SPIDERBYTE

Tour de Spiderbyte

The elementary school invited students to sport their favorite team jersey or dress as their favorite athlete as part of Team Spirit Day.  

After the heart-breaking Playoff trauma, I was only half surprised that the Bruins jerseys were left hanging in the closet....

It's all things bikes around here this time of year!  

We've been glued to the Giro d'Italia race (and single-handledly raising Universal Sports Network's  viewership to 1)...and The Other Tour is right around the bend.  

And on a personal note,  I'm slowly migrating out of the Bike Lab and into the real world (...sniff?...What's that strange smell?...Oh, fresh air!) 

'Tis the season!

Sweethearts

I've been so looking forward to sharing my fun photos from last week's elementary school Sweetheart Dance.  

Sure I may have hemmed & hawed at the thought of having to survive another round of "Cotton-Eyed Joe", but I couldn't resist getting caught up in the whirlwind of excitement as the kids prepped for the big event...

Seriously?!....Wrist corsages!

Do our boys know how to sweep us off our feet or what?

It was like reliving the prom, minus the cheap whiskey...

But enough about my nostalgia, it was really an evening for the kids.  Nene and I 'double-dated' with Will & Puck...who were not quite as enthusiastic as us ladies (typical, right?).

And Spiderdad escorted his favorite Sweetheart who loved every minute...

It was such a fun night filled with great memories, maybe even worth enduring 'Cotton-Eyed Joe.'

Happy Mother’s Day to you and you and you!

Guest post by SpiderDAD

Spiderbyte fans out there in the world keep coming back to this blog to be entertained and amazed by our grommets ‘over the top antics’ and the eccentricity of our family’s daily routine.  And like any family, there is a boss; the coach; the one who leads by example and raises the bar year after year.

So when our beloved Spiderboss was asked what she wanted most to do on Mother’s Day, her request was simple.  It wasn’t flowers, chocolates, spa treatments or jewelry.  It involved lycra, carbon, timing instruments, sweat and PAIN.  (Suit yourself Mom! More chocolates for the rest of us!!) 

So we’re sending out BIG LOVE to our Mom and our Grand Moms and Great Grand Moms! 

 

Breakfast in bed

 

Life of the party

 

HOTT date

 

Phase One

I guess this means there's no turning back, right?

Yup,  just when I thought this household couldn't possibly get any louder...the demolition is underway...

Gosh, I'm really going to miss this wallpaper...

Highlight:  Discovering gorgeous brick chimney.

Lowlight: Discovering Wild Kingdom in our attic.

Happy Friday!

Love, The Wild Things

RIP - Maurice Sendak

"Please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so." 

(Where the Wild Things Are, 1963)

 

Stack 'em like cordwood

I may have failed to mention that we are readying ourselves for a pretty big renovation project here at Spiderbyte HQ....essentially gutting our second floor, where 3 of our 4 grommets currently sleep (or rather, barely sleep).

The project timeframe gave us a few weeks to figure out the details, like where the heck are the displaced kids going to sleep bicker all night?

But the schedule went out the window when the contractor stopped by on Friday afternoon to let us know that the demolition crew is arriving Monday morning.  THIS MONDAY.

So Spiderdad and I busted our asses moving out every last Lego and decapitated Barbie head....and also tranformed that very last sliver of our private life (otherwise known as the bedroom) into a makeshift dormitory...

And this, my friends, is how babies are NOT made.

 

 

 

 

Shades of Lulu

Happy Friday!

Another Hot Date!

Date nights have been few & far between these days so when Jason told me he was working from home today, I jumped at the chance to grab some solo time with him after we shuffled the kids onto the school bus.

You know me, I'm such a romantic....so I brought him along to my Bike Lab session.  HOT!

I know...I look totally miserable in that picture, but I promise you - they don't call it The Pain Cave for nothing.  It basically takes everything out of cycling that you might actually enjoy (fresh air, nice scenery, open roads) and breaks it down into something that looks like this...

And evidently I married the right guy, because I'm pretty sure this is Spiderdad's fantasy date.   Bikes, lycra, sweat, endorphins...pretty hot, right?

Celebrating The Fabulous Gigi

I'm pretty sure about a week ago I was sitting at the "kids table" flinging mash potatoes across my grandmother's kitchen, while the grownups sat in her bedazzled dining room reminiscing about their days on West Park Street.

So it was pretty amazing this weekend, when I found myself surrounded by a whole new generation of mash potato flingers at Gigi's 94th birthday party...

Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, spouses, fiances, friends, grandchildren, and a whole lotta great-grandchildren all gathered to celebrate with the fabulous Gigi.  

Hands down, Gigi is the spunkiest grandmother ever...she's always there for us with advice on love (make sure you keep one warming in the bullpen!),  to entertain us with a show tune or a Little Trout Story, and to share important life lessons like how to sneak into a drive in theater.  Trust me, the list could go on (and on and on)!

For me, the highlight of the party was watching the great-grandchildren reconnect, or in some cases meet for the very first time...

My former Kids Table cohorts are now raising beautiful families of their own...

Our lives are busy and we just don't get together enough, but when we do it's like we didn't miss a beat.   Happy Birthday Gigi, thanks for pulling this crew together for another wonderful celebration...we can't wait for the 95th!

Friends are "annuals" that need seasonal nurturing to bear blossoms. Family is a "perennial" that comes up year after year, enduring the droughts of absence and neglect. There's a place in the garden for both of them.  - Erma Bombeck

 

Happy* Friday

Wow, what a week! (sarcasm)

So much excitement (not) as we watched any hopes of the Bruins recapturing the Cup detonate before our very eyes.  Such an important life lesson for the kids, because being a Bruins fan really comes down to one part victory and thirty parts broken dreams. 

In other news (not really), did you happen to notice that all four of the past Cup winners were also eliminated in Round One?

But this isn't a sports blog (or is it?), so let me just say Happy Friday.

* Note: Even tribal war paint could not save the Bruins from losing their chance at the Cup.