Bike ride for ice cream

We live about a mile from Dairy Queen, so it's always a fun treat to walk or ride bikes up to get ice cream.  We stopped by the post office as well, so I could mail out a clients images.  Amelia loves going on bike rides!  Her helmet is still super loose in her so hopefully next year her noggin will grow a little!   She also ate her entire baby cone! 

falling waters trail family bike ride

Sunday was a gorgeous day- not too hot and no rain!  With a little persistence from me (towards Ryan.... the kids were down for it), we packed up the crew and bikes and headed for the Falling Waters Trail.   Kind of crazy we've never biked it before, although I guess last year was really the first year Hudson was biking on his own and at that point Amelia was too tiny.   Hmm.  

We started at the New Leaf Park- on the inner city trail, and rode about 2.5 miles down through the Falling Waters Trail.  It was so peaceful and nice (well, if you imagined being on the trail without two boys fighting about who was passing who, or a husband barking at the kids to stay on one side of the trail, or a baby screaming because she was tired....).  We did have to make a potty break for Porter at the trail head on Weatherwax Rd, but good to know that a port a potty is available. 

The 2.5 mile ride back to the car was the un-fun part.  Amelia screamed most of the way, and I was getting grumpy even though I tried really hard to stay positive so Negative Nancy (aka Ryan) would try to enjoy the ride.  

We'll definitely be going back again- I'd love to make it an every-Sunday tradition... maybe pack a picnic lunch and take the bikes to church... head there straight from church?  Hmm.  I wonder if we can get that organized...

July Fly By

I absolutely can NOT believe today is the LAST day of July.  WHERE did it go?  WHERE is summer going?   I have not been very good at updating our recent events.  Boo!  I have meant to blog but everytime I get on the computer it seems I get sucked into something else (ahem... Facebook...ahemmmm... pinterest.... ahemmmm....).  I need someone to block those sites for me and maybe I'll be more productive?

So lately... let's see.

My mom and Mike came to visit for a week.  We really didn't see too much of my mom while she was here... we did have a big family cookout on that Saturday (the... uh... 16th?) and that was so nice to see our extended family. Sadly, I took oh about 2 pictures.  EEEP!  Ok, I did take more than that but not much variety.  We took a boat ride on Wednesday when they got into town and then I took a whopping ONE picture on the Saturday we had a cookout.  

• Our lawn mower blew up a few weeks ago.  Or maybe a few months ago... I'm not sure.  Anyhow, we've been push mowing our lawn ALL summer.  Our lawn isn't huge but it still takes a good 2 hours to push mow.  GAH!  Ryan got a surprise bonus from work that was quite a bit more than their normal piddly bonuses so he bought a new riding lawnmower.  It is a beast!  He loves it.  He mowed our lawn today and it so did not even need to be mowed.  I think he told me about 15 times today that he loves his new mower :) 
• The boys had a sleepover at my mom's (err... grandpa's) the Sunday before she went back to NC.  Aubri and Addi stayed the night as well.  The boys were SO excited to go!

• A couple weeks ago I took the boys to ride Lacey.  This has become a summer tradition for us (2009 and 2010) and I wish wish wish I would be more diligent in taking them more often.   After we rode we spent some time in Barbie's pool, Porter got to watch Cole shoot his gun, the boys played on the trampoline, ate ice cream and Barbie and I got to catch up and chat for a bit!

• We have had TERRIBLE luck with our monarchs this summer.  In May and early June we had 3 caterpillars.  1 escaped out of our loose screen and the other 2 formed chrysalids.  1 "hatched' and was deformed or something and died... the other never hatched.  We then found 2 caterpillars at Barbies house the day we went riding.  Hudson squished them a bit but they seemed okay and lived for a few more days and then both died.  We THEN found a little egg, which hatched and then the little caterpillar died the next day.... never began eating.  What the hell!  So right now we have one large caterpillar (that was found as about a 1/2" caterpillar on our neighbors milkweed), 1 teensy tiny just hatched caterpillar and one egg (that is darkening and looks ready to hatch).  I'm HOPING they will all make it to butterflies! 
• The boys went to Vacation Bible School at the church where Porter attends Awanas.  Last year Hudson really wanted to go to Cubbies with Porter but he was too young.  This was Hudson's first class/activity type thing he had done on his own without Ryan or I being there.  I wasn't sure how it'd go but he did great!  I stayed for about 20 minutes to make sure he got settled and then snuck out.  Oddly, Porter seemed to have a harder time with staying on his own than Hudson. When I picked them up they were both so excited and had had so much fun.  Unfortunately we only attended 2 nights of VBS (it was actually 5 days) as I hadn't found out about it until the end of the week.  I feel good about sending Hudson to Cubbies this fall (errr... in a few weeks!).  He will finally be old enough for Awanas and wil be in Cubbies.  Porter will move up and be in Sparks.  Ryan and I will get a 2 hour weekly date night on Sunday!  WOO HOO! 
  
  
  
• 
  
• We have really been enjoying our bikes.   We rode quite a bit the first few weeks after I got my bike and Hudson got his little kiddy seat.  Then we had a streak of HOT weather... like "real feel" temp of over 100*.  Ouch.  So we kind of hoarded up inside and didn't take any rides.  Bummer.  However, it has cooled down a bit and we have been riding a bit more.  The boys and I rode up to the gas station last week and got donuts and OJ and then took it to the boat dock to watch (and feed) the ducks.  We have also rode up to DQ (YUMM and so addicting!) as well :)

What else have we been doing this month?  We used our new art easel (which I had purchased about 3 years ago... just never took it out of the box!).  So far it has found a home in the dining room and that might just be where it stays.  

I've been doing TONS of laundry.  Ugh.  I swear to goodness it breeds in our closets and in the basement.  WHERE does all the laundry come from?!?  Hudson helps me out by driving the wet laundry out to the clothes line with the gator.  That gator sure comes in handy!

One of our "rainy day" activities was to build a marble run out of a pool noodle.  Cut it in half and voila!  It kept the boys entertained for a bit and it even turned into a great learning tool.  Porter discovered that heavier marbles go faster down the track.  This boy... he's so observant and is always trying to figure out how things work, and he is always thinking of things to invent.  The other day he found one of those plastic hooks that are on socks when you buy them at the store.  He brought it to me with a length of string and asked me to tie it to the string so he could make a fishing pole. 

Speaking of Porter... this boy cracks me up.  In the winter he'll run outside in a t-shirt with no worries of being cold.  In the summer?  Well, of COURSE he's running around in jeans (literally... ALL SUMMER he has worn jeans!) and long sleeve shirts.  This day in particular?  He found this sweater and thought it was new... so why not wear it on an 85* day? 

We also made rock candy this month.  Holy sugar overload!  To make this amount of rock candy (which was quite a bit more than planned)... took 5 cups of sugar!  Ick!

And just a few randoms......
Porter vacuuming.  He loves this job. 

Hudson and I.  Love this kid.

1. 
   

• 
  

Enjoy to the fullest

Whew today was a hot one.  It felt like southern weather for sure.... ick.  I think the temp topped out at 85 but the "feel" was 93* or something like that.  Too hot for this Michigan Girl.  I spent my morning grocery shopping (OMG never again on a holiday weekend... I wouldn't have gone except we were pretty much living out the Old Mother Hubbard nursery rhyme).  Ryan cut down 4 (or was it 5?) pine trees that were dead along our property line.  The boys played in the Kid Wash and kiddie pool.  Amazingly (God Bless!) they got along SO well today.  Hardly any fights.  I think our "Summer Bootcamp" is going well.  At least I hope.   

The boys are loving our bikes.  Well, my bike.  We have gone on quite a few bike rides- a 3 mile one the other morning and then again that evening to chase down the ice cream truck.  I swear he teases us as we hear the music almost daily but they don't come down our street.  The boys and I were bored (I think Ryan was at class?) and so we hopped back on our bikes to take another ride.  We caught up with the ice cream truck on Flansburg Rd and sat down along the side of the road and ate our ice cream.  Yeah, we're cool like that.  

Friday we rode close to 3 miles again- we went up to Porter's school (in the fall) and the boys played on the playground.  Porter has been doing extremely well riding on roads with me (we don't have many sidewalks nearby), and Hudson LOVES riding now.  He cracks me up because Porter and I will say "Whew that was a big hill!" and Hudson is like "Yeah, that was a big hill!"  I'll ask P how he's doing and Hudson responds with "I'm doin' good".  As if he's doing any of the work!  He gets ticked when we head home and starts to throw a tantrum.  I am pretty sure he'd bike all day long if someone would ride him that long!  I'm really glad I took the plunge and got a bike.  I wish I'd done it last year!  Oh well, better late than never.  I'm hoping tomorrow and next week aren't too hot/humid and we can get out on our bikes some more.  We've been going on early bike rides... around 8/9am so it is perfect weather then usually.  

The other night I went to Menards and picked up the PVC pieces to build this awesome Kid Wash.  I got home at 9pm and was too excited to wait until morning to make it.  I got right to work, dress and all.  It took me about an hour to make all the cuts (probably would have been less time if I knew how to measure.  Measure twice, cut once... right?).  I had it assembled by 10pm and made Ryan take a picture.  

Kyle and Chloe came over to test it out the other day.  The boys were going to play in the sprinkler and Porter knew Hudson likely wouldn't go in.  Ryan had class (again!) and I knew our night was going to be long (it'd been a long day as it was... the boys and I went to A2, had Panera for lunch, got a new phone at Apple b/c my camera hardware broke, and then went to the Natural History Museum.  This meant no naps for the boys.)  I told Porter to ride up and get Kyle and Chloe so he'd have someone to play with.  When they got here Kyle was like "What is THAT?!"  They had a blast, though, and it kept them entertained for awhile.  

So far summer is treating us well.  I'm amazed that it is July already!!

we started our day off by making a "house" (aka secret spy house) out of the huge boxes my bike came packaged in.  the boys, as usual, wasted no time fighting and being mad at eachother.  i'm so over it.  i'm basically running a social skills bootcamp so far this summer (more on that later).  my kids rarely get along and i'm determined to change it. 

at 9am i realized it was wednesday... storytime at the library (i had it in my lesson plan book... aka "schedule" for this summer) and so we threw some clothes on and picked up the house and headed to the library.  the boys were great during storytime.  the storyteller was great as well... she read 4 or 5 books i think and inbetween they did a song/movement.  hudson wouldn't participate... he stayed seated in the same spot he listened to the stories even though everyone was walking and jumping around him.  

after storytime they did a little craft (newspaper people... see picture) and then we picked out a ton of books to take home for the week.  i'm hoping to make the library a weekly thing, and hopefully next week get a little more organized and do lunch (picnic) at bucky harris park downtown).  

when we got home, the county road commission had trucks and a loader just down the road by the high school.  the boys wanted to sit out in the yard and watch (even though the loader was just sitting there).  we spread out a blanket and ate lunch in the front yard.  then we took a walk down to see the loader up close.  boys.  so funny the things they love!

after rest time, porter came downstairs (hudson was sleeping) and by this time the road commission was out front of our house cutting branches from the trees across the road.  porter took a chair and his umbrella and sat out in the yard and watched them.   he kept talking to them and then riding his bike and skateboard for them.  he was cracking me up.  he came in a few times and asked me "can i ask them if they need any help?"

while the boys were resting/napping i whipped up some library bags for the boys out of some duck canvas.  when they got up i let them pick out letter stamps to stamp their name, and colors of paint for their bags.  i love that they picked colors that match and i love the mixed up stamp 'fonts'.

we finished up the day with the installation of hudson's bike seat onto my new bike.  he was FREAKED out to ride in it, though (cracks me up... whenever he's scared he makes up the most crazy nonsense rhyming words like "owie bowie mowie!" or "ovva govva!" "eeemo deemo meeemo!"  HAHA!).  i took him for a spin around the yard and then took him out (because my gears were clicking and clanking and i wanted to check it out) and he said "that was kinda fun!"  back to the gears... this bike has 21 gears.  pretty much about 14 gears more than i need.  i have no idea how to do all this gear shifting... i think my last bike had like 7 gears or something and it was pretty darn straightforward.  i think something is out of alignment or something though because certain gear combinations work and others don't.  i think i'm going to take the bike to a bike shop and have them check everything over and "calibrate" it (is that a term you can even use referring to a bike??) to make sure everything is working properly.  although it was delivered here from, i'm assuming the schwinn manufacture, i had to put together some of the bike and who knows what i dinked up. haha!  i might try to take the boys on a spin tomorrow morning but i'm kind of afraid to mess something up if something is out of whack.

Lime Green?

Okay so I love this charteruse/lime green color.... what do you think... is this bike uber dorky?  It is $244 in stores... but $199 online (with free shipping to home!)


OTherwise... I found this bike for $129:


Or this one for $149:


Although... after testing out the pink and the "sagey-teal" green (it is more of a minty teal green in stores...), I am not sure I like the style of the pink Schwinn... the handle bars felt kind of awkward.  I almost preferred the "hybrid" style bike... which I think the lime green schwinn is more of a hybrid rather than cruiser.  Hmm.   Decisions decisions!

Getting a new set of wheels

Bicycle wheels, that is (believe me how WONDERFUL it would be to get a new set of vehicle wheels... I'm so OVER the van.  Unfortunately- or fortunately- it is paid off and I won't be getting anything new for quite some time).

After this past camping trip I decided I need to get a bike.  Porter is independent on his bike, on 2 wheels, and it would be so fun this summer to take the boys on bike rides.  Not to mention we are going to Mackinaw this August and plan to go to the island and I'm sure there are tons of bike trails near the campground.

I'm undecided on a type of bike to get, however.  I used to have a mountain bike... but I really don't care for the "hunched over" feeling of riding a mountain bike or 10 speed.  I have been eyeing the vintage-look "cruisers" and kind of feel like I should go that route... some have gears so that would combine both styles of bikes.  Although I did find a "comfort bike" that is similar to a mountain bike but not as "hunched".  Hmm.   Any opinions?   I am looking at low end bikes.... Huffy, Schwinn etc... I doubt I'll spend a ton of time on the bike and I am not about to spend a lot of money on one.  My last bike was a Murray or something like that and I had it for a good 10+ years (and then stupidly sold it in a garage sale about 4 years ago for $10!).

There is this one for $89:

This one is $119

This one is $145


Although I kind of like the style of men's bikes better....
I like this "vintage-y" looking bike for $159


$145:


Or maybe red:



Gah.  I don't know.   Hmm......