It's Ryan's Birthday!

I really wouldn't post about my own birthday (I'm 31!), but I liked the comparison Kevin sent me this morning: Born: 23-Aug-78 ------- 28-Apr-78 Height: 6'6" -----------6'3" Weight: 205 ------------195 School: Merion HS ------------Colorado School of Law Years Pro: 12------------ 5 Awards: NBA MVP 2008 4th Place -----------1996 Missouri State Tennis Championship Interests: Scoring Baskets -----------Scoring settlements Ambitions: 4th NBA Championship --------------4th Lessmann Open Avg Sleep/night 9-11 hours ----------------3-4 hours Kobe Bryant -------------Ryan Lessmann Who would you draft?

Austin's Birthday and More

This is Austin with his new guitar, courtesy of Grandpa and Grammy Shrock. We've turned into a musical family ever since.

Since I'm doing this blog in part to record various events in the lives of the boys, I'm doing a few more back-posts. Austin turned 3 and I'd be remiss not to include a picture from his birthday. Gayle's friend made the Bob the Builder cake - pretty impressive eh? We had a few of Austin's best friends, and their parents over for Austin's party. As you can see from the photos, it was basically chaos. Austin enjoyed playing with all the kids, but wasn't very interested in opening his presents. Oh, to be 3.

Cute random pic of Wyatt as well - I have no idea why it's so small.

Pic of Austin and I going to his first ever Mizzou game. He still asks if Mizzou is playing everytime we see basketball on TV. He also asks if Kevin and Marty are in the game - can't figure that one out.

Welcome to My New Office Building

It's Friday, it's April 17, and it's snowing like it's February over Vail pass outside. We're supposed to get up to a 18 inches over the next 2 days. I'll be we get 8-20. Who knows though, they always get it wrong.

So my firm moved offices over the weekend. We moved across the street to the top floor of the building you see here. I lost a coin toss for a sweet mountain view; I got a city view instead. At first I was upset, but then I told myself - you know, if God had wanted the coin to land the other way, he could have done it. I'm going to assume I'm right where I am for a reason and enjoy it. Pretty nice office though, with huge windows, and a good view of the city. Lots of light. As you can see, I organized my office around my bike.

Back to my Birthplace and Kevin's Got a Girlfriend!

A little retroactive blogging here. Thanks to Grandpa and Grammy Shrock, Gayle and I headed together to Jacksonville, Florida, to visit my cousin Chris and his family. Austin and Wyatt got quality time with the grand-parentals and, while we missed the boys, we were a) thrilled that they were geting to know their grandparents better and b) thrilled to have some alone time. We took pleasure in the simple things, like walking without pushing a stroller, snuggling on the plane, and eating without worrying about them. I read almost an entire book on the plane ride home - It's Not about the Bike by Lance Armstrong - highly recommend. Anyway, I was born in Jacksonville, Florida - lived there till I was 4. Amazing to think that my formative years took place there and I haven't been back to visit since the day I left over 26 years ago. But my return was grand. Dad happened to be stationed in Jacksonville for a few weeks for Navy duty and my mom joined him for a stint. With so many Lessmanns in one place together with Chris Crawford and family, Kevin and Mandy could not pass up the chance to join us. If you haven't been to Jacksonville, it's sweet because there is water everywhere, and the foliage is lush (see picture of trees below - that's Chris' neighborhood). Chris has a pool in his backyard and Chris' daughter Gracie braved the cold temperatures with me to go for a dip (I considered it an ice bath to soothe my muscles). An added bonus of the trip was that we all entered the Gate's River Run, the largest 15k in the world. It was the 30th something running; my dad did the first inaugural over 30 years ago and, of course, still has the t-shirt that he got. The race was Saturday and Kevin and Mandy didn't get in unti late Friday night. Line of the weekend was when Mandy was woken up and she said "The last thing I want to do right now is run a race." But with little rest and a bum ankle (ankle Mandy?), Many was a trooper and ran with all of the rest of us, except unfortunately for my mom, whose heart and knee just wouldn't let her. Everyone finished in good spirits, and we enjoyed post run beer. Kevin Gayle and I finished in the top 10%, meaning we got sweet hats at the finish line (pictured below on Gayle and me). Kevin ran nearly 7 minute miles with little training and a big 'ole cast on his arm. Gayle ran 7:30 miles and finished 16th in her age group (of 1000). Not to brag, but I managed to finish 260 overall out of 10,000 or something like that. Ok, I bragged. Bottom line though is that we all had a goal, we all ran hard, and all smiled and laughed together afterwards. Good times. So many of you have asked what Kevin's girlfriend Mandy is like. She's quite a catch, as you can see from the pictures below. She's a lawyer. She lives in Chicago but is not a Cubs fan. Best, Mandy has a sweet spirit, likes to laugh, holds her own with the Lessmann banter, and shares a common faith. Chris and Ahsli's daughter Ceder is also pictured below with the nice green foliage behind her. Everyone loves Ceder, they say, and we found out first hand why. It was just a wonderful trip, one that we'll try to repeat, although I don't know if we can top that one.

Enjoy the pics (try clicking on them to make them bigger). Mom and Dad took us all out to breakfast - so sweet.

Kevin also ran the 1 mile fun run with Gracie - you can see the guy applauding Kevin.

Gracie in the freezing cold water.

Everyone loves Ceder.

Post race.

The gracious hosts.

The famous bridge in Jacksonville.

He is Risen - Happy Easter

Today is Easter! It's also Sunday of the Masters. And it's also only 40 degrees outside. Usually, the Masters and Easter Sunday are the arch we walk through into spring. The birds are usually chirping, the grass is usually turning green. Not this year. This year we're coming off several snow storms and some dreary weather. Despite a few brief windows of spring weather, it looks like we're going to skip from winter to summer without much transition. Notwithstanding, as we celebrate the resurrection, our hearts are filled with spring-like joy and newness. Yesterday, I went for a long bike ride with my buddy Dan, set up my new office at work (we moved buildings), cooked dinner, and went on a Easter Egg Hunt in Reunion. The Easter Egg Hunt is quite a spectacle. Essentially the entire neighborhood goes to Reunion Park, there to find roped off areas with thousands (five thousand to be exact) of Easter Eggs in the middle. On the signal of my friend Patrick, hundreds upon hundreds of kids enter the roped off areas to fill their Easter baskets with the eggs. You'd think that it would take quite awhile for little kids to pick up 5000 eggs, but not so - after about 20 seconds, the party is over. Some kids hold up their Easter baskets triumphantly grinning over how much candy they just found. Others are standing in the same place, wondering what just happened. And then there's Austin. When the bell sounded, I quickly realized that the eggs near the perimeter were being quickly swept up, and that unless Austin took the middle ground, he wasn't going to be left with much. So in a flash, I grabbed him and carried him to the middle of the field, where eggs abounded. Of course, Austin wanted to do it all on his own, but I didn't realize that until I plopped him down into the middle of the field, ready to watch him swipe up the eggs at his feet, but instead watched the tears stream down his face. I had stepped between the eggs and his individuality, and he was not happy. I grabbed 4 eggs for him and put them in his basket, and then spent the rest of the morning being reprimanded by him: "You shouldn't have carried me to the middle," he said. Now I know. Happy Easter everyone. -RPL

The Blog Goes On - But For What Purpose?

As you can see, the last time I posted on the blog was in late February, and that was only an article about how much water you need to boil your pasta. As the comments to the blog became fewer in number, as I realized that my own parents don't read it (ostensibly because they can't figure out how to get to it), as I realized that my own in-laws don't read it (call it generational), as Gayle is slow to get me the pictures I want to post (too busy), and as I began to feel repetitive in my postings, and as I thought about how much time it takes to do even one of the simplest posts, I quit blogging. Then a few people asked me why I stopped, and I looked over the blog with Gayle and saw how neat it was to see old posts and pictures, and Gayle told me we could make a book out of it someday. I started thinking on my runs about why I posted. In the end, I decided there is no one reason - there are several - and if I cater to any particular reason, then I'm likely to dry up. For example, if I post just for you, then I try too hard to make long, informative, interesting posts, and end up not posting about the small details of my kids' life. If I post just for me, then it's interesting really to nobody but me, and even not even that at times. If I post only for my kids, well, there's only so much you can write about Austin pooping in the potty (actually you'd be surprised about how much I could write about that). So in the end, sometimes I post for my kids, sometimes I post for you, and sometimes I post for me. Sometimes a combination of all three at once. So I'm going to quit worrying about whether a post is interesting to you. For whatever reason I have to post, I'm just going to do it. For me, for my kids, for you .... The Blog Marches On.