a bicycle sticker covered coffee table. I love it! It will be on my list of all time best gifts. They even signed it underneath.

For my birthday, Marian won the collegiate track national championship for the 15th time and 6th in a row! It was hard for Sierra to sit in the stands for the event since she is now alumni.

I laid my head down on the pillow at Sierra's at 5:30 this morning. I slept until 9:00 and then Kristin and I spent the day at the velodrome watching the races. We had lunch from one of the food trucks that were there. We had roasted red pepper macaroni along with gourmet organic hot dogs from Mabel on the Move. Some of the other trucks were Hoosier Fat Daddy Bus Cafe, Fat Sammies and Scratch Street Food.

Before we left Vegas today, we had to use our $5 free slot play at El Cortez. Rich also tried his luck with a $5 bill that Robin gave to him. We arrived at home about 8:35 PM and I hopped in the car to drive to Indy.

We were late to the first race at "Cross Vegas" due to the flooding at the Imperial Palace. I couldn't find Indie Bike Cory to get his photo!

Kristin and Tyler after our walk across The Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge that bypasses Hoover Dam.

Free ice cream and beer for 2 days during demo day at Interbike! 4000 ice cream bars were given out and 15 kegs of tasty New Belgium beer were drained!

A rare treat near Las Vegas - rain! It gave a whole new look to the landscape at Valley of Fire State Park.

We got "upgraded" to the Cabana Suites at the El Cortez. There is quite a bit of difference than a few years ago when we got "upgraded" to the Ogden House which is the same building prior to renovation. The Ogden House was so bad even I refused to stay there!

2,977 flags were placed on the Capitol grounds 2 days ago to remember victims of 9/11. I stopped by today to take photos before we leave for Las Vegas. The flags will stay until through Sunday, 9/11/11.

We delivered "Midnight" to his new home this evening. After Becky and Denny made the decision to take him, they wanted him right away and had made arrangements for him to be taken care of while we were all gone for a week in Las Vegas.

On the second day of the little kitty's stay at our house, he has a new home. Becky and Denny could not resist his charm! They will take him after we return from our trip to Las Vegas.

We found this little kitten while we were walking today after work. Charlie is actually the one who found him. He must have been dumped by someone since his stomach was not empty when I picked him up. He is very friendly and Charlie gave him such a good bath that his head was completely wet! He looks almost identical to Delilah.

Al and Sierra - longtime BMX friends together again for the weekend!

Good friends at the BMX track, volunteering as usual!

Our last NBL Grands - The Grand Finale! Maggie, Kathy, Kittie, Me, Karrie, Cat, Bridget, and Shayne.

I will have such fond memories of the NBL and the friends that I have gained by being a part of the "Best in BMX".

I'm all packed and ready to go to Louisville for the last NBL BMX Grands!

Here's the temp at the lake today, it is 108 in Louisville where I am headed tomorrow!

Mother's favorite candy lily. Supposedly they are superbly hardy and laugh at heat and drought. Good thing because that is what they deal with every year in Kansas!

Troy cannot find a way to be at the lake now that both Ron and Sharon are gone. He has decided to sell the cabin.

Chase has decided he likes pears!

This is the complete pear harvest for this year. In previous years, this wagon would be filled at least twice!

Our poor pear trees! One died after a wind storm last year and now this one split a couple of weeks ago. Rich is harvesting the pears that are left. The deer will be unhappy that there is nothing left for them this year.

I planted this black-eyed susan variation last year and was happy to see it come back this season. Better late than never!

I realized today that I didn't post a photo of the Indiana State Women Criterium champions. Sierra received 3rd place and a bronze medal.

I just happened to catch this bee on a cucumber flower today.

Your typical black and yellow garden spider hanging out among the flowers. I've found several of these this week.

Rich had to try this State Fair treat - chocolate covered bacon!

Well, here I am at the fair eating the newest state fair food item - fried butter! The name makes it sound much worse than it actually was. It was like eating a cinnamon roll with plenty of butter. If you didn't want all the butter, you could just let it run out in the paper tray. There were plenty of people waiting in line to try it! The paper reported that some were willing to wait in line for an hour for this new delicacy.

Today, I canned my first batch of sauerkraut in over 15 years!

One of the cannas that Kristin gave me for Mother's Day is blooming.

Sierra finally makes it to the state fair and finishes off a turkey leg!

I love this photo of these "Naked Ladies"! Some raindrops remain on them from last night's storm.

Sierra bakes the most wonderful podium prizes! She usually lets me have some.

I went to Logansport, IN to watch Sierra race in another DINO series MTB race. She got 2nd today!

Sierra won the street sprints today after getting 6th in the criterium at Mass Ave. We were downtown when the storm came through that caused the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair. The pros were almost done racing when the wind came roaring in causing everyone to scatter and tents and umbrellas flying!

Back in Indy again, Kristin and I went to watch the Fast Friday races at the Major Taylor Velodrome.

One last lily for the week - I think this one is called "Little Grapette".

The Easter Lily looked beautiful again this year!

Looks like the bugs have been busy eating this lily.

More garden lilies.......

I planted this Shasta daisy last year. It came back beautifully this year.

Sierra, Nicole, and Megan at the reception after Abby's wedding, beautiful!

Meredith, Sierra, and Megan at Abby & Jared's wedding rehearsal dinner.

Sierra came home today for Abby's wedding and spent the evening with us. After Dad was showing off his new TV, Sierra caught him asleep in his 3-D glasses.

My shade garden is doing fine despite the prolonged heat spell we've been having.

Our tadpoles are growing up!

The dahlias that Kristin gave me for Mother's Day are finally blooming. The plants are about 5 feet tall and the blooms are huge!