Drew Graduates from Kindergarten!

Can you find our little Drew in the line up? Clue: flower girl! She's now a First Grader! She had a great first year of school; she loved class, finished all of her work on Monday's for the most part, read really well, math is coming along and she's just cool! We love you Drew and congrats!

Another HDR Pic!

Another front yard shot using HDR! Dang it, I just need to fork over the cash to get the full version! Then its ON!

Strange weather in Sacramento!

Yes, its been a weird and strange Spring around here! Yesterday was a bit of a trip with tornadoes in the area! With the awesome clouds I just had to bust out a shot or two! The images were enhanced with a killer software called, you guessed it, Photomatix! Its a free trial, hence the watermark all over the picture; nevertheless, its a super cool shot! Enjoy!

South Tahoe in a 24 Hour Period!

Sunday mid Morning!

A couple of weeks back we all took a weekend trip with our old and great friends Brandon, Sarah, Emma and Chase Meadows to South Lake Tahoe for some hangout time and to catch the start of the Tour of California. Well, we hung out alright, but the race did not due to weather as you can see! Regardless, we had a great time going up a new route, awesome friend time, did catch some cycling action(not much) and we ended up buying week vacation for Kauai next year! Yeppy!

Brady gets his hands on my camera!

So Brady decides to ask me if he can use my camera...gulp, but ok, he's willing to try something new, so why not right? "Put the strap around your neck!" Here's his photography at hand! What is all this you ask? His recycling cans! Daddy shoots bike races, Brady shoots cans! Fair enough!

Front Yard Project

Yes, another project at The Novaes household! This time it was the front yard! We spend so much time in the front of the house during the summer months, tomando uma cerveja and watching the kids play, so why not make it nice out there right? With Melissa and Derek's vision, Bob pulled together a great plan for us! Clean and simple, yet elegant! Awesome job to all involved: Rocky with the concrete(thanks brother), Bob for the design and the fence, Melissa for painting and Pedro for his mao de obra and Brady for his green waste cans!

I only wish we had a decent picture of the front with all the big bushes still in the front! It looked like a jungle, trust me! Now we need some warm weather to celebrate!

Rio Strada Racing Weekend

Our Cycling Team, Rio Strada Racing, hosts an annual race series where riders from all over Northern California come down and hammer each other! The weekend went great in terms of the event; however, my poor fitness level proved to be true! On the bright side, no broken bikes nor body parts! Sunday I had treat where Melissa, Brady & Drew showed up, and to top it off even more so, friends Gabe, Val, Ainsley and Mila came out to cheer! After the race, we a great dinner at home with the family and life was grand! Summer time is here, step the miles Derek!

Mother's Day Part 2

After a stop Didi's house, sorry no pics, we headed to Vacaville to complete the Tour of Mother's Day! There the girls got their face's painted, the grown ups had some great wine, and we all had an awesome dinner! All in all, it was a great family day, all the AWESOME Mother's were happy!

Mother's Day Part 1

The first stop was at Nana & Papa's where we met SJ & Jane, who came out from Iowa for the week. And of course the usual suspects; Merle, Bob, Chris, Ryley and "Beiber!" As always, we had a great time and loads of great laughs, only gets better and better each time, so fun!

And, we HAD to get a few group shots, thankfully every tends to cooperate!

Happy Mother's Day

From morning till bedtime, the best Mommy my kids will ever have! You're AMAZING Melissa!

Birthday Celebration with Ryley!

Almost, the entire family was in attendance for the birthday celebration for Melissa and Ryley this past weekend! We even extended to family with Gabe, Valerie, Ainsley and Mila....And yup, we're still hanging out even after the dinner! Ryley also had a couple of her friends in attendance and also EJ, friends of Bob and Chris! WHAT A PARTY!

WOW! What a weekend!

Holy cow what a busy and fulfilling weekend! Friday night we ended up at a new pizza location here in town for the kids! Fun times, lil dry pizza, it was only the four of us, and we felt a bit lonely without our usual company(see Sunday)! Saturday, Derek did his ride while the kids played in the court, in the afternoon we took a much needed nap while Melissa headed out to the store! At night we all split up, Brady to an overnighter/bday party, Drew to the Drive-in with friends(thanks Machelle and Matt) and the adults headed to Vacaville to hang out and laugh with Val & Gabe!

Sunday morning we rolled home, picked up the kids, Melis got ready for Sara's(Cousin) shower and took off! Brady and I ran fun errands like cashing in his cans and bottles, then his highlight...an escorted trip to In & Out with Hannah! Ummmm, yes there is something going on there!

Then out of nowhere, Jamie came down on his Harley, took some photos, an hour later Val & Gabe plus kids roll in, then Didi, then Melis came back, Nana & Papa rolling later and before you know it, its a full on family day at the house! Love it! Too fun!

Spring break, here we come baby!

Snow, again!?!

So a miracle happened two weeks ago with some Brasileiro hitting the snow, now this is a religious miracle now! Again in the snow! This time The Orick's & Novaes' took the kids along! Every single one of the kids had fun going down the hill in the saucers and sledding thing-a-majig! Loads of pics were taken, but few as cute as Val & Drew together after a run down the hill! I think we'll start an annual tradition here...say WHAT!?!?

Spring storm in Sacramento!

After a great Thursday night training ride the skies were crazy in the Sacramento area! Hail and heavy rain, all of which missed me and my fellow other 40 riders in the airport area! Still looked cool!

Ahhhh...

Look what an iphone and an app called HD Pro can do to your pictures! Clouds, sunset and truck not included!

Spring Morning!

I decided to take a pic of this cluster of branches one morning, along with the sun! Turned out ok!

Dia do Lixo!

Another Friday, another dump day here! Its crazy how this lil man seems to still love and grow with his recycling and management of the garbage cans in our community!

A neighbor placed "regular" garbage in the "green" waste bin and Brady was not happy about it at all!

So watch your back people, Mr. Brady will check you out eventually!

Derek in Snow?! Say WHAT!?!

Miracles do happen...really! Derek in the snow is about as rare as snow in Maceio in the summer! For someone who likes flip flops, board shorts, a cold cerveja and heat...getting into boots(ouch!), big pants and jackets is just strange!

So what gets us in the snow?! Friends and awesome In-laws caring for awesome children! Thanks to Val & Gabe for pushing the idea, a huge thanks to Nana & Papa for caring for the kids and Brady and Drew for being cool with Mommy and Daddy having some grown-up time! XOXOXO to all!

Where's summer?!?

A weekend in the snow!

Valerie and Melissa looking all cute before heading out in the freezing cold to go down a hill on a piece of plastic! In the end, it was a fun activity for us!
Many more pics to come, this one was too cute not to post!

A few more shots with the iphone!