Ecuador/Galapagos etc.

Hola,

Haven't posted for a while, been negligent. I will try to be better about this. Since the last post, lots of things have happened. I was granted tenure by Virginia Tech! I also spent the better part of a month in Ecuador/Galapagos with my study abroad class. I have since returned and am helping care for Camilo as best as I can. So far he seems to be easier to take care of than Amalia was, however it might just be that we have a bit more experience. Either way, its not easy as we wake up multiple times per night and change lots of diapers, etc. But its all good. Amalia is very happy and lots of fun to play with. She loves to run and may even end up being fast, we'll see. Lisa just heard she got a grant funded by the NSF! Thats a huge relief and means she can concentrate on doing research, not just proposing it, for the next few years.

Here are some random pics from Ecuador, things that I thought were interesting.

Here are pics from the Amazon basin.

Giant cicada:

Cool tree frog:

White-lined monkey frog (Phyllomedusa vaillanti)

Ornate snail eating snake (Dipsas catesbyi)

Cool frog:

Ruby poison frog (Epidedobates parvulus)

Mating cicadas

Giant caterpillar (~8cm long)

Big green walking stick

Sculpture of Darwin on the island of San Cristobal where he first landed on the Galapagos. It is worth noting that 2009 is his 200 birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species".

Galapagos hawk harassing nesting pelicans

Land iguanas

more kid pics

Well, Camilo is just over a week old now and doing well. Amalia is being a wonderful sister. Her favorite thing is to sing to him. Lisa and I are doing well, a bit tired but thats to be expected.

Amalia and Camilo

Amalia really likes to sing to her brother to try and help him fall asleep. Its very cute and seems to work quite well... at least it puts me to sleep.

Introducing Camilo Tomás Moore

Everyone is home and doing well.

Team Speeedmoore Racing grows by a member

Early this morning at about 2:15 Lisa gave birth to a baby boy! 8lbs 13oz. No name yet but totally healthy. The labor was pretty quick (from my perspective), about 4 hours. Lisa did amazing, no pain killers or epidural. Here are some pics.

mur de huy

Last summer I was in Belgium and rode down to Huy to ride up the Mur de Huy. This is one of the most famous climbs in bicycle racing. Its about 1300m and is as steep as 25% and averages around 9%. Its amazing. More amazing is watching the pros climb it today in the Fleche Wallone. Score one for the old guys as David Rebellin wins it at 37 years old.

my new job

Now that I am tenured, I think I am going to ride my bike all day until I can do these kinds of stunts. Shouldn't take too long...