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Today kicked off my son's first season of competitive golfing and this year he'll be playing on the Sudden Valley Golf Club's Junior League PGA team that is also part of the Chuckanut Junior League. With four to five days a week spent inside a cold ice rink, I'll really come to enjoy the time he spends at twice a week practices and tournament days if it means soaking up a setting like this.

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The start of 2017 has been so unusual for our little corner of the globe. Snow that didn't seem to stop falling through the end of February and a winter that didn't seem to want to leave, made for a wacky Spring blooming season. Daffodils got to bask in the glory of being the only color in the garden through most of March and the early tulips finally started blooming three weeks late, in early April. Last week the cherry blossoms finally came out and they're like eye candy, standing out against the grey skies as if to say "I made it!!" Maybe we need more endless, epic winters to remind us of how stunning Spring can be and appreciate living in vibrant color.

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Living with gratitude… looking at a dandelion as a colorful flower finally blooming in the garden and not as a reminder of the weeds I need to pull.

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What the Kowal Kids have been up to… Skating clinic with Phillip and Michelle Mills for Savannah and my “retired cyclocross racer” got in a great lesson and continues to work on his golf game.

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Glass Half Full

So yesterday I turned 49. This was the first time I’ve actually written it out and I’ll be honest, it looks strange. Closing in on 50 is something that my parents, aunt & uncle, grandparents and all those before me do, WTH? 50? The concept sounds so off that I just may spend the next 364 days just saying “I’m nearly 50,” to make it sink in.

Yesterday my sister, who is three years younger than me, called to wish me a happy birthday and her questions made me giggle when I got off the phone. “Do you feel old? Do you still feel like a kid? Does how you feel match your age?” Ordinarily I would have expected some light-hearted teasing about “You’re so old!” and this time there was genuine seriousness in her voice, as if she was trying to begin preparing herself for what is about to happen in three years when she turns 49, and her oldest will have finished his 4th year at Baylor and her youngest will be done with high school and headed to college. Just thinking about this makes me realize that I might need to run to Costco to get her some paper lunch bags that she can store in various locations when she feels she is about to hyperventilate. Being the oldest child with the youngest children in the family is certainly proving to be a perk. My kids will only be in 8th grade when I turn 50. Glass half full.

I’ll you what I told her...

Knowing that I will be 50 next year sounds weird because how I feel and what that sounds like doesn’t match up. If you think of yourself as being old, you will be.

I see it as I am now at an age where it’s not how I impress other people or what others thinks of me, it’s about being who I am, living my life, enjoying my kids while they’re still at home because I know how fast 5 school years goes by. It’s about being happy and celebrating life, because I have friends who weren’t as lucky to have the privilege of getting older.

So for the next year, I am going to remember that “I am 49″ and not “I’m turning 50.” That life is about adventure, learning new things, challenging yourself and growing in the process, each day being celebrated with gratitude for at least one thing. In the words of the legendary Arnold Palmer, it’s about leading a life well played.

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At this moment Baden was trying not to bust up laughing as my mom was singing "Grandma got run over by a cyclist" to the tune of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." Grandma, can you not see that I have my game face on?

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Birthday Boy celebrating with pumpkin carving. How his focus can change with homework when pumpkin carving comes in to play. #spooky #Halloween

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Meet "Eventyr" (Adventure in Norwegian) our new traveling gnome.

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Taking in the #whitespotrr and last day of #TourdeDelta. Can I tell you how much I love BC Superweek?!

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Grab a Summer issue of Mount Baker Experience magazine, flip it open to page 37 and read their great article on us (just ignore their incorrect spelling of my last name and that Baden has aged two years without gifts to show for it.) Publicity is publicity even if it's Hooked On Phonics. ;-)

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#instacollage

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Jr. Ski to Sea Parade preparations are underway! #rideabike #RecessOnWheels #bikesportbham #JrSkiToSea #bellinghamwa

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Six weeks until her first big competition of the season. #practice #bellinghamfsc #skate

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She's 10 today! Happy Birthday/St. Patrick's Day to my incredible, creative, jolly and talented daughter. I love you more than the universe and everything in it.

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Sick and twisted or simply plain crazy?

At this point I would say either one is totally possible. As you can see from earlier pictures our second Bikesport shop is open for business as of three days ago. Slowly our inhaling and exhaling are developing into an evenly paced rhythm. While I can't say that I would ever recommend that folks move an existing shop and open a brand new one simultaneously, we have shown that with the right people anything is possible.

Years ago when Scott and I first began entertaining the idea of opening a bike shop, we'd discussed what one in Bellingham would feel like and how our family would fit in - we would both work there, the kids would come in after school and on weekends, I would take Savannah to the ice rink and Baden to Taekwondo and in the process we could all share in the growth and success of the store.

Thankfully our reality isn't that far off from the conversation we had back in January 2010. With our second location actually in the city where we live I'm getting the opportunity to finally really be involved as more than the person behind Facebook. I'm excited to learn the product side of the sport and put all the knowledge I've gained reading articles on Twitter to good use. Our kids have always been comfortable in our Bikesport Ballard location in Seattle, and they are every bit as comfortable in this shop. They get along great with our business partners' son (thank goodness!) and together the trio are settling into a routine. Thankfully having the right people has allowed that to happen.

Maybe there needs to be a third option to my intro question, and one that I can answer. Tired but happy? Yes on both.

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The kids are thrilled, Andy used the benches from his van to create the kid "homework and hang out lounge."

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Saturday Power Class! #bellinghamfsc